Freedom in reading the Scriptures

I have recently been reminded, twice, of a thought that I not infrequently mull over. That thought relates to how one approaches Sacred Scripture as a Catholic. The reading of Scripture within the life of the Catholic Church's tradition and teaching authority at first sight suggests a serious restriction to how an individual Catholic, be they an ordinary member of the faithful or a Scripture scholar, may read the Scriptural text. But what I mull over from time to time is the thought that, though the life of the Church does define how some passages of Scripture are to be understood (for example, on the office of the successor of St Peter and the institution of the Eucharist), these passages are relatively few compared to the entirety of the Scriptural canon, and there is enormous freedom with regard to how much of the Scriptural text can be understood. The Catholic, who reads Scripture in the framework of the tradition and teaching authority, therefore actually has much more freedom in relationship with the text than the Evangelical Christian, whose only source of the content of faith is the text alone and whose relationship to the text is make-or-break on every question.

The first reminder came in a conversation with a lady I have only recently come to know. Over a lunch break, she steered conversation very quickly from asking whether or not I was a believer via the recent decision of the Methodist Church in the UK to allow same sex marriage to asking whether or not I thought the Catholic Church would give in on the issue as well. I pointed out that the arrangements which give the Holy See an existence as an independent state as well as a universal authority of faith protects the Church at a local level from political and social influences that might affect other ecclesial bodies - even if local bishops wanted to give in on the issue, they wouldn't be able to do so. But what struck me was this lady's very brief observation that same sex marriage was against Biblical teaching, which suggested that no other authority sat behind her belief on this question than that. The lady in question did not appear to recognise an insecurity that exists in that basis.

The second reminder came in the homily at Mass this last Sunday. Preaching on St John's account of the feeding of the 5 000, a visiting priest suggested that Jesus' intention in performing this sign was to teach the necessity for the Christian life of caring for the material needs of our neighbour. Noting St John's statement that the event occurred "shortly before the Jewish feast of passover", Father suggested that St John was putting this sign into the context of the first passover, where the Jewish people were to enter the desert with the need there for them to receive earthly nourishment. Father saw this as a first stage in St John's presentation of Jesus teaching, with the later parts of the chapter of his Gospel building up in steps from this first stage. This is not the customary Catholic reading of the text and its parallels in the other Gospels. The more usual reading sees in it, perhaps particularly in St John's Gospel, a sign of the abundance of the Eucharistic gift to the Church (cf Catechism of the Catholic Church n.1335, but see also n.1397, where commitment to the poor is indicated as one of the fruits of reception of the Sacrament). There is a question about the wisdom or otherwise of offering such an unusual interpretation (from the Catholic point of view) during a homily at Sunday Mass in a parish and in the context of a sequence of Sunday Gospel readings that are essentially eucharistic in their intent; but, if that question is put to one side, the interpretation lies within, but perhaps at the boundaries, of the range of freedom that a Catholic exegete has with respect to the Scriptural text.

Novena for Pentecost: Baptism in the Spirit and prayer, Scripture and the Sacraments

People who have been baptised in the Spirit typically manifest a great love for Scripture, expressed in Bible studies and an anxiety to read the Scriptures in order to discover a relevance that can guide in every day life. Teaching is often strongly biblical in character. Again, while this faithfulness to Scripture is a feature of the Renewal, it also reflects something that can be seen in the wider life of the Church - for example the "Gospel Questions and Inquiries" of Fr Bernard Basset SJ, with their "see, judge, act" structure, and the meditations of the Spiritual Exercises.

Alongside this faithfulness to Scripture there is also a renewed awareness of the presence of Christ in the sacraments of the Church, particularly the sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist. Attending Mass and participating in prayer in the presence of the Eucharist are features of the Renewal. Again, the growth in Eucharistic Adoration and the frequenting of the Sacrament of Penance can be seen in other aspects of Catholic life, the events of recent World Youth Days being a prominent example.

For many, certainly in the early days, the main means of contact with the Renewal was through taking part in the regular meetings of a local prayer group. This is an event that moves the experience of prayer to less a matter of routine (though, in itself, that is not a bad thing) towards more a spontaneous response of love and gratitude to God and a confidence in his grace in providing for all our needs.

If we want to understand how Baptism in the Spirit gives rise to a particular style of life in the Church, it is important to place all three of these elements (appreciation of Scripture, sacramental life, prayer group) together and to see, for example, the life of a prayer group in its orientation towards the liturgical celebrations in which its members also participate. 

Light of the Nations

When the Catechism the Catholic Church talks about the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation (nn.1423-1424), it explains several different names for the Sacrament, each of which brings out a different aspect of the Sacrament.

Today's feast day has what one might call the informal title of  "Candlemas", which draws attention to the symbolism of light that is part of what the feast day celebrates. It also draws attention to the Liturgical symbolism of the candle, as a sign of the light of Christ. The formal title in the Liturgy of the "Presentation of the Lord" points more transparently to the Scriptural texts that are at the root of the celebration of the feast day. The two titles are, of course, not contradictory to each other.

One of the striking things about the hymns for Morning Prayer/Lauds contained in the Latin texts of the Liturgy of the Hours is the way in which they make use of the symbolism of darkness and daylight. As a prayer particularly associated with the moment of dawn that is the also the moment of the Resurrection of the Lord, though not always prayed literally at that time, the hymns often make reference to the coming of daylight overcoming or displacing the darkness of night. The symbolism represents the overcoming of the darkness of sin by the light of Christ, and the experience is one of using the every day repeated natural phenemenon of dawn to remind the one who prays of the conquest of sin by the Resurrection of Christ. (Similarly, a character of the office of Night Prayer is to see the coming of night as a sign of the death and burial of Christ, with a looking forward to his Resurrection at dawn.) Not infrequently, the hymns also go on to call the one who prays to conversion of life, to live out the turning away from darkness towards light, interceding for protection from sin and temptation. As is the intention of the Liturgy of the Hours, the prayers sanctify that particular moment of the day by drawing attention to its meaning for the life of grace.

Today's feast day has its analogue every day in the prayer of Morning Prayer/Lauds.

It is, of course, also the World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life (see here and here). I might not make it to Mass today, so if you can, do go for me!

Three takes on authority

And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority...

These words from the Gospel at Mass yesterday (Mark 1:21-28) provide a kind of strap-line that prompts several thoughts on authority.

The homily that I heard at Mass rather mischievously suggested that perhaps Pope Benedict had sent a goodwill message to Rev. Ian Paisley on his retirement from full time preaching. It pointed out that Rev. Paisley had founded his own church, the Free Presbyterian Church, some sixty odd years ago. In the Roman Catholic Church, however, the successors of St Peter have taught Christian truth with authority for over two thousand years.

In his Angelus address, the present successor of St Peter, Pope Benedict XVI contrasted the authority of power with the authority of service:

 "For man", the Holy Father observed, "authority often means possession, power, dominion, success. For God, however, authority means service, humility, love. It means entering into the logic of Jesus Christ Who leans down to wash the feet of His disciples, Who seeks man's authentic good, Who heals wounds, Who is capable of a love so great as to give His life, because He is Love. ...

And the meditation in Magnificat for yesterday was taken from the writings of Mgr Luigi Giussani, founder of the movement Communion and Liberation. The italics are in the original, and reflect an aspect of how Communion and Liberation articulates its charism.

In our particular milieu some individuals have a greater sensitivity to the human experience; in fact they develop a deeper understanding fo any given situation and of others; in fact they are more likely to influence the movement that builds a community. They live our experience more intensely and with a greater commitment. We all feel that they are more representative of us. With them we feel closer to, and stay more willingly in community with, others. To acknowledge this phemenon is to be loyal to our own humanity, a duty spurred by wisdom.

When we discover ourselves helpless and alone, our humanity spurs us to come together. If we meet someone who better feels and understands our experience, suffering, needs, and expectations, we naturally are led to follow that person and become his or her disciple. In that sense, such persons naturally constitute authority.... The Jews said of Christ: "This is one who has authority" and they abandoned the schemes of the Pharisees to follow him.

Become one Body one Spirit in Christ: Behold the Lamb of God

It is a little while since I posted anything from the DVD resource Become One Body One Spirit in Christ, the resource prepared to support the introduction of the new English translation of the Roman Missal.

If you follow the path Receiving this English translation to Changes to the Roman Missal Text and then to the section on the Rite of Communion, you will find the part of the resource that treats of the invitation to the people to come to Communion.

The currently used text reads:

This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Happy are those who are called to his supper.

The revised translation coming into use in Autumn 2011 reads:

Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the Supper of the Lamb.

This is not by any means the only example, but it is a very good example of two things about the new translations. The first thing is what one might call a "spirit of faithfulness" to the Liturgical text as it is received in the original Latin, rather than a sense that it has been re-written from the original. This is reflected in both the closeness of the translation to the original text, and in the way in which the rhythm/structure of the original is reproduced. The second thing is the way in which the new translation makes transparent the Scriptural reference contained in the text. As the DVD resource points out, the first sentence is taken from the encounter of John the Baptist who points out Jesus as the Lamb of God (Jn 1:29) and the second from the account of the marriage feast of the Lamb in the Book of Revelation (Rev. 19:9).

Each of these Scriptural references allows the faithful to "enter into" the moment in which they are called to receive Holy Communion (or to make a spiritual communion if they are not able to recieve sacramentally). The first invites us to look on the Sacred Host as Jesus, in just the same way that John the Baptist invites us to look upon Jesus in the biblical text. It also highlights for us the salvific significance of receiving the Eucharist, which receiving washes away our sins (this being the sign value of Holy Communion received under both kinds). The second invites us to see the moment of Holy Communion as being a moment when we are taken into that communion and feast of the Lamb that, represented in the celebration here on earth, takes place in heaven. The commentary on the DVD suggests that it should also make us reflect on the possibility that not all are called to take part in the supper of the Lamb. This can be seen as a "negative" - there are some who will not be called to the supper of the Lamb - or it can be seen as a "positive". As a "positive", it leads us to reflect on the notion of "election", of our being chosen by the Father in the Son, a choosing which has its ecclesial component and its individual component. A passage from Francois Mauriac which appeared in Magnificat as the "Meditation of the Day" for 13th May 2011, reflecting on the Gospel reading from John 6:52-59, captures something of this:

[There is a] mysterious mingling of conflicting feelings in the man who is about to receive Holy Communion: fear and confidence, open-heartedness and remorse, shame and love. The small Host which the sinner approaches throws an impartial and terrible light on irretrievable deeds: on that which he has done, on that which he should not have refrained from doing. No man knows himself if he has not looked at his soul in the light of the Host lifted above the ciborium ..

For the life of me, I cannot see any difficulty that the lay faithful will have in using the new translation (apart from the inevitable hiccups that will occur as they get used to the change). The line of catechesis indicated above is quite accessible and communicable - what is the purpose of the homily, after all - to the faithful.

But it will all go pear shaped, and its richness be undermined, if the priest in the parish feels able to continue his ad-libbed insertions, changes etc. The spirit of faithfulness intrinsic to the text itself will need to be put into practice, and the celebrating priest has a particular responsibility in this regard!

Can a Christian pray with the Koran?

The title is a bit provocative, suggesting as it does that a Christian might use the Koran for prayer in a kind of substitution for the Bible. That isn't what this post is really about.

Fr Christian de Cherge was the prior of the Cistercian monastery at Tibhirine, in Algeria, and was one of the seven monks of that monastery who were killed in 1996. The story of the events at the monastery is the subject of the film Des hommes et des Dieux. I am currently reading - extremely slowly - a study of Fr de Cherge's theology and experience of Moslem-Catholic dialogue. A chapter of this book is dedicated to "The reading of the Koran". For Christian de Cherge, the reading and study of the Koran formed part of his particular vocation in the Church; it arises from his specific charism rather than because he felt that it was something every Catholic should do. However, his understanding of what this involved is very carefully articulated, and very nuanced.

Christian de Cherge frequently wrote that he underook lectio divina with the Koran. When this is put into the context of the monastic life of a Cistercian community, it is important to realise that this was not a replacement of meditation on the Biblical texts by meditation on texts of the Koran. It should perhaps be more accurately seen as something undertaken alongside the more conventional Christian lectio divina. Fr de Cherge characterised the Koran as

..that which the other has received for their own ("en propre", in the original French) to support in them the taste for God...

Christian's articulation of the place that the non-Christian religions have in the design of God, and in relation to Christian faith, is quite careful. In his thought, and in his lived experience, he is not able to discern what is that design, but he looks forward to its being revealed to him when he enters heaven. So when he writes of the Koran as being "received" by Moslems he does not assert that the Koran is a supernatural gift to them but is instead recognising that in the mysterious disposition of God it is something that they possess for their good.

Christian is also clear that the Koran is a book that belongs to Moslems as their own proper possession and that, though a Christian might read, study and meditate upon it, they should not appropriate it. This has an aspect of respect towards the properly Moslem text; but it also says clearly that the Koran, as the sacred writings of the Moslem religion, should not be put on the same footing as the Bible, the sacred writings of the Christian religion. The two scriptures should not be confounded with each other, something that can be said from both the Christian side and from the Moslem side. In a very nuanced phrase, Christian could consider the Koran as having "an original link to the Totally-Other", though he is not able to fully describe the nature of that link. But he never wishes to give to the Koran and the Bible any sense of equivalence.

This has an implication for the way in which Christian de Cherge uses the text of the Koran and the text of the Bible. He reads them "side-by-side", and does not compare and contrast them to give one text a value over and above the other. Where he uses a text from the Koran that has a parallel to a text from the Bible, Christian in effect comments on both of the two texts, using the Koranic text to provide a comment on the Biblical text and vice-versa; he lets the two texts co-respond to each other. In this way he is neither offering a Christian interpretation of the Koran nor a Koranic interpretation of the Bible. The French title of a section of this chapter captures this in the word "L'intertextualite" - inter-textuality.

Christian writes that he experienced at times a sense of hearing the Word as he meditated upon the Koran, a charismatic sense of the presence of God in the words that he was reading. Again, to make sure that we understand this essentially charismatic gift - Christian is in no way asserting that the Koran is a supernatural revelation, only that it has enabled him, in the context of his unique vocation in the Church, to experience the Word of God - we have to place it in the context of Christian's understanding of the place of the Moslem religion within the design of God referred to above. Christian can write that the Moslem and the Christian have in common an experience of the Word of God; but, for the Christian, that Word is incarnate in the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, whereas, for the Moslem, that Word is the written word of the Koran. For both, the Word is One and Unique.

What would Christian de Cherge's answer be to the question posed in the title of this post? If the question means using the Koran as a source of texts for use in Christian prayer, and in particular in the Liturgy, I think he would answer "No". This would represent the appropriation of the Koranic text by the Christian believer and, from the Christian point of view, an inappropriate substitution of that which is properly Christian (the Bible) by that which really belongs to Moslems. If the question means that Christians should gain an experience of the Koran as part of their engagement in Moslem-Christian inter-religious dialogue, then the answer might be "Yes".

Her Majesty's Christmas Broadcast: the King James Bible

"The Queen speaks about building communities through religion and sport during her annual 'Queen's Speech'." This is how the official website of the British Monarchy trailed this year's Christmas Broadcast. Much of the media coverage picked up on the "sport" and didn't give much attention to the "religion", though this might have been the result of the emphasis of the Monarchy's own advance coverage.

For the record, the full text of Her Majesty's Christmas Day Broadcast can be found here, and the video version here (yes, HM is on youtube). The video version includes clips of young people reading extracts from the nativity stories in the King James version of the Bible, that are absent from the written text.

I found the Queen's remarks about the King James version of the Bible interesting. Indeed, the recording of the Broadcast at Hampton Court was precisely because that was the location of the conference in 1604 at which the suggestion of a new English translation of the Bible was made.

Here at Hampton Court in 1604, he [James I of England and VI of Scotlnad] convened a conference of churchmen of all shades of opinion to discuss the future of Christianity in this country. The King agreed to commission a new translation of the Bible that was acceptable to all parties. This was to become the King James or Authorized Bible, which next year will be exactly four centuries old.

Acknowledged as a masterpiece of English prose and the most vivid translation of the scriptures, the glorious language of this Bible has survived the turbulence of history and given many of us the most widely-recognised and beautiful descriptions of the birth of Jesus Christ which we celebrate today.

The account of this same conference in Christopher Lee's book This Sceptred Isle, based on a BBC radio series of some years ago, is as follows. Lee's quotation is from Winston Churchill's history of Great Britain:

The bishops, fearful that the Puritan leaders would have their way with the new King, came up with a plan to load the forthcoming conference with moderate Puritan speakers rather than zealots. The result was a few changes with which the bishops could agree, certain disappointments for the Puritan leaders, but most of all, a declaration that brought non-conformist minsiters into some sort of line. There were few moments of accord in that conference; but the leader of the Puritan delegation, Dr John Reynolds, came up with a suggestion that particularly gained the King's attention, and whose results have had a lasting effect.

"Reynolds, President of the Oxford College of Corpus Christi, had asked, seemingly on the spur of the moment, if a new version of the Bible could be produced. The idea appealed to [King] James. Till now the clergy had relied on a number of different translations ... Each party and sect used the version which best suited its own views and doctrines"

Churchill observes that the resulting King James Bible "won an immediate and lasting triumph ...This may be deemed James's greatest achievement, for the impulse was largely his".

As the Queen observes, the intention of this translation was to produce a version of the Bible that was acceptable for use by Christians of differing shades of opinion in the England and Scotland of the time. In this sense it had a fundamental intention of working towards unity among Christians. In that light, the methodology adopted is interesting. According to Christopher Lee, again quoting Winston Churchill:

Tendentious renderings were forbidden, and marginal notes or glosses were prohibited except for cross references or to explain the meaning of Greek or Hebrew words which were difficult to translate. About three years passed in preliminary research, and the main work did not get under way till 1607.

The work was undertaken by 6 committees or "companies", two in Oxford, two in Cambridge and two in London. Each "company", a total of some 50 scholars and divines, was allocated a different part of the text to translate. The work of each company was scrutinised by the other companies, and then the whole text scrutinised by supervisory committee. At a time when there was no e-mail or internet (or, as Churchill points out, no official postal service or mechanical method of copying and duplicating texts) the companies finished their work between 1607 and 1609. [Aside: perhaps ICEL can learn something ...]

At a time when the place of religion in public life is very much a hot topic, one can see in the text of Her Majesty's broadcast the discretion that is typical of Queen Elizabeth. The section of the Christmas Broadcast referring to the place of sport in building communities was to be read, I think, in the context of the preparations for the 2012 Olympic Games. One can see the resonance between this and a contemporary political agenda, and the particular contribution that the Royal Family makes to this through the Commonwealth, and the Commonwealth Games in particular. A very discrete sentence at the end of the Queen's Broadcast asserts a place for religious belonging in society as whole, and a quotation from the King James version offers a suggestion of the contribution of Christianity to the common good:

People are capable of belonging to many communities, including a religious faith.
‘Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should to do to you, do ye even so to them’.

Roman Catholics were the target of legal penalty and religious persecution at the time that the King James version was produced, and so played no part in its production. With the development of an ecumenical sensitivity, we might now look back and see the unifying intent of the King James version as being flawed because of this exclusion of Catholics from its preparation. So what should our attitude to the 400th anniversary of the King James version be?

Whilst recognising that the anniversary is one that belongs particularly to the Established Church, and to the non-conformist tradition from which the suggestion for the new translation of the Bible came, I do think we should be willing to celebrate the anniversary as representing the presence of the Christian heritage of our lands in the present day. I think we can, too, give recognition to the move towards unity among other Christians that it represented, even though Catholics were not a part of its preparation. We might celebrate the anniversary by familiarising ourselves with the King James Bible's accounts of the key events of the Christian mystery - Christmas, Holy Week and Easter, and Pentecost. I think we can also recognise the beauty and splendour of the language of the translation. I cannot see why a Catholic parish should not, at some time during the anniversary year, use the texts of the King James Bible as a basis for a celebration of those three key events of the Christian mystery.

Catholic Analysis also comments on the King James version.

Liturgy and the Analogy of Scripture

I would be surprised if it is only "recent work" that has brought the Biblical echoes of our Latin liturgical texts to light (my reading of Louis Bouyer alone suggests otherwise), though it might well only be recently that it has become a common awareness among those active in liturgical debate; and it is not so much a "new version" of the Missal as a new English translation that is due for publication and implementation. But with those caveats, this letter in The Tablet this week coincides very well with the quotation from n.52 of Verbum Domini (pdf has numbering, on-line version not), Pope Benedict's apostolic exhortation on Scripture, that follows it:

In the 1960's and early 1970's , when the current translation of the Roman Missal was being produced, it was widely believed among scholars that the language of the Bible had hardly influenced the prayer of the Roman Rite.... Recent work has shown that our Latin liturgical texts are permeated through and through by Biblical echoes, many of which are too subtle to have caught the attention of translators in a hurry. A principal aim of liturgical translation now must be to catch these echoes and pass them on to the People of God. That in itself is enough reason to make a new version of the Missal desirable.

Every liturgical action is by its very nature steeped in sacred Scripture. In the words of the Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium, “ sacred Scripture is of the greatest importance in the celebration of the liturgy. From it are taken the readings, which are explained in the homily and the psalms that are sung. From Scripture the petitions, prayers and liturgical hymns receive their inspiration and substance. From Scripture the liturgical  actions and signs draw their meaning ”.

The passage from Verbum Domini that first caught my attention, though, was that n.7, entitled "The analogy of the word of God". This passage describes the different ways in which we speak of the "word of God":

The Synod Fathers pointed out that human language operates analogically in speaking of the word of God.

I think we can extend this idea of analogy to the realm of catechesis, and in particular, catechesis in preparation for receiving the Sacrament of the Eucharist for the first time. Such catechesis should have as its purpose and vehicle an education about and for the celebration of the Eucharistic liturgy. But if our catechetical methodology is going to be based on an idea of analogy - that is, of using the language and experience that young people already have as the starting point to introduce a language and experience of the Liturgical celebration - it is important that the analogy used is the correct analogy.

I am not convinced that the analogy used in much of our First Holy Communion catechesis is actually the right one. Does the analogy of "belonging to my family" really communicate the full idea of Baptism, whose relevance to a First Communion programme is its being the first step of Christian initiation that reaches its fulfilment in Eucharistic Communion? Does "saying thank you to others" really express the idea of the Eucharist as "thanksgiving" in its fullest sense of praise and blessing offered to God? And, perhaps most fundamentally, does the idea of Communion as a "special meal", even if qualified by that term "sacred", really capture the idea of Communion as the "heavenly banquet"?

I would suggest, in the light of the two citations above, that our First Communion catechesis needs to replace the "analogy of every day life" with what might be termed an "analogy of Sacred Scripture". This is not quite the same idea as the "analogy of the word of God" as treated in n.7 of Verbum Domini, but it is suggested or indicated by it and is related to it. This analogy would give young people an account of the Liturgy in terms of the relevant passages of Sacred Scripture from which its texts are drawn, and so communicate a true idea of the Liturgy. It would be the correct analogy to use, rather than a misleading one.

Does the Fatherhood of God matter?

We have recently listened to the parable of the Prodigal Son, as the Gospel for the fourth Sunday of Lent (Year C). The Gospel passage is Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 (you will need to scroll down to Chapter 15).

Thinking Faith, the Jesuit on-line journal, published The Prodigal Father - A Postmodern Homily, commenting on this parable. An original version of the article was published in New Blackfriars, from which I assume that it reflects a line of thought that is abroad in wider theological circles.

At a first reading, this article appears very plausible; it is only a careful reading that enables one to see - and critique - its methodological and theological content. At heart, I believe that it expresses a rejection of the idea of God as Father, a rejection that has serious implications.

Firstly, the questions of methodology. It is certainly the case that a parable from Scripture might speak to our present day situation in a way that has not been the case in the previous life of the Church, and so we might interpret it in a different way. This can be considered as a principle of development of doctrine, in the sense that John Henry Newman would intend, and the encounter of the parable with novel circumstances is something that he would see as prompting such a development. But such a development would be subject to judgement against the seven "notes of genuine development of an Idea" that are delineated in Newman's Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine: preservation of its type, continuity of its principle, a power of assimiliation, logical sequence, anticipation of its future, conservative action upon its past and a chronic vigour. When one reads the first paragraph of Desmond Ryan's article; recognises the methodological twist of the reference to "transactional analysis" in the fifth paragraph; and sees how the vertical/horizontal contrasting in the seventh and eighth paragraphs is presented to caricature different caring/cared for relationships; there is a question as to whether or not the methodology really does represent that of a development of doctrine with regard to the parable. There is not a preservation of type or conservative action upon its past in Desmond Ryan's understanding of the parable.

A second methodological question is very subtly hidden in the article. This is a question about the attitude that one holds towards the content of revelation. The attitude of faith is one of receptivity, of being open to receive what is given in Scripture and the life of the Church. This is not to deny the possibilities of development - see above - but it is to have a certain trust that what is received is genuinely of faith. The phrases (my emphasis added) "hence Christians have constructed this man as a model for God", "We need to push our way back into the story and leave this old moral behind" and "scripture must be reclaimable by all, even by the men and women of this age of suspicion" subtly betray the author's attitude of being closed towards what is received. This parable is received as a parable about the Fatherhood of God, and any development needs to respect that.

One needs to note that the "pathological" forms - priests infantilising their congregations, teachers ignoring the developmental needs of their children etc - cited by Desmond Ryan are not examples of dependent relationships that are normal. They are precisely "pathological" because a priest who does infantilise his congregation is not being a good priest (father), a teacher who ignores the needs of their children is not being a good teacher (father). These examples represent bad "fatherhood" as if it is normal "fatherhood". Most priests do not infantilise their congregations and most teachers do not ignore the needs of their pupils.

The rejection of the idea of dependence in relationships by Desmond Ryan is problematic.

As creatures, we have a fundamental dependence on God, and this is expressed by our recognising God as our Father. It is the acceptance of this dependence by the returning son which makes him a model for us; it is its rejection by the second son which leads the father in the parable to issue to him a call for conversion, a conversion that the first son has already experienced. This fatherhood is what we experience in the life of the Church - the ministry of the priest, of the bishop, of the teacher etc - when that is lived out to its best. This relationship of dependence to God is, at root, rejected by Desmond Ryan in favour self-reliance. It is a rejection of the Fatherhood of God.

There is, however, an interesting aspect of Desmond Ryan's article that I think is worthy of further development. There is the terribly ironic attack on the "dominance ... of fatherhood over brotherhood .." in the penultimate paragraph - which seems to miss the point that the relationship of brotherhood that is praised has its origins in the common relationship of fatherhood which is attacked. Desmond Ryan's opposition of vertical and horizontal is clearly false, based on the idea that fatherhood is purely vertical and does not give rise to the horizontal relationship. It is case of a Christian "both/and", not an "either/or". What would be interesting would be to develop a reading of the parable of the Prodigal Son in the light of the Old Testament sibling rivalries to which Desmond Ryan refers in his fourth paragraph. Both sons encounter a conversion to their Father, the first living it in his return home the second receiving it as a call from the Father to join the feast. Could something of this also be seen in the Old Testament stories?

A portion of Isaiah

I had reason yesterday to visit some patients in the hospital near where I live (actually, I can see the hospital from my back windows). This is the passage of Scripture that I shared with a couple of the Christian patients I met. It is Isaiah 58:8-9a, and I chose it becaue of its appropriateness to the Advent/Christmas season.

Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall be your protection.  Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, Here I am.

Another passage that I sometimes use is the following, from Revelation 22:1-2, a passage to be found almost at the very end of the New Testament:

Then he showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

There is a stained glass window in the hospital chapel which shows the leaves of the tree of life, which is why I use this passage.

Benedict XVI: a reform of Biblical Exegesis

The January/February issue of FAITH Magazine has an article by Fr Marcus Holden entitled Beyond Historical Criticism - Pope Benedict XVI and the Reform of Biblical Exegesis. It isn't yet on their website.

In the context of Benedict XVI's book Jesus of Nazareth, Fr Holden identifies two key elements of a renewal of Biblical exegesis in the work of Pope Benedict.

The first is to purify the historical-critical method itself. ... There is no reason why we cannot conduct perfectly rigorous and impartial historical research on the history of ancient peoples and texts while believing at the same time in God, providence and divine inspiration...

A second way towards solving our exegetical crisis [is] to revive a truly theological exegesis as exhibited by the Fathers of the Church ....Almost all the Fathers of the Church, to a greater or lesser extent, employed in their writings a particular method of scriptural exegesis which they believed to have been established by the Lord Jesus himself and passed down through the Apostles. This method uncovers a "mystical meaning" of the Scriptures founded on God's perfect plan for the history and salvation of the world. This "mystical meaning" came to be called the spiritual sense of Scripture ... The spiritual sense pertains to the Christological significance of the persons, objects, events, images and symbols referred to by the human authors of the Bible. These significations are not extrinsically or retrospectively applied by rather God himself has established them in his far reaching providence.

This two-fold exegetical strategy is not just apparent in Jesus of Nazareth. It is also apparent in Pope Benedict's homilies and pastoral addresses. The General Audience address for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, with its exegesis of the passage from Ezekiel, is a good example of this. The strategy has a couple of interesting consequences. Sometimes a homily dedicated to the readings of the Mass can end up doing little more than just repeating the reading itself. There is no danger of that with Pope Benedict, as the historical aspect of the exegesis "adds" to the text of the reading itself, as does the presentation of the "spiritual sense". A second consequence, though, is a quite delightful beauty in the exposition of the Scriptural passage, a certain sense of "newness" which makes you feel that, even if the passage is very familiar, you have just heard it for the first time. It is not, therefore, just academically effective; it is also profoundly effective at a pastoral level.

The Final Message of the Synod of Bishops on the Word of God: Part 4

Herewith my last set of notes for the series on the Final Message of the Synod. As I indicate in the "Points to Note", I feel that it is important to read this last section in the light of the preceding sections of the Final Message. Without that context, it appears excessively optimistic, particularly in its approach of the Word of God to other religions.

The Final Message Section 4: Scripture and evangelisation

The last section of the Synod Message presents five different ways in which the Sacred Scriptures can be brought into encounter with the contemporary world. [1]

Modern means of communication:

. .. the voice of the divine word must echo even through the radio, the information highway of the internet, the channels of "on line" virtual circulation, CDs, DVDs, podcasts, etc. It must appear on all television and movie screens, in the press, and in cultural and social events.This new communication, in relationship to the traditional one, has created its own specific and expressive grammar and, therefore, makes it necessary not only to be technically prepared, but also culturally prepared for this task. In an age dominated by images put forward, in particular, by hegemonic means of communication such as television, the privileged model of Christ is still meaningful and evocative today. He would turn to the sign, the story, the example, the daily experience, the parable…[2]

The family:

The family, enclosed between the domestic walls with its joys and sufferings, is a fundamental space where the word of God is to be allowed to enter….

Therefore, every home should have its own Bible and safeguard it in a visible and dignified way, to read it and to pray with it …. In particular, the new generations, children and youth, should be the ones receiving an appropriate and specific pedagogy that leads them to experience the fascination of the figure of Christ, opening the door of their mind and their heart, as well as through the encounter with and authentic witness of adults, the positive influence of friends and the great company of the ecclesial community.[3]

The poor:

…the Christian has the mission to announce this divine word of hope, by sharing with the poor and the suffering, through the witness of his faith in the kingdom of truth and life, of holiness and grace, of justice, of love and peace, through the loving closeness that neither judges nor condemns, but that sustains, illuminates, comforts and forgives, following the words of Christ: "Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest" (Mt 11:28).[4]

Dialogue with other religions and with those of no religious faith:

the divine word generates for us Christians an equally intense encounter with the Jewish people, who are intimately bound through the common recognition and love for the Scripture of the Old Testament and because from Israel "so far as physical descent is concerned, came Christ" (Rm 9:5)…. ). We, also as Christians are invited, along the roads of the world - without falling into a syncretism that confuses and humiliates our own spiritual identity, to enter into dialogue with respect towards men and women of the other religions, who faithfully hear and practice the directives of their sacred books, starting with Islam, which welcomes many biblical figures, symbols and themes in its tradition, and which offers the witness of sincere faith in the One, compassionate and merciful God, the Creator of all beings and Judge of humanity.
The Christian also finds common harmony with the great religious traditions of the Orient that teach us, in their Scriptures, respect for life, contemplation, silence, simplicity, renunciation, as occurs in Buddhism. Or, like in Hinduism, they exalt the sense of the sacred, sacrifice, pilgrimage, fasting, and sacred symbols. Or, as in Confucianism, they teach wisdom and family and social values. Even to the traditional religions with their spiritual values expressed in the rites and oral cultures, we would like to pay our cordial attention and engage in a respectful dialogue with them. Also to those who do not believe in God but who endeavour to "do what is right, to love goodness and to walk humbly" (Mi 6:8), we must work with them for a more just and peaceful world, and offer in dialogue our genuine witness to the Word of God that can reveal to them new and higher horizons of truth and love.[5]

The Arts:

The Bible, as it is commonly said, is "the great code" of universal culture: artists ideally dipped their paintbrush in that alphabet coloured by stories, symbols, and figures which are the biblical pages. Musicians composed their harmonies around the sacred texts, especially the Psalms. For centuries authors went back to those old stories that became existential parables;… The Bible should, therefore, be known and studied by all, under this extraordinary profile of beauty and human and cultural fruitfulness…. [The Church] should make the word of God penetrate into the many cultures and express it according to their languages, their concepts, their symbols and their religious traditions. But she should always be able to maintain the genuine substance of its contents, watching over and controlling the risks of degeneration.[6]

POINTS TO NOTE:

This last part of the message needs to be read in the light of the earlier parts, which drew to our attention the following points:

The Word of God (understood as Scripture) refers also to the Word of God (the person of Jesus Christ) - the Word communicates a Person, whom we encounter. The electronic means of communication risk a reduction in the sense of the communication of a Person by the texts of Scripture. It is also interesting to ask how the “sign, story, parable” of Jesus time can be authentically translated into an electronic medium.

The reverencing and praying of the Scriptures within the family seems to give opportunity for respecting the communication of the person of Jesus Christ through the Scriptures. It also respects the nature of the Word of God as being something that is lived in the ecclesial community and not apart from it.

What Catholics would bring to dialogue with other religions is the sense of interpreting Scripture as a whole, its communication of a particular story of creation and salvation history, its being lived and received in the context of the Church. The Synod message rightly warns of the danger of syncretism in this dialogue.

[1] Reading this last section apart from the earlier sections of the message might give an over optimistic view of what is intended. We can usefully remind ourselves of the points already mentioned above, namely, that the Catholic Church approaches Scriptures in a different way than evangelical Christians, that Scripture is an expression of the person of Christ still present in the life of the Church and so not restricted to “the book”, that it expresses a history of salvation, that the Scriptures are seen in their unity.
[2] Final Message of the Synod n.11.
[3] Final Message of the Synod n.12.
[4] Final Message of the Synod n.13.
[5] Final Message of the Synod n.14.
[6] Final Message of the Synod n.15.

The Final Message of the Synod of Bishops on the Word of God: part 3

Herewith the notes for the third of the allocutios on the Final Message of the Synod.

7. Final Message Section 3: The Church - The House of the Word

This section of the message identifies four “pillars” upon which the Church builds her living of the life of Scripture. A model is suggested for this in the “mother community
of Jerusalem”[1].

Scripture and evangelisation/catechesis: the figure of St Peter preaching, as described in the Acts of the Apostles

Preaching, catechesis and the homily therefore presuppose a reading and understanding, an explaining and interpreting, an involvement of the mind and of the heart. Thus in preaching a dual movement is achieved. With the first, one goes back to the roots of the sacred texts, the events, the first words of the history of salvation, to understand them in their meaning and in their message. With the second movement, one returns to the present, to the today lived by those who hear and read, always with Christ in mind, who is the guiding light destined to unite the Scriptures. This is what Jesus himself did - as has already been said - in his journey to Jerusalem in Emmaus with two of his disciples. This is what the deacon Phillip would do on the way from Jerusalem to Gaza, when he spoke this emblematic dialogue with the Ethiopian official: "Do you understand what you are reading? ... How could I, unless I have someone to guide me?" (Ac 8:30-31). And the finality will be the full encounter with Christ in the sacrament.[2]

The Eucharist: the figure of the Eucharistic Presence of Jesus on the road to Emmaus

The scene at Emmaus (cf. Lk 24:13-35) is once again exemplary, and reproduces what happens every day in our churches: the homily by Jesus about Moses and the prophets gives way to the breaking of the Eucharistic Bread at the table. This is the moment of God's personal dialogue with His people. It is the act of the new covenant sealed in the blood of Christ (cf. Lk 22:20). It is the supreme work of the Word who offers himself as food in his immolated body, it is the source and summit of the life and mission of the Church….."The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures just as she venerates the body of the Lord, since, especially in the sacred liturgy, she unceasingly receives and offers to the faithful the bread of life from the table both of God's word and of Christ's body" (DV 21). Therefore, "the liturgy of the word and the Eucharistic liturgy, are so closely connected with each other that they form but one single act of worship" (SC 56), and this must be brought back to the centre of Christian life.[3]

Prayerful reading of Scripture: the figure of Mary who “keeps these things in her heart” and who is united with the Apostles in prayer in the upper room

A privileged place is naturally taken by the Liturgy of the Hours, the prayer of the Church par excellence, destined to give rhythm to the days and times of the Christian year, offering, above all with the Psalmody, the daily spiritual food of the faithful. Alongside this and the community celebrations of the word, tradition has introduced the practice of Lectio divina, the prayerful reading in the Holy Spirit that is able to open to the faithful the treasure of the word of God, and also to create the encounter with Christ, the living divine Word.[4]

The Church as communion of love, agape: the figure of St John, “the disciple whom Jesus loved”

As Jesus mentioned, to become his brothers and his sisters one must be like "those who hear the word of God and put it into practice" (Lk 8:21). Authentic hearing is obeying and acting. It means making justice and love blossom in life. It is offering, in
life and in society, a witness like the call of the prophets, which continuously united the word of God and life, faith and rectitude, worship and social commitment…. Therefore this must already be visible and legible on the face and in the hands of the faithful, as suggested by Saint Gregory the Great who saw in Saint Benedict, and in other great men of God, witnesses of communion with God and with the sisters and brothers, the word of God come to life. The just and faithful man not only "explains" the Scriptures, but also "unfolds" them before all as a living and practiced reality.[5]


POINTS TO NOTE:

St Peter
1. Scripture and catechesis: when reading a passage of Scripture, use the index of citations in the Catechism of the Catholic Church to look up how that passage is used by the Church in teaching doctrine.

2. We should live an affection, not for the person of the individual Pope, but for his
office as teacher. We can do this, for example, by co-operating with an initiative such as the Year of St Paul.

The Eucharistic presence of Jesus
3. We can take part in times of Eucharistic Adoration, which will help us grow in our participation in the celebration of the Eucharist itself.

Spiritual reading of Scripture
4. We could pray the Liturgy of the Hours, or part thereof, each day. The texts are mostly Scriptural - the psalms, the short reading, the Canticles. The Rosary is also a prayer based on Gospel events and images.

5. We could practice the steps of “lectio divina”:

This begins with the reading (lectio) of the text, which provokes the question of true knowledge of its real content: what does the biblical text say in itself? Then follows meditation (meditatio) where the question is: what does the Biblical text say to us? In this manner, one arrives at prayer (oratio), which presupposes this other question: what do we say to the Lord in answer to his word? And one ends with contemplation (contemplatio) during which we assume, as God's gift, the same gaze in judging reality and ask ourselves: what conversion of the mind, the heart and life does the Lord ask of us?[6]

St John
6. We must be witnesses to our faith in our daily lives. Either as witnesses through charity - eg visiting the sick - or witnesses through explicit teaching.

[1] Final Message of the Synod n.6. Theologically, a lot could be made of this model in terms of seeing particular individuals (eg St Peter, the Virgin Mary, St John) as representing permanent offices in the Church.
[2] Final Message of the Synod n.7.
[3] Final Message of the Synod n.8.
[4] Final Message of the Synod n.9
[5] Final Message of the Synod n.10.
[6] Final Message of the Synod n.9.

The Final Message of the Synod of Bishops on the Word of God (part 2)

I posted the notes for the first of four allocutios about the Final Message of the Synod here.


Below are the notes for my second allocutio. Section 4 represents what I am going to use as the spiritual reading at the opening of the meeting.

4. Pope Benedict XVI: the unity of Scripture[1]

The aim of [“canonical exegesis”] is to read individual texts within the totality of the one Scripture, which then sheds new light on all the individual texts. Paragraph 12 of the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on Divine Revelation had already clearly underscored this as a fundamental principle of theological exegesis: If you want to understand the Scripture in the spirit in which it is written you have to attend to the content and to the unity of Scripture as a whole. The Council goes on to stress the need for taking account of the living tradition of the Church and of the analogy of
faith (the intrinsic correspondences within the faith).

Let us dwell for the time being on the unity of Scripture. It is a theological datum. But it is not simply imposed from the outside on what is in itself a heterogeneous ensemble of writings. Modern exegesis has brought to light the process of constant rereading that forged the words transmitted in the Bible into Scripture: Older texts are reappropriated, reinterpreted, and read with new eyes in new contexts. They become Scripture by being read anew, evolving in continuity with their original sense, tacitly corrected and given added depth and breadth of meaning. This is a process in which the word gradually unfolds its inner potentialities, already present somehow like seeds, but needing the challenge of new situations, new experiences and new sufferings, in order to open up.

This process is certainly not linear, and it is often dramatic, but when you watch it unfold in [the] light of Jesus Christ, you can see it moving in a single overall direction: you can see that the Old and New Testaments belong together. This [is a] Christological hermeneutic, which sees Jesus Christ as the key to the whole and learns from him how to understand the Bible as a unity.

5. The Final Message Section 2: “the Word was made flesh”

This section draws an analogy between God made flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, and the words of God made flesh in the written words of the books of Scripture. It then goes on to assert the unity between the two parts of this analogy.

'Christ is "the Word [that] was with God and the Word was God" (Jn 1:1). "He is the image of the unseen God, the first-born of all creation" (Col 1:15); but he is also Jesus of Nazareth who walks the roads of a marginal province of the Roman Empire, who speaks the local language, who reveals the traits of a people, the Jews, and its culture. Therefore the real Jesus Christ is fragile and mortal flesh; he is history and humanity, but he is also glory, divinity, mystery: he who revealed God to us, the God no one has ever seen (cf. Jn 1:18). The Son of God continues to be so even in the dead body placed in the sepulcher and the resurrection is the living and clear proof to this fact.[2]…

'… the Bible is also "flesh", "letter"; it expresses itself in particular languages, in literary and historical forms, in concepts tied to an ancient culture, it preserves the memories of events, often tragic; its pages not infrequently are marked by blood and violence, within it resounds the laughter of humanity and the flowing tears, as well as the cry of the distressed and the joy of those in love. For this, its "bodily" dimension requires an historical and literary analysis, which occurs through various methods and approaches offered by Biblical exegesis. Every reader of Sacred Scripture, even the most simple, must have a proportionate knowledge of the sacred text, recalling that the word is enveloped in concrete words, which is shaped and adapted to make it heard and understood by all of humanity…. . The Bible, however, is also the eternal and divine Word and for this reason requires another understanding, given by the Holy Spirit who unveils the transcendent dimension of the divine word, present in human words.[3]

'Here, thus, lies the necessity of the "living Tradition of all the Church" (DV 12) and of the faith to understand Sacred Scripture in a full and unified way. Should one focus only on the "letter", the Bible is only a solemn document of the past, a noble, ethical and cultural witness. ….. Exegetical knowledge must, therefore, weave itself indissolubly with spiritual and theological tradition so that the divine and human unity of Jesus Christ and Scripture is not broken.[4]

POINTS TO NOTE:

1. The assertion of a unity of the Scriptures is closely linked to the idea of salvation history. See first post.

2. Scripture is communicating to us, not just a word spoken to us by God, but the person of Jesus Christ. Its written “words” are a kind of flesh to show us the “Word” that is God made man - Jesus Christ. The purpose of Biblical knowledge is a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. The Final Message of the Synod expresses this by talking about Jesus as “the Face of the Word”, and saying that “That the divine Word has put on a face is at the centre of Revelation”.[5]

3. The Final Message of the Synod suggests that a certain level of formation is necessary for those who read the Scriptures, if they are to encounter Jesus Christ. The Final Message implies two components of this formation: a knowledge of exegetical methods so that different forms in the Scriptures can be recognised; and a knowledge of the life and tradition of the Church so that the Scriptures are read in their appropriate ecclesial context. A suitable commentary on the Scriptures and The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church come to mind as necessary reading to accompany the reading of the Scriptures.

4. The attitude of Muslims towards the Koran is not like that of Catholics towards the Bible. They would not see the Koran as in any way enfleshing the person of God.

5. It is necessary to read Scripture within the Tradition of the Church if this personal encounter with Jesus Christ is to be achieved. The Final Message of the Synod will therefore talk about reading Scripture within the Church in its third section. However, for evangelical Christians who read the Scripture without this ecclesial context, it is difficult to go beyond the “letter” of Scripture. In practice they are vulnerable to a fundamentalist reading of Scripture, which misses out the element of personal encounter.

[1] Pope Benedict XVI Jesus of Nazareth pp.xviii-xix.
[2] Final Message of the Synod n.4.
[3] Final Message of the Synod n.5.
[4] Final Message of the Synod n.6.
[5] cf Final Message of the Synon n.6.

As far as a commentary on Scriptures is concerned, I really do not know which to recommend. What I do quite often refer to, and find strikes the correct balance of pastoral usefulness and academic rigour, is Xavier Leon-Dufour's Dictionary of Biblical Theology.

The final message from the Synod of Bishops

I am posting below ZENIT's report of the summary of the final message from the Synod of Bishops. The full text can be found here. I would normally post the link rather than paste a full report - but this looks so special that I feel justified in posting the full report.

I think the message is beautiful, in the richest and deepest sense of the word beautiful. The modern encouragement to "enjoy!" is also applicable - again in the deepest sense of that word.

Summary of Final Synod Message "Grow and Deepen Your Knowledge and Love for the Word"
VATICAN CITY, OCT. 24, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a summary of the concluding message of the 12th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. The final message was approved today at the 21st general congregation.

The theme of the assembly was "The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church."
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters, With all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord as well as ours. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor 1:2-3). With the Apostle Paul's greeting - in this year dedicated to him - we, the Synodal Fathers gathered in Rome for the XII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, with the Holy Father Benedict XVI, address to you a message full of reflection and proposals on the Word of God that has been the center of our assembly's work. It is a message that is entrusted to our pastors in the first place, to the many, generous catechists and to all those who guide you in a loving listening and reading of the Bible. Now, to you, we would like to outline the soul and the substance of this text, so that it may grow and deepen your knowledge and love for the Word of God. There are four cardinal points on the horizon that we invite you to know and that we will express through just as many images.

First of all there is the divine Voice. It echoes in the beginnings of Creation, breaking the silence of nothingness and giving origin to the marvels of the universe. It is a Voice that penetrates in history, wounded by human sin and distressed by suffering and death. It also sees the Lord walking with humanity to offer His grace, His Covenant, His salvation. It is a Voice that enters into the pages of the Holy Scriptures, which we read today in the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, who was given as the light of truth to it and to its pastors.

Also, as Saint John wrote, "The Word became flesh" (1:14). Here then the Face appears. It is Jesus Christ, who is the Son of the eternal and infinite God, but also the mortal man, tied to an historical era, to a people and to a land. He lives the exhausting existence of humanity till His death, but rises glorious and lives forever. He makes our encounter with the Word of God perfect. He unveils to us "the full meaning" and unity of the Holy Scriptures, therefore Christianity is a religion that has a person at its center, Jesus Christ, the One who reveals the Father. He makes us understand that the Scriptures are "flesh", that is to say human words to be understood and studied in their way of expressing, but that also preserve the light of divine truth within, which we can only live and contemplate with the Holy Spirit.

It is the same Spirit of God that leads us to the third cardinal point in our itinerary, the Home of the divine word, that is to say the Church, which, as Saint Luke suggested (Ac 2:42), is supported by four ideal columns. There is "teaching", which is reading and understanding the Bible in the announcement made to all, in catechesis, in the homily, through a proclamation that involves mind and heart. Then there is "the breaking of the bread", which is the Eucharist, the source and the summit of the life and the mission of the Church. Like what happened that day at Emmaus, the faithful are invited to nourish themselves in the liturgy of the table of the Word of God and Body of Christ. A third column is "prayer" with "psalms and hymns and inspired songs to God" (Col 3:16). It is the Liturgy of the Hours, the Church's prayer destined to give rhythm to the days and times of the Christian year. There is also the Lectio divina, the prayerful reading of the Holy Scriptures able to lead, in meditation, in prayer, in contemplation, to the encounter with Christ, the living Word of God. And, finally, there is "brotherly communion" because to be true Christians it will not suffice being "those who hear the word of God" but also those who "put it into practice" (Lk 8:21) through love's labors. In the home of the Word of God we also can meet the brothers and sisters from other Churches and Christian communities who, even in division, live a real unity, if not a full one, through the worship and love for the divine Word.

Thus we reach the last image of the spiritual map. It is the road the Word of God walks upon: Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations [...] and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you...what you hear in whispers, proclaim from the housetops" (Mt 28:19-20; 10:27). The Word of God must run through the world's streets which today are also those of computer, television and virtual communication. The Bible must enter into families so that parents and children read it, pray with it and that it may be their lamp for the steps on the way to existence (cf. Ps 119:105). The Holy Scriptures must also enter into the schools and in the cultural areas because for centuries they were the main reference for art, literature, music, thinking and the same common moral. Their symbolic, poetic and narrative richness makes them a banner of beauty for faith as well as for culture, in a world often scarred by ugliness and lowliness. However, the Bible also shows us the breath of pain that rises from the earth, goes towards the cry from the oppressed and the laments of the miserable. At the summit it has the cross where Christ, alone and abandoned, lives the tragedy of the most atrocious suffering and death. Because of this presence of the Son of God, the darkness of evil and death is irradiated by the Paschal light and by the hope of glory. But on the roads of the world, the brothers and sisters of other Churches and Christian communities walk with us also, even while divided, live a real unity if not a full one, through the worship and love for the Word of God. Along the paths of the world we often meet men and women of other religions that listen and faithfully practice the commands of their holy books and who, with us, can build a world of peace and light, because God "wants everyone to be saved and reach full knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim 2:4).

Dear brothers and sisters, guard the Bible in your houses, fully read, study and understand its pages, transform them into prayer and witness of life, listen to it with love and faith in the liturgy. Create the silence to effectively hear the Word of the Lord and hold a silence after the listening, because it will continue to dwell, live and speak to you. Make it resound at the beginning of your day so that God will have the first word and let it echo in you in the evenings so that the last word will be God's.
"And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace" (Ac 20:32). With the same expression used by Saint Paul in his farewell speech to the heads of the Church in Ephesus, also the Synodal Fathers entrust the faithful of the communities dispersed throughout the world to the divine word, which is also judgment but above all grace, which cuts like a sword but is sweet as a honeycomb. It is powerful and glorious and guides us on the roads of history with Jesus' hand, who you like us love with an imperishable love (cf. Eph 6:24).

Supreme Knight to the Synod

I found the following suggestions of Carl Anderson, the Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus in the United States, during an intervention as an auditor of the Synod of Bishops quite interesting. They are reported here by ZENIT.

The knight went on to make two proposals, both aimed at providing greater formation for the laity.

"We suggest that a compendium to the lectionary be developed that coordinates sections of the Catechism of the Catholic Church to the Sunday readings in order to provide a greater richness in Sunday preaching and a greater connection between the fundamental truths of the Catholic faith and holy Scripture," he said.

Secondly, "to enhance greater formation of the laity in 'higher studies' of the Word of God […] we recommend Catholic universities enhance their core philosophy and theology requirements to include the entire New Testament with the intention of promoting a realistic and loving knowledge of the faith by encouraging, in the words of Dei Verbum, 'a pious reading of the Bible.'"

The first thought is reflected in part of the allocutio that I prepared this week, on the opening verses of St Paul's first Letter to the Thessalonians. The following are my notes trying to present the teaching contained (or implied) in these verses, which were the second reading at Mass last Sunday. You will see the references to the Compendium of the Catechism.

“Grace to you and peace”: an indication of a Christian life lived and shared in common, even though separated by distance - the Church as “communion”, common life in what is believed, in the same Sacramental life, in the same succession of bishops from the Apostles to the present day (and a common hope and charity).[1]

“..in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ …in the Holy Spirit”: an expression of belief in the Trinity, and a very Liturgical formulation - we living the Christian life here on earth are drawn in to this life of communion within the God-head

“… work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of hope …”: these are the three theological virtues - they have God himself as their origin, motive and direct object; they bestow on us the capacity to live in relationship with the Trinity; infused by grace, they are the foundation and energising force of our Christian moral activity (love of God above all things, and love of neighbour for the love of God)[2]

Summary: “communion” as a life shared between all Christian believers wherever (or whenever) they live, and as a life of entering into the inner Trinitarian life of God himself

[1] cf Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church Qn.161.
[2] cf Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church Qn 384, and 385-388.

The second suggestion - that the entire New Testament be covered in courses in philosophy and theology in Catholic universities - also strikes a chord. Following studies part-time is clearly going to be different than following them full time, and this may be part of the explanation. But, in my theology degree I only undertook detailed studied of selected books of the New Testament, and do not feel that I undertook a full and broadly based study of the New Testament. I think the Supreme Knight has a point, though clearly such study of the New Testament needs to be integrated into the wider studies of university courses.

Patriarch Bartholomew I on the "spiritual senses of Scripture"

ZENIT have posted the text of the address given by Patriarch Bartholomew I at Vespers on Saturday evening.

That Bartholomew I is able to play such a prominent role at the Synod of Bishops, and, on this occasion, speak at a celebration over which Pope Benedict XVI presided, has very interesting ecumenical implications.

The following is an extract from Bartholomew I's address:

..... we should like to concentrate on three aspects of the subject, namely: on hearing and speaking the Word of God through the Holy Scriptures; on seeing God’s Word in nature and above all in the beauty of the icons; and finally on touching and sharing God’s Word in the communion of saints and the sacramental life of the Church. For all these are, we think, crucial in the life and mission of the Church.In so doing, we seek to draw on a rich Patristic tradition, dating to the early third century and expounding a doctrine of five spiritual senses. For listening to God’s Word, beholding God’s Word, and touching God’s Word are all spiritual ways of perceiving the unique divine mystery. Based on Proverbs 2.5 about “the divine faculty of perception (αἴσθησις),” Origen of Alexandria claims: This sense unfolds as sight for contemplation of immaterial forms, hearing for discernment of voices, taste for savoring the living bread, smell for sweet spiritual fragrance, and touch for handling the Word of God, which is grasped by every faculty of the soul.The spiritual senses are variously described as “five senses of the soul,” as “divine” or “inner faculties,” and even as “faculties of the heart” or “mind.” This doctrine inspired the theology of the Cappadocians (especially Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa) as much as it did the theology of the Desert Fathers (especially Evagrius of Pontus and Macarius the Great).

The three main sections of Bartholomew I's talk are then: 1. Hearing and speaking the word through Scripture, 2. Seeing the Word of God - the beauty of icons and of nature and 3. Touching and Sharing the Word of God -- The Communion of Saints and the Sacraments of Life. Apart from the beauty of his presentation and its richly Patristic roots, Bartholomew I's talk also places his subject in a very contemporary context. Well worth a read.

Liturgy of the Word for Children

Many parishes have a practice by which, at the "family Mass" (or the Mass at which most families attend, even if it is not officially designated a "family Mass"), the youngest children leave the Church for their own Liturgy of the Word, returning to the Church in time for the offertory. The current issue of The Sower has an interesting article on the subject of these "Liturgy of the Word for Children" arrangements.

The article asks the question: what is the purpose of a separate Liturgy of the Word for Children at Sunday Mass? Not childminding and not, primarily, catechesis (though there is a catechetical element to a Liturgy of the Word for Children). It is:

• to have an adapted liturgical celebration, centred on the Mass readings, but which is more accessible for the children (so they can participate better than if they remained with adults in the Church, often served by adapting the language of the readings used)


• to lead the children into the Liturgy of the Eucharist that follows it


• to gradually lead the children into full participation in the Liturgy of the Word as it is celebrated in the Church with the (mainly adult) congregation.

The Liturgy of the Word for Children is not therefore an end in itself; it is directed towards a purpose that might be summarised by the word "participation". This gives rise to some of the practical indications given in the article, and in the example of practice to which it referred:

• the need for children to respond to the readings they have heard should not be reduced to questions based simply on recall of the story of the readings or to a worksheet based activity - time for reflection, perhaps in silence, or singing might provide better ways to respond


• in the example described in the article, a decision was made to hold a Children's Liturgy of the Word once a month, and not every Sunday - thus meeting the need for those children at the older end of the age range to grow in their participation in the main Liturgy, and alleviating issues relating to the question of the adults involved also losing their participation in the main Liturgical celebration


• are completed worksheets brought in to the Church and presented to the priest at the offertory giving a wrong impression of the Children's celebration as a kind of Sunday school rather than a Liturgy - the article suggests they would be better taken home, either for completion at home or as a reminder of the readings


• adult leaders of such Children's Liturgy of the Word need suitable knowledge of the Scriptures, since they cannot present to children what they do not themselves possess - so access to suitable orthodox Scriptural commentaries and, perhaps, a course about interpreting Scripture according to the mind of the Church are needed.

The whole article is worth reading, offering a very clear pastoral reflection on something that in many parishes is simply taken for granted as being what is done, without discernment as to its effectiveness or purpose.

Personally, I have always wondered about taking children out from that part of the Mass which can be celebrated most visually - incense, candles and a (beautiful) book of the Gospels carried in procession, for example. It is also a part of the Mass with several different postures and actions - standing/sitting, striking of chest/signs of the cross/turning towards the ambo as the Gospel is read - which are accessible to children as a way of participating even before they "get all the words".

You can subscribe to The Sower on-line at http://www.maryvale.ac.uk/ or (in Canada and the United States) http://www.thesowerreview.org/ .

Synod on the Word of God: a summary so far

Cardinal Marc Ouellet has given a speech at the Synod summarising in a series of questions the interventions made so far. These questions provide the agenda for the working groups that will now follow.

At a first glance, I noticed Question 6. "Is it possible to revise the Lectionary and modify the selections of the readings from the Old and New Testament?" Having just done a kind of study of the (so-called) continuous reading of the Letter to the Philippians that has been the second reading at Sunday Mass for the last few weeks, I have found it quite difficult to perceive the rationale behind the particular selections and to pick out clear teaching points. Last Sunday, for example, I had to look at the verses omitted from the "split text" of the Liturgical reading before I could make real sense of the reading.

I am also struck by the way in which a number of the questions touch on the idea that Scripture is first of all "heard" in its Liturgical context - true, and perhaps a particularly Catholic insight compared to other Christian denominations - and this needs to be related to how it is "heard" outside of the Liturgy.

It is implied in some of the questions, but there is no explicit reference to the insights that movements in the Church with a particular charism with regard to Scripture can offer. I hope that this does not prove to be a weakness in the forthcoming work of the Synod fathers.

Three items from the Synod of Bishops

ZENIT are carrying a report of an intervention by Bishop Luis Tagle, of the Phillipines. This intervention addressed the question of listening to the Word, so nicely complements earlier interventions about preaching. I have not been able to find a full text, only ZENITs report, which can be found here. Bishop Tagle gave one of the main catecheses at the International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec earlier this year.

Bearing in mind a concept of the Code of Canon Law as being "applied ecclesiology", I found the following intervention interesting. Text also from ZENIT. My observation [in italics].

-- H.E. Most. Rev. Francesco COCCOPALMERIO, Titular Archbishop of Celiana,
President of the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Text
(VATICAN CITY)

But now I would like to propose something more specific, in other words, more relevant to my particular work in the Roman Curia and in the service of the Pope. As President of the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts and so responsible for ensuring the Church's legislation is always up to date, I ask myself if such an important meeting and on such a determining theme for the life of the Holy Church cannot and should not make a significant contribution to the Law of the Church itself, in a particular way in the Code of canon law.

To clarify this thought I will provide an absolutely elementary example. Canon 276 on the spiritual life of the clergy states: "[The Clergy] are to nourish their spiritual life at the twofold table of the Sacred Scripture and the Eucharist..." (§ 2, no. 2). The text is valuable, but it refers only to the celebration of the Eucharist. When it then goes on to speak of personal prayer, it affirms merely: "they are exhorted to engage regularly in mental prayer" (§ 2, no. 5). The expression "mental prayer" is absolutely clear, but dated. It might be, instead, that this is the place in which to "exhort the clergy to practice daily the lectio divina".

To sum up my proposition it is that the conclusion of the Synod, with the consent of the Holy Father, should also become a task of reflection entrusted to the Dicasteries of the Curia, with the special service of stimulating and coordinating entrusted to the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts [a touch of Vatican politics here?], so that they may propose to the Supreme Legislator the necessary changes to the rules of the Church as regards the particular field of the Word of God.

This next is an interesting "aside" intervention relating to one aspect of the Instrumentum Laboris. I cite it because of its immediate relevance to developments in the UK. My observations [in italics].

-- H. Em. Card. Paul Josef CORDES, President of the Pontifical Council "Cor
Unum" (VATICAN CITY)

In the civilized world, care for one's neighbour in need is, at the same time, a cultural matter. The majority of world religions - such as Islam, Hinduism or Buddhism - have learnt from Christianity [they share this with Christianity, but that may not be the same as saying they have learnt it from Christianity] and made it their own to foster love of neighbour. Hence, for number 39 of the Instrumentum laboris to demand love of neighbour for the Church's members, does not seem to be the most urgent task today.

In the present cultural context, it would be much more important to reflect back to the tree that produces the fruit. We need to become more conscious of the biblical roots of humanitarian action and strengthen these. For Divine Revelation binds the commandment to love one's neighbour to that of love of God from which it stems. In the preaching of Jesus, the duty to love appears as a double commandment. Precisely to show the love of the Heavenly Father (cf. Jn 10:32) Jesus Himself, the definitive model of love of neighbour, "went about doing good and healing all" (Acts 10:38). The Pastors of the Church will thus be careful not to simply abandon ecclesial aid institutions to the general climate of philanthropy. Rather they will recognise in the sensitivity of people today the KAIROS to reveal God as the one who enables every "Good Samaritan" deed: it is the announcement of the love of God that grants the capacity to love our neighbour. For this very reason, Cor Unum organized this past June Spiritual Exercises for leaders of Catholic aid agencies in America. The substantial positive feedback is proof that our collaborators are begging for the personal encounter with God. The theocentric emphasis does not water down the commitment to work for justice in society, which the Instrumentum laboris erroneously describes as the "first form of charity" (no. 39); indeed, love surpasses justice many times over (cf. I Co 13). When, for those who are questioning and seeking, the service of the Church's aid agencies and the individual Christian does not show God clearly, we forsake a function of the Church that is decisive for these times of ours. For the man of today needs this connection to God more than anything else. The first Encyclical of the Holy Father, Deus caritas est, unmistakably affirms the theological truth that, in their dioceses, Bishops are ultimately responsible for the Church's charitable mission (no. 32). They cannot delegate this task to collaborators or renounce it into the hands of some powerful administration or organism.

Equally true for charity is what is already explicit for the preaching of the Word - the martyria - and celebration of the sacraments - the leitourgia: in the diocese, the final responsibility for the diakonia lies with the Bishop. It is most unfortunate that Canon Law does not expressly mention this duty of the Pastors, an omission that Pope Benedict points to in his Encyclical (no. 32). The time is ripe to fill this gap.

On this last point about the responsibility of Bishops for the ministry of charity in their dioceses, see also my recent posts about diocesan children's societies. I have been tending to emphasise the responsibility of lay Catholics for the activity of these - and other - Catholic associations, on the grounds that they lie in the field of the rightful autonomy of the laity in tasks relating to the secular world. I think this is certainly part of the picture. See, for example, my remarks at the end of an earlier post about the Synod. I shall have to post at some point on the relationship between the Episcopal and the lay responsibility for the ministry of charity in a diocese. Unless, of course, someone beats me to it ...

PS: Catholic Analysis has an observation and link about the Bible needing to become part of life, the need for building a bridge between erudite scholarship and the ordinary life of the Christian faithful. For the Year of St Paul, I have been making my weekly allocutio for the Legion of Mary praesidium in the parish a catechesis on the second reading of the Sunday Mass. It is quite a challenge trying to be true to the findings of scholarship and at the same time relevant to ordinary Christian lives.