Preaching the Mystery of Faith

their neighbors. Likewise, a homilist could speak about Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist in a way that draws upon the Catholic doctrinal tradition of transubstantiation, underlining the significance of this awe-inspiring pres ence of the Risen Christ in our midst. Our Catholic piety and reverence in the liturgy could be explained by our dramatic belief in God’s fulfillment of his promise to be one with us. As the homilist points to the experience of our communion with God, he could draw attention to our bond of communion with each other. Of course, what is essential for speaking about the mysteries of our faith with passion and conviction is that the preacher himself grasps the doctrinal significance of their truth and so loves these mysteries himself that he can communicate that love and truth to his listeners. An effective homily takes its cue from the very nature of the Scriptures them selves, which use a rich variety of literary forms to communicate their mes sage: narratives, metaphors, hymns, prayers, proverbial sayings, and poetry all have their place within the pages of the Bible. These stories and sayings of the Bible have had a profound influence over time on the Christian imagi nation, and indeed still have an impact on popular culture itself. Like good poetry, the Scriptures give us the language to express our deepest hopes and longings, to find the right words for our grief and loss, our moments of joy and peace, our attempts to thank and praise God. A prime example is, in fact, Jesus’ own preaching. Matthew’s Gospel, for instance, portrays Jesus on a boat near the shore, teaching the vast crowds that follow him in parables, those pointed stories that were characteristic of Jesus’ preaching ministry (see Mt 13:1-53). The discourse begins with the parable of the sower (13:1-9), which Jesus would later explain to his disciples (13:18-23). The seeds fall on various types of soil, determining the outcome of the harvest; Jesus will use the sower parable to identify the kinds of condi tions and responses necessary for the “word of the kingdom” to thrive. Jesus goes on to use a profusion of other images and brief stories to illustrate aspects of the Kingdom of Heaven: a field in which an enemy sows weeds among the wheat and the lesson that the two should remain together in our complex world until the harvest; a tiny mustard seed that grows into a large bush where the birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches; the yeast that a woman The Role of Scripture in the Homily

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