ROLE OF STORIES IN PREACHING

Wise preachers always used stories to grab the attention of their listeners, and Christian preaching announces not a simple story, but the story of God among men. In Christian preaching stories are not a mere ornament to an a-historical doctrine but are themselves the very nucleus.

In this light it is clear what stories the preacher has to choose: in the first place those from the great book of the stories of God, the Old and New Testaments.

Besides this inexhaustible source of stories there is also the lives of the saints which also form part of this great story. In the great figures of the faith, from Polycarp to Kolbe, we really see what the imitation of Christ means; he becomes concretised in them. Their lives are not mere homiletic anecdotes but bear witness to the call of Christ. Only if we rediscover the saints will we also find the church.

--Joseph Ratzinger, Dogma e predicazione