Deacon Steve Kramer preaches on the First Scrutiny for the Third Sunday in Lent, Year A, and reflects on how four summers shuttling people around gave him a crash-course in listening skills key to his development as a preacher.

Karla Bellinger teaches and coaches preachers—mostly ordained Catholic men—to give effective homilies. “Effective preaching is like good butter sinking into warm toast,” she says. “You’ve gotta give the Holy Spirit a little bit of time to do some work.”

Russell Pollitt S.J., shares with "Preach" host Ricardo da Silva, S.J., how he uses org charts for homily planning, and how his brother's suicide and presiding over the funeral of a drowned toddler led him to rethink his preaching style and theological framework.

When asked by host Ricardo da Silva, S.J., why he chose the message of “Welcome Home” and not to preach “in a heavier way,” to emphasize the penitential nature of the season, Cardinal Arthur Roche replies: “Well, because I think, really, that’s what Lent is all about.

The star led the Magi to Jerusalem, “as we are always taken to Jerusalem—because we must encounter the Scriptures of Israel,” says David Neuhaus, S.J. “It is from the Scriptures of Israel that they will receive the precise destination to which they are going—Bethlehem.”

On this week’s “Preach,” Yunan Frédéric shares with host Ricardo da Silva, S.J., his approach to preaching. “It’s like walking with a friend and talking together;” he says, “I am very much listening as well.