What the Homily is not – the Mistakes in its Preaching

Abstract

The Homiletic Directory (HD) is the sign of the special care of the Church for the high level of the homily preaching. The authors of the document stress the nature, purpose and functions of homily and firmly stand against unproper grasping of this prioritary form of proclamation of the Word of God (HD 6). (1) That is why the homily shouldn’t be identified with a conference or lesson, a thematic sermon on some abstractive subject – and shouldn’t be treaten as the catechetical teaching. Those forms of word ministry as a rule take place outside liturgy and are not closely connected with the purpose and the content of celebrated mystery. The relation of homily with the Biblical texts doesn’t mean however that the homilist ought to practice the exegesis exercises given from the lecturn – and lead the faithful into its scientific secrets. Although the preacher of the Word of God from his devotion is the witness of faith, his personal testimony, however, shouldn’t veil the proclaimed kerygma. It should be stated however, that the actual exegesis achievements, doctrinal insructions and personal homilist’s testimony may also be efficient as the elements of good homily (HD 7). (2) The homily level may also be deteriorated by such factors as: its neglectful preparation, wrong reading of sense of Biblical text, offering the faithful the shallow content in its doctrinal and moral meaning (HD 157.21). Similarly, the authors of the Directory citisize “specialistic theological language unknown to the listeners” – which is used in homilies (HD 31). Being in opposition towards the mistakes regarding the notion and homily preaching, the authors do it first of all taking into consideration the concern for the reliable and fruitful proclamation of the Word of God. That is why in kerygma actualization the homilist should stress its mystagogical relation with the celebrated liturgy – which belongs to the nature of homily and not to the other forms of preaching.