IF there’s anything distinctive of
Pope Francis that could
explain, at least to some extent, his great power to attract people to
him, I would say it is his way of preaching. Let’s remember that in
his recent visit here in our country, thousands and even millions of
people happily came to see and hear him in spite of the very bad
weather and the many other inconveniences.
The secret, I think, lies in that the Pope somehow manages
to present the over-all beauty of God’s word and the joy it produces,
in spite of the unavoidable struggle and sacrifices that it also
involves and, in fact, requires.
As he said in a Church document, the word of God is first
of all a gift, before it is a demand. God gives himself to us before
we, in reciprocation, would be able to give ourselves to him and to
others.
This is a point worth meditating on thoroughly, because we
often feel that loving God and others is mostly a function of our own
human powers, forgetting that our capacity to love depends on the love
that we receive first from God. We need to feel that love of God first
before we can give it to others.
This principle is clearly lived in the way the Pope
preaches. He makes his preaching the vehicle of God’s initiative to
talk with man. He is attentive to both God and man. He understands his
preaching as a kind of dialogue initiated by God but always attentive
to the needs and circumstances of man.
His preaching, therefore, is a form of mediation. It tries
to capture what God wants to tell the people in a given moment, and
what the people need to hear from God. It tries to link God with man,
and vice-versa, man with God.
That’s why his preaching is not done in a purely
moralistic or doctrinal tone that tends to turn off people. It’s not
pedantic nor merely theoretical. It’s not a lecture, much less a
scolding that, sad to say, many people now claim is getting common in
homilies. The Pope’s preaching is not a wet blanket, not a spoiler.
It is full of human warmth, affection and compassion,
typical of God’s love for us. In spite of man’s sins and infidelities,
God’s mercy and compassion dominates in his preaching.
That’s why in spite of the heavily spiritual, supernatural
and mysterious messages that have to be conveyed, his preaching is
always clothed with easily relatable concepts, images, examples and
anecdotes that can only indicate the Pope has read quite well the
hearts of the flock he is tending.
His style is simple, unpretentious, far away from the
lightning-and-thunder type of speaking. He knows how to encourage and
comfort troubled lives. He goes beyond the defects, mistakes and sins
of men to offer healing and divine salvation. That’s why people like
to listen to him, since he makes God feel like a good, approachable
father.
But neither is his preaching just a matter of a feel-good
affair, filled with gimmicks and theatrical antics. It was always
sober but somehow light. He knows how to present the cross of Christ
that inevitably demands sacrifice and suffering but at the same time
saves. He does not water down the necessity of the cross in our life,
but somehow shows this with a fatherly smile.
This can only indicate that the Pope is truly immersed in
God as well as immersed in the lives of people. His life of prayer and
reflection, of study, as well as his rich pastoral experience, all of
course under the working of grace, must have given him that quality to
being an effective vehicle of the continuing dialogue between God and
man.
In his Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii gaudium (The Joy
of the Gospel), issued in November 2013, he spells out the qualities
and requirements of good and effective preaching. It might be good for
priests especially to go through it again, and see how those incisive
insights of the Pope about preaching can be followed.
Since the Church will always be involved in
evangelization, and preaching is a major part of it, it would really
be good is the art of preaching improves. At the moment, we can still
see a lot of improvisations and pretensions, so obvious that we do not
talk about it anymore.
The secret is making the effort to make ourselves,
especially the priests, a true man of God as well as a man of the
people, a man for others.
explain, at least to some extent, his great power to attract people to
him, I would say it is his way of preaching. Let’s remember that in
his recent visit here in our country, thousands and even millions of
people happily came to see and hear him in spite of the very bad
weather and the many other inconveniences.
The secret, I think, lies in that the Pope somehow manages
to present the over-all beauty of God’s word and the joy it produces,
in spite of the unavoidable struggle and sacrifices that it also
involves and, in fact, requires.
As he said in a Church document, the word of God is first
of all a gift, before it is a demand. God gives himself to us before
we, in reciprocation, would be able to give ourselves to him and to
others.
This is a point worth meditating on thoroughly, because we
often feel that loving God and others is mostly a function of our own
human powers, forgetting that our capacity to love depends on the love
that we receive first from God. We need to feel that love of God first
before we can give it to others.
This principle is clearly lived in the way the Pope
preaches. He makes his preaching the vehicle of God’s initiative to
talk with man. He is attentive to both God and man. He understands his
preaching as a kind of dialogue initiated by God but always attentive
to the needs and circumstances of man.
His preaching, therefore, is a form of mediation. It tries
to capture what God wants to tell the people in a given moment, and
what the people need to hear from God. It tries to link God with man,
and vice-versa, man with God.
That’s why his preaching is not done in a purely
moralistic or doctrinal tone that tends to turn off people. It’s not
pedantic nor merely theoretical. It’s not a lecture, much less a
scolding that, sad to say, many people now claim is getting common in
homilies. The Pope’s preaching is not a wet blanket, not a spoiler.
It is full of human warmth, affection and compassion,
typical of God’s love for us. In spite of man’s sins and infidelities,
God’s mercy and compassion dominates in his preaching.
That’s why in spite of the heavily spiritual, supernatural
and mysterious messages that have to be conveyed, his preaching is
always clothed with easily relatable concepts, images, examples and
anecdotes that can only indicate the Pope has read quite well the
hearts of the flock he is tending.
His style is simple, unpretentious, far away from the
lightning-and-thunder type of speaking. He knows how to encourage and
comfort troubled lives. He goes beyond the defects, mistakes and sins
of men to offer healing and divine salvation. That’s why people like
to listen to him, since he makes God feel like a good, approachable
father.
But neither is his preaching just a matter of a feel-good
affair, filled with gimmicks and theatrical antics. It was always
sober but somehow light. He knows how to present the cross of Christ
that inevitably demands sacrifice and suffering but at the same time
saves. He does not water down the necessity of the cross in our life,
but somehow shows this with a fatherly smile.
This can only indicate that the Pope is truly immersed in
God as well as immersed in the lives of people. His life of prayer and
reflection, of study, as well as his rich pastoral experience, all of
course under the working of grace, must have given him that quality to
being an effective vehicle of the continuing dialogue between God and
man.
In his Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii gaudium (The Joy
of the Gospel), issued in November 2013, he spells out the qualities
and requirements of good and effective preaching. It might be good for
priests especially to go through it again, and see how those incisive
insights of the Pope about preaching can be followed.
Since the Church will always be involved in
evangelization, and preaching is a major part of it, it would really
be good is the art of preaching improves. At the moment, we can still
see a lot of improvisations and pretensions, so obvious that we do not
talk about it anymore.
The secret is making the effort to make ourselves,
especially the priests, a true man of God as well as a man of the
people, a man for others.
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