HOMILY for 23rd Sat per annum
1 Tim 1:15-17; Ps 112; Luke 6:43-49
I once heard a Dominican brother say that the kind of preaching that the majority of us friars did, and the kind of articles that we wrote were basically catechetical and not genuinely theological – and he didn’t mean this in a complimentary way. Catechetics, he thought, was not ‘real’ theology, whatever that means! And yet catechesis is the foundation of the household of faith that we must build, a house that is founded on Christ the Rock.
When I first went to seminary – Ushaw College in County Durham – I watched as first year students with no firm foundation in catechesis were encouraged to do theology in the school of Karl Rahner or Schillebeeckx; urged to criticise dogmas because it appeared mature to do so, but in fact they didn’t understand these dogmas because our grounding in the truths of faith was so shallow. So, it is with some alarm and sadness that, in our own time, I note that the pastors of the Church have been asked to engage all Catholics in what’s been called a “synodal way”, and so our people have been asked to debate, raise questions, and venture opinions on the faith and the way we relate as Catholics. However, is it possible or even prudent to engage in such things without a firm foundation in Christ, without being rooted in God’s Word? As we all know, there has been a crisis of failure in catechesis in our times, so, without a solid foundation in the truths of faith, and a good knowledge of the Scriptures at least, this kind of synodal exercise seems to me little better than asking one to build one’s house on “soil, with no foundations”. Such a house, as Our Lord warns us, will be borne away by the wind and floods of popular opinion and secular ideologies.
St Paul therefore tells us plainly: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”, and this simple but profound statement is the firm foundation on which we build. It tells us about Jesus, his identity, his mission, and the accomplishment of his grace, flowing from the Cross. It speaks of us as human beings, our relation to God, and to one another, and indeed, the final end of our being alive, which is salvation. This saying, therefore, that St Paul says “you can rely on and nobody should doubt” is the basis of all catechesis, and thus, it is the source of a rich and life-giving theology, a firm rock on which to build one’s life.
The work of catechesis, therefore, is not something to be denigrated as somehow less than academic theology, or vainglorious speculations, but rather, it is a vital collaboration in the work of Christ: Through good and solid faith-imparting catechesis, Christ is coming into the world to save sinners. Hence, Pope Francis declared that “Catechists are called first to be expert in the pastoral service of transmitting the faith as it develops through its different stages from the initial proclamation of the kerygma to the instruction that presents our new life in Christ and prepares for the sacraments of Christian initiation, and then to the ongoing formation that can allow each person to give an accounting of the hope within them (cf. 1 Pet 3:15).”
It is a great blessing, therefore, that a new era (I hope) of catechesis in our Dominican ministry here in this parish begins this weekend. Together, as brothers and sisters in St Dominic, and alongside trained catechists, men and women of faith in our parish, we are called in this place to transmit the faith, i.e., to form people not so much for sacramental moments but more importantly for a lifetime of friendship with Jesus Christ. We must, therefore, move away from the model of facilitating what Bonhoeffer calls “cheap grace”, and instead become architects that enable households of faith to be built on firm foundations to withstand the storms of our age.
So the Pope says that “every catechist must be a witness to the faith, a teacher and mystagogue, a companion and pedagogue, who teaches for the Church.” This, it seems to me, was the example of St Dominic who was always engaged in dialogue with those who were in error, or who did not know Christ, speaking in medio Ecclesiæ either about God or with God. Moreover, the Holy Father, reminds us that “prayer, study, and direct participation in the life of the community” are vital to the formation of catechists. We Dominicans are familiar with this call to pray, study, and live the common life for we are thus formed by our religious life to become authentic witnesses of the Gospel. For we do not want to just call Jesus our Lord, but rather to conform our lives to his living Word. So each of us Dominicans will do well if we aspire to be catechists first of all, and indeed, to be engaged in the noble and saving work of catechesis as laid down by Pope Francis. For laying the foundation for a lifetime of faith in Christ, transmitting that faith, here in St Dominic’s parish is surely the kind of work that will bring fulfillment and joy to our lives as preachers. For as St Gregory said: “the spiritual growth of the people will bring eternal joy to the pastors.”
And so we entrust this good work to Our Lady, who Pope St John Paul II called “a living Catechism” and “the mother and model of catechists.” May she pray for us and for this parish!
