Part I, Chapter V: 1. General Dispositions for the Administration of the: Sacraments (3)

8. Preaching and Catechizing

Before undertaking the duty of preaching and catechizing, adore God as He is manifested in the mystery, the saint or the virtue which is to be the topic of the sermon or instruction. Thus, if you are to speak on a mystery of Our Lord's or Our Lady's life, or if you are to preach about a saint, you should adore God in the mystery or in the saint. When preaching on a virtue, you should adore Our Lord Jesus Christ i n His perfect observance and practice of it while He walked on earth with men. When speaking against any vice, you should adore God in His great hatred for that particular sin.

Realizing your nothingness, prostrate yourself before God, begging His forgiveness for any negligence which may have crept into your preaching or catechizing.

Renounce all vanity or pride, making a renewed protestation of your undivided desire to please God alone.

Adore Jesus Christ as the light of the world, the sovereign Preacher, and beseech Him to infuse into your heart His inspiration, that your preaching may in some small measure reflect His divine teaching.

Pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary, to your Guardian Angel and the Saints, particularly those whose lives mirror the virtues you are explaining. Beg the holy preachers who are now in heaven to assist you i n the worthy preparation of your subject matter.

Let no unsuitable or unbecoming topics enter into your sermons or instructions. "My speech and m y preaching was not in the persuasive words of human wisdom, but in showing of the Spirit and power?' ( 1 Cor. 2, 4). Confine yourself to the necessary truths of the Gospel, the examples of Sacred Scripture and the works of the Fathers of the Church. Let it never be said of you that you preach your own thoughts, but rather the word of God.

When you have studied your subject and prepared your instruction thoroughly, thank God and place your knowledge in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and of His Blessed Mother.

Pattern yourself on the great Preacher Himself of whom it was written that He was "mighty in work and word before God and all the people" (Luke 24, 19), and that He "began to do and to teach" (Act. 1, 1 ) . Implement the words of St. Paul: "Carefully study to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth" (2 Tim. 2, 15). Endeavour to realize i n yourself the words of Sacred Scripture, "As from God, before God, in Christ we speak" (2 Cor. 2, 17), that is, endeavor to draw your thoughts from God and to make Him your only desire and end, preaching in His name and solely for His honor and glory.

Before delivering a sermon or teaching a class in Christian doctrine, kneel down and pray humbly to Him in whose name you are about to speak.

Adore Christ the great Preacher and Teacher in the holy dispositions which He brought to this noble function. Try to cultivate similar dispositions, asking Him to make you participators with Him in this divine work, avoiding any suggestion of vanity.

Humble yourself at the Master's feet, protesting your unworthiness, begging Him to take up His abode within you, so that He will speak through your lips and mouth, since He alone is worthy of so lofty a task.

Give yourself to the Eternal Father, pleading with him to eradicate in you anything which is not of Himself, and to establish Christ within your heart.

Invoke the Holy Ghost, praying Him to take full possession of you, with His guidance and direction, that He may open wide the hearts of those to whom you are going to preach.

Offer yourself to the Blessed Virgin Mary, to your Angel Guardian and all the angels, as well as to the patron saints and protectors of those you are to address. Beseech them to obtain from God the grace required for your task, that it may be Christ Himself who will speak through you. Let it be your fervent prayer that He may open and dispose the hearts and minds of your hearers to a worthy reception of the divine Word.

After the sermon or catechetical instruction, thank Our Lord for the glory He has rendered the Eternal Father; for all the effects He has produced and the grace He has given mankind through His own preaching as well as by the mouths of His prophets, teachers and doctors through whom He truly spoke. Thank Him especially for the grace He has brought you through your own preaching and catechizing.

Ask pardon for the faults you may have committed while discharging this duty. Invoke the help of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the angels and saints, for this same purpose.

Do not make your sermon the topic of conversation after it has been delivered, lest in seeking to hear complimentary remarks, vanity may rob you of whatever merit you have gained. Fear, too, that, after you have taught and instructed others, it might well be said of you, "Lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway" (1 Cor. 9, 27). Remember the rebuke of St. Paul to the Jews of his day: "Thou therefore that teachest another, teachest not thyself (Rom. 2, 21). 65-