UNDERSTANDING THE LITURGY by John J. O'Brien, C.P.

PROCLAIMING GOOD NEWS - LITURGICAL PREACHING II

A few years ago I described the priest presiding at liturgy as one who is mother, mediator, medicine man, and melodist. The priest who preaches brings about new birth, new conversions of human hearts in tune with God's heart. He also sings the threnodies and dirges of the community's suffering; he is a melodist cantillating praise and thanks. He is a medicine man whose sacramental vision and practice reconciles and heals. Most of all, he is a mediator who draws out the meanings by which we live.

The homily is an intimate conversation between a shepherd and sheep, between a teacher and students, between a friend of Jesus and fellow disciples. The homilist is not aloof, set apart, or distant from his sheep, his pupils, his friends. Indeed, he has hinged his spirituality to the foundations of spirituality he finds among his people. He has wagered his faith on the promise of Jesus-just as his people have wagered their lives on their rock, Jesus Christ. The preacher, then, continually is interpreting Gospel meaning and community meaning. He is building bridges between Bible and Burlington, between the symbol worlds of Judaism and early Christianity and the symbols worlds of people living in this church and neighborhood. Like his people, the preacher "lives with the rich ambiguity of symbolic reality. (Cardinal Roger Mahoney)"

He must become a learner, a person who studies the Bible and his people and their cultures. He must learn what meanings his people name in their cultures: male and female cultures, students and workers, married and single, divorced and separated, alone and involved in civil responsibilities. In short, he must go from the grass roots and then pray in union with bible scholars, theologians, anthro pologists, and cultural historians. The preacher must be one who loves to learn.

The homily bridges the local church and other local churches because the priest is a sign of unity between the parish and the diocese, between this flock and their Bishop. The homily is one means to strengthen the assembly's sense of community, solidarity, and the doing of justice in parish and professional life.

The homily bridges the saving deeds God does in our midst at liturgy and the service rendered by us as church-in-the-neighborhood. "These memories of deeds we have done together are a common language (Cardinal Roger Mahoney)." We name these graced deeds - birthings, anointings, healings, strengthenings, connectings - in church action and in civic action. Somehow the homily helps us cross over from one world to the other. We go back and forth between church world and civic world - all of it is God's world.

The homily bridges the Word and the table. Preaching points out our hungers and our thirsts, our yearning to eat and drink justice and love, eucharistic bread and cup, intimate sharing with Christ and Christian people. "The church makes the Eucharist, and the Eucharist makes the church." And the homily is the medium which manifests the meaning of both. It is part of the liturgy of the word, It links us as hearers and prayers by drawing us into petitions and praise. It summons us to be doers -of-the-word in our world as citizens and servants of Christ's dreams and visions.