Our People

Colloquium on the New Evangelisation

Introductory Talk: Patristic Tradition of Preaching

By Most Rev. Julian Porteous
Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney
8/4/2008

On Pentecost morning following the outpouring of the Holy Spirit St Peter addressed the crowd that had gathered outside the room where he and the apostles were gathered and preached the Christian Gospel to them.

He proclaimed the meaning of the death of Jesus of Nazareth, proclaiming that he had been raised from the dead and that “God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2, 36). In response to them being, as St Luke says, “cut to the heart”, Peter tells them “you must repent and everyone of you must be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2, 38). 

Thus the Church began the task entrusted to it by the Lord: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations….” (Mt 28, 19)

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This Colloquium will focus its attention on the question of “evangelical” preaching. It will focus on that preaching which is aimed at conversion. It is that aspect of preaching which proclaims Jesus Christ in an arresting way as St Peter did on Pentecost morning.

This Colloquium wishes to explore not only preaching within the Liturgy, particularly the homily at Mass, but will look at the emerging phenomenon of non-liturgical preaching, particularly that of Catholic lay preachers.

The New Evangelisation consistently promoted by Pope John Paul II urged a fresh approach to proclaiming Christ to the world. His homily at the Mass commencing his pontificate on 22 October 1978 ended with the words, “Do not be afraid to welcome Christ and to accept his power over you! Open, open wide the doors to Christ!” The Pope clearly established his agenda – he would proclaim Christ urging people to open up their lives and hearts to him. Pope John Paul clearly understood the primacy of this task for the Church and became a great model of evangelical preaching.

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The great Christian evangelist, St Paul, summarised his life and mission as, “we preach Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake” (II Cor 4,5). St Paul knew but one message: “Jesus is Lord” (see 1 Cor 12, 3). His preaching was aimed at enabling people to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and their saviour: “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom 10,9)

This extraordinary missionary whose whole life was devoted to this one task knew too the struggles of such a mission. In his first Letter to the Corinthians he spoke about approaching Corinth in “great fear and trembling” (1 Cor 2,4). As he expressed it, “While the Jews demand miracles and the Greeks look for wisdom, here are we preaching a crucified Christ; to the Jews an obstacle that they cannot get over, to the pagans madness” (1 Cor 1,23).

Preaching the Christian Gospel has never been easy. There is always the temptation to make the message more acceptable and palatable to the thinking of the age.

The great preacher, St John of Antioch called “Chrysostom” or the “Golden Mouthed”, spoke of the struggles he encountered in his preaching ministry. In his tract, On the Priesthood, he says: 

For to begin with, the majority of those who are under the preachers' charge are not minded to behave towards them as towards teachers, but disdaining the part of learners, they assume instead the attitude of those who sit and look on at the public games; and just as the multitude there is separated into parties, and some attach themselves to one, and some to another, so here also men are divided, and become the partisans now of this teacher, now of that, listening to them with a view to favour or spite. (On the Priesthood, 5, 1)

In his day preaching was an art form and people would come to listen to a preacher. However it was not for spiritual edification, but for entertainment. Listening to preachers was a popular pastime. A good preacher would be seen as an alternative to the theatre. This created real challenges for the preacher. As St John said,

If on the other hand he is successful as a preacher, and is overcome by the thought of applause, harm is equally done in turn, both to himself and the multitude, because in his desire for praise he is careful to speak rather with a view to please than to profit. (On the Priesthood, 5, 2)

The preacher faces lack of interest or openness to his message on the one hand, and, on the other, the temptation to pander to the crowd.

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For the Fathers the starting point for preaching was the Word of God in Scripture. Origen, preaching in the mid third century in Caesarea would preach daily, expounding the Scriptural text sequentially. Origen was driven by the conviction that every word of Scripture was the inspired Word of God and had the capacity to speak to the soul.

To Origen’s mind there was a deeper spiritual sense hidden below the apparent literal sense of the Scriptural text. He said, “The Scriptures were written under the action of the Spirit of God, and they have, beyond their apparent sense, a certain other sense which eludes most readers. For what is found in it is at one and the same time the figure of certain mysteries and the image of divine realities”.

This conviction inspired the preacher. Preaching was not just academic exposition of the meaning of the text but it sought to expose the hearer to the inner dynamism of the message of the Spirit of God. The Word was meant to convert the heart. Origen knew well that there was a hidden power in the Word of God and as a homilist sought to assist his hearers in being open to this spiritual power.

He urged his hearers to pray for insight during the reading of Scripture:

We should pray the Father of the Word during each individual reading… that he might fulfil even in us that which is written in the Psalms, “Open my eyes and I will consider the wondrous things of your law” (Ps 118:18; Homily on Genesis 12:1)

In another place he prays, “Lord Jesus, come again: explain these words to me and to those who have come to seek spiritual food” (Homily on Jeremiah 19:14).

Origen is typical of the approach of the Fathers to preaching. They were deeply imbued with the Scriptures. It was the source and substance of their preaching. When one reads the preaching of Origen, John Chrysostom, Gregory Nazianzus, Ambrose, Augustine or Leo the Great one can see clearly that the Scriptures were at the heart of their preaching.

The other outstanding aspect of the preaching of the Fathers is the depth of their conviction about the faith. Pope St Leo the Great, in a sober but masterly way proposed to his hearers a striking proclamation of Jesus Christ. He felt in full union with the apostolic faith,

We see what they saw, touch what they touched. Not in history alone do we perceive these things but in virtue of their current enactments (Sermon 51.1).

It was the proclamation of a living faith that calls his hearers to a deeper spiritual awareness.

Consider, and in keeping with the illumination of the Holy Spirit, prudently reflect on who it is who has taken us to himself and whom we have received within ourselves. For as the Lord Jesus has become our flesh by being born, so we have become his body by being reborn. Thus, we are members of Christ and temples of the Holy Spirit (Sermon 3.5).

The Fathers witness to a preaching that is profoundly based in the Scriptures as the living Word of God. They testify to the distinctive nature of the faith. They have as their aim a deeper conversion of heart and Christian enlightenment of the mind. It is the wondrous mystery of Christ that is their subject.

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This Colloquium is intended to be a time to consider what we are about in preaching. It will focus on the content of our preaching, but will also address the means by which such content can be communicated.

As we face the challenge of communicating the Gospel to a world made increasingly secular, the need for a sharpened capacity to proclaim the Gospel “in spirit and in truth” and in a way that releases its inner power to convert and transform the human spirit is of pressing concern.

I pray that these times together over the next two days will be fruitful in nourishing in all of us a deeper appreciation of evangelical preaching.