Ezekiel 43:1-7 / Matthew 23:1-112
The style of preaching by most Catholic priests, including myself, has always been the brunt of jokes.
Maybe that is because most of the time it is sober, monotonous and also quite straight-forward (not that dramatic).
The congregation are free to listen or do whatever they may choose to. But they are certainly not forced to do whatever that is being preached and neither are they cornered to go along with the crowd.
In fact, the positive side of the style of Catholic preaching is that the listener can have the freedom to think and reflect and decide.
Yet, whatever opinions there may be about the style of Catholic preaching, priests know that they have to preach the Good News, and not good suggestions or good advice or good opinions.
And the Good News is that where the Church is, there is the throne of God, there is the step on which He rests His feet, and it is there that God dwells with His people, as we heard in the 1st reading.
Hence good preaching by the priests should lead the people of God to live in peace and to love one another and to radiate joy and freedom.
Yet if Catholics feel that religious obligations are a burden and serving in Church is a means of self-glory and getting into the lime-light, then priests may have to ask themselves if they practised what they preached.
The cornerstone of good preaching is humility and service. Indeed to step on the pulpit and preach demands that the priest speaks as a humble servant of God.
Only then will people listen to what the priest has to say about the Good News.