Donald Espenan

A lot of people know about his sermon on giving. 

I was at my usual 09:30 Mass that day. 

Here is how it went: 

Harry slowly walks up the pulpit 

He begins, “Some people ask me how much they should give.” 

Then he pauses, adding drama and anticipation. 

“I say” a pause “You should give til it hurts!” 

Then he steps down. 

Applause begins. 

Some people stand. 

He smiles, walks back to the pulpit, stops one step short of the platform, sticks his head sideways to the mic, and says, 

“You’re not clapping because it was good. You’re clapping because it was short!” 

The church explodes in laughter. 

That was a sermon that stuck with me. 

Harry had the voice, the inflections, and the “look’ to make something like this work.

— Donald Espenan