ACTS OF THE 7th EUROPEAN ASSEMBLY OF LAY DOMINICAN FRATERNITIES

ANNEX IVc

PRESENTATION BY ANNE-MARIE LEE

PREACHING IN THE SECULAR WORLD

I am privileged to be asked to speak to you today on preaching in the secular world.

This request has had me thinking over the past months on how the course of my life has
been affected by the preaching of others and on how my preaching has affected the
people who cross my path in life.

Background to the Preaching

I am speaking to you out of the Irish context and the incredible changes that have taken
place in my country over the years from my youth to the present day. I was born at a
time when there was a great deal of unemployment and poverty. Most young people
emigrated to England or to America looking for better opportunities. Ireland was a
Catholic country. When I was growing up, the Catholic Church dominated society in an
unhealthy way. People lived in fear of the power of the clergy. Our government was tied
to the Church. No politician would go against the wishes of the Archbishop of Dublin at
that time. Our practice of the faith was devotional and ritualistic. We had very little
knowledge of theology. We had an unhealthy fear of God.

In his book What is the Point of being a Christian, Timothy Radcliffe OP, our former
Master, describes it very well when he says:
“Entering into that freedom, which is Christ’s own gift, requires that we be liberated from
the wrong idea of God. We must destroy the idol of God as a big, powerful person,
usually thought of as male, who bosses us around and tells us what we must do if he is to
like us. We must get rid of the God who opposes our freedom and keeps us trapped in
infantile submission. So many people’s lives have been crucified by worship of this alien
idol. We must discover the God who is the source of freedom bubbling up in the very core
of our being, and granting us existence in every moment.” Burns & Oats, 2006, p 45.

An example of that infantile submission might be described in a story a colleague of

mine very generously shared with us many years ago. We were talking about the
Sacrament of Confession, as it was called then. Aine told us that one time she was
making her confession “Bless me Father for I have sinned: I told lies, I stole some
money, I was disobedient.” Here the Priest stopped her and with a twinkle in his eye
asked “How old are you?” “Twenty-three, father” “Carry on” he said. She told us how
embarrassed she was because for the first time she realized she had been saying the
same words in the confessional since her first confession at the age of seven. It had
become a meaningless ritual.

The Second Vatican Council began when I was still in secondary school. There was
great excitement, things were changing rapidly. People were expected for the first time
to take responsibility for their own faith. This was extremely difficult and frightening for
people who were used to being told what to do. It had been so comfortable just to obey
the rules, in the knowledge that this would get you into heaven. But now we would have
to look again at the Lord’s Prayer, the Nicene Creed and the Ten Commandments and
think for ourselves. We were expected to inform ourselves and work out our own destiny
in the Faith. It was also very difficult and frightening for many priests who were used to
being obeyed without question and who equated obedience with respect.

The Charismatic Movement burst onto the scene during this time and I believe it was
very helpful in supporting us through this difficult transition period. I learned a language
to communicate both with and about God. I learned about the God of love and
compassion as opposed to the judging, punitive God I grew up with. People came
together in large numbers to pray. They prayed over each other for healing; they prayed
in tongues, they sang new hymns. There was great excitement.

Over the past fifty years there has been a great reduction in the numbers of people
attending Sunday Mass in Ireland. However, this fall-off from public practice doesn’t tell
us very much about the faith of the people. The influence of the hierarchical Church has
weakened; the numbers of priests is dropping annually and at the same time the laity
are slowly taking more responsibility for keeping the faith alive.

Today we are one of the richer countries in the European Union and with that come
materialism, consumerism and a sense of autonomy, which puts God in the background.
Our sense of neighbourliness and charity towards one another is being replaced by an
attitude that asks the question “What’s in it for me?” We still have the poor among us but
we don’t seem to see them.

The heart of the Church has always been in the family and that is where it remains
today. In many homes it is the grandparents who carry the responsibility for passing the
Faith on to their grandchildren. In times past, only one breadwinner was required per
family but now both parents must work to pay the bills. This means that many young
children spend most of their days in the care of minders, away from the influence of their
own parents. Many of these minders have no interest in instilling in the children moral
values, not to talk about Christian values.

What does it mean to preach in this context?

The words ‘to preach’ in the sense in which I’m speaking today mean to draw the
attention of others to Jesus Christ and His message. When I preach I’m preaching a way
of life that flows against the current.

The words ‘to preach’ can also have a derogatory meaning in the English language. To
preach at someone is akin to nagging; to keep talking at them, instructing them whether
they are listening or not. This kind of preaching is not effective.

Why Preach?

We must preach because we have received a precious gift, Faith, which we have a
responsibility to share.

When we preach we must do so out of love, love of God and love of neighbour. Pope
Gregory the Great said:
“Our Lord sent his disciples to preach two by two, tacitly implying that the man who has no
love for others should by no means take on himself the task of preaching.” Sermon 17.

In successful preaching there are four essential co-operating elements:

1. The preacher,
2. The message.
3. The listener, and
4. The Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the key operator in the preaching. The preacher imparts the message,
the listener absorbs the message and the Holy Spirit does the rest. If, for example, the
preacher sets out to convert the listener to a particular religion or way of life or thinking,
then the preacher’s will, not God’s Will, is being promoted.

Richard P. McBrien in his book Catholicism says:

“The heart of the Augustinian position is this: We are freely saved, but salvation is
ultimately the effect of God’s own goodness and mercy (hesed); therefore, salvation is
gratuitous and so is the beginning of salvation, which is faith.”

Who has responsibility for preaching?

All baptized Christians have responsibility to share their knowledge of and belief in God,
at the level at which they are called by God to do so.

St Paul, in a letter to the community of believers in Rome, said:

“…all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then are they to call on Him if
they have not come to believe in him? And how can they believe in Him if they have
never heard of him? And how will they hear of Him unless there is a preacher for them?
And how will there be preachers if they are not sent? As scripture says: How beautiful
are the feet of the messenger of good news.” Rom 10: 13-15.

Everyone who has been gifted with Faith is called to share that Faith in so far as they
can. For some this means studying for years and sharing at an academic level. Others
are called to share by the example of the lives they live within the family, the local
community and the workplace. We are all presented with opportunities to share our faith;
we must remain alert to these opportunities and do our best not to waste them. All are
expected to preach within the bounds of orthodoxy as set down by the Church.

What authority do we have to preach?

We take our authority to preach from our Baptism. As Lay Dominicans we are in a very
advantageous position to preach because of our commitment to prayer, study and
community. Personally, I feel I know very little about my faith, especially when I hear
other Dominicans teaching in class or discussing religious matters in seminars. Yet
when questions of religion or personal belief come up in the workplace, my colleagues
turn to me for my comments because I’m known as the religious one. They are
interested in what I have to say because I do have more knowledge than they do and
more importantly they know I am expressing what I believe and take seriously.

How do we preach?

To preach is to be who we are. To preach in the secular world is very much to be who
we are, because in today’s world people are not so easily swayed by words alone. They
want examples. There is no better example than the person who strives to live according
to the teachings of Jesus. To share, to listen, to welcome, to love our neighbour are
traits which are gradually dying out in our world today, unless there is some guarantee of
a return, which benefits me.

Every human being preaches, every waking moment, by example. We preach by the
way we live your lives, by the choices we make, by the work we do, by our attitude,
because others are watching us and are likely to imitate us if they perceive what they
see as good. To preach is to convey a message. The message can be good, bad or
ambiguous.

We preach by raising our minds and hearts to God, in formal prayer on a regular basis,
in the Eucharist, the Divine Office and the Rosary.

We preach by wearing the Dominican logo constantly so that those who recognize it
may take the opportunity to share their Dominican experience and those who don’t
recognize it may ask what it symbolizes. The Dominican badge can be a focus through
which a sacred space is opened for spiritual dialogue. In the world of the workplace any
hint of the spiritual introduced into the conversation can cause embarrassment or
discomfort. One’s spiritual dimension is recognized by others and admired but “don’t
draw me into that dialogue” is the unspoken message.
.
We preach through the spoken and the written word.

Some of us will be offered the opportunity to preach in Church.

The first advice on how we should preach came when, on their way back from Denmark,
Bishop Diego of Osma and Dominic of Caleruega met three Cistercians – papal Legates
with a mission to preach to the Albigensians. These Cistercians were discouraged by
their lack of success in the preaching and were about to give up. Diego admonished
them and instructed them on the importance of preaching, suggesting that they were
going about their task in the wrong way. Diego suggested that example would be more
effective than words. The Albigensians were a frugal people embracing a lifestyle of
poverty. Diego and Dominic sent their carriage, provisions and companions back to
Osma and adopted the lifestyle of the Apostles, walking from place to place and
depending on charity for their food and shelter. They began to have a little more success
in their preaching.

Our first experience of preaching comes within our families. We as children are on the
receiving end as our parents pass on their knowledge of the faith to us. A vast amount of
preaching, in all its forms, goes on within the family.

I facilitate parenting courses and one of my very frequent sayings to parents is: Your
children will copy what they see you do far more readily than do what you tell them to
do. When you think about this you will see that it applies to adults too. When you live a
lifestyle that conforms to the teachings of Jesus Christ and his Church, people notice
and some will ask questions. Some will even attempt to copy you because they can see
there is a depth of meaning in your life, which is missing in the materialistic lifestyle so
prevalent nowadays.

In his book Jesus Of Nazareth, Pope Benedict 16th says:

“The Kingdom of God is not to be found on any map. It is not a kingdom after the fashion
of worldly kingdoms; it is located in man’s inner being. It grows and radiates outward
from that inner space.” Published by Bloomsbury, 2007, page 50.

This ought to be a comfort for those who feel too shy to speak out about their faith or for
those who might endanger themselves by speaking openly about their faith. With
guidance from the Holy Spirit, those who are searching can read the body language of
the practicing Christian. There is no need for words. Was it not St Francis of Assisi who
said: "Preach the Gospel at all times – if necessary, use words"?

I would like to offer some examples of preaching from my own life. In our efforts to live
the Christian Life my family and I simply remain open to the opportunities which come
our way and God does the rest. I have changed some details to protect the identity of
the people I speak about.

Preaching by instruction

One day I was queuing at the cash desk in a supermarket with my nephew Matthew and
his friend Damien, both aged seven. The queue was long and the boys were getting
bored. Damien pointed at my badge and asked “What’s that for?” I quickly scrambled
around in my brain to find an answer suitable for a seven-year old. “That badge is to let
people know that I try to tell the truth at all times.” I said. “Oh!” came the reply. “There is a
boy in our class who always tells lies. “That’s not very nice” I said. “When people catch
you telling lies it makes it very hard for them ever to believe you again, even when you are
telling the truth. Do you tell lies?” I asked. Both boys began to fidget uncomfortably, so I
quickly said. “No, no you don’t need to answer that question. Just remember you nearly
always get caught when you tell lies.” I heard a giggle behind me and when I looked
around there were several people tuned into the conversation I was having with the boys.

The following is the story of preaching in action

In September four years ago, a seventeen-year-old Dutch girl named Sandra came to
Ireland to stay with our family while she attended the last two years of the local secondary
school. Sandra turned out to be a rather disruptive force in our household. She did
everything in her power to cause me to be angry with her. When we discovered that
Sandra’s home situation was a very unhappy one, we took action on her behalf, and with
her permission contacted social services. When Sandra was assessed it was discovered
that her home situation was most unacceptable and that she was, in fact, in danger. Her
very controlling parents emotionally and physically abused her. Social workers, police and
psychologists, in both countries, became involved in her case. Her parents were
summoned to Ireland. They were extremely angry and said they would cut Sandra’s
funding because of our interference. Sandra was terribly scared. We assured her that she
was welcome to stay with us. We were prepared to look after her and support her
financially until she finished school. “But, I can’t pay you back” Sandra said. “No, when a
person does a good deed for another he or she should not expect any return. We don’t
expect you to repay us for what we do for you. What we expect you to do, Sandra, is to
pass on that good deed to someone else, when you are in a position to do so”.

Sandra stayed with us for eighteen months and then went back to the Netherlands, but
not to her parents. The Dutch social services took over, they found accommodation for
her and offered counselling, which she accepted. At age nineteen she married her long-
time boyfriend, a very nice, sensible lad who stayed with us twice while visiting Sandra.

We are still in regular contact with the young couple and recently they told us that they
are now looking after a sixteen-year-old boy who is not getting on with his parents. They
say that they are passing on the gift Sandra received from us. Sandra is also to be
admired for the way she is working at her relationship with her parents but now she
meets with them on her terms, not theirs.

Creating space to preach

As lay people we can always use our initiative to gather people for spiritual reflection.
This can be done of an evening in our own homes or away for a weekend in suitable,
inexpensive, self-catering accommodation. I have done this with great success many
times on a shoestring budget. The venues have usually been in the countryside because
the participants were from the city. Our first task on arrival is to explore the area around
the hostel and bring back flowers, branches, fir cones, stones, anything that attracts,
with which to create a sacred space with candles and incense. We have a programme
prepared for the few days in which the time is divided between spiritual talks, shared
prayer, walks, preparation of meals, relaxation sessions. The participants have the
opportunity to explore their faith in a setting of confidentiality and understanding.
On one of these weekends a group of women were sitting around a low table on which
was spread a colourful cloth, some candles and a scent burner. The atmosphere was
intimate and as the light faded outside, the conversation turned to spiritual matters. We
began to talk about God and religion and what it all means. “I don’t go to church anymore”
one woman said. “But when I do go to weddings or baptisms I find myself weeping. I just
weep, even though I’m not sad. In fact I feel very peaceful but it’s embarrassing the way I
weep.” Even as she was talking about it she became emotional. Then someone said, “Did
you ever think that it might be God reaching down and giving you a hug, saying “You are
precious to me, I love you very much,” and that is why you weep and at the same time feel
peaceful?” She thought this was a beautiful idea. Then someone else said, “wouldn’t it be
great if Church was like this, like us here talking and sharing our hopes and worries and
discussing things?” And so, the discussion went on and we felt the presence of Jesus very
strongly among us as we talked late into the night. We were church.

Some weeks later the same group met up again and one of the women said she had a
story to tell us. “It happened to me on Mother’s Day,” she said. “I went to the supermarket to
do my weekly shopping and before I went in I said to myself, I’ll have time to go to Mass. As
I went into the Church a young girl handed a ticket to me. I asked her what it was for. She
said. “It’s Mothers Day and the priest is going to give someone a gift.” “But I don’t belong to
this Parish.” “That doesn’t matter so long as you are a mother?” “I am,” I said, so the girl
insisted I take a ticket. After Mass the priest pulled a ticket out of a box beside the altar and
called out my number. I nearly died. Up I got and walked up the aisle, my legs like jelly,
while the priest, who was a bit of a comedian, made funny comments. He presented me
with a huge bouquet of beautiful flowers and wished me a Happy Mother’s Day. Everybody
clapped as I walked back to my seat, all eyes looking at me.

I went home and danced around the kitchen floor, hugging the flowers, tears running
down my face. All I could think of was what was said in the room that night. “Think of it
as God leaning down, putting his arms around you, telling you of His great love for you.”
I knew then that God definitely loves me. Of all the people in the Church that morning He
picked me to give the flowers to. It was fantastic!

Preaching through craft activities

During the four weeks of Advent children and young adults could be busy making the
crib and its inhabitants from papier mache. They could also make an Advent wreath
while the events of this time in the liturgical calendar are explained to them. This activity
might be a family activity, or it might include some of your children’s friends and
neighbours, it could also occur on a wider scale in the local church.

Saturday mornings during the six weeks of Lent might be spent working with children
building an Easter Garden for the Church. A cave, soldiers, birds, rabbits and other
animals can be made of papier mache. The parents might bring in a large branch from a
tree, and plants for the garden, and a small waterfall can be included. There will be
plenty of room for imagination and all ages of children can be involved, the older ones
doing the more complicated work. The events leading up to the birth of Jesus and the
story of the Easter Garden will unfold gradually as the young people ask questions and
make decisions about what can go in the crib or garden.

Preaching by simply being

When David, my husband, and I lived in London with our two small children, we had a
Swiss student, Gabriella, staying with us for one month. She was a beautiful nineteen-
year-old girl who had been raised by her mother and grandfather. Before coming to us,
Gabriella and her boyfriend had spent six months in India looking for the meaning of life.
She was quite confused. Our children were babies at the time and Gabriella spent all her
free time talking with me and playing with the children. She was fascinated by our family
life and before leaving us, she told me that because of what she saw in our home she
had decided to change her whole life plan. When she went home she would study, have
a career and wait until she was married before having children.
It was Gabriella who made me realize the importance of example.

The written word is a valuable form of preaching

The reader can return again and again to a passage that inspires. Those of us who have
an interest in writing don’t need to produce books to be effective. We can write nuggets
of information in the parish newsletter. People are interested in hearing short
explanations of Christian customs and practices, how they came about and what they
mean. This is another way of sharing spiritual insights, information about the saints or
church history. If the newsletter is hand-delivered to homes in the parish, then a wide
audience will have been reached.

Preaching with words in Church

Over a number of years I was asked to preach in the church close to my workplace on
Family Sunday (the Sunday after Christmas Day). Because I worked with these families
and they often shared their worries and troubles with me, I knew them quite well and I
knew their needs. Some of them were in irregular relationships and were in fear of God’s
wrath. They were good people for whom life wasn’t easy and I wanted to let them know
through the following sermon that God loved them anyway. I knew that those who came to
church would tell others what I said, for two reasons:
1. My message would be provocative and
2. I was their community nurse.

The following is the full sermon.

FAITH AND THE FAMILY

“Way back in history, as far back as four thousand years ago, there was a man who
had a wife and he also had a problem. He had been promised an inheritance for his
children and his children’s children; an inheritance of a very large tract of fertile land.
The problem was, he had no children and his wife was too old to have any now. The
wife suggested that her slave girl could have a child for him. He agreed. He lay with
Hagar, the slave of Sarah, and they had a son. Later, God sent a message to the man
that his wife would have a son of her own the next year and so she did. We now had a
family consisting of Abraham, his wife Sarah, the slave girl Hagar and their two
children. Now, Sarah had a problem. Hagar’s son, Ishmael, was older than her son,
Isaac, and according to the law of the land stood to inherit everything. Sarah nagged
at her husband until he banished Hagar and her son from the family.

A generation or so later there was a man called Jacob. He married two sisters, Leah
and Rachel, who were also his first cousins and he took on two concubines named
Bilhah and Zilpah, the slaves of his wives. Between the four women they produced
twelve sons and several daughters. So, you had a family consisting of Jacob, his two
wives, his two mistresses and many children. These twelve sons became the leaders
of the twelve tribes of Israel. You will remember the youngest son, Joseph, he was
famous for his coat of many colours.

Many, many generations later in the year 6 BC there was a fifteen-year-old girl
named Mary whose marriage had been arranged to a carpenter called Joseph.
They were engaged. But she became pregnant and Joseph wasn’t the father. There
was a fierce amount of panic around the situation. She said an angel of God
appeared to her but Joseph knew nothing about this. She could be stoned to death if
the authorities got to know about it. However, the angel also appeared to Joseph
and explained things to him. Joseph accepted the story and not particularly wanting
to see Mary stoned, decided to stand by her. Thus you had a family consisting of
Mary and Joseph and their child Jesus who wasn’t fathered by Joseph. Joseph is
thought to have been considerably older than Mary and to have come to the
marriage with some children of his own.

Jesus grew up eventually and one day while he was resting by a well outside a village
he got into conversation with a woman. During the conversation it was revealed that
the woman had several children by six different partners. Jesus did not condemn her
and she, realising who He really was, became one of His disciples and went back into
the village to tell the people.

Now, I am not making any judgement about the different groupings of people who
come together and call themselves family. Only God could look deep into Mary’s
heart and know that it was His own Son who occupied the womb that lay beneath it.
It was He who chose the fragile structure of the human family in all its creative forms
to pass knowledge of himself down through the generations to the present day.

During the last two thousand years when the Church Jesus founded to teach, guide
and encourage us in His Way, itself became disabled by its own power, wealth and
pomposity, it was the family, guided by the Holy Spirit, who pulled us through. In times
of oppression and persecution by foreign states or hostile regimes, it is the family that
keeps the flame of Faith burning in secret. We have evidence of this in many parts of
our world today through the stories coming from the underground Church.

The family is the most important unit in society, no matter how it is made up. The
reality today, as in times past, is that there are families which are made up of groups
 of people other than the conventional mother, father and two children. Each family
unit is precious to God and loved dearly by Him and this has been so since
humankind was created.

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are the fathers of the Faith, it was to them God first made
Himself known and through them and their families, generation after generation, that
he gradually revealed Himself and His Will for humanity. God didn’t exclude them
because their family structure was a little unusual or creative. In Jesus, God assumed
the human form, and freely entered into a human family, to offer the ultimate Sacrifice,
which saved us, and freed us from our bondage to sin. Faith is a gift from God to each
individual who is open to receiving it. It is within the family that the foundation is laid,
a foundation of knowledge and example in the Christian way of life, on which the seed
of Faith can be nurtured and grow.

The ideal family is the husband and wife who commit themselves through the
Sacrament of Marriage to God and to each other for life and who raise children who
will leave the nest when the time is right. We don’t live in an ideal world. Families are
not perfect. Only God knows what is in our hearts. Our hope is in our children,
therefore each one of us, married or not, aunt, uncle, neighbour or friend has a
responsibility to support and nurture the family in every way we can.” The End

I was approached by a number of women in the following week saying how much my
talk meant to them. One woman, who was rearing ten children on her own because she
was separated from her husband, said they had the best discussion ever on religion,
based on my sermon, at the dinner table that Sunday. All those who commented to me
said how refreshing it was to get a woman’s view on things religious.

Preaching by listening

As I approached the health centre one evening, I met a woman on her way out. I stopped
to ask her how she was as she had been recently bereaved. She began to pour out her
grief resulting from the sudden death of her twin sister and shortly afterwards the death of
her elderly mother. We stood there for two hours because I knew that if the flow of
memories this woman was expressing had been broken in order to invite her inside, a
blessed moment might have been missed. She might not have been able to take up
where she had left off. We are often presented with blessed moments like this for
preaching. We just need to be awake to these opportunities presented to us by the Lord in
our daily lives.

To listen well is very difficult and might not be regarded by many as a form of preaching.
I have one friend who listens to me patiently and without judgment. Through those
opportunities of being really heard, I have had many valuable spiritual insights. Often
people need to clear their hearts and minds in order to let God in; to make room for Him.

In conclusion

I have talked about preaching in the secular world as a lay person, a member of the
Dominican Order, the Order of Preachers. I have spoken about preaching in its different
forms, instruction, example, words, listening, writing. I mentioned the essential elements,
the preacher, the message, the listener, and the Holy Spirit. I talked about the necessity
of love, prayer, study and community in preparation for preaching.

I would like to quote once again from Pope Benedict 16th:

“The first task is preaching: to give people the light of the word, the message of Jesus.
The Apostles are first and foremost Evangelists – like Jesus, they preach the Kingdom
of God and thereby gather people into God’s new family. But the preaching of God’s
Kingdom is never just words, never just instruction. It is an event, just as Jesus himself
is an event, God’s word in person. By announcing him, the Apostles lead their listeners
to encounter him.”

Now I will finish by saying that of all the different ways to preach, the most important, in
my opinion, is by example.