Preaching

"The mandate is simple, in that it centres our attention on what is at the heart of the service that the Church expects of the Order: to proclaim the Gospel. It is radical, because, beyond all the difficulties that may be encountered, beyond the uncertainties that may inhabit us as to what we must be or do, it reminds us that first and foremost we must be open to this "sending forth" from which we take our identity. Today, perhaps more than ever all of us, members of the Dominican Family, are sent together to favour the conversation of God with the world in proclaiming the Gospel of peace."

Fr Bruno Cadore OP
 

 

Dominicans must first and foremost be Gospel people who are preachers of truth.

Dominicans are known as the Order of Preachers and Preaching is the reason for our existence. Dominican Theologian, Mary Catherine Hilkert reminds us that preaching is practised in many settings, only some of them liturgical. Just as often, she says, it occurs “in the sacred space of the encounters where we speak words of love, foster hope, make commitments, grant forgiveness, take stands, and give witness”. These “words of truth and life”, and the deeds that embody them, form the basis for hearing and speaking the Word of God.

"The pulpit from which we preach is sometimes in church, but it can also be our lives."
Ann Willits OP, Sinsinawa Dominicans
 
The only word
that any of us can preach
is the Word that has been born
within us,
the Word we have heard
and received
in the depths of our own being.

Meister Eckhart OP