By Wayne Cavalier, OP, May 20, 2025
This post continues the Obsculta Preaching Series, sponsored by the Obsculta Preaching Initiative at Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary. In these posts, our authors engage a variety of ways in which scripture, preaching, and liturgical worship interact with the life of the faithful.
Congar observes that liturgy is transformative. While it is true that the rituals and symbols of liturgy have the power to transform according to their own semiotic logic, the observation places special demands on the usually discursive logic of preaching. All preaching need not perform according to discursive logic, since in the gifted preacher’s hands it can also participate in other forms of logic associated with the arts. Yet, discursive preaching offers an effective balance to the rich logic of ritual. Preaching, that is, can help to unlock the power of symbols and rituals, if not add to it. To have the power and authenticity that Congar calls for, it helps to understand the dynamics of transformation that preaching can promote among adult listeners.
Transformative preaching complements the dynamics of sacramental ritual. At the heart of these dynamics is the longing for that which our Lord taught us to pray: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We pray for the coming of God’s Reign among us, that all of us and each of us might live as if Jesus’ Father were the God of our lives and all that implies. We live with the knowledge that we are not there yet, but our participation in the sacraments evokes within us a longing, a hunger for that reality.
On to this fertile ground steps the preacher, with the proclamation of the Word on one hand and the anticipation of a graced encounter on the other. It is not enough that the preacher merely explain the proclaimed Word, to use the GIRM[1] terminology, though that is a worthy bottom line. Rather, the preacher fosters the possibility for the transformative encounter with God’s grace in the lives of believers and in the life of the believing community.
Worshippers bring their own established biases and assumptions with them to liturgy. Of course, they are usually not aware of these. To their mind, it’s just the way the world is, or at least, how any reasonable person would see it. The liturgy quietly chips away at these by presenting in ritual form a contrasting perspective on reality. Perhaps an individual worshipper is nurturing a resentment or grudge against another member of the congregation. The simple act of consciously saying Amen to the Body of Christ and consuming it gently nudges the communicant to reconsider. For each unloving act a worshipper may have notched up, the liturgy of the Word repeatedly throws out the command “to love”.
It is the preacher’s task to hold each of these up to the ears of the worshippers. The preacher’s goal is to break through their resistances so that they might see, perhaps for the first time, the incongruence between the lives they are living, and their own prayer that they might live out God’s contrasting will in their lives on this earth.
[1] General Instruction on the Roman Missal.
This post is part of a three-part series. See Part I here.
Wayne A. Cavalier, O.P., Ph.D. is an ordained Dominican friar of the Southern Province. Ordained a priest in 1993, Cavalier accepted the position of Promoter for Community Life and Permanent Formation on the Dominican Provincial Leadership Team for five years before pursuing doctoral studies in theology and education at Boston College. In 2005, he founded the Congar Institute for Ministry Development, a ministry of the Southern Dominican Province, which fosters collaboration among providers of ministry formation to help make excellent lay ecclesial ministry formation resources available in under-served dioceses. Through his work with the Congar Institute, Wayne has developed various resources in English and Spanish.
Since 2012, Wayne also serves part-time as Associate Professor and Director of the Doctor of Ministry program in practical theology at Oblate School of Theology, San Antonio, TX.
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