Evangelii Gaudium on a Homily as a Part of the Liturgy

Abstract

Apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, often called a programme document of the pontificate of pope Francis, touches upon many subjects. One of the dominant topics of this document is preaching the Word of God. Although in this “homiletic lecture” pope Francis analyses fairly known matters, the very drawing one’s attention to them is a value in itself. Among 25 points of the exhortation devoted to a homily (EG 135–159) two of them (EG 137 and EG 138) are related to its liturgical context. Analysis of these two points of Evangelii Gaudium and emphasizing their most important message is the aim of this paper. The paper analyses the following issues: the living presence of God in a homily, mystagogic function of a homily, a homily as an element that integrates a liturgical celebration and a homily as a part of a sacrifice offered to the Father and a mediation of grace.