Homilia w zgromadzeniu eucharystycznym. Recepcja współczesnego nauczania Kościoła w "Dyrektorium homiletycznym"

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SUMMARY
The Homily in the Eucharistic Assembly:
The Reception of the Church’s Teaching in the Homiletical Directory
The Church could not exist without the proclamation of God’s
word. She fulfills this service to the world in various forms. At
the present time, a special place in preaching is granted to the
homily. Therefore, it is not surprising that a large number of publications
are devoted to its various aspects. There are studies on
the actualization of the word of God, on the content of a homily,
as well as on detailed questions, challenges and the liturgical
context of the homily.
The research undertaken in this monographic book refers to
the contemporary teaching of the universal Church about the
homily preached in the Eucharistic assembly. The study focuses
on the ecclesiastical documents. In addition to the texts of the
Holy Scriptures and patristic texts, nine documents of the Second
Vatican Council are discussed, which deal with the homily or
preaching. The conciliar documents are of great importance for
the teaching and pastoral activities of the Church, but because
of their laconic nature, they required additional interpretation
concerning the nature and purpose of the homily. This book
takes into consideration various remarks on the homily found in
twenty-seven papal documents and statements and in fifty-four
documents of the Roman Curia. They have been analyzed and
discussed in accordance with their rank. The most important for
the Church are the Council’s statements approved by the Pope,

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followed by documents issued by the Popes themselves, and finally
the documents of the Roman Curia, which serves the Pope
in his function of the pastor of the universal Church. This set of
documents alone is valuable and can facilitate the query of other
researchers interested in liturgical preaching or the Church’s
ministry of the word as such.
This book continues some themes to be found in other studies
concerning the liturgical nature of the homily: origin in the
speech of Jesus in the synagogue in Nazareth; the specific place in
the structure of the Holy Mass; the homily as a liturgical act, as a
means of sanctifying activity and the worship of God; the homily as
anamnesis, or the actualizing remembrance of the salvific events.
The next issue addressed in this study is the interpretation
of the Scriptures most appropriate for the homily. Exegetical
methods used by biblical scholars are not sufficient, because they
consider the Scriptures in itself, apart from the liturgical context,
whereas the interpretation of the word of God in the homily
demands that this be taken into account. This liturgical context
delivers the first hermeneutics, which is made by the selection
of biblical texts for the Lectionary. In addition, the scriptural
interpretation has to take into consideration the purpose of the
homily, which is to combine the proclamation of Christ’s mystery
with its celebration in the Eucharistic assembly and the daily life
of the participants of the liturgy.
The original theme presented in this book is the critical elaboration
on the Homiletic Directory as the only document of the Holy
See issued after the Second Vatican Council and devoted entirely
to the homily. The new matter discussed in this book, one rarely
undertaken in homiletics, is the issue of the sacramentality of
God’s word and of the homily. This issue was emphasized in
the Homiletic Directory and was explained by the presence of Jesus
Christ in the preaching of the Church and that of the homilist.
The research made in this book allows to present several conclusions.
The first is that, depending on the context in which

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popes wrote about the homily, they emphasized one of its aspects
more strongly. Paul VI wrote in the context of evangelization;
John Paul II in the context of catechesis and of the celebration
of Sunday; Benedict XVI in the context of the Eucharist and the
Church’s ministry of the word; Francis in the context of the proclamation
of the Gospel in the modern world. Each time a slightly
different context of the papal statements influenced the emphasis
on the particular aspect of the homily. All the popes, however,
unanimously highlighted the liturgical nature of the homily and
gave it a special place in the ecclesiastical ministry and the formation
of the faithful. The Roman Curia has been assisting the
popes by interpreting the conciliar and papal documents regarding
the homily in such contexts: the Eucharist; the ministry of
bishops, priests, and deacons in the Church; the celebration for
special groups; the interpretation of the Scriptures; ecumenism
and the means of social communication.
The second conclusion is that the Homiletic Directory presents
a partial but important step in the reception of the teaching of
the Holy See. Drawing from the Council and papal documents,
as well as those published by the Roman Curia, the Homiletic
Directory discusses the liturgical nature of the homily, seeing
in it a liturgical act in which on the one side the people of God
experience sanctification, and on the other, God receives glory.
The directory also underlines the sacramental dimension of the
homily. Clearly distinguishing the homily from other forms of
preaching, the Homiletic Directory described the homily as a proclamation
of the mystery of Christ which is being realized in the
sacrifice of the Holy Mass and helps the faithful to lead their daily
Christian life. Thus, the homily is shown as an intrinsic element
serving the coherence of the liturgy and its impact on the lives of
the faithful (lex credendi, lex orandi and lex vivendi).
The Homiletic Directory promotes the paschal homily. The center
of the homily is the Paschal Mystery of Christ: proclaimed, realized
in the Holy Mass, and lived in the everyday life of Christians.

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The Homiletic Directory also confirms the teaching of the Holy See
that the homily in the Eucharistic assembly can be delivered only
by an ordained person: a bishop, a priest or a deacon. A novelty
in the Homiletic Directory, unseen in other documents of the Holy
See, is the reference to the presence of Christ in the preaching
of His servant.
In addition, the Homiletic Directory strongly highlights the need
for good preparation of the homily, and suggests lectio divina as
the preferred method of such a preparation.
On the other hand, the Homiletic Directory does not mention
the literary principles of the interpretation of the Bible, which
are discussed in other documents of the Church’s Magisterium,
focusing rather on the theological principles. The Homiletic Directory
points out that the interpretation of the Scriptures in the
homily should be done, not only in relation to the biblical text
(sola scriptura), but in the liturgical context proper to the homily,
and also in relation to the influence of the celebration on the lives
of the faithful.
Completely ignored in the Homiletic Directory are formal issues
regarding the homily. They have been discussed by the Holy See,
but are scattered in her various documents. These include the
place of the proclamation of the homily, the length and attitude,
signs and salutations accompanying the homily, and, last but
not least, the number of homilists, given past experiments with
dialogical homilies, and the preaching by more than one speaker.
Cultural challenges in preaching, as well as at least general
portrayals of the listeners are taken into account in too concise
a way in the Homiletic Directory. The category of “signs of the
times”, as important as it was in the teaching of the Second Vatican
Council, is completely omitted in the document.
Therefore, the book demonstrates, which aspects of the teaching
of the Church regarding the homily in the Eucharistic assembly
were treated in the Homiletic Directory and which were

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This book is addressed to homiletics teachers and theology
students. It can be used during homiletics classes as a supplementary
reading as well as in the permanent formation of priests.
Further research that might be suggested is social justice
preaching and the homily. The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of
the Church provides exquisite material for exploration. This document
– used like the Catechism of the Catholic Church, as auxiliary
material for homilies and in conjunction with the liturgical year –
would certainly enrich the content of the homily with important
social teaching.
All elements of Christian doctrine and morality, including social
teaching, should be interpreted through the prism of the
mystery of Christ, the summit of which is His passion, death,
resurrection, ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit. Jesus
Christ is the only Lord and Savior. Salvation can be found in no
one else except in Jesus, for there is no other name under heaven
given to mankind by which people might be saved (see Acts 4:12).
Only Jesus provides eternal happiness to people. His word,
the word of God, according to biblical and patristic Tradition,
is recognized by the Church’s teaching office as the food necessary
to sustain Christian life. The task of pastors is therefore to
tirelessly provide the faithful with this food, which ultimately is
Christ Himself.