Priest: A Preacher of the Word
The priest must preach the Word, not himself. (OOCC, XIII, p.462).
For St. Vincent, the priest is the preacher of the Word of God. This is one of the very important functions of the priest. St. Vincent insisted that the priest should preach the Word of God, and not himself. This statement of St. Vincent means that a priest, in exercising his priestly function of preaching, should not preach any ideology, a philosophy, or any other thinking that appeals to him. But rather, he should preach the Word of God as the Word of God, without any form of dilution and misinterpretation. In his role as the preacher, the priest must imitate Jesus, the apostle of the Eternal Father, who was ever faithful in communicating what his Father wanted him to communicate. The only authority Jesus constantly adhered to in his preaching is the authority of his Father. In this manner, a preacher of the Word of God must constantly adhere to Jesus, the Eternal Word of the Father, as to the truthfulness of the contents of his preaching. St. Vincent also suggested that the priest, as the preacher, needed to refer to the long tradition within the Church as an aid in communicating the word of God to others. A priest must, therefore, make use of the teachings of the Apostles, the Scripture, the Tradition of the Church, the teachings of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, the developments in Sacred Theology, and Church History, as tools to his preaching. The actual preaching, St. Vincent asserted, must be clear, simple, and in an easy style that all can follow.
Do I acknowledge that the priest is primarily a preacher of the Word of God? Do I preach/teach the Word of God or my own thinking? Do I learn from Jesus the faithfulness to the truth as the preacher? Do I take for my aid the many elements of the long tradition of the Church while preparing my sermons/lessons? How do I communicate as a preacher/teacher?
If you put these instructions before the brethren, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the words of the faith and of the good doctrine, which you have followed. (I Tim. 4: 6)