Guerric DeBona - Between the Ambo and the Altar: Biblical Preaching and The Roman Missal, Year B

Down-to-earth, sensible, wise, inspirational, and, above all, useful advice for anyone who preaches. This fine new book, by an author known for his plainspoken approach to life, will be a boon for both pastors, preachers, and anyone who considers themselves hearers of the word.

James Martin, SJAuthor of The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything

The title Between the Ambo and the Altar could have been extended to include Summoned to Mission. Fr. DeBona provides the reader not only with insights into understanding Gods word, but also offers tactics on how to translate the word into everyday life. What a great service this volume is to preachers and students of Scripture.

Bishop Robert MorneauAuxiliary Bishop of Green Bay, Wisconsin

A wise, timely, and practical resource for liturgical preachers! Reminding homilists that the Scriptures and the liturgy form a single banquet of the word of God, Guerric DeBona, OSB, offers a creative recipe for moving from Scripture, to liturgical texts and rituals, to the homily. The challenge for the preacher is clear: to serve fresh bread rather than stale crumbs to those who hunger for richer fare from the pulpit.

Mary Catherine Hilkert, OPProfessor of TheologyUniversity of Notre Dame

A ground breaking and much needed commentary on the Sunday Liturgy that will benefit presiders, deacons, and all involved in liturgical ministry and liturgical preparation. Insightful commentaries on the scripture readings accompanied, where appropriate, by comments on the prayers and prefaces of the day. A method for homily preparation and keen insights about the days liturgy offered but never forced, suggestions offered but nothing demanded. This is a mature work that serves up things to ponder and pray about, that respects and even encourages the reader to go beyond what is so well stated here to serve the diversity of the Catholic parish today.

Rev. Msgr. Kevin IrwinOrdinary Professor of Liturgical Studies and Sacramental TheologyAuthor of Serving the Body of Christ The Catholic University of America

Between the Ambo and the Altar

Biblical Preaching and The Roman Missal, Year A

Guerric DeBona, OSB

LITURGICAL PRESS

Collegeville, Minnesota

www.litpress.org

Cover design by Ann Blattner. Cover illustration by Martin Erspamer, OSB, a monk of Saint Meinrad Archabbey, Indiana.

Excerpts from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America Copyright 1970, 1986, 1992, 1998, 2001 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, D.C. All rights reserved. No part of the Lectionary for Mass may be reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal 1973, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation (ICEL); excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal 2010, ICEL. All rights reserved.

Excerpts from document of the Second Vatican Council are from Vatican Council II: The Basic Sixteen Documents , by Austin Flannery, OP 1996 (Costello Publishing Company, Inc.). Used with permission.

2013 by Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, microfilm, microfiche, mechanical recording, photocopying, translation, or by any other means, known or yet unknown, for any purpose except brief quotations in reviews, without the previous written permission of Liturgical Press, Saint Johns Abbey, PO Box 7500, Collegeville, Minnesota 56321-7500. Printed in the United States of America.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

DeBona, Guerric, 1955

Between the Ambo and the altar : biblical preaching and the Roman missal, year a / Guerric DeBona. pages cm. ISBN 978-0-8146-3459-2 (alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-8146-3484-4 (e-book) 1. Church year sermons. 2. Lectionary preachingCatholic Church. 3. Catholic ChurchSermons. 4. Catholic Church. Lectionary for Mass (U.S.). Year A. 5. Catholic Church. Missale Romanum (1970) I. Title. BX1756.A1D43 2013 251.6dc23

2013008345

For the monks, co-workers,

students, alumni,

and benefactors of

Saint Meinrad Archabbey,

Seminary, and School of Theology

that in all things God may be glorified.

Contents

Introduction: Biblical Preaching and the New Roman Missal

The Geography of the Homily

It is no exaggeration to say that we live in a world choked with words. From texting with smartphones to blogging on the Internet, we face a glut of language day after day. Paradoxically, we strain to establish relationships with one another that really connect. Indeed, this age of global messaging has been far from communicative. Instead, we are a culture of individual selves, more often isolated than not by the very words we form, longing for true community and reconciliation. In the end, no multiplication of words or virtual encounters via the latest technology will satisfy the human yearning for connecting to the deepest center of our being and the lives of others. Only the Word made visible will satiate that terrible hunger.

That is the mission of Christian preaching when the community of faith gathers as the eucharistic assembly: to unearth a liberating Word to the weary, the downtrodden, and the alienated. As Christ tells those gathered to hear the words of Scripture broken open to them in the synagogue at Nazareth at the beginning of his ministry in Galilee, God has sent him to proclaim liberty to captives / and recovery of sight to the blind, / to let the oppressed go free, / and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord (Luke 4:18-19, NAB). The liturgical homily exists, then, for the purpose of deepening the faith of the baptized. In the often quoted words from Sacrosanctum Concilium of the Second Vatican Council, By means of the homily, the mysteries of the faith and the guiding principles of the christian life are expounded from the sacred text during the course of the liturgical year (52). Preaching is meant to guide the Christian community into a deeper celebration of the Eucharist and engage the faith community in the richer fare of the Scriptures as they unfold in the Sunday Lectionary and in the experience of the faith community.

This banquet of Gods saving word served at the eucharistic celebration emerges from the Scriptures and the churchs liturgy itself. As the General Instruction of the Roman Missal says, the homily is necessary for the nurturing of the Christian life. It should be an explanation of some aspect of the readings from Sacred Scripture or of another text from the Ordinary or the Proper of the Mass of the day and should take into account both the mystery being celebrated and the particular needs of the listeners (65). The preacher, then, engages the assembly in its particular historical horizon with the language of faith and tradition in order to draw the congregation into the paschal mystery of Christs sanctification for his church. Preaching is a grace-filled convergence among preacher, text, and Gods people. As a constitutive component of the liturgy, the homily points to the presence of God in peoples lives and then leads a congregation into the Eucharist, providing, as it were, the motive for celebrating the Eucharist in this time and place. The preacher facilitates the congregations discovery of the Word unfolding in the very midst of sacred space and, in so doing, discloses the mystery of Gods faithful love, together with the thanks and praise that is at the heart of the Eucharist, the height and summit of our worship as the people of God. As Pope Benedict XVI writes in Verbum Domini , quoting Sacrosanctum Concilium ,

Here one sees the sage pedagogy of the Church, which proclaims and listens to sacred Scripture following the rhythm of the liturgical year. This expansion of Gods word in time takes place above all in the Eucharistic celebration and in the Liturgy of the Hours. At the center of everything the paschal mystery shines forth, and around it radiate all the mysteries of Christ and the history of salvation, which become sacramentally present: By recalling in this way the mysteries of redemption, the Church opens up to the faithful the riches of the saving actions and the merits of her Lord, and makes them present to all times, allowing the faithful to enter into contact with them and to be filled with the grace of salvation. For this reason I encourage the Churchs Pastors and all engaged in pastoral work to see that all the faithful learn to savor the deep meaning of the word of God which unfolds each year in the liturgy, revealing the fundamental mysteries of our faith. This is in turn the basis for a correct approach to sacred Scripture.Next page