Only ordained ministers may preach the homily during Mass

snip…

“…the Holy Mass is an act of the whole Body of Christ, a body that is ordered and structured in a particular way. And within that Body is found the ordained cleric, a man set aside by ordination for sacred service at the altar and to be a kind of living icon of Christ the Great High Priest within the sacred liturgy, or in the case of the deacon, a living icon of Christ the Servant.

The homily, in which the ordained minister is called upon to “[explain] the mysteries of faith and the norms of Christian life . . . from the sacred text during the course of the liturgical year” (Canon 767), is meant to be a manifestation of that living icon, even as the natural abilities of the ordained minister may be quite limited.” – Father John Paul Erickson

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