During the primaries of the 1960 USA electoral campaign to choose the democrats’ candidate for President (which John F. Kennedy eventually won), there was Adlai Stevenson, the intellectual of the group. I heard this story from him. Two great orators of all times: Cicero, Roman, and Demosthenes, Greek. When Cicero spoke people said, “How well he spoke.” When Demosthenes spoke, people said, “Let us march.” Demosthenes convinced the intellect and moved the will and emotions or passions: He had zeal!
Law professor Anita Bernstein says that there is today “zeal shortage” (cf. David Horner and David Turner). Is there “zeal shortage” in the Church, religious congregations and in some – or many – of us believers and preachers? Is there, perhaps, lack of zeal and instead some or much sloth? It appears that many Christians today profess a faith light. There is lack of motivation to pursue good. Caught up in the web of modern life – a consumeristic society in a culture of waste -, Christians know that they are asked, with many other women and men of good will too; they are asked by their humanity and faith to witness a simple life style, respect for all and compassion for the poor and marginalized. This is the life style of Jesus as proclaimed by the Sacred Scriptures. This is the style of apostolic life after Christ, and therefore of Dominican life, that is, of Dominican preaching.
- GOOD AND BAD ZEAL
Zeal entails great enthusiasm, joyful fervor, passion, fire - passionate love. There is good and bad zeal, and anti-zeal.
Bad zeal may be zeal by excess or by defect or deficiency (in moedio virtus: virtue stands in the middle). Excessive zeal: either because the means to achieve a good goal are bad, violent, or because the end is bad (fanaticism, including religious fanaticism). There is misdirected zeal (too much passion for nothing) (cf. David Horner and David Turner, on Zeal). It is the misdirected zeal of Paul, when he was Saul, persecuting Christians (cf. Acts, 22:3-16). It is the bad zeal of terrorists, violent crusaders (including those who kill abortionists). Anti-zeal, sloth, “acedia” is the opposite of zeal. Sloth is closely related to apathy, melancholy, indifference. It is, in spiritual language, spiritual laziness and sadness: the sadness that blocks a believer, or a Christian “light” from pursuing spiritual things. Acedia is opposed to love of oneself, joy, compassion - to zeal for God and souls. It is a capital sin, one of the seven deadly sins, which are heads (“caput”) of many other sins. Sloth is the seventh capital or deadly sin. To conquer it, one needs the virtue of zeal: diligence, fervor, enthusiasm, passion, fire.
Good zeal, or simply zeal, is the middle way between excessive zeal and defective zeal. Good zeal is passionate love for God, working for his Kingdom with enthusiasm, passion, fervor, and fire – and joy. It is loving zeal, a passionate commitment to goodness: to a good cause or end through good means. It may be defined with Horner and Turner as “a disposition to pursue what is good rationally, fervently, and diligently, motivated by and expressed by love.” It is as a “commitment to an ultimate concern.”
Zeal is a characteristic of love: love as passionate love, as enthusiastic love. St. Francis of Sales: “Love is the measure of zeal - love’s energy. True zeal is charity’s offspring, the earnestness of charity” (Love of God, bk 10, chaps. 12, 15-16). Enthusiasm means “to be full of love,” to do service for humanity, for the Kingdom of God, with zeal. It means to do it “with head and heart, with mind and will.” We do it so, according to the expert in spiritual theology Anselm Grun, “when we put in it [in our work] our heart, when we let our love go through it.” The German writer quotes Blaise Pascal: Nothing is more unbearable for a person than being without passion …, without fervor.
Zeal: fire. In the recitation of the Prayer to the Holy Spirit, Christians pray: Come, Holy Spirit, fill the heart of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. The fire of love! If we are not close to God, to the fire of his love, we cannot put fire on the hearts of other people. If we are not close to God through prayer, we become cold, bland, dry.
Horner and Turner, who have studied well the nature of zeal and sloth, state: “Irrational, unbalanced, and violent forms of zeal are simply and radically incompatible with biblical zeal.” I suggest that integral good zeal entails pursuing the good with passion, with enthusiasm, with fire and joy (cf. Rom 12:11; 2 Pet 1:3-11).
- HOLY ZEAL: GOD’S ZEAL AND JESUS’ ZEAL
God’s Zeal. He has zeal for his people (Is 26:11; cf. Is 9:7), a zeal with fire (Zeph 3:8). Jeremiah says that, before being seduced by God, “I used to say … ‘I will not speak in his name anymore’. Then [seduced by God] there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones” (Jer 20:9). The Lord asks Elijah: What are you doing here Elijah? The prophet answers: I have been very zealous [very passionate] for the Lord. (cf. I Kgs 19:10). The word of the zealous prophet was like a burning torch: “Then the prophet Elijah arose like a fire, his word burned like a torch” (Sir 48:1). The Psalmist is consumed by zeal: My zeal consumes me because my foes forget your words (Ps 119:139); “It is zeal for your house that has consumed me” (Ps 69:9). Seeing a Jew offer sacrifices to gods, Mattathias “burned with zeal” and his heart was stirred” “with righteous anger” (I Macc, 2:24). Mattathias, the father of the Maccabee brothers, killed the man who wanted to offer sacrifice to the gods against the law of God. This zeal (zelos) uses the path of violence on the way to social change. It is the way of the zealots, not Jesus’ way.
The Zealots’ zeal. Jesus has been described by some biblical scholars and theologians as a Zealot because he got angry and overturned the tables of the merchants in the temple of Jerusalem. Jesus was in his life and message a peaceful person who preached non-violent love and peace. Pope Benedict XVI, commenting the scene of the cleansing of the Temple (Mk 11:15-17) writes: “Violence does not build the kingdom of God, the kingdom of humanity. On the contrary, it is a favorite instrument of the Antichrist, however idealistic the religious motivation may be. It serves not humanity, but inhumanity” (Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, Holy Week. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2011, 15).
Jesus’ anger? Clearly, Jesus was meek, humble, and patient. In one instance, Jesus becomes angry with those who had converted God’s Temple in a marketplace. Angrily, he cleanses the Temple area of money changers and animal sellers. His cleansing of the Temple (Jn 2:13-22) is a rare act but not to defend himself but justice and the needy who were exploited in God’s house. Right after the Resurrection of the Lord, the disciples understood the forceful clearing out of the tables of merchants and money changers: “the disciples remembered the words of the Scripture: I am eaten up with zeal for your [God’s] house” (Jn 2:17). This exceptional show of zeal by Jesus is holy zeal. Jesus’ pervading attitude, however, is clearly the attitude of an infinitely meek and merciful person. And so must the attitude of his followers be: “Blessed are the meek” (Mt 5:6). Truly Jesus got angry then, but He is the only one who can ask: Who can accuse me of sin? Of course, nobody! Hence, we ought to be most careful. St. Paul advises us: “Be angry but do not sin. The sun must not go down on your anger” (Eph 4:26-27); “remove from you all anger, bitterness and malice (Eph 4:32-33). From my own experience, I can say that I prefer not to get angry at all. In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says: “But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgement” (Mt 5:22).
Jesus’ zeal. When announcing the coming of Jesus, John the Baptist tells his disciples: Jesus will “baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Mt 3:11): with fire! Jesus presents John the Baptist to his disciples as a burning and shining lamp: “He was a burning and shining lamp” (Jn 5:35). Jesus moved people with the fire of his merciful love. His zeal is “the zeal of self-giving love,” “the zeal of the cross” (Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, II, Holy Week, 22-23). After the co-traveler “sat at table with them, blessed and broke the bread, he [the Risen Lord] left them.” Then the two disciples to Emmaus realized that the traveler who had joined them on the road was the Risen Lord. Both commented: Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the Scriptures to us? (Lk 24:32).
Jesus’ amazing zeal was shown in two ways: first, by denouncing the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and scribes - for the sake of the multitude that was being misled by them. Jesus’ zeal was shown, second, by teaching as “one having power,” with authority (Mt 7:29); as one announcing the Kingdom, the Good News with compassion and zeal or passionate love. Christ’s doctrine is “the law of the spirit of life” (Rom 8:2), “written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart” (2 Cor 3:3) (cf. III, 42, 4, and 4 ad 2). (In question 42, part III of his Summa, Thomas asked himself on Christ’s doctrine and in four precious articles questions himself: on the preaching of Christ to the Jews first and not to the Gentiles; to the Jews without denouncing them; openly and/or secretly, and should Jesus had written a book of his doctrine - III, 42, aa. 1-4).
- ZEAL OF CHRISTIANS
The apostles’ zeal. The Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples on Pentecost. A strong wind filled the cenacle and tongues of fire rested on their heads (Acts 2:1-4): wind to carry the Good News everywhere; tongues, to preach the truth zealously; fire, to burn human selfishness and to warm up the heart with love (J. L. Martin Descalzo). Peter, the head of the apostles, is zealous for what is good (I Pet 3:13). Paul asks Christians “never be lacking in zeal”: “do not lack in zeal, be ardent in spirit, and serve the Lord” (Rom 12:11). The apostle of the Gentiles requests the Ephesians to pray for him “so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the Gospel” (Eph 6:19). And John in Revelation says to those who are lukewarm: “Be zealous and repent” (Rev 3:19).
The zeal of the First Christian Communities was characterized by their missionary dynamic enthusiasm, an enthusiasm grounded on holiness - on passionate love. Followers of the Name today proclaim Jesus, and try hard to do it with passion, with passionate love for him and for people.
Quotes to ruminate: “Only one who has fire within may fire up others” (St. Augustine). Truly, “a fire can only be lit by something that is itself on fire” (John Paul II, Ecclesia in Asia). “The day you no longer burn with love, many others will die of the cold” (St. Bonaventure). “If you are what you ought to be, you will set the whole world on fire” (St. Catherine of Siena). The Venerable Fulton Sheen, who always preached or taught standing – never seated: One cannot start a fire while seated.
To become a zealous preacher, one has to be in love with Jesus - enamored of him, and his Gospel.
- ZEALOUS PREACHERS
In Evangelii Nuntiandi, Paul VI asks: In our day, what has happened to that hidden energy of the Good News, which is able to have a powerful effect on man’s conscience? (EN 4). The Italian Pope wrote that the lack of fervor which “is manifested in fatigue, disenchantment, compromise, lack of interest, and above all lack of joy and hope,” is a great obstacle to evangelization. St. Paul VI appealed to evangelizers to preach with “the fervor of the greatest preachers,” the joyful fervor of the spirit, “an interior enthusiasm that nobody and nothing can quench” (EN 80), an enthusiasm that is the “delightful and comforting joy of evangelizing, even when it is in tears that we must sow (EN 6; cf. EG, 10).
Following his predecessors, Pope Francis underlines continually the need of zeal, enthusiasm, and joy in proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus. (The Argentine Pope has made of joy –gaudium – a banner of his pontificate). He cautions us: beware! It is striking that even some who clearly have solid doctrinal and spiritual convictions frequently fall into a life style which leads to an attachment to financial security, or to a desire for power, or human glory at all cost, rather than giving their lives to others in mission. Pope Francis adds: Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of missionary enthusiasm! (EG, 80). Enthusiasm is essential part of the evangelizing mission: preaching the Word with boldness, with enthusiasm, with fire – the fire of the Holy Spirit (cf. RM 45; Pope Francis, Gaudete et Exsultate, 129-133).
Missionary enthusiasm means living our Christian lives with zeal. To witness enthusiasm means living our Christian lives with loving zeal, “a zeal for souls” (cf. RM 89). John Paul II and Pope Francis have stressed continually the need of enthusiasm and fervor – zeal -, and joy in proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus. We do not forget, however, that “Without knowledge, even zeal is not good; and he who acts hastily blunders” (Prov 19:2). Zeal for souls is “a zeal inspired by Christ’s own charity, which takes the form of concern, tenderness, compassion, openness, availability and interest in people’s problems” (John Paul II, RM,\ 89).
Words to ponder: “How is it that there are not many who are led by sermons to forsake open sin? Do you know what I think? That it is because preachers have too much wordily wisdom. They are not like the apostles, flinging it all aside and catching fire with love for God; and so, their flame gives little heat” (St. Teresa of Avila, quoted by S. MacNutt, 22). “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Lk 6:45).
- ZEALOUS DOMINICAN PREACHERS.
According to one of the witnesses for the canonization process of Father Dominic, Ventura, St. Dominic was “so zealous for souls that he extended his charity and compassion not only to believers but also to unbelievers and pagans, and even to the damned in Hell, and he wept much for them, and was fervent in preaching and sending out others to preach” (In Tugwell, 47). Pope Francis: “Outstanding in his [Dominic’s] longing for the salvation of souls that led him to form a corps of committed preachers” (Letter to Dominicans, May 2021).
Jordan of Saxony was a great preacher. Blessed Jordan of Saxony tells us that a sermon of Reginald of Orleans prompted him to enter the Dominicans. He writes in his Libellus: “His fervent eloquence fired the hearts of all who heard it as if it has been a blazing torch; hardly anyone was rock-like enough to be proof against its heat. The whole of Bologna was in ferment” (Quoted by P. Murray, The New Wine of Dominican Spirituality, 136). In his preaching Jordan was gratiosus et fervens: “There was a marked enthusiasm in his delivery and a great aptness in everything he said.” In the Vitae Fratrum of Gerard of Franchet we read that the grace of preaching was given by the Lord to Blessed Jordan. Hence. Enthusiasm and fluency on the part of the preacher could be regarded as a sign of a grace of preaching (Tugwell, 72).
In a Prayer for Preachers given by God to Cistercian James of St. Galgano Dominicans pray: “Enlighten the hearts of your servants with the grace of the Holy Spirit and give them an eloquence that will set people on fire” (in old Dominican Missal; cf. Tugwell, 65). Humbert of Romans, the 5th Master General of the Order of Preachers says: Zeal for souls is the proper immediate source of preaching (Quoted in Edward M. Ruane OP, “The Spirituality of a Preacher,” In the Company of Preachers, 154; in Tugwell, 47). In different early texts on the Order, we are told that the first generations of Dominicans were characterized by their passionate fervor in preaching.
St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that “the Word of God is said to be fire because it illuminates, it inflames, and intimately penetrates, because it liquefies and it consumes the disobedient” (In Jeremiam, chapter 5; quoted by Cameron, 79).
Jerome Savonarola could not keep quiet: If I do not preach, I cannot live… I would like to be silent, not talking, but I cannot because the word of God burns in my soul as a flame, and if I do not put it out it will burn me inside my marrow and bones…. (cf. Alvaro Huerga, Savonarola. Reformador y profeta [Madrid: BAC, 1978], 100, 257; cf. Jer 20:8-9).
St. Vincent Ferrer says that to be a good preacher one has to be poor - poor in spirit, which means: to realize deeply our helplessness, unworthiness, and sinfulness. St. Catherine says that once we have really grasped that we are nothing, and God is everything, we can actually be glad in our nothingness” (By Tugwell, 45). With this radical poverty, we will be stirred by God (as Vincent was) with “wonderful enthusiasm.” Humbly convinced of his need of compassion and of God’s compassion with him, the preacher will in turn be compassionate with others, with his listeners. Moved by charity and compassion, the preacher – in the words of Humbert of Romans - will become more charitable and compassionate himself. St. Vincent Ferrer: “And consider also very carefully that it is not from yourself that you have any ability to achieve any good, or any grace, or any concern for virtue: Christ gave them to you out of sheer mercy and if he had wanted to, he could have left you in the mud and given them to someone else” (By Tugwell, 44; cf. Ib. 44-46). Charity, humility and poverty and indispensable prayer make our preaching zealous.
The famous Dominican preacher Henri Lacordaire says that “the first Dominicans - like many others - “had received in their hearts that wound [love] which has made all the saints eloquent. No orator can exist without this asset of a passionate soul.”
A good advice from a fellow preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon: Some ministers would make good martyrs. They are so dry, they would burn well (Quoted by Robert J. Wicks, Living a Gentle, Passionate Life, New York / Mahwah, New Jersey: Paulist Press, 1998).
Zeal, therefore, is an essential quality of Dominican preaching. Our formation is directed to learning to preach with zeal. Learning to preach is part of initial and permanent formation. On initial formation we read: “Vocational discernment: zeal for preaching in candidates is an undeniable criterion to vocational discernment” (RFG 1; ACGBH19, 180, a). The fundamental role of the whole Dominican formation is “to form a Dominican preacher” (cf. RFG, 1: ACGBH19, no. 180, b). At the beginning of the Order, the greatest and most efficient promotion of vocation was done through the life and preaching of the brothers: Dominic of Guzman, Jordan of Saxony, Reginald of Orleans, etc. (ACPA17, no. 96, p. 96). The Order’s Ratio Formationis Generalis reminds us: Our formation prepares preachers who will be zealous like the apostles and creative like the prophets (RFG, 29).
CONCLUSION
Dominicans are identified with the OP after their name: Order of Preachers. Preaching is their charism and their mission. Preaching is a grace (gratia praedicationis) and the preacher is a preacher of grace (praedicator gratiae). But, beware! “Though the grace of preaching comes principally from God’s gift, all the same a wise preacher ought to do all that he can to make sure that he preaches satisfactorily, by careful study of what he is to preach” (In Tugwell, 36).
Dominicans preach the truth in love: veritas in misericordia, or misericordia veritatis. They preach it with enthusiasm, with zeal, with joy. I remember the words composer Joaquin Rodrigo of Concierto de Aranjuez fame used to repeat to his students: “Music must move (conmover) people. If it does not, something is failing.” Likewise, preaching ought to move people to Jesus, the Good News of God. Otherwise, something is lacking! Perhaps a little more zeal and enthusiasm and passion and fire – and joy! No wonder that Dominican brothers and sisters recite daily a moving prayer invoking the Holy Spirit before the daily meditation: “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your love.” Every day, they pray for vocations and ask Jesus to send them; “holy and zealous preachers.”
Much is asked from the preachers. Little can they do by themselves. Generally, they try hard to witness what they preach. As sinners - like all others -, at times the preachers fail, and recognize their sins humbly and repentantly. Consoling words of a great preacher and homilist - and saint: “I do not preach as I should nor does my life follow the principles, I preach so inadequately… And yet the creator and redeemer of mankind can give me, unworthy though I be, the grace to see life whole and power to speak effectively of it. It is for love of him that I do not spare myself of preaching him” (St. Gregory the Great, Homilies on the Book of Ezequiel. Bk 1, 11, 4-6; in Office of Readings, 2nd, September 3).
And to conclude! A favorite text in our Dominican tradition, applied in the first place to our Father Dominic:
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation (Is 52:7) (FGB)