Priests: Preachers of the Gospel

General Audience of Wednesday April 21, 1993

1. In the Church we all are called to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ, to communicate it ever more fully to believers,¹ to make it known to non-believers.² No Christian can be excused from this task stemming from the very sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation and working under the impulse of the Holy Spirit. Thus it must be stated immediately that evangelization is not reserved to only one category of the Church’s members.

Nevertheless, bishops are its principal agents and leaders for the entire Christian community, as we saw in discussing them. In this work they are assisted by presbyters, and to a certain degree by deacons, according to the Church’s norms and practice, both in ancient times and in those of the "new evangelization."

2. For presbyters, it can be said that proclaiming the word of God is the first task to be carried out,³ because the basis of personal and communal Christian life is faith, which results from the word of God and is nourished on this word.

The Second Vatican Council emphasizes this evangelizing mission and relates it to the formation of the People of God and to everyone’s right to receive the Gospel message from priests.⁴

The need for this preaching is highlighted by St. Paul, who adds to Christ’s command his own experience as an Apostle. In his work of evangelization, carried out in many regions and contexts, he noted that people did not believe because no one as yet had proclaimed the Good News to them. Although the way of salvation was now open to all, he observed that not everyone had yet been able to take advantage of it. Thus, he also explained the need for preaching because of Christ’s command: "But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? And how can people preach unless they are sent?"⁵

Not Preachers of Their Own Experience

The Apostle was concerned to communicate the word of God in abundance to those who had become believers. He himself said to the Thessalonians: "We treated each one of you as a father treats his children, exhorting and encouraging you and insisting that you conduct yourselves as worthy of the God who calls you..."⁶

The Apostle urgently exhorts his disciple Timothy to carry out this ministry: "I charge you", he writes, "in the presence of God and of Christ... proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching."⁷ As for presbyters, he gives this rule: "Presbyters who preside well deserve double honor, especially those who toil in preaching and teaching."⁸

3. The preaching of presbyters is not a mere exercise of the word that answers a personal need to express oneself and to communicate one’s own thought, nor can it consist solely in sharing one’s personal experience. This psychological element, which can have a didactic-pastoral role, is neither the reason for nor the principal element in preaching. As the Fathers of the 1971 Synod of Bishops said: "The experiences of life, whether of men in general or of priests, which must be kept in mind and always interpreted in the light of the Gospel, cannot be either the sole or the principal norm of preaching."⁹

The mission of preaching is entrusted by the Church to presbyters as a sharing in Christ’s mediation, to be exercised by virtue of and according to the demands of his mandate: priests, "in their degree of ministry, share in the office of the one Mediator, Christ,¹⁰ and proclaim to all the divine word."¹¹ This expression cannot fail to make us reflect: it is a "divine word", which therefore is not "ours" and cannot be manipulated, changed or adapted at will, but must be proclaimed in its entirety.

Since the "divine word" has been entrusted to the Apostles and the Church, "Each priest shares in the special responsibility of preaching the whole of the word of God and of interpreting it according to the faith of the Church", as the Fathers also said at the 1971 Synod.¹²

4. The proclamation of the word takes place in close connection with the sacraments, through which Christ imparts and develops the life of grace.

In this regard it must also be noted that a good part of preaching, particularly today, takes place during the celebration of the sacraments and especially during holy Mass. It should also be observed that the proclamation already occurs through the administration of the sacraments, both because of the theological and catechetical richness of the liturgical texts and readings, given today in the vernacular and understandable by the people, and because of the ritual’s pedagogical procedure.

Preachers in Relation to the Sacraments

Doubtless, however, preaching must precede, accompany and crown the administration of the sacraments, in relation to the preparation necessary to receive them and to their fruitfulness in faith and life.

5. The Council recalled that proclaiming the divine word has the effect of producing and nourishing faith, and of contributing to the Church’s development. It said: "For by the saving word of God faith is aroused in the heart of unbelievers and is nourished in the heart of believers. By this faith then the congregation of the faithful begins and grows."¹³

This principle must always be kept in mind: the goal of spreading, strengthening and increasing the faith must remain fundamental for everyone who preaches the Gospel, and thus for the priest who is particularly and so frequently called to exercise the "ministry of the word."

A preaching which would be a tissue of psychological themes related to the person, or taken up with raising problems without resolving them or causing doubts without indicating the source of Gospel light that can illumine the way for individuals and society, would not achieve the essential objective desired by the Savior. It would instead result in a source of disorientation for public opinion and of damage for believers themselves, whose right to know the true content of Revelation would thus be ignored.

Preachers in Relation to the Gospel and the Church

6. Moreover, the Council has shown the breadth and variety of forms that the authentic proclamation of the Gospel can take, according to the Church’s teaching and mandate to preachers: "Priests then owe it to everyone to share with them the truth of the Gospel in which they rejoice in the Lord. Therefore, whether by having their conversation heard among the gentiles they lead people to glorify God; or by openly preaching, proclaim the mystery of Christ to unbelievers; or teach the Christian message or explain the Church’s doctrine; or endeavor to treat of contemporary problems in the light of Christ’s teaching—in every case their role is to teach not their own wisdom but the word of God and to issue an urgent invitation to all people to conversion and holiness.¹⁴

These then are the ways to teach the divine word according to the Church: the witness of one’s life, which makes it possible to discover the power of God’s love and gives persuasive force to the preacher’s word; explicitly preaching the mystery of Christ to non-believers; catechesis and the ordered, organic exposition of the Church’s doctrine; application of revealed truth to judging and solving practical cases.

7. This requirement of authentic and complete proclamation is not opposed to the principle of adapting preaching, which was particularly stressed by the Council.¹⁵

Clearly, the priest must above all ask himself, with a sense of responsibility and realistic evaluation, whether what he says in his preaching is understood by his listeners and whether it has an effect on the way they think and live. In addition, he should strive to take stock of his own preaching, the various needs of his listeners and the different reasons why they come together and seek his help.

Clearly he should know and recognize his talents and use them to good advantage, not to show off (which would simply destroy his credibility with his listeners), but the better to bring the divine word to human minds and hearts.

Preachers Prompted by the Holy Spirit

More than to natural talents, however, the preacher must have recourse to those supernatural charisms that the history of the Church and sacred eloquence presents in so many holy preachers, and he will feel compelled to ask the Holy Spirit for the most appropriate, effective way to speak, act and dialogue with his audience.

All this is true as well for everyone who exercises the ministry of the word by writing, publishing, and by radio and television broadcasting. The use of these communications media too requires the preacher, lecturer, writer, religious entertainer and particularly the priest to call upon and have recourse to the Holy Spirit, the light who gives life to minds and hearts.

8. According to the Council’s directives, the divine word should be proclaimed in all areas and at all levels of society, also taking non-believers into account: this means true atheists or, as is more often the case, agnostics, the indifferent or the heedless. In order to interest them it will be necessary to devise more appropriate measures. Here once again one need only point out the problem, which is serious and must be addressed with intelligent zeal and a calm attitude.

It can be useful for the priest to remember the wise consideration of the 1971 Synod of Bishops, which said: "By evangelization the minister of the word prepares the ways of the Lord with great patience and faith, conforming himself to the various conditions of individuals and peoples’ lives."¹⁶

The ever necessary calling upon the Lord’s grace and on the Holy Spirit, its divine steward, will be felt even more intensely in all those cases of (at least practical) atheism, agnosticism, ignorance and religious indifference, sometimes hostile prejudice and even animosity, which show the priest how inadequate are all human means for opening souls to God. Then, more than ever, he will experience the "mystery of empty hands", as it has been called; but for this very reason he will remember that St. Paul, almost crucified by similar experiences, always found new courage in the "power of God and the wisdom of God" present in Christ.¹⁷

St. Paul also reminded the Corinthians: "When I came among you it was in weakness and fear, and with much trepidation. My message and my preaching had none of the persuasive force of ‘wise’ argumentation, but the convincing power of the Spirit. As a consequence, your faith rests not on the wisdom of men but on the power of God."¹⁸ Perhaps this is the important viaticum for today’s preacher.

NOTES

1. Cf.Col3:16

2. Cf.lPt3:15

4. Cf. Presbyterorum Ordinis, n. 4

5. Rom 10:14-15

6. 1 Thes 2:11-12

7. 2Tm4:1-2

8. lTm5:17

9. Enchiridion, Vaticanum, Iv, 1186

10. Tim 2:51.

11. Ibid.

12. Enchiridion Vaticanum,Iv,1183

13. Presbyterorum ordinis n. 4

14. Ibid.

15. Ibid.

16. Enchiridion Vaticanum Iv. 1184

17. Cf. 1 Cor 1:18-29

18. lCor2:35