Jesus' words today: "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (Lk 4: 23) prompts me to think of the function of the homily within the Mass. The homily seeks to break open the Word whereas a sermon has a didactic function. In the former, the text is given be the Church while in the latter, the text is selected by the preacher. Within the Mass, it is Christ who speaks in the Gospel and it is his words that have power in the present. The priest or deacon has the proclamation of this Word as his priority duty (Lat. primum officium). This Word is constantly being fulfilled everywhere believers gather and proclaim the Word with faith and enact the sacrificial memorial (Gk. anamnesis) of the Passion death and resurrection of the Lord. Without this living Word the consecration of holy oils makes no sense. For it is the one who speaks who is also the one who consecrates and anoints. Since he has been anointed, we too, as a priestly people, are sent out to proclaim and to anoint. The Church finds its commission to embody the prolongation of the earthly ministry of the Lord who is the Anointed One (Messiah) prefigured throughout the Old Testament. His presence, by the power of the holy Spirit, is not a simple memory but a living reality that calls us on to share in his risen glory.
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