Paul Reproves Peter

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was deserving to blame.

For before certain persons came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and to separate himself, fearing the circumcised.

And the rest of the Jews dissembled along with him, so that Barnabas also was led away by them into that dissimulation.

But when I saw that they were not walking uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all: If thou, though a Jew, livest like the Gentiles, and not like the Jews, how is it that thou dost compel the Gentiles to live like the Jews?

Galatians 2:11-14

Gift of tongues -- in action

The man who is filled with the Holy Spirit speaks in different languages. These different languages are different ways of witnessing to Christ, such as humility, poverty, patience and obedience; we speak in those languages when we reveal in ourselves these virtues to others. Actions speak louder than words; let your words teach and your actions speak. We are full of words but empty of actions, and therefore are cursed by the Lord, since he himself cursed the fig tree when he found no fruit but only leaves. Gregory says: “A law is laid upon the preacher to practise what he preaches.” It is useless for a man to flaunt his knowledge of the law if he undermines its teaching by his actions.

--St Anthony of Padua

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

Need for Models

"People have always needed models to imitate, and that need is all the greater today, amid such a welter of confusing and conflicting ideas."

(John Paul II, Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way, p 192)

Radiating Christ
By Cardinal Newman
A daily prayer used by late Mother Teresa and by the Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity

Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go.

Flood our souls with your spirit and life.

Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly
that our lives may only be a radiance of yours.

Shine through us, and be so in us,
that every soul we come in contact with
may feel your presence in our soul.

Let them look up and see no longer us but only Jesus!

Stay with us, and then we shall begin to shine as you shine;
so to shine as to be a light to others; the light O Jesus,
will be all from you, none of it will be ours;
it will be you, shining on others through us.

Let us thus praise you in the way you love best
by shining on those around us.

Let us preach you without preaching, not by words
but by our example, by the catching force,
the sympathetic influence of what we do.

The evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to you.

Amen