Preaching the Mystery of Faith

the hopes and longings of the Old Testament were not in vain but find their fulfillment in the person and mission of Jesus. 24 This familiar and deceptively simple passage carries enormous implica tions for preaching in the setting of the Sunday Eucharist. First, the homilist is speaking to people who are, at least to some degree, searching for Jesus Christ and the meaning that the Gospel can give to their lives. This is what ultimately draws them to the Eucharist, no matter how fragile their faith and understanding might be. The homilist, therefore, addresses disciples who— like their spiritual ancestors on the road to Emmaus—may be tending, in varying degrees, in the wrong direction, confused and unsure. Indeed, the Kyrie, eleison , the traditional plea for Christ’s mercy at the opening of the Eucharist, takes for granted precisely this fact that we are sinners who have lost our way. Those who hear a homily may be aware of the basic facts about Jesus, but they might grasp only vaguely or inadequately what draws that data into a pattern of profound and ultimate meaning for human life. Homilies are inspirational when they touch the deepest levels of the human heart and address the real questions of human experience. Pope Ben edict XVI, in his encyclical Spe Salvi , spoke of people having “little hopes” and the “great hope.” “Little hopes” are those ordinary experiences of joy and satisfaction we often experience: the love of family and friends, the anticipa tion of a vacation or a family celebration, the satisfaction of work well done, the blessing of good health, and so on. But underneath these smaller hopes must pulsate a deeper “great hope” that ultimately gives meaning to all of our experience: the hope for life beyond death, the thirst for ultimate truth, good ness, beauty, and peace, the hope for communion with God himself. As the pope expresses it, “Let us say once again: we need the greater and lesser hopes that keep us going day by day. But these are not enough without the great hope, which must surpass everything else. This great hope can only be God, who encompasses the whole of reality and who can bestow upon us what we, by ourselves, cannot attain.” 25 Every homily, because it is an intrinsic part of the Sunday Eucharist, must therefore be about the dying and rising of Jesus Christ and his sacrificial pas sage through suffering to new and eternal life for us. By means of that pattern, the People of God can understand their own lives properly and be able to

24 See The Pontifical Biblical Commission, The Jewish People and Their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible (TJPSS) (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2002), nos. 19-21. 25 Pope Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi ( On Christian Hope ), nos. 30-31.

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