PREACHING FROM THE

HOMILETIC
DIRECTORY
The homily is an integral
part of the liturgy, it is not
only an instruction, it is also
an act of worship:
the purpose of the homily was
not only to sanctify the people,
but to glorify God
a hymn of gratitude for the
magnalia Dei, which not only tells
those assembled that God’s Word
is fulfilled in their hearing, but
praises God for this fulfillment

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Given its liturgical nature,
the homily also possesses a
sacramental significance:

Christ is present in the assembly

gathered to listen to his word
in the preaching of his minister

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“The sacramentality of the Word can
thus be understood by analogy with
the real presence of Christ under the
appearances of the consecrated
bread and wine. By approaching the
altar and partaking in the
Eucharistic banquet we truly share
in the body and blood of Christ. The
proclamation of God’s word at the
celebration entails an
acknowledgment that Christ himself
is present, that he speaks to us, and
that he wishes to be heard” (VD 56).

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It is because the homily is an
integral part of the Church’s
worship that it is to be
delivered only by bishops,
priests, or deacons.

“The Homily should be given by

the priest celebrant himself”
(General Instruction of the Roman
Missal, 66).

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 …or, in any case, always by one
ordained to preside or assist at the
altar. Well-trained lay leaders can
also give solid instruction and moving
exhortation, and opportunities for
such presentations should be
provided in other contexts; but it is
the intrinsically liturgical nature of
the homily that demands that it be
given only by those ordained to lead
the Church’s worship (cf.
Redemptionis sacramentum, 161)

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Pope Francis observes that
the homily “is a distinctive
genre, since it is preaching
situated within the
framework of the liturgical
celebration; hence it should
be brief and avoid taking on
the semblance of a speech
or lecture” (EG 138).

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God’s Word doesn’t live in a
book. It comes alive within the
entire event…which is the
convergence of:
These scripture texts (on Sundays
there are 4 texts: 3 readings plus a
psalm)
This liturgical setting (season, feast,
occasion)
This historical time and place (all
that is going on in our world and
Church right now)
These people (the real-life
circumstances of the people to whom
we preach)
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THE LITURGICAL
NATURE OF THE
HOMILY

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It is NOT a SERMON.
takes the form of a lecture or
discourse given for the purpose of
providing religious instruction or
inculcating moral behavior
The goal of a sermon is to get the
people in the congregation to
change their moral behavior as a
sermon indicates.
In this sense, then, a sermon is
more about “doing” than
“thinking about.”

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It is NOT a SERMON ON
ABSTRACT TOPIC.
The Mass is not an occasion for
the preacher to address some
issue completely unrelated to the
liturgical celebration and its
readings, or to do violence to the
texts provided by the Church by
twisting them to fit some
preconceived idea.

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It is NOT an EXERCISE OF
BIBLICAL EXEGESIS.
The people of God have a great
hunger to explore the Scriptures, and
pastors should provide them with
opportunities and resources that
enable them to deepen their
knowledge of God’s Word.
However, the Sunday homily is not
the occasion for in-depth biblical
exegesis: there is not the time to do
this well, and more importantly the
homilist is called to proclaim how
God’s word is being fulfilled here and
now.
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It is NOT a CATECHETICAL
INSTRUCTION.
As with biblical exegesis, there is
not the time to do this properly
Furthermore, this would
represent a variation on the
practice of presenting a discourse
at Mass that is not really integral
to the liturgical celebration itself.

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It is NOT the PREACHER’S
PERSONAL WITNESSING.

There is no question that people

can be deeply moved by personal
stories, but the homily should
express the faith of the Church,
and not simply the preacher’s
own story.

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In saying that the homily is none
of these things, this does not
mean that topical themes,
biblical exegesis, doctrinal
instruction, and personal
witness have no place in
preaching; indeed, they can be
effective as elements in a good
homily.
if they serve the purpose of the
homily, they are good; if they
take the place of the homily, they
are not.
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WHAT, THEN, IS
THE HOMILY?

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 “The homily is part of the Liturgy
and is strongly recommended, for it
is necessary for the nurturing of the
Christian life. It should be an
exposition of some aspect of the
readings from Sacred Scripture or of
another text from the Ordinary or
from the Proper of the Mass of the
day and should take into account
both the mystery being celebrated
and the particular needs of the
listeners” (GIRM, 65).

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“Through the course of the liturgical
year the homily sets forth the
mysteries of faith and the standards
of the Christian life on the basis of
the sacred text. […] The purpose of
the homily at Mass is that the
spoken word of God and the liturgy
of the Eucharist may together
become ‘a proclamation of God’s
wonderful works in the history of
salvation, the mystery of Christ’ [SC
35, 2]…

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 …Through the readings and homily
Christ’s Paschal Mystery is
proclaimed; through the sacrifice of
the Mass it becomes present.
Moreover Christ himself is always
present and active in the preaching
of his Church…

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 …Whether the homily explains the
text of the Sacred Scriptures
proclaimed in the readings or some
other text of the Liturgy, it must
always lead the community of the
faithful to celebrate the Eucharist
actively, ‘so that they may hold fast
in their lives to what they have
grasped by faith’ [SC 10]…

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 …From this living explanation, the
word of God proclaimed in the
readings and the Church’s
celebration of the day’s Liturgy will
have greater impact. But this
demands that the homily be truly
the fruit of meditation, carefully
prepared, neither too long nor too
short, and suited to all those
present, even children and the
uneducated” (OLM 24).

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 In sum, the homily is shaped by a
very simple dynamic:
IT REFLECTS ON THE MEANING OF
THE READINGS AND PRAYERS OF A
GIVEN CELEBRATION IN LIGHT OF THE
PASCHAL MYSTERY; AND IT LEADS
THE ASSEMBLY TO THE EUCHARISTIC
CELEBRATION IN WHICH THEY HAVE
COMMUNION IN THE PASCHAL
MYSTERY ITSELF.

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 OF IDEAS
AND IMAGES
RHETORIC is the logic of persuasion.
It is the logic of creative imagination.
Ideas, when organized provide a solid subject
matter for rational argument.
But ideas, being abstract, do not move.
They just provide a good x-ray view of
someone else’s mind.
A logical mind is clear but not necessarily
enchanting.
Images are enchanting. They may start a
conversion by introducing a strong
attraction. For they are not as skeletal as
ideas but as warm as human flesh and blood.
Ideas can touch only when they are
enfleshed with images, otherwise, they
remain as cold as an x-ray record of human
anatomy.

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SACRAMENTAL
IMAGINATION
⦿In preaching, the Church uses
all means to enter in the
entirety of man.
⦿There is, however, a certain
point where the body and soul
of man meet together: not in
his mind alone for man is not a
disembodied spirit.
⦿His mind is not exactly a
“tabula rasa”.
⦿He thinks not in a vacuum.

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⦿The judgments he makes are
actually initiated and colored
by his prejudgments.
⦿These prejudgments are both
individually and socially based,
bodily and spiritually
immersed.
⦿That the preacher should find
where these judgments are is
a challenge of paramount
importance.

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⦿It is there where the humanity
of his listeners is “thick”.
⦿It is where precisely his
humanity in its totality – not
his mind alone, not his body
alone, not his individuality
alone, not his sociability alone
– resides.
⦿So, if God were to enter into
us, he should enter into this
point where man is indeed
totally human.
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⦿This point where our humanity
is “thick” is where the psychic
energy, psychologically
speaking, is dense: our
EMOTIONS.
⦿To enter into our emotions,
the preacher should learn to
use a language that is image-
laden but at the same time
thought-provoking.
⦿Result: the explosion of our
psychic energy.
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⦿Following the lead of St. Thomas
Aquinas’ psychology, this schema
might come handy and useful:

I
M
A

Soul
G
EMOT IONS Body
N
(external &
(intellect and will) A
T
I
internal senses)
O
N

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⦿The strategy of the preacher,
psychologically speaking, is to
invite the Holy Spirit to come
upon his audience today no
longer as tongues of fire or in
a form of a dove, but simply as
psychic energy that permeates
the ups and downs of man’s
whole psychological make up
and thus effects his personal
conversion.

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⦿In Aquinas’ schema, the
imagination is the navel where
the mind and the body meet
together, and thus becomes
the gateway where the psychic
energy activates the best
potentials of man both
physically and spiritually.
⦿The following schema
illustrates the natural
psychology of man opening up
to the working of grace:
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 HOLY SPIRIT

I
M
A

Soul
G
EMOT IONS
N
Body
A (external & internal
(intellect and will) T
I
senses)
O
N

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⦿A creative imagination springs
into an articulation that is
likewise imaginative.
⦿Through it, the theology once
abstract finds its expression in
a language more concrete and
picturesque.
⦿Such concreteness however
does not imply that the
mystery which preaching
purports to proclaim is lost in
the imagination.
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⦿This concreteness for taking its
roots and orientation from the
dynamism of the biblical
language is more symbolic
than grossly material.
⦿The concreteness is definitely
not skin-deep; it transports its
listeners to the depths of the
mystery of grace.
⦿This concreteness is the true
sense of the word
sacramental.
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REFERENCES/SOURCES

⦿ Fr. Enrico Gonzales, OP, Diary of a

Preacher: Guidelines for Preaching
⦿ Most Rev. Ken Untener, DD, Preaching
Better: Practical Suggestions for
Homilists
⦿ Congregation for Divine Worship and the
Discipline of the Sacraments, Homiletic
Directory
⦿ Pope Francis, Evangelii gaudium

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