The Catechism of the Catholic Church in Service of Homily Preaching

Abstract

The Homiletic Directory issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments of 2014 calls the Catechism of the Catholic Church „an invaluable resource for the preacher… The Catechism presents what we believe, how we worship, how we live, and how we pray” (DH 23). The Catechism shows the unity of God’s mystery and its central place of Jesus Christ. The Directory, perceiving the need of the catholic dimension in homily preaching presents in details in a special Appendix entitled the Homily and the Catechism of the Catholic Church which texts from the Catechism are closely related to the kerygma of biblical readings for particular Sundays and holidays. Thanks to such an approach the message of scriptural readings is connected with the living tradition of the whole Church and of the analogy of faith and the Catechism itself helps the homilist in preparation and theological study of the homily. Thus, the homily, based on its biblical and liturgical source, i.e. the mystery of Christ proclaimed in the Word of God and celebrated in the liturgy would also transfer the didaskalia contents for theological studies. However, the catechetic material included in such a homily would be essentially different from old catechism sermons. The subject matter of catechesis conducted within the homily would be determined by the liturgy, especially the form of a Lectionary and not the catechism. Therefore, the themes of faith would be presented from the liturgical, biblical and mystagogical perspectives. The Truths of Faith in homily would become a living and personal experience in liturgy.