Opening Prayer

Preachers of Grace,

Witnesses to the Resurrection

Mary Catherine Hilkert, OP

Sr. Mary Catherine Hilkert, OP

• a Dominican theologian internationally renowned for her scholarship and writing on the subject of preaching

• Professor of Theology and Director of the Master of Theological Studies program at the University of Notre Dame and one-time faculty member at Aquinas Institute

Gerhard Ebeling

- To announce the word in today’s world, preachers need to attend to complex philosophical, psychological and scientific debates in addition to biblical and theological disputes

“Theology is necessary to make preaching as hard for the preacher as it has to be”

St. Paul“If Christ

is not risen,

your faith is in

vain.” (1Cor 15:17)

“If Christ has not been

raised, our

preaching is void

of content and your faith is empty,

too” (1Cor 15:17)

Content of All Preaching

• Should be the good news of the resurrection • or God’s final word of saving

grace• Preacher of the resurrection

should proclaim that evil will not have the final word• and that death is not the end

Christian Hope

• Born in the life and ministry of Jesus• Called into question by His execution• Sealed in the event we call resurrection

Karl Rahner – “The resurrection is a fundamental continuity with the life and death of Jesus.”

Edward Schillebeeckx – “We are saved, inspite of the cross of Jesus, rather than because of it.”

Karl Rahner pictures the Resurrection as...

In the interior of the world, God’s fire is already burning, and this will bring everything to blessed ardour in His light.

Christians preach...

neither the

nor the

But the

Naming Grace in the Midst of Suffering

The most difficult challenge to any preacher of the good news of God’s abiding presence is all the evidence

to the contrary...

“The preacher is sent to the poor not to announce the good news they have not heard, but rather to be

among the poor to hear the good news they experience

when they listen to the scriptures from the context of their lives and struggles.”

Resurrection of the Body

Metaphors

It is impossible to explain the mystery of God.

Our Funeral liturgies proclaim, “Life is changed, not ended..”

“What is sown a physical body will be

raised a spiritual body” (1Cor 1:44)

Rudolf Bultmann – “not probe ‘What happened?’ but should be concerned evoking

Paul Tillich – “Many of those who reject the word of God, reject it because the way we say it is utterly meaningless to them.”

Preaching Resurrection in a World of Crucifixion

September 11, 2001

When and How is HOPE Born?

• We have NO ANSWERS• We cannot explain how or why the

power of God breaks through in the most desperate of circumstances – we can only testify to the experience

• Resurrection hope is not something we can cause, control, bring about or explain.

• Hope begins to stir when we share stories of pain, speak our doubts and disappointments, etc.

The Emmaus NarrativeJesus as the Preacher of Hope

We are all born “storytellers”.Mimesis (Aristotle) – artistic or creative representation or imitation of life

The Emmaus NarrativeJesus as the Preacher of Hope

Prefiguration (Mimesis 1) –

Jesus, the disciples’ hoped for Messiah, was executed. And their hope was destroyed.

The Emmaus NarrativeJesus as the Preacher of Hope

New Configuration

(Mimesis 2) – The stranger transforms the succession of events into one meaningful whole

The Emmaus NarrativeJesus as the Preacher of Hope

Refiguration of the Lives of the Disciples

(Mimesis 3) – Jesus was recognized in the breaking of the bread, and the disciples preached the resurrection of Jesus

Hoping Against Hope: Proclaiming the Resurrection

All the resurrection experiences testify to hope born amid loss and pain. Hope emerges in the power of God breaking forth in new imaginings and new energy.The lives of those who have gone to death like Jesus, alone and in silence, but nevertheless with radical trust in God’s mercy give the clearest testimony to the possibility of Christian hope.

Hoping Against Hope: Proclaiming the Resurrection

Jesus as the Preacher of Hope

“You can tell them, if they succeed in killing me, that I pardon them, and I bless those who may carry out the killing. But I wish they could realize that they are wasting their time. A Bishop will die, but the church of God – the people – will never die.”

“Putting oneself at the service of the resurrection means working continually, often against hope, in the service of eschatological ideals: justice, peace, etc.” – Jon Sobrino

In the end, the vocation of a preacher is to speak words of grace that help us to see and move us to act.Preaching – the testimony of faith – is necessary if hope is to be possible in a secular and suffering world.

Dominican Preaching

Fr. Dominic Izzo, O.P.- Director of the Dominican Foundation and Vicar Provincial for Advancement for the Province of St. Joseph.