Monthly Spiritual Message, May 2005
By Br Patrick Colbourne OFM Cap,
One of St Bonaventure’s most moving teachings concerns the manifold meanings contained in scripture. His teaching is a link in a chain of biblical commentators, particularly the fathers of the church, who were active readers of the text in that they persistently searched for its deepest meaning. When the study of the Bible became part of the University syllabus commentaries tended to become collectors of other people’s opinions and thus more academic in tone.
St Francis, who was no academic, belonged to the ranks of active readers of scripture who read the text and regarded it as God’s personal word for them and tried to see how to applied to their own lives. He did not do this on his own, or independently of the Church, and his biographers tells us that concerning the key passages that inspired his fundamental choices he sought the advice of the priest after Mass.
Perhaps the closest example of this in the Gospel itself is the story of the two men on the road to Emmaus. They mull over events trying to extract their meaning. They succeed finally only with the assistance of our Lord.
The story is a good indication of how we should not only look to the Bible but also to events in our lives in order to derive spiritual food for the journey.
It is not easy because as Bonaventure pointed out there are manifold meanings in any passage or event. One aid in the pursuit of meaning is to read how others interpreted God’s word. More and more Franciscan commentators are appearing in English, for example, Father Campion’s translation of The Angel’s Greeting to Mary by Conrad of Saxony, and Father Tom Murtagh’s Peter Olivi’s Matthew Commentary, but we can also witness the process by looking at characters in scripture itself.
For example, if we look at St Peter we see a person who matures spiritually from someone who knew all the answers, passing through a guilt-ridden fall and emerging as a humble but courageous follower of Christ. When we approach what he has to say in scripture we start to look for his wisdom. After the Resurrection Peter appears in print in the Acts when speaking to the people, who are also seeking to interpret events in a very significant week, and in his own Letters.
In Peter’s speeches and Letters, and also incidentally in the conversation at Emmaus, there are some points that are repeated and which form the core to grasp the meaning of Christ’s death and resurrection. Peter (Acts 2: 22-28) describes Christ as “This man, who was put into your power by the deliberate intention and foreknowledge of God”. Telling the story of Emmaus St Luke (Lk 24
13-35) reports Christ as saying: “Was it not ordained that the Christ should suffer
and so enter into his glory?” Peter (1 Peter 1: 17-21) continues “but God raised
him” and though this made known to me the meaning of life. Peter (1 Peter 1: 17-21) who was brought up a Jew, and whose life had to make sense of the changes that took place in the New Testament, exhorts the new Christians to “remember the ransom that was paid to free you from the useless way of life your ancestors handed down”. He concludes that what we see happening in Christ is the basis of our faith in God, the philosophy of our life and the key to the meaning of our existence.
To draw such conclusions Peter has had to have been an active reader of the text and of the events. What is more his activity was enlightened by faith for such insight is only possible for those who approach the word of God in prayer convinced that there they will find God’s message for them. Academic approaches which provide translations, establish a critical text, reveal the author and the history surrounding the events are merely preparations for the feast.
As we read scripture we become aware of many different levels of interpretation all within the bounds of orthodoxy. There will be a strictly historical meaning for the events, a doctrinal meaning showing what we should believe, a moral meaning, showing what we should do and a prophetic meaning showing what we are to hope for. Active readers explore all of these meanings.
If we delve into Franciscan biblical literature we are faced with a rich and rewarding variety of approaches and interpretations. Francis uses a predominantly historical and literal approach perhaps because he confines himself mainly to the Gospels. Friars in the first generation who came out of the Universities of both Paris and Oxford are more inclined to play with allegory. With divisions in the Order regarding the Rule and its observance and interpretation came various interpretations of scripture passages in support of a particular position. Olive, for example interprets the story of the Unmerciful Servant (Mt. 18: 23-35) in the context of the history of his times. He sees the thousand talents as representing creation, the inability to meet the debt as the fall, the servant begging for mercy as the patriarchs longing for Christ, the forgiving King as Christ, the cruelty of the unmerciful servant as shepherds in the last age of the church and the distress of his fellow servants as the piety of spiritual men who bear grief over the loss of simple faith.
However, in spite of human divisions what always remained constant was the conviction that God speaks to me in his word and if I want to understand life that is where I must look for the key. It is this attitude that should motivate us as active followers of St Francis who stated that his Rule was the Gospel. In spite of the risk of some flights of fantasy let us never give up wrestling with the word of God to extract his message for us. Even if moments of illumination are few and far between they will be contact with God.
Patrick Colbourne O.F.M.Cap.
S. F. O. National Spiritual Assistant
