Lenten Campaign 2025
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Certain priests have a reputation for always preaching on "fire and brimstone" topics. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, often these priests do so with great anger in their voice.
They preach at the top of their lungs with volume and force, hoping that their congregation will feel terrible about all of their sins and make a beeline to the confessional.
Some people even love this type of preaching, as they enjoy it when priests "tell it like it is!"
In theory there could be certain occasions when such a homily is warranted, but even when it is, St. Vincent Ferrer believed that the priest should not speak in anger.
Voice of a loving father
He explains his thoughts about angry preaching in a treatise titled On the Spiritual Life:
Your words should sound as though they were coming, not from a proud or angry soul, but from a charitable and loving heart.
St. Vincent Ferrer then provides a beautiful image of how he believed priests should preach:
Your tone of voice should be that of a father who suffers with his sinful children, as though they were seriously ill or were lying in a huge pit; and he struggles to free them, raise them up, and cherish them like a mother, as one who is happy over their progress and the hope they have of heaven’s glory.
He doesn't believe a priest should shy away from difficult topics. The key for St. Vincent Ferrer is to exude fatherly love instead of angry ranting.
Effective
This was a style of preaching that he found to be most effective in his own ministry. His success was not based on getting people afraid of God, as if he were a Zeus-like deity who struck down people with lightning bolts.
Instead, the saint found success in preaching with great love and concern in his voice, not anger.
St. Vincent Ferrer also explains, "Each sinner in your congregation should feel moved as though you were preaching to him alone."
This certainly is a tall order for any priest, as some priests excel at preaching and others do not. Yet, it certainly isn't impossible -- and even if a priest has difficulty capturing people's attention, he can still show to them that he loves them by the tone of voice he uses.
