"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? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news!'" (Rms. 10:14-15)

When the decision was made in the Middle Ages between the spoken language and the written language of the sacred texts, the Church had to resolve serious linguistic problems. For the Roman liturgy, it was chosen to preserve the texts in their ancient forms rather than follow the disintegration of the Latin language into regional dialects and mixed forms, forms which would have had negative effects on the Scriptures and the liturgy.

This led to a new impetus on preaching, which took the prominent place in the liturgy. With the rise of the preaching Dominicans and Fransiscans, as well as the various other teaching tools, e.g.: statuary, paintings, stained glass, plays, etc... the biblical stories became well known to a basically illiterate public.

The last part of the Liturgy of the Word has a multifold task to: A) Introduce the Christian message in the language and culture of the people. B) Tie together God's holy Word proclaimed in the readings with the congregation's real life experiences and lifestyles. C) Tie together the Word with the Liturgical celebration itself... pointing out what meaningful part of the Mass is appropriately connected to the Christian message for that day. The important point for any homilist to keep in mind is that the homily isn't a time out, or an arbitrary interruption in the Mass, but an integral part of our worship.

Although there is historical precedent for "sermonizing" or thematic preaching (explaining the Ten Commandments, morals, the Saints, The Creed...), it was an historic abnormality, an exception. The whole notion of the sermon is not just an explanation of biblical texts, rather it should help unfold the mysteries of faith and help us apply these mysteries to our Christian life.

Our challenge is to not criticize our priest's preaching but to try to take out that which we can use, that which really pertains to us.