Preaching the Mystery of Faith

see their own experience in the light of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus. In light of the encounter on the road to Emmaus, an essential element of all good preaching is evident: reflecting on our personal and collective experi ence in the light of the Paschal Mystery. 2. The Mutual Illumination of the Old and New Testaments Jesus often built his teaching about the Paschal Mystery on the firm founda tion of the Old Testament. His practice affirms for us that the preaching of the Sunday homily should typically involve the bringing together, in mutual illumination, of the Old Testament and the New Testament. 26 Indeed, the Sunday readings in lectionaries revised after the Second Vatican Council were chosen to demonstrate this very connection. A Sunday Old Testament reading, for example, both speaks of God’s actions among his Chosen People, the Jews, and points toward Christ, the Messiah, whose teaching and example are found in the day’s Gospel passage. The Responsorial Psalm, along with its antiphon, often echoes underlying motifs found in the readings and gives voice to the faith of those who hear God’s word. The homiletic practice of both the Latin Rite and the Eastern Churches has always shown how the Old and New Testaments blend together into the single voice of God speaking to his people in two important ways. First, the New Testament recognizes the authority of the Old Testament as revealed by God, who thereby shows us his plan for salvation. Second, the New Testament appropriates the writings of the Old Testament by develop ing them in the light of Jesus Christ. 27 It is in connection with this latter step that St. Augustine formulated his now-famous dictum: “In the old the new lies hidden; in the new the old comes to light.” 28 For the Christian, Jesus’ fulfillment of the Old Testament attributes the utmost importance to the truth of the Jewish Scriptures. 29 Of course, the supreme reader of the Old Testament is Christ himself, who applied to his 26 For a complete exposition on the relationship of the Old and New Testaments relative to preach ing, see the Vatican Commission for Religious Relations with Jews, “Notes on the Correct Way to Present Jews and Judaism” (1985), as well as its “Guidelines and Suggestions for Implement ing the Conciliar Declaration Nostra Aetate ,” no. 4 (1974), and the USCCB’s “God’s Mercy Endures Forever: Guidelines on the Presentation of Jews and Judaism in Catholic Preaching” (1988). 27 See TJPSS, 14. 28 Quaestiones in Heptateuchum , no. 2, 73: PL 34, 623. 29 See TJPSS, nos. 20-21.

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