As the external, political life of the world needs the ordering provided by government, so does the inner life of the soul need the guidance of preaching. Alan of Lille defined preaching as a highly public activity which nonetheless seeks to reach deeply into the hidden recesses of the soul: Preaching is an open and public instruction in faith and behavior, whose purpose is the forming of men; it derives from the path of reason and from the fountainhead of the “authorities.” Preaching should be public,