Verbum Domini §60

The fittingness of a Directory on Homiletics

60. The art of good preaching based on the Lectionary is an art that needs to be cultivated. Therefore, in continuity with the desire expressed by the previous Synod,[214] I ask the competent authorities, along the lines of the Eucharistic Compendium,[215] also to prepare practical publications to assist ministers in carrying out their task as best they can: as for example a Directory on the homily, in which preachers can find useful assistance in preparing to exercise their ministry. As Saint Jerome reminds us, preaching needs to be accompanied by the witness of a good life: “Your actions should not contradict your words, lest when you preach in Church, someone may begin to think: ‘So why don’t you yourself act that way?’ … In the priest of Christ, thought and word must be in agreement”.[216]

[214] Cf. Benedict XVI, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis (22 February 2007), 93: AAS 99 (2007), 177.

[215] Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Compendium Eucharisticum (25 March 2009), Vatican City, 2009.

[216] Epistula 52, 7: CSEL 54, 426-427.