Explaining Scripture to others through Reading

EXPLAINING SCRIPTURE TO OTHERS THROUGH READING

Chapter Ten

from “COMMUNICATING THE WORD OF GOD. Practical Methods of Presenting the Biblical Message” by J N M Wijngaards, Theological Publications in India, Bangalore 560 055, 1974. First published in Great Britain in 1978 by MAYHEW-McCRIMMON LTD Great Wakering, Essex, England.

The whole book can be found online here: http://www.wijngaards-clackson.com/contents-communicating-word/ .

The public reading of Scripture in our liturgical services, at prayer meetings or on other occasions is one of the most important, and most under-estimated, opportunities of communicating the scriptural message to others. Although most people today can read and write, they are “illiterate” in the sense that their personal reading is very restricted. For many who have not acquired the habit of reading the Scriptures for themselves, the public reading of select passages has become their only immediate contact with the inspired word.

Fig. 34. Christ with the Gospel.

Sculpture known as “Le Beau Dieu in the Cathedral of Amiens.

There are also good theological reasons for treating the public reading of Scripture with respect. It is not correct to think of the Bible as a collection of ancient writings, recorded thousands of years ago in languages that are now extinct. The Bible is the living Word of God. It is God’s Word to us here and now. That is why the Bible becomes truly alive, becomes God’s living Word in a special way whenever it is proclaimed in the Christian community. Scripture and the Church are inseparable. Just as the Church never grows old but in every community of the faithful age after age remains fresh and youthful, so the sacred Scriptures remain relevant and alive by their proclamation in every new community.

Christ promised that he would remain with until the end of time (Mt 28,20). Christ was not only thinking of his continued presence through the Spirit he would impart to his followers, through the Holy Eucharist or the sacramental powers he invested in the Apostles. Christ was also thinking of his Word, of which he said. “Heaven and earth will pass away: my words will never pass away” (Mt 24,35). He knew his Gospel would be preached all over the world (Mt 26,13). He realized too that the resounding of his Word in every new generation would require the combination of a handing down of exact wordings (“Remind them of everything I told you”; Mt 28,20) and of the interpretation of living guides (“Who hears you, hears Me”; Lk 10,16). The Second Vatican Council touches on this mystery when it states: “In the liturgy God speaks to his people and Christ is still proclaiming his Gospel” (Liturgy 33).

If the reading of Scripture makes Christ present in his Word, it follows that the reader does much more than mechanically reproduce in sound what he finds written on paper. The reader has to be personally involved. He cannot transmit the text as a living word unless he himself first understands it. It is not without significance that the ministry of the lectorate has been given a new status by the Church in recent years. In the new installation ceremony the Bishop prays over the new Reader with these words: “God, bless this brother of ours who has been selected for the office of the lectorate. Grant that he may unceasingly meditate on your Word; that doing this he may be both profoundly enlightened by it himself and faithfully announce it to his brothers and sisters. Through Christ our Lord. Amen”.

In this chapter I will introduce two forms of reading which I feel every Reader should know: simple guided reading (in which the reading is preceded by a key message) and commentated reading (which is a mixture of text and explanation). However, before we can discuss these techniques in themselves we need to go into some of their component elements: translation, decoding, formulating the key message.

THE NEED OF TRANSLATION

When we speak to others there is something we want to convey. We call this the message or the meaning. Everything in communication is subservient to this meaning. The sounds, the words, the sentence constructions, the expressions on our face or the gesture of our hands, the intonation of our voice, all of them aim at making the other person understand what we want to say. The same is true of the Bible. Because it is God speaking to man, the Bible has to follow in this regard the same fundamental law of all human communication. What matters in the Bible, what it was inspired for, is the message, is the meaning of what God wants to say. Everything else is of secondary importance. The scrolls on which the sacred text was written, the pens or quills the sacred authors used, the languages they expressed themselves in, their vocabulary, their idiom and style of writing, and whatever else was needed to make a book a book, had no other purpose than to convey the meaning of God’s inspired Word to us.

This is why the Word of God can and should be translated for every new human community. If inspiration were to reside principally in the Hebrew idiom of the Old Testament or the Greek constructions of the New, modern versions of Scripture would no longer be the inspired Word of God. But such is not the case. The same meaning can be translated for different cultures and through different languages in a variety of ways. And although the external expression may vary, the meaning of a text can reach us in a modern language as effectively as in the original tongue.

When I am speaking of “meaning”, I am not restricting this term to some intellectual truth we want to convey: the term should be taken to indicate everything that is transmitted in a human communication. It involves the transmission of ideas, the expression of emotions, the definition of relationships and a giving of one’s self. It is this complex “meaning” that is the outcome of genuine human communication.

As “meaning” is so fundamental in our communication of Scripture, we need to study it in a little more detail. Where exactly do we find meaning in a text? Where does it reside? Some people think meaning resides in words (because we think that the word ‘city’, for instance, means a ‘conglomeration of many houses’). Others think meaning is contained in a complete sentence. But neither of these two opinions is correct. Meaning can only result from a total unit of communication, from everything that was said by a person in a particular context.

Jesus stated: “A city built on a hill-top cannot be hidden”. Mt 5,14). What is the meaning of this statement? Of course, we have to begin by identifying what the individual words, such as “city”, “hill-top”, etc. stand for. Then we can study the combination of these words and understand their mutual relationships. If a town is constructed on the top of a mountain it can be seen from afar. But is this the meaning of Jesus’ statement? Is this what Jesus wanted to teach? Was he giving advice to town-planners? Was he worried about the landscape or the pros and cons of a high location? Surely not. Jesus used this statement as an example, almost as a proverb. The meaning of what he said is clear from the whole context, namely that if we live in communion with God, the effects of it will be visible to others in our lives. We should not try to hide the light that shines in our hearts.

Many of us have been misled by our study of languages with its stress on the “meaning” of words in those languages. Unconsciously we may have allowed ourselves to become literalists. We may have come to think that words “contain” a meaning, almost like the old scholastic philosophers who believed that objects were somehow grasped by notions inside the mind. Such an understanding of language often leads to the idea that a word-for-word translation is to be preferred. A little reflection will show the fallacy of this idea and the obstacles it could put in the way of clear and effective communication.

Words do not contain objects, they refer to them. Words are like handles by which we get hold of a certain experience. Different languages may use different handles to refer to the same experience.

If we walk in the rain and we want to keep ourselves dry, we may carry a small imitation-roof over our heads. In English we call the object “umbrella” (from the Latin word “umbra” which means “shade”). The French speak of “parapluie” (which means “against rain”). The Germans call it “Schirm” (which stands for “protective cover”). In the South Indian languages the terms used, such as “godugu” in Telugu, are related to the word for “gift” as there is a popular belief that the invention was presented by the gods to give relief to mankind. The Malay word “pajong” seems to derive from the shape. These terms are obviously related and may at times refer to the same experience (so that we could substitute one term for another in translation). Yet they do not cover one another fully. In English we can say that some congress was organised “under the umbrella” of this or that institution. When talking about a “Schirm” the Germans may also refer to a parachute. When speaking of a “pajong” Balinese may refer to a ceremonial umbrella unknown in Europe. Words are labels attached to objects and experiences. Translation requires that we first identify the object or experience meant and then search for the label in the receptor language by which the same object or experience can be expressed.

A WORD ABOUT VERSIONS

People who make a scientific study of the Bible may prefer to have a translation that is as near to the original languages in construction and style as possible. We call this a “source-oriented” translation. Such a translation of the Gospels, for instance, tells us a lot about the original Greek in which the Gospels were written. But for most people the unusual vocabulary, the strange constructions and outlandish style of writing, become an obstacle to their understanding of the meaning. For them a receptor-oriented translation, that is a translation using the very words, expressions and idioms the receptor would use, is absolutely essential. It follows from this that when we read the Bible to others, we do well to choose the version from which we read according to the needs of our audience.

The Revised Standard Version and the Douai are source- oriented and cannot be recommended for pastoral use. Knox is appreciated in literary circles: its heavy style and archaic expression may put off the younger generation. The New English Bible and the Jerusalem Bible will be easily understood by the ordinary, adult, well-educated member of any parish community. Today’s English Version (of which the New Testament is called Good News for Modern Man) has succeeded in making the meaning more accessible for many people. It employs very simple and straightforward language in which difficult words and complicated constructions have purposely been omitted. It also lends itself well for reading to children or to those for whom English is not their first language.

To see what difference a translation can make to understanding the meaning, we will here compare two renderings of Colossians 1,24-28. Following the Greek closely RSV has only three sentences; TEV breaks them up into seven normal English sentences.

Revised Standard Version

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His Body, that is, the Church of which I became a minister according to the divine office which was given to me for you, to make the Word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now made manifest to his saints.

To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Him we proclaim, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man mature in Christ.

Today’s English Version

And now I am happy about my sufferings for you, for by means of my physical sufferings I am helping to complete what still remains of Christ’s sufferings on behalf of his Body, which is the Church.

And I have been made a servant of the Church by God who gave me this task to perform for your good.

It is the task of fully proclaiming his message, which is the secret he hid through all past ages from all mankind, but has now revealed to his people.

For this is God’s plan: to make known his secret to his people, this rich and glorious secret that he has for all peoples.

And the secret is this: Christ is in you, which means that you will share the glory of God.

So we preach Christ to all men.

We warn and teach everyone with all possible wisdom, in order to bring each one into God’s presence as a mature individual in union with Christ.

At times we should not hesitate to use a paraphrased translation such as The Living Bible if we find that it proves the best version for a meaningful proclamation in particular circumstances. A good paraphrase may actually turn out to be exactly what needs to be done to make people grasp what the Bible is trying to say. According to RSV, Peter says to Simon the Magician: “Your silver perish with you!” (Acts 8,20). The paraphrase of P. B. Phillips comes much nearer when it makes Peter say: “To hell with you and your money!” {The New Testament in Modern English).

Carle Burke,* a Chaplain in a County Jail in New York, tried to translate some parts of the Bible in the hip language used by the people entrusted to his care. I consider the following version of Psalm 1 published in his book God is for Real, Man, as a model of what translation should do. Notice how not only the words, but the constructions and the sequences of thought have been adapted to the New York brogue. Yet the text conveys accurately the meaning of the Psalm.

A guy is pretty smart

If he don’t hang around with hoods And do what they tell him.

He is smart too if he don’t poke fun At people who try to do the right thing.

He is always happy ’cause he knows for sure That he is doing the right thing.

In fact it makes him feel so good

That he thinks about it day and night,

And that don’t do no harm either.

He feels good ’cause this is God’s way of doing things, And you can’t beat that.

This guy is sort of like a tree In Humboldt Park

That grows by the lake.

It don’t get looking like a droop ’Cause it gets plenty of water And things to live from.

But the hoods are not like that –

They are like the dust that blows down the street And all over the place,

And ya hate it.

So they won’t stand a chance,

When the day comes to figure out the score They will just get wiped up

And they won’t be where the good guys are – And that’s for sure too.

That’s ’cause God knows the way People are

Down inside of them,

And you can’t give him a snow job.

A hood may be on top now,

But it won’t last.

DECODING

Even if we are making use of a reasonable translation, it may be that we come across words or constructions that will be difficult to understand for the particular audience for which we are reading. Since it is our task to convey the meaning of the text as accurately as possible, we may then have to “de-code” the words or constructions in question. This means in practice that by a little explanatory addition, by substituting a more commonly used word, or by breaking up some difficult sentence, we make the text easier to understand. The listener is constantly trying to break the code of the text that is read out to him. By “de-coding” some difficult parts, we help him understand the text better.

In one of his books on journalism Rudolph Flesch narrates an incident which I will freely adapt here to illustrate decoding. The plumber of a big hotel found himself constrained throughout winter to mend pipes burst on account of freezing. He wondered whether he could use some chemical (which I will call “decalicarboacid”) to melt the ice in frozen pipes. He wrote to a laboratory in Washington asking for guidance. When he received a telegram with the contents: “Decalicarboacid causes negative transmutation steel aggregates deterioration consequent”, he was puzzled about its meaning and asked for clarification. The second telegram stated: “Rapid erosive deterioration steel plating incumbent on friction with decalicarboacid compound”. In disgust the plumber sent a telegram himself: “Blast your big words. What does it mean?” This time he received a lucid answer: “Don’t use DCC acid. It eats the hell out of your pipes!”

Suppose we have to do the first reading in a Eucharistic celebration for children (or attended by many children). It is the eighteenth Sunday of the year, year 3 according to the liturgical cycle. In a lectionary which follows the Jerusalem version, the text will read as follows: (Eccles 1,2; 2,21-23): “Vanity of vanities, the Preacher said. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity!

For so it is that a man who has laboured wisely, skilfully and successfully must leave what is his own to someone who has not toiled for it. This, too, is vanity and great injustice; for what does he gain for all the toil and strain that he has undergone under the sun? What are all his laborious days, his cares of office, his restless nights? This, too, is vanity”.

The text has an important message. Yet its meaning will not be perfectly clear to the ordinary English speaker of today, and certainly not to children. One reason for this obscurity is the term “vanity”. In ordinary English “vanity” indicates a character trait. It implies self-praise, smugness, conceit, a certain amount of ostentation. We call a person vain when he or she spends half an hour combing his (or her) hair and admiring his (or her) own beauty in a mirror. This is not its meaning in the scriptural text. Here the term refers to something being “useless”, “to no purpose”. We still meet this in everyday language when we say something is “in vain”. The inspired writer wants to say that all we do in life, all our hard work and ceaseless efforts, seem to lead us nowhere. Everything we do, we do in vain.

When we proclaim this Bible text to others, especially if they are children or if we cannot presume a classical education, we will have to decode the term “vanity”; otherwise we run the risk of allowing many people to miss the message. We can do this decoding in two ways. Either we can give a brief explanation of its meaning before we start the reading (as we do in “simple guided reading”, see below). Or we may substitute a more up-to- date expression for the ancient term. In that case we might change the first line of the reading in terms such as these: “Utterly useless, the Preacher says. Utterly useless! Everything is useless and in vain”.

If we use another lectionary, such as the one based on the Revised Standard Version, we will need to do a lot more decoding in our reading. Often the Gospel Reading begins with “And he said to them . . leaving the listener guessing as to who is speaking to whom. Our duty to decode such ambiguities will require that we clarify the situation by stating more explicity “And Jesus said to his Apostles” or “And Jesus said to the Pharisees”, etc. In communication we should avoid guesswork and leave nothing to chance. A slogan for broadcasters is, “the meaning of the message is in the hearer”. What meaning our message carries should not be judged by what we intended to put into it, but what the listeners managed to get out of it.

FORMULATING THE KEY MESSAGE

As I have pointed out before, the meaning of a particular text does not arise from individual words, nor from stray sentences, but from a whole unit of communication. Restricting ourselves to the Bible, we observe that such units may be long or short; they may consist either in a whole chapter or in just one paragraph or a number of paragraphs. The natural units of the Gospel, for instance, are Our Lord’s parables, his miracles, his sayings on various occasions. Paul has some lengthy arguments on certain theological matters; other topics he deals with in just a few sentences. Normally when we select a passage for reading we choose a natural unit that conveys one overall message. The selection of readings in the lectionary has also followed this rule.

In order to do justice to the passage we are reading, we ourselves should first have a good idea of its overall message. For the sake of clarity we might call this message the “fundamental assertion” of the passage. It amounts to the main teaching the inspired author wanted to convey through this unit of writing. Studying the text in preparation for our reading it to others, we should try to be clear ourselves on what its fundamental assertion is. We then think of our audience and try to formulate what the fundamental assertion of this particular Scripture text means to them. This formulated fundamental assertion I call the ‘key message’.

To understand what is meant by the fundamental assertion and what by the key message, and why it is useful to distinguish between them, we could not do better than study some actual scriptural examples.

On the third Sunday of Lent, year 1, the first reading of the lectionary is from Exodus 17,3-7:

‘Tormented by thirst, the people complained against Moses. “Why did you bring us out of Egypt?”, they said. “Was it so that I should die of thirst, my children too and my cattle?”

Moses appealed to the Lord: “How am I to deal with this people?”, he said. “A little more and they will stone me!”

The Lord said to Moses, “Take with you some of the elders of Israel and move on to the forefront of the people; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the river, and go. I shall be standing before you there on the rock at Horeb. You must strike the rock and water will flow from it for the people to drink”.

This is what Moses did in the sight of the elders of Israel.

The place was named Massah and Meriba because of the grumbling of the sons of Israel and because they put the Lord to the test by saying, “Is the Lord with us, or not?”

The fundamental assertion of the passage is that the Hebrews in the desert made a mistake when they lost confidence in God. God was present among them. He was able to supply them with water to drink even in the middle of a wilderness of sheer sand and rock. But what does all this mean for my particular audience in this liturgical celebration? What do I need to highlight to make my listeners take the message home?

For an ordinary parish congregation we may want to link the reading to the Gospel which speaks about the water of eternal life that Jesus will give (Jn 4,5-42). Our key message could then be: “God gives us the water of life”. If the Mass is celebrated for a community of nuns, the key message could be: “Never despair. Never put God to the test. God can make water flow from rock!” In a Mass for children we might say: “Just as God gave water to the Jews when they were thirsty, so God will grant us the spiritual things we need!”

Announcing the key message before the reading is a great help in making people understand the passage. People need such a help because the reading is usually a small extract, lifted out of its scriptural context, couched in a way of speaking removed from our own. In modern communication, this technique of introducing a text with a key statement is now common practice. The essential content of a newspaper report is announced in the caption. When the news broadcasts a statement by a government spokesman, it first gives the gist of the statement before quoting the actual text. In the complex mass of information they have to digest people soon get confused. A ‘key message’ given before the actual text eliminates vagueness and ambiguity.

It is worth studying how the BBC handles the efficient transmission of highly complex information. The following is a fictitious example given to illustrate the technique.

“Dr. F. L. Falstaff of Exeter University, who conducted a study on horn-billed ducks, has come to the conclusion that their eggs are not fit for human consumption (key statement).

In his research report, he states: ‘In some parts of England the eggs of the species are still considered a rare delicacy. When served as omelettes the eggs have a characteristic taste that will be instantly recognised by any connoisseur. But chemical analysis of the eggs’ content has raised serious doubts about the advisability of using them for nourishment. The second, inner membrane contains a dacty-pyro-phosphate combination that may prove intoxicating and injurious to human cell formation’.”

If the gist of the doctor’s declaration were not given beforehand in a ‘key statement’, many people would miss the meaning of what the doctor is trying to say. The same applies to many biblical texts.

The key message is not a ‘summary’ of the text that is going to follow. It does not try to cover all the details of the text or enumerate its various elements. The key statement limits itself to the overall teaching of the whole passage for a particular community.

Suppose our reading is the parable of the talents. The key statement should not try to re-tell the parable in a shortened form, by saying for instance: “In this parable Our Lord compares three men. One received ten talents and he produced another ten. The second one five talents and he produced another five. But the man with one talent produced nothing. The first two were rewarded to show us that we must produce results according to the gifts we have received”. This is not the correct way of formulating the key statement.

We do not need to mention the talents at all, or how the parable develops its teaching. Our key statement could simply be: “God will judge us according to the gifts we received”. Or: “God expects each one to produce fruit according to the gifts he received”.

My experience in formulating key messages and in checking those formulated by others has led me to draw up the following six guidelines which, in my opinion, indicate that a particular key message is the right one. The ideal key message should:

(1) be a statement or exhortation (it should be formulated as a sentence; a noun or ‘title’ is not half as effective);

(2) be short;

(3) express the main teaching;

(4) be worded in every-day language (it should not contain unusual biblical phrases or anything that reduces the directness of the statement);

(5) be meaningful to the audience (and the occasion);

(6) address them directly (the statement should not be phrased in too general terms; it should normally include words such as ‘we’ or ‘you’).

The key message should be formulated in a language that is relevant to our own day. We should keep out all scriptural or theological jargon. We have to tell our audience bluntly, in their own every-day language, what the particular text means to them.

The key message to Mt 17,1-8 should not be “Jesus was transfigured before his disciples”, but “Jesus gives a glimpse of his true self’.

As Scripture is basically an event in which God communicates himself to man, the key message will reflect the aspect of encounter. What I mean is: in the key message we should not present the message of Scripture as if it is speaking about a third person, about people far away and distinct from ourselves. Scripture is always trying to say something to me, to us as a community, God’s people listening to his word.

When we read that Jesus chides the scribes and pharisees (Mt 23,13-22), we might be tempted to formulate a neutral key message, such as: ‘Jesus condemns the pharisees for their hypocrisy’. Here the aspect of encounter is missing. We should rather say: ‘Jesus warns us against hypocrisy’, or ‘Jesus wants us to be absolutely straightforward and sincere’.

SIMPLE GUIDED READING

‘Simple guided reading’ is one way of presenting a reading as clearly and effectively as possible. The technique consists essentially in having a very brief introduction before the reading of the actual text. The short introduction contains the key message. It may occasionally also include a few words of ‘decoding’, whenever such decoding cannot be done in the course of the reading itself. Normally, the introduction will be just the key message and nothing else.

On the tenth Sunday of the Year, Year 2, the first reading during Mass is from Genesis 3,9-15. In the RSV lectionary, the text runs as follows:-

‘The Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” and he said, “I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself”. He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said,

“The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate”.

Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent beguiled me, and I ate”.

The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle, and above all wild animals; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel”.’

The fundamental assertion of this passage is the promise of an ultimate victory over the powers of evil. The passage was obviously selected for that Sunday to fit in with the Gospel text in which Jesus discusses how Satan can be overcome (Mk 3,20-25). If the reading is for an ordinary parish congregation the key message could be formulated as follows: ‘God promises that the powers of evil will eventually be overcome by Jesus Christ’.

When we read the text as it is given in our RSV lectionary, we notice some archaic words that may not be understood by everyone in our congregation. During the reading we can decode them by substituting modern equivalents for them. For this reason we may decide to read ‘you’ instead of ‘thee’ in vs. 10; to read ‘God said’ instead of ‘He said’ in vs.11; to read ‘deceived’ instead of‘beguiled’ in vs. 13; to read ‘offspring’ instead of ‘seed’, and ‘crush’ instead of‘bruise’ in vs. 15.

As this is a difficult passage, it may also be necessary to remind people of the biblical context. To get the meaning, they will have to realise that the excerpt is from the paradise story. They will have to know the roles of the man, the woman, and the serpent. This decoding may have to be done in the introduction.

The whole presentation of the reading could then take the following shape (note that the words in the text that are printed in italics are those substituted for the archaic expressions found in the lectionary):

‘The sin of Adam and Eve symbolises the sin of all mankind. But God does not allow his plan for mankind to be thwarted by sin. He promises the ultimate victory over all powers of evil in Jesus Christ. The reading is from Genesis 3,9- 15’.

(Pause for a short while)

‘The Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” and he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself’. God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said,

“The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate”.

Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate”.

The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle, and above all wild animals; upon your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall crush your head and you shall crush his heel”.’

Suppose that in a catechetical instruction we have spoken about death. We want to end the lecture with a reading from Sir. 38,16-24. By way of introduction we may say:

‘In this text the Bible teaches us the correct attitude when one of our dear ones has died. It is natural for us to feel great sorrow and we should observe the normal custom of mourning. However, we should not be so upset about it that it would spoil the rest of our life. Instead, we should use our common sense and learn the lesson that we too will have to die one day’.

‘My son, shed tears over a dead man,

and intone the lament to show your own deep grief; bury his body with due ceremonial, and do not neglect to honour his grave.

Weep bitterly, wail most fervently;

observe the mourning the dead man deserves, one day or two, to avoid comment, and then be comforted in your sorrow; for grief can lead to death,

a grief-stricken heart undermines your strength.

Let grief end with the funeral;

a life of grief oppresses the mind.

Do not abandon your heart to grief,

drive it away, bear your own end in mind.

Do not forget, there is no going back;

you cannot help the dead, and you will harm yourself.

Those who died tell us:

‘Remember my doom, since it will be yours too;

yesterday was my day, today is yours’.

Once the dead man is laid to rest, let his memory rest too, do not fret for him, once his spirit departs.’

COMMENTATED READING

It happens at times that the text we want to read to others is somewhat involved or is so replete with meaning that a simple reading of it will not do justice to its contents. We may then need to follow some other technique through which the full meaning of the text can be brought out. Commentated reading essentially consists in enlarging the text with little explanatory phrases that are introduced wherever they may be required.

At times we are asked to open a meeting ‘with a little prayer’. We are given eight to ten minutes for this purpose. A small, but powerful commentated reading from Scripture will usually prove an excellent way of starting off. We may then follow the ‘commentated reading and prayer of response’ approach. The approach has four parts: a small reading from Scripture which we intersperse with commentaries, a second reading of the same text without our personal enlargements, a brief pause for personal reflection and finally a short spontaneous prayer (called ‘prayer of response’ because we both respond to the Word of God and to the situation in which we speak the prayer).

Suppose a one-day meeting has been called on ‘peace and justice’. Apart from improving the exchange of accurate information, the meeting will also consider programmes of action that have been proposed. When I am asked to open the meeting ‘with a little prayer’, I suggest that it may be worthwhile to begin with a short reading from Scripture and that altogether I will need about ten minutes for this purpose. The actual presentation then could be as follows: (commentary is in italics).

‘Dear friends, we want to invoke God’s blessing on our gathering today. All our discussions should ultimately spring from our being sensitive to his demands. Let us therefore begin by listening to what the Word of God has to say to us in Isaiah 51,1-3.

“Listen to me, you who pursue integrity, who seek Yahweh

— The prophet in this text addresses especially those who seek to further the cause of justice. His words will be of special relevance to us —

Consider the rock you were hewn from.

– We should never forget we belong to Christ –

The quarry from which you were cut.

Consider Abraham your father

and Sarah who gave you birth. For Abraham was all alone when I called him, but I blessed and increased him.

– In other words, when pursuing the cause of justice we should remember that our strength is our faith and that God can increase the fruit of our labour, if we live from faith as Abraham did-

Yes, God has pity on Jerusalem, that is God is concerned about the situation of mankind. has pity on all her ruins;

God will turn her desolation into a paradise, her wasteland into the garden of Yahweh.

— We are here given a vision of the ultimate happiness and welfare to which God destines all mankind –

Joy and gladness shall be found in Jerusalem, thanksgiving and the sound of music.”

I will now read the text without my reflections. After this, we will pause for a short while to meditate in silence and then I will formulate a short prayer on behalf of us all.

‘Listen to me, you who pursue integrity, who seek Yahweh.

Consider the rock you were hewn from, the quarry from which you were cut.

Consider Abraham your father and Sarah who gave you birth.

For he was all alone when I called him, but I blessed and increased him.

Yes, Yahweh has pity on Zion,

has pity on all her ruins; turns her desolation into an Eden, her wasteland into the garden of Yahweh.

Joy and gladness shall be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of music.’

(Pause a short while)

‘Almighty Father, bless this assembly of ours which is dedicated to furthering the cause of justice among all men. Fill our hearts with your concern and pity for every human person whom, we know, you created out of love. Help us to think and act like men of faith, true to Christ, the rock from which we have been cut. Let our proposals be inspired by your vision of joy and happiness for all. We make our prayer through Christ, your Son, our elder Brother, who lives and reigns with you for ever and ever. Amen.’

Commentated reading also proves extremely useful as part of a catechetical instruction. In this case, the best approach is probably a reading of the text with running commentary whenever it is required. By the manner in which we vary our tone of voice, by the way we look at the children whenever we begin a section of commentary, and by other such small indications, the children will know the difference between the text actually found in Scripture and the words of explanation we add ourselves. It is an art to do running commentary well. The running commentary should be interesting and lively, and, above all, not too drawn out. Ideally speaking, it should be done in such a natural and unobtrusive manner that the children do not even notice the commentary. For them it will look as if we are simply reading from Scripture. Obviously, when we read out a story our commentary will be much lighter than when we read from the Prophets or the Book of Wisdom.

It may be that in a lecture we have been discussing liturgical symbols. Among other things, we may have pointed out that religious rites have no value unless they correspond to the true feelings of our heart. It is no good attending Mass if in our daily lives we do not live up to the principles of the Gospel. In this connection we may want to read from Isaiah 1,11-20. In the next sample of commentated reading, the phrases in italics are the additions made to the text.

‘In the next lines we read how God told the people of Israel what he thought of those who covered their sins of injustice and oppression by bringing sacrifices in the Temple.

‘What are your endless sacrifices to me? says Yahweh.

I am sick of your holocausts – holocausts were one kind of sacrifice in which the victim was completely burnt –

and the fat of calves – this refers to another kind of sacrifice in which only the fat of the victim was burnt on the fire –

I am sick of holocausts of rams and the fat of calves.

The blood of bulls and of goats revolts me.

When you come to present yourselves before me, who asked you to trample over my courts?

Bring me your worthless offerings no more, the smoke of them fills me with disgust.

New moons, sabbaths, assemblies – I cannot endure your festivals and solemnities.

– of course, God did not reject such religious feasts in themselves. He rejected them because people had the wrong disposition of heart –

Your new moons and your pilgrimages I hate with all my soul.

They lie heavy on me.

I am tired of bearing them.

When you stretch out your hands in supplication,

I turn my eyes away.

You may multiply your prayers,

I shall not listen.

– Then God explains the reason for his disgust –

Your hands are covered with blood,

Wash, make yourselves clean.

Take your wrong-doing out of my sight.

Cease to do evil.

Learn to do good, search for justice, help the oppressed, be just to the orphan, plead for the widow.

– Widows and orphans needed to be protected especially because they had no one to defend their rights –

Then God said how the situation could be rectified. It required a true conversion of heart. God was ready to give people a new chance.

‘Come now, let us talk this over’, says Yahweh.

‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;

– that means, they shall be wiped out and forgiven – though they are red as crimson,

they shall be clean as wool.

If you are willing to obey,

you shall eat the good things of the earth.

But if you persist in rebellion, the sword shall eat you instead.’

– death shall be your punishment.

‘The mouth of Yahweh has spoken.’

During the eucharistic celebration we can do justice to most readings with the approach of simple guided reading. But at times only commentated reading can bring out the full meaning. We should then not be afraid to follow this approach. If the text is short and we are not too hard pressed for time, we could read the text a second time, immediately after the commentated reading but now without commentary. If one is not used to the practice, it may seem strange at first. However, I know from experience that it works out quite well. By the double reading of the text, one with a short explanation and another one concentrating on the actual words of Scripture, an appropriate text of which the meaning would otherwise be lost, can now make a deep impression on the audience.

SOME FURTHER SUGGESTIONS

We are all familiar with the ‘dramatised reading’ of the Passion account in Holy Week. According to liturgical tradition the text is read by three parties: the story-teller, Christ, and a spokesman (who takes all the other spoken parts of the story). Sometimes the parts of the “crowd” are said by the whole community. Such dramatised reading can be extremely effective, as long as we take care that all the persons involved can be clearly heard and understood. The same technique lends itself also to other parts of the Bible where there is a sufficient amount of dialogue.

An approach that has proved its value on many occasions is ‘reading illustrated by acting’. Normally, one person will read the text while some others perform the actions described.

At a Confirmation Mass the first reading may be from Ez 37,1-14, the prophet’s vision of the dry bones that come to life. A number of children may lie down on the altar steps (the dry bones) with one of them standing up in their midst (the prophet). As the reading proceeds, they gradually raise themselves (the bones are covered with flesh). When the prophet is called to prophesy to the four winds, we see him stretch out his hands in all four directions. When the people receive the full breath of life, we see the children stand up and dance with vitality. The effect can be impressive but it must be carefully practised beforehand and the acting should not be overdone.

At a Eucharistic celebration to mark the beginning of the school year, the Gospel reading could be Jn 4,1-42, which recounts the meeting of Jesus and the Samaritan woman. The text can easily be illustrated with a mime. The actors will be: Jesus, the Samaritan woman, a few apostles and inhabitants of Sichar.

Usually, it is better to concentrate the instructive part of a Holy Mass on one theme. The readings from the lectionary for Sundays have been arranged in such a way that the first and the third readings more or less cover the same theme. If the celebrant plans his homily to be in harmony with this overall theme, there will be some unity of purpose in the whole celebration which will strengthen its overall effect. On the other hand, I do not think it correct to sacrifice the message of a particular reading to the general theme. The second reading on Sundays, for that matter, usually falls outside the scope of the theme that combines the other two. The right way is neither to simply drop the second reading nor to twist its key message to make it fit the general theme. Rather, we should consider each reading on its own merit. Each single reading deserves to be treated as a unit of communication that stands on its own. As long as we go about it slowly and deliberately, the overall theme will not suffer from a second reading that has its own specific message.

For some feasts the selection of the readings goes back to an ancient liturgical practice. Epiphany was a baptismal feast in the Eastern Church. The newly baptised received further initiation in the Christian mysteries.

Fig. 35. Illustration at Epiphany in the lectionary of Limoges (11th cent.).

The age-old theme of the readings was Christ’s self revelation (“epiphany” means “manifestation”), His presence in mystery. Three readings traditionally belonged to the feast: the story of the Magi, Christ’s baptism in the Jordan and the changing of water and wine in Cana. From the East these readings entered Western lectionaries (see Fig. 35). An ancient anti- phon at Vespers records:

“We celebrate a sacred day adorned by three miracles:

today the star led the magi to the manger;

today water was made wine at the wedding;

today Christ wanted to be baptized by John in the Jordan.

Alleluiah!”

The new lectionary has not attempted to retain all the ancient readings. It held on to Mt 2,1-12 (the Magi) as the Gospel text and suggested as complements, readings on Christ’s self-revelation: Is 60,1-6 (announces that all nations will come to Jerusalem) and Eph 3, 2-3, 5-6 (the revelation is passed on through the apostles).

A question that arises at times with regard to the lectionary is whether we are bound to stick to the readings suggested or whether we could make our own choice. The answer is that the lectionary itself presupposes a certain amount of freedom and adaptation, even though it is good practice to follow the recommended readings whenever possible. The selection of texts proposed in the lectionary is, after all, the outcome of much study by people who both knew the Bible and were aware of the pastoral needs of the faithful. The whole lectionary presents a programme that highlights different aspects of Scripture. It should be valued also in its entirety. However, because the overriding purpose of the lectionary is its use to people and because, whenever we read Scripture, its relevance for our particular audience should remain our first priority, the recommendations of the lectionary should not be seen as commandments to be followed for their own sakes. When a certain reading is much too difficult for our audience (for instance, if we have a Eucharist for children), it is much better to select a reading that they can understand. If a particular occasion requires a special kind of reading, we are at perfect liberty to select a reading appropriate to the situation. And, of course, in group Masses for specific communities we may select our readings to fit topics of special importance to such communities.

A final word of warning. In many years of pastoral experience I have found that the small introduction, such as we use in simple guided reading, has often proved a big success from the word go. For anyone who puts it into practice its usefulness is immediately apparent. But carried away by enthusiasm at this new discovery, some pastors then fall into the error of making small homilies out of the introductions before the readings. This in turn causes people to grow restless: instead of just one sermon at Mass, they are now presented with a whole series of them! It is good to realise that the words of the priest at various stages of the first part of Mass have a variety of functions. At the beginning of Mass the priest (briefly) welcomes and calls to repentance; before each reading he merely announces the key statement not of his own view but of the gist of the scriptural message; only after the Gospel does the priest add his own reflections, in fidelity to his task of interpreting the Word of God for his people.

If the first reading at Mass is taken by a lay Reader, he (or she) can be asked to prepare the reading according to the approach of simple guided reading explained above. In case the Reader is not able to formulate the key message by himself, the celebrant could write it out for him on a slip of paper or announce it from the celebrant’s chair before the Reader takes up his stand.

Footnote * God is for Real, Man, C. Burke, (pp.32-3)