Article, by Patrick Catry O.S.B. in “Parole de Dieu, Amour et Esprit Saint chez saint Grégoire le Grand”, Bellefontaine, 1984, Coll. Vie Monastique, n°17, Cholet, pp. 14-37. Originally “Lire l’Ecriture scelon saint Gregoire le Grand” in Collectanea Cistcrciensia, 34, 1972, p. 177-201. Spanish translation in Cuadernos Monasticos. 11. 1976, p. 309-332. (The article published here is a translation from the French.)
Reflections on the reading of Holy Scripture occupy an important place in the writings of Saint Gregory the Great. Father B. de Vrégille devoted an initial study to the subject (1), but without using two works now considered substantially Gregorian: the Commentary on the Books of Kings and the Commentary on the Song of Songs (2), whose authenticity Father H. de Lubac defended with vigour (3). It seemed to us that this work could be taken up again, completed, and pursued across the whole of his writings.
Vocabulary
Gregory makes use of a very varied vocabulary to designate Holy Scripture. Without claiming to provide an exhaustive list of all the terms he employs, here at least are the results of an investigation covering most of the texts where Gregory speaks of Scripture, with at least one reference for each usage. These terms may be divided into two categories: those relating to Scripture and those relating to the Word.
Scripture is first of all simply scriptura (4), or scripturae in the plural (5). It is scriptura sacra (6), and more rarely scriptura sancta (7). Two curious expressions are attached to the same root: he speaks of the writings of God, scripta Dei(8), and the writings of our Redeemer, scripta nostri Redemptoris (9).
Scripture is also the Holy Book, sacrum volumen (10), the Holy Books, sacra volumina (11), or sacri libri (12); the holy pages, sacrae paginae (13); the divine pages, divinae paginae (14); the testaments (14a).
The series of terms referring to the Word of God is even richer. The word verbum used on its own seems rare (15); it is more often qualified: the Word of God, verbum Dei (16); the divine word, divinum verbum (17); and the sacred word, sacrum verbum (18). The plural also seems frequent: the words of God, verba Dei (19), which are also the words of the Creator, verba Creatoris sui (20), and the words of the Redeemer, verba Redemptoris sui (21).
The term sermo, which we find used on its own (22)—how else could it be translated except by “word”? This word is of God, sermo Dei (23); it is divine, divinus sermo (24); sacred, sacer sermo (25). Within the limits of our enquiry, sermonever takes the plural form.
Our single “word” translates, finally, a third term: eloquium. It is always accompanied by a qualifier: divinum eloquium(26) or sacrum eloquium (27), in the singular as in the plural: divina eloquia (28) and sacra eloquia (29). Belonging to the same root, we also find divina locutio (30) and sacra locutio (31), always in the singular, never in the plural.
To the expression scripta Dei among the terms referring to Scripture corresponds here the neuter plural dicta Dei, the sayings of God (32). One also finds: the heavenly oracle, caeleste oraculum (33); the law of God, lex Dei (34); the sacred law, sacra lex (35); sacred history, historia sacra (36).
The sacra lectio, the holy reading (37), does not designate spiritual reading, but the sacred text itself, the biblical pericope read during the liturgy (38). Lectio sometimes also designates the homily (39).
The Voice Of God
God has spoken to us through Scripture. “Holy Scripture has two testaments which the Spirit of God willed to write, both of them, in order to free us from the death of the soul” (40). Our faith tells us so. But God has spoken in his Scripture through the mediation of men. “The Holy Spirit wrote it by dictating what had to be written. He wrote it, since he was its inspirer, and he transmitted to us, through the intermediary of the scribe, what we had to imitate” (41). Later theologians would, not without difficulty, introduce the necessary nuances to this dictation of the Holy Spirit. What matters is to reach the heart of the truth that is seeking to express itself. “If one were to receive a letter from a great personage, it would be ridiculous to ask about the pen he used” (42).
God has spoken to us through men. It is indeed John and Paul who are the authors of their writings, but it is the Word speaking in them who inspired them (43). When God speaks, his voice resembles that of men—we must discern it. The young Samuel learnt this: he heard the Lord call him and hastened to Eli (1 Sam 3:4–5) (44–45). “How is it that the child thinks of Eli when it is God who speaks to him? All that our ancient Fathers (45) have said in the Holy Scriptures relates to the word of Eli. They did not speak from their own resources, since it was God who spoke through them what he willed… If the child hastens to Eli when God speaks, it is because God speaks with a voice that resembles that of Eli. What does it mean that the voice of God does not differ from that of Eli, if not that it is He who speaks through the words of the ancient Fathers? The voice of Eli is like that of God, because all that the chosen Fathers say through the sacred words, they have not received from themselves but from the Lord. That is why in the prophets, almost at every word, it is repeated: ‘Thus says the Lord,’ so that one may recognise in the oracle of the prophet not a word of man but a word of God who commands” (46).
God Has Said Everything To Us
In Scripture, which contains his Word, God has said everything to us. God has spoken once and that is enough; there is no further revelation to expect. This is what Elihu explains to his friend Job: “You protest against God because he does not answer each of your questions. God will speak once and will not repeat the same thing twice… It is as if he were saying: God does not reply to the heart of each person with private revelations, for he has prepared a word that can satisfy the questions of all. In the word of his Scripture indeed, if we search carefully, we find a response to each of our needs; it is not necessary that the voice of God reply in particular to what each must endure. In Scripture we are all answered in a general way; for there the life of those who went before serves as a model for their successors.
To take just one example, if we are afflicted with some suffering or bodily illness, we may perhaps wish to know the hidden causes of this suffering or illness in order to find relief by understanding the evils from which we suffer. But because in each of our trials we are not answered individually, we turn to Holy Scripture. There we find that Paul, tempted by the infirmity of his flesh, heard this reply: ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness’ (2 Cor 12:9). And this was said to him in his own weakness so that it might not be said to each one of us individually. In Holy Scripture, we hear the voice of God addressing Paul in affliction so that we may not seek to hear it privately for ourselves, in a personal consolation, when it also happens that we are in affliction.
The Lord therefore does not answer each of our questions, because he will speak once and will not repeat the same thing twice; by what he declared to our Fathers in Scripture, he has also willed to instruct us. God no longer answers the thoughts or temptations of each person through the voices of the prophets or by the ministry of the angels, because he has enclosed within Holy Scripture everything that may happen to each one, and has taken care to give to the successors the examples of their predecessors as models (47). An admirable lesson on the “today” of the Word of God.
God Still Speaks
Is it entirely true, however, that God has said everything to us in Scripture? God is living. “God speaks sometimes through Scripture, sometimes through a secret inspiration” (48). Gregory does not imprison the Word of God in a theory. God has said everything in Scripture, but he is not confined within it. “God speaks by a secret revelation when he reveals through his Spirit to the spirit of someone what must be done or taught” (49). Yet the norm of every secret revelation is Scripture.
“When, therefore, Samuel heard the Lord call him, he hastened to Eli, because the order of preachers in the holy Church compares what it has learned through a revelation of God with what is found in Holy Scripture. The rule of right understanding is expressed in the books of Holy Scripture, because divine counsels are there set forth by our venerable Fathers who had the Holy Spirit. Samuel therefore runs to Eli as often as he is called by the Lord, because the order of preachers consults the sayings of the ancient Fathers concerning all that it learns through spiritual revelation before believing that this revelation truly comes from the Lord, recognising that it does not differ from what is read in Holy Scripture. One easily falls into error if one does not know how to compare with the eminent truth of Holy Scripture what has been received in a secret contemplation” (50).
God continues to reveal himself to men. There exists a hidden word (Job 4:12) because it makes itself heard in the depths of the soul; it is a word of the Holy Spirit perceived by the heart, leading one to desire invisible goods; it is a word without the sound of a voice; it lifts up the spirit, because the word of the Spirit makes itself heard silently in the ear of the heart (51). God is greater than his Scripture and is not limited by it, yet Scripture remains the norm of every secret revelation.
Neither knowledge of Scripture nor any revelation is something one can seize for oneself. Every word is a free gift. “The spirit of prophecy is not always present to the prophets, it is not always at their disposal, so that in the times when they do not have it, they may recognise that it is by gift that they do have it when the Spirit comes to them. Thus, when Elisha forbade his servant Gehazi to drive away the Shunammite who wept at his feet, he said to him: ‘Let her alone, for her soul is in bitterness; the Lord has hidden it from me and has not made it known to me’ (2 Kgs 4:27). Likewise, when Jehoshaphat questioned him about the future, while the spirit of prophecy was not present to him, he called for a player of the lyre so that the spirit of prophecy might descend upon him through the praise of psalmody (2 Kgs 3:11–15)” (52). The inspiration of the Spirit is a free gift of God; it is not continuous, so that man may test the truth of inspiration by comparing the times when he has it with those when he does not.
The Heart of Man and the Heart of God
There is, however, an activity of man which prepares the ways of God. « When one applies oneself to psalmody with the attention of the heart, one prepares for almighty God a way towards our heart, so that the prophetic mysteries or the grace of compunction may be infused into it » (53*). It is God who gives his Spirit, it is He who comes to our heart, but we can prepare the way for Him, unless one prefers to say that one carves out a way towards Him. « It is written: “The sacrifice of praise gives me glory, and it is the way by which I will show him the salvation of God” (Ps 49:23). The Latin word salus translates the Hebrew Jesus. That is why the sacrifice of praise is a way by which Jesus is made manifest. While psalmody spreads compunction within us, a way is made in us by which we shall at last reach Jesus, as he himself says concerning his manifestation: “He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and will manifest myself to him” (John 14:21). That is why it is written: “Sing to the Lord, sing a psalm to his name; prepare a way for him who goes up towards the west, the Lord is his name” (Ps 67:5). For indeed, he truly went up towards the west, he who trampled death underfoot by rising again. When we sing to him, we prepare a way so that he may come into our heart and set us aflame with the grace of his love » (54).
The prayer of the psalms, which is a way of reading Scripture, presents itself as the meeting-place between God who comes to us and ourselves who go towards Him. To the movement of God there corresponds the movement of man; to the freedom of God there corresponds the freedom of man. Gregory elsewhere develops his thought on the prevenience of God: « Where do the words of God go, if not to the hearts of men?… Scripture goes to the hearts of men (in four ways): through the Law, signifying the mystery; through the prophets, more clearly, by announcing the Lord; through the Gospel, by showing the one whom it had foretold; through the Apostles, by proclaiming the one whom the Father revealed for our redemption… The holy words make known to us the precepts and the deeds… They speak at different times, as we have said above, or at least they announce in all the regions of the world the incarnate Lord » (55).
The way of God towards our heart, Scripture reading is also, reciprocally, our journey towards the heart of God. « Learn to know the heart of God in the words of God » (50); this text of Gregory, which Bible et Vie Chrétienne, by highlighting it, has long allowed us to savour, now finds its context. Gregory writes to Theodore, physician to the Emperor, to urge him earnestly to a diligent reading of Scripture:
« One who loves more presumes more of the other; I therefore have a certain complaint to address to my most illustrious son Theodore. He has received from the Holy Trinity the gifts of intelligence and temporal goods, of mercy and charity, yet he is continually involved in the affairs of this world, obliged to frequent journeys, and he neglects to read each day the words of his Redeemer. What is Holy Scripture, if it is not a letter from almighty God to his creature? If you were absent for a time from the Emperor and received a letter from him, you would neither cease nor rest, you would not take sleep until you had learned what a terrestrial Emperor had written to you. The Emperor of heaven, the Lord of men and angels, has sent a letter for your life, and you neglect to read it with fervour. Apply yourself, therefore, I beg you, to meditate each day upon the words of your Creator. Learn to know the heart of God in the words of God, so that you may aspire more ardently to eternal things, so that your spirit may be inflamed with greater desires for heavenly joys. Your rest will then be all the greater, for until now you have taken no rest out of love for your Creator. May almighty God pour upon you the consoling Spirit so that you may put this into practice. May He himself fill your spirit with the sense of His presence, and in filling it, sustain you » (57).
Scripture, a letter from God addressed to us for our life, makes known to us the heart of God. To read it is an occupation to which the Emperor’s physician is invited to devote himself each day. This ought naturally to be the case in the life of every Christian.
The Depths of God
Many, unfortunately, in the Church neglect to know and understand Scripture. « The writings of God are exposed everywhere, but men disdain to know them. Almost no one seeks to understand what they believe » (58). The intelligence of faith is sought in contact with Scripture. If we know Scripture as we ought, it is a door that gives us access to the understanding of invisible things (50). The path of deepening is infinite. We shall never exhaust the heart of God. « The understanding of divinity is a summit of ineffable height. And because one comes to know almighty God through the Scriptures, the same Scripture is like a step upon which one ascends to reach this Height » (60). Christ reveals to us the depths of his divinity in his humanity, and we come to know him through Holy Scripture, which is like his city. To know the city of the Lord is to penetrate gradually its depths (61).
The Depths of Scripture
Gregory is sensitive to the depth of Scripture, as deep as that of God. We shall never fully understand it, any more than we shall ever probe to the depths of the divine mystery of God. « Holy Scripture, because it is inspired by God, surpasses the understanding of the most gifted of men, in proportion to their inferiority to God; and even these men perceive of the depth of Scripture only what God himself, in his goodness, chooses to reveal to them. No one is so advanced in learning that he cannot progress further, for all human progress remains beneath the height of the divinity that inspired Scripture… God has hidden the depth of his Word… The holy truths, which have been revealed so that we may know the Redeemer, must be revered for their eminent dignity even when they are not understood. That is why, even if what I say seems of little value, one must still consider that this holy Scripture, which I explain in an unworthy manner, contains many excellent and lofty things for the one to whom almighty God has wished to reveal his secrets. Indeed, Holy Scripture has been composed so marvellously by God that, even if it seems to be explained in many ways, it nevertheless contains secrets that remain hidden, because it is rarely explained in such a manner that nothing remains to be elucidated day by day. Through this incomprehensible character, almighty God has provided with great wisdom for the mobility of the human spirit; indeed, so that, once known, Scripture cannot be depreciated, it is constituted in such a way that one still remains ignorant of it even when one knows it, and one reads it all the more willingly as one studies each day; and in always revealing something new, it delights with charm » (62).
Scripture is never so closed that it should be feared, nor ever so accessible that it loses all value; it is all the more loved the more it is pondered. Accessible to uneducated readers, it is nevertheless always new to the scholar (63). It is by frequenting Scripture that one discovers it gradually, and its discovery is never complete. Scripture was written entirely for us, yet we never fully comprehend it (64).
Scripture would, in fact, be of little value if it were easily accessible everywhere; « in certain more obscure places, it comforts with a sweetness all the greater when it is found that the spirit has exerted itself more in its search » (65). Its very obscurity is of great use: « It exercises the faculties so that, expanded through effort and exercise, they grasp what they could not have grasped if they remained idle » (66). The necessary effort renders reading fruitful. Through the obscure passages it contains, Scripture seeks to awaken our understanding so that we are attentive to its depths even when what it says seems simple and clear (67). Its obscurities, finally, are providential: « They compel explanation, as we have just said, in multiple ways » (68).
It even happens that the letter of Scripture contradicts itself. To overcome these inconsistencies, we are compelled to delve more deeply in an unceasing quest. « This understanding of truth, when sought in the humility of the heart, is penetrated through assiduous reading. When we see the faces of men we do not know, we are ignorant of what passes in their hearts; but if familiar conversation brings us close to them, we then penetrate their thoughts. It is the same with Holy Scripture: if one sees only the narrative, one sees merely the face; but if one frequents it diligently, one penetrates its mind as in familiar conversation. By confronting its different assertions, one easily recognises in the words of Scripture what is their deep meaning and what is their literal sense. And one remains all the more a stranger to this profound knowledge if one remains attached to the superficial » (69).
The Book Written Within and Without
Scripture must be read often, if not always, on two levels: the surface of the narrative, which is often clear and therefore requires little explanation, and the mysteries hidden beneath this surface (69, 70). It is through the historical meaning of the sacred text that our hearts must first be filled; yet the water is turned into wine when, through the mystery of allegory, the historical sense is transformed for us into spiritual understanding (71).
« The book of Holy Scripture is written both within and without (Ez 22:29); within, through allegory; without, through history; within, through spiritual understanding; without, through the simple sense of the letter, suitable for those who are still weak; within, because it promises what is invisible; without, because it arranges what is visible according to the justice of its precepts; within, because it promises heavenly things; without, because it orders the use or rejection of earthly things, despicable according to what they are. Indeed, it speaks of certain secrets of heaven and orders others for outward actions; what it orders for the outside is manifest, what it speaks of the inner things cannot be fully grasped… The loftiest matters of the holy Word, that is, what it says concerning the nature of the divine or the eternal joys, and which is still unknown to us, are known in secret only by the angels… Yet we already know part of these hidden things through spiritual understanding, we have already received the pledge of the Holy Spirit; we do not yet know them fully, and yet we love them from the heart, and through the multiple spiritual senses that we already know, we are nourished by the nourishment of truth » (72).
It is through this spiritual understanding that one attains substantial interior reflection (73). One reaches the marrow of the spirit, once the garment of the letter is removed (74).
Scripture is like a vast forest. Viewed from a height and from afar, one can take it in at a single glance, yet its true extent is difficult to measure. It is only by penetrating into the forest that one truly realises its breadth and density (75).
Scripture is also like the sight of the sea, for it contains whirlpools and waves of judgments and counsels (76). « Admirable depth of the Word of God! It is good to apply oneself to it and to penetrate its secrets under the guidance of grace. When we study with all our intelligence, what else do we do but penetrate the depths of the forests to shelter ourselves there in their coolness from the heat of this world? In reading, we gather the green herbs of the words; in reflecting upon them, we ruminate upon them » (77).
The Labour of Reading
« Scripture is for us at times food, at times drink. It is food in its obscure passages, because one grinds it, so to speak, when explaining it, and swallows it after having chewed it. It is drink in its clearer passages, because one takes it as it is » (78). The more one works the spice, the stronger it becomes. The more one labours over Scripture, the more its hidden virtue is revealed. The more it is ground in the rumination of reflection or the exposition of commentary, the more readily it can be assimilated (79).
« To what does the Word of Holy Scripture resemble, if not to flint that conceals fire within it? It is cold in the hand, but under the strike of iron it sparks, and that which was cold in the hand ignites a fire that burns. Thus are the words of Holy Scripture; they are cold if taken according to the bare sense of the letter, but if, with the Lord’s inspiration and awakened understanding, they are struck, they produce the fire of mystical senses, so that from these words, first received coldly according to the letter, there later burns a spiritual fire… Who would be inflamed with the love of God without first having been cooled by reading these words according to the letter? Yet from what reached the heart coldly, sparks of understanding leap forth, communicating the fire when one has sought the marrow hidden beneath the letter » (80).
The Key to Scripture
There is an entire effort of deepening and assimilation of the Word of God, often undertaken by the Fathers, and among them Gregory, through the use of allegory; even if their applications are often unacceptable as such, it remains true that « the effort of interiorisation presupposed by allegory is essential to Christian thought » (81). One of the privileged means of this deepening for Gregory, as for the Fathers in general, is the correspondence between the two Testaments. The New Testament was hidden allegorically within the letter of the Old (82). What the Old Testament symbolised, the New Testament manifests (83). The Old Testament must bend to the demands of the New in order to be understood in its truth: « when the string of the New Testament is stretched, the wood of the Old bends » (84).
Scripture transcends all sciences and all doctrines by the way it speaks; within a single pericope, in recounting the past it announces the future, and without changing the order of what is to be said, by the same words it simultaneously describes the past and foretells what is to come. Job, speaking of himself, predicts what concerns us, and in spreading his own lamentations, he proclaims the destiny of the holy Church (85). What the ancient doctors promised, the new preachers show fulfilled in our Redeemer (86).
At the centre is Jesus Christ, who alone was able to open the book with the seven seals of the Apocalypse (Rev 5:4). « What is this book, if not Holy Scripture? Only our Redeemer opened it: by becoming man, by dying, by rising again, by ascending into heaven, he revealed all the mysteries contained within. And no one in heaven, that is to say no angel, no one on earth, that is to say no living man, no one under the earth, that is to say no soul deprived of its body, was found worthy, because no one could open the secrets of Holy Scripture for us except the Lord » (87).
The person of the Lord himself is the key to the Scriptures. We must consider that we are sailing in a boat towards the land of the living (Ps 141:6), which we desire to see. The sea of Scripture carries us towards the land of the living by the wood of the Cross, by the mystery of the Passion announced in all parts of Scripture (88).
Pedagogy
If Scripture is at times easy, at times difficult, it is also because it has been written for everyone: the strong and the weak alike; it exercises some by its obscure words and shows indulgence to others through its simplicity (89). « Much of what it contains is sufficiently clear to nourish the small; certain passages are veiled to exercise the strong—understood after effort, they are all the more rewarding. But some passages are so hermetic that, by not understanding them and recognising our own blindness, we advance more in humility than in intelligence. There are indeed passages accessible only to the inhabitants above, living in their homeland, and which are not yet revealed to us, who are pilgrims. If one goes to a city one does not know, one may hear about it along the way and form some idea, but because one has not yet seen it, there are things entirely unknown; the inhabitants of the city, however, see what is not said of the city, and what is said, they understand. We, then, are still on the journey; we hear much about this heavenly homeland, we already understand something of it by spirit and reason, and what we do not understand, we shall come to… What is loftier and more obscure in Holy Scripture is accessible only to angelic minds and still remains incomprehensible to us… We cannot yet penetrate by intelligence all that we hear concerning heavenly things. » (90)
Scripture, so to speak, makes itself accessible to each reader. « If you seek in the words of God something elevated, these same holy words grow with you, ascend with you into the heights » (91). If the reader seeks in them the moral sense, the historical sense, the typological sense, or the contemplative sense, the words of Scripture lend themselves to it. « Such is the one who scrutinises Scripture, such is the holy text revealed. Have you progressed in the active life? It advances with you. Have you advanced towards the immobility and constancy of spirit? It halts with you. Have you attained to the contemplative life by the grace of God? It soars with you » (92).
Through its mysteries, the Word of God exercises the wise; through its obvious sense, it comforts the simple. It has enough to nourish the small, and it keeps in secret enough to suspend the admiration of the great. It is like a river in which the lamb may walk and the elephant may swim (93).
« Your high mountains are for the heavens, the rock is the refuge of the hedgehog » (Ps 103:18). « Let those who can accomplish the leaps of contemplation have the mountains of intelligence. But let the rock be the refuge of the hedgehogs, because we, small and covered with the thorns of our sins, even if we cannot understand the heights, are saved in the refuge of our rock, that is to say, Christ » (94). Like the manna of the desert (Wis 16:20), Scripture adapts to each taste; it is suitable for all, and while remaining faithful to itself, it condescends to the capacities of those who listen. Each finds in it exhortation to the virtue lacking in him or guidance away from the vice that afflicts him (95).
« Certain readers of Scripture, because they penetrate its loftier maxims, easily despise the small commandments given to the weaker… If they had a true understanding of Scripture, they would have no contempt even for these small commandments; divine precepts, in certain passages, are addressed to the great, in others they suit the small; and the latter, growing in understanding, may advance, so to speak, by the steps of the spirit and come to comprehend the loftier teachings. Everything found in Scripture is to be eaten; the small things it contains shape a simple life, and the great things found within edify a more delicate intelligence » (96).
The Gift of God
Scripture also resembles that closed book which Ezekiel saw: « I looked, and there was a hand stretched out towards me, holding a scroll; it was unrolled before me; it was written on the inside and on the outside » (Ez 2:9–10). « The rolled-up scroll is the obscure language of Holy Scripture, which is rolled up by the depth of its content so that its meaning is not easily penetrated by everyone » (97).
Even all the industry of men is insufficient to understand it fully unless God himself illuminates the Scripture he has inspired. « The scroll of Ezekiel is unrolled before the prophet because before the preachers the obscurity of Scripture is removed » (98*). Jesus himself indicated to his Apostles how his parables were to be understood. « The hand of God presented the Apostles with a rolled-up scroll when he said to them, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field’ (Matt 13:24ff). But this scroll, which he showed rolled up, he unrolled when he explained what he had said in a riddle: ‘The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man’… (Matt 23:37ff). The book is unrolled when what was said obscurely is opened to understanding. This rolled-up book, Truth unrolls it when he did for the disciples what is written: ‘Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures’ (Luke 24:45) » (99).
Ultimately, understanding Scripture is a gift of God. « It should be noted that the prophet adds, ‘I opened my mouth, and he made me eat the scroll’ (Ez 3:2)… We open our mouth when we prepare our senses for the understanding of the sacred Word. Thus the prophet opens his mouth at the voice of the Lord because the desires of our heart aspire to the breath of the Lord’s command to receive something of the fullness of life. It is not within our power to take this nourishment if the one who gave the Word to be eaten does not himself feed us. One feeds indeed the one who cannot eat for himself. And because our weakness is incapable of comprehending the heavenly words, he who gives us our measure of wheat in due time gives it to us to eat himself, so that, understanding today of the Word what we did not know yesterday, and understanding tomorrow what we do not yet know today, we receive our nourishment each day through the grace of divine providence. The Almighty stretches out his hand to the mouth of our heart each time he opens our understanding and introduces into our senses the food of the sacred Word. He feeds us from the scroll when, according to his economy, he opens our senses to Holy Scripture and fills our thoughts with its sweetness » (100).
God, who has given us his Scripture, is also the one who enables us to understand it in due time. God has time because he has a plan for each and every one. One can prepare oneself for God’s timing, but never force his secrets. « The words of God absolutely cannot be penetrated without his wisdom; one who has not received his Spirit cannot in any way know his words » (101). To imagine that one can understand Scripture by one’s own strength is an illusion; it is to devote oneself to never grasping it; it is to touch it externally, not penetrate it; to nibble at it, not eat it; to eat it, one needs the aid of grace from above (102).
Despite the necessary and industrious study, there is a measure to be observed in reading Scripture and delving into it, and that is the measure of God’s truth concerning us. We must not probe the secrets of God beyond what we are capable of understanding, but rather seek what can form us: humility, readiness for serenity, the preservation of patience, and the manifestation of long-suffering (103). « For if the glory of our invisible Creator elevates us when we seek it with moderation, it crushes us if we scrutinise it beyond our strength. »
« Those who are truly humble and genuinely learned in the holy Church know how to grasp certain heavenly secrets they have contemplated while at the same time revering those they do not yet understand, so that they appropriate what they understand and await with humility what they have not yet comprehended. This is why Moses says to us: ‘At the meal of the lamb, burn completely in the fire all that remains’ (Ex 12:10). We eat the lamb when we store in the belly of the Spirit all that we understand of the humanity of the Lord. Yet some things remain that cannot be consumed because there is still much concerning him that cannot in any way be comprehended. These must be consumed by fire, because that which we cannot grasp, we reserve humbly for the Holy Spirit. Often humility opens to the senses of the elect what had seemed incomprehensible to them » (105).
To seek to understand Scripture beyond one’s capacity is to risk being continually deprived of knowledge of the truth. To make Scripture merely a subject of questions is to condemn oneself never to have it as nourishment (106).
The Philistines
As a place of encounter with the Lord, the practice of Scripture is full of obstacles, and it is no wonder that this is so. « Often, when we devote ourselves to Holy Scripture, we undergo more severe assaults from the spirits of evil. They scatter into our mind the dust of earthly thoughts, so as to make the eyes of our attention less sensitive to the light of inward vision. This is what the psalmist endured when he said: ‘Depart from me, evildoers, and I will keep the commandments of my God’ (Ps 118:115). By this he clearly indicates that he could not scrutinise thoroughly the commandments of God so long as he suffered within his spirit the ambushes of the spirits of evil.
The same experience can be recognised in the story of Isaac and the Philistines who filled with earth the wells that Isaac had dug (Gen 26:15). We dig these wells when we penetrate the depths of the hidden senses of Holy Scripture. The Philistines fill them secretly when unclean spirits assail us with earthly thoughts just as we are striving towards the depths, and they rob us, as it were, of the water of divine knowledge that we had found. But since no one overcomes these enemies by his own strength, it is said by Eliphaz: ‘Then the Almighty will be your gold, and he will be precious silver to you’ (Job 22:25). It is as if he were saying plainly: ‘When the Lord has driven away from you the spirits of evil by his own power, the talent of the divine Word will grow within you in clarity’ » (107).
Entrance into Scripture does not come without combat. But Scripture itself becomes a weapon for spiritual combat. « He who neglects, by living badly, to hold in his hand the sword of the Word of God is utterly incapable of resisting temptations » (108).
The Purified Heart
Vigilance is required. « The spirit penetrates more keenly the words of God when it refuses to admit within itself the tumult of worldly concerns. A person prays poorly when distracted by the agitation of worldly affairs. The crowd of earthly thoughts, by its clatter, closes the door of the heart, and the voice of the Judge who dwells within is heard all the less if the noise of disordered cares is not restrained » (109).
One only approaches Scripture after having purified oneself. « The holy venture is a mountain from which the Lord comes into our hearts so that they may have understanding… This mountain is covered with sentences and shaded because of the allegories (cf. Hab 3:3). But one must know that when the voice of the Lord is heard on the mountain, we receive the command to wash our garments and to purify ourselves from every stain of the flesh if we wish to approach the mountain. For it is written that if an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned (Heb 12:20). An animal touches the mountain when those who give themselves over to irrational impulses approach the heights of Holy Scripture and do not understand it as they ought, but divert it from its meaning according to their own will » (110).
One approaches Scripture to submit to it, not to make use of it; for that very reason, the heart must already have been purified.
Fulfilling Scripture
If one truly understands the Word of God, one puts it into practice. There is no teaching that Gregory emphasises more insistently regarding Scripture. It is here that knowing how to read Scripture can become a definition of a Christian, insofar as this existential reading is not merely an exercise of superficial intelligence. The intelligence Gregory speaks of is that of attentive love and submission. « Just as dutiful servants always await their masters’ faces to hear and execute without delay all that is commanded, so the spirits of the just remain present before Almighty God by their attention, keeping their eyes fixed on His Scripture as on His mouth; for in Scripture God declares His entire will, and they stray from it all the less because they know His will in His Word. Therefore His words do not pass in vain through their ears, but they fix them in their hearts. Hence the text continues, “But I have treasured the words of His mouth in my heart” (Job 23:12). We treasure the words of His mouth in our hearts when we listen to His commandments not in passing but to fulfil them in action. It is written of the Virgin Mother herself, “Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). These words remain hidden deep in the heart even when expressed through deeds, if the spirit of the one who performs them does not rise because of what has been externally accomplished. For if, in executing the Word we have received, we seek the praise of men, the Word of God is no longer hidden in the depths of the spirit. »
True comprehension of Scripture is not a matter of intellect but of uprightness of heart; through it, simple spirits attain the precepts of God that more gifted minds might neglect out of contempt. « For in these things the eye of love illuminates the darkness of dulled understanding; thirst opens to slower spirits what disdain closes to finer intelligence. Thus they reach the heights of understanding because they do not neglect to fulfil what they have grasped, even the smallest things » (112).
Life itself shows whether reading has been fruitful. « Often we see people devote their entire spirit to the study of holy Scripture, and recognising through the Word of the Lord how they have sinned, they mortify themselves with tears, grieve with unceasing sorrow, and take no delight in any success of this world; the present life is a burden to them and even light itself is an annoyance; they barely consent to speak of common matters and relax their minds with difficulty from the rigour of discipline; for the love of their Creator, they find joy only in weeping and silence. Their belly has eaten the holy Book and their inward parts have been filled, for their memory has not lost the precepts of life that their senses could grasp, and their spirit, recollected in God, has preserved them in continual tears and remembrance » (113).
Once one has received understanding of the sacred Word, it is vital to keep it, to deposit it in the depths of the heart, and to conform one’s life to the knowledge acquired. By applying ourselves to the words of Scripture, we acknowledge the evil we have done and, filled with compunction, avoid committing more (114). « Those who reflect upon the words of God mortify themselves to worldly life for the Lord. Hence it is written, “The law of His God is in his heart, and his steps do not falter” (Ps 36:31). And it is also written, “I have hidden Your words in my heart, that I might not sin against You” (Ps 118:11) » (115).
The words of Holy Scripture are like finely hewn stones; by meditating on these words each day, the hearts of the saints become like altars of hewn stone upon which is offered to the Lord the holocaust of prayer (116). Scripture shapes the lives of its readers, turning them towards the Lord in prayer.
Reading Scripture and truly understanding it is a matter of life. « What we do not yet understand of holy Scripture, we venerate with humility; what we have come to understand, we must extend through our conduct… What you have already learned from holy Scripture and how much you love your neighbour in silence, you demonstrate through the extent of your good deeds » (117).
Those who understand Scripture well know what they must do; the better the understanding, the more one is obliged to put into practice what one has grasped. Knowing many sublime things in Scripture is not a secure joy; it is better to preserve what one knows (118). It is not admirable merely to know the Word of God, but to fulfil it. One carries the Book on one’s shoulder (Job 31:36) when one enacts Scripture. One must consent to be bound by it, like an animal at its manger, to receive the nourishment of the Word, whether by attending to it or by reading it regularly, without transgressing, to grow by God’s action (120). When Gregory exhorts Barbara and Antonine to love reading holy Scripture, it is so that they may know how to live and manage their household (121).
Sober Drunkenness
Just as drunkenness transforms the senses, so too if someone is truly drunk on the Word of God, their spirit will be transformed in such a way that they will no longer love vain and passing things. « Indeed, the psalmist affirms regarding the elect, “They shall be drunk with the abundance of Your house” (Ps 35:9). For they are so filled with the love of Almighty God that, their spirit transformed, they seem to be strangers to themselves, and they accomplish what is written, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself” (Matt 16:24). He denies himself who is changed for the better, who begins to be what he was not and ends by being what he ought to be » (122).
The transformation of the senses produced by drunkenness is true conversion. The Lord makes us drunk with the deep teaching of His Scripture (123). Through holy Scripture, we are vivified by the gift of the Spirit to drive far from us the works of death… Through it, God touches the soul of the reader in various ways to transform them, « to incite zeal, patience, and penance » (124).
What measures our knowledge of Scripture is action. If that is lacking, it is because we have not known God. Conversely, the more the life has progressed, the more delicate is the attention to Scripture. « When you have understood through perfect imitation the perfection of the saints, you will progress all the more in the understanding of holy Scripture » (125–126). Each saint has progressed in holy Scripture in the measure that Scripture itself has progressed within them… The deeper one listens, the more profoundly one understands the words of Scripture. If one seeks a discipline of life and finds by the steps of the heart the way to accomplish what is good, one penetrates Scripture all the more (127).
Scripture contains all that edifies and instructs: lamentations to teach us penance, hymns to console the spirit with hope in heavenly joys, curses to threaten us if we have done wrong without repentance… Therefore, we must be vigilant with the words of this Book (128). « Through the precepts of Scripture, the Lord governs our life with goodness and gentleness » (128). « Scripture also recounts the deeds of the saints and incites the hearts of the weak to imitate them. By recalling their victories, it reassures our weakness against the assault of vices. Through its words, the struggle terrifies our spirit all the less, as it sees displayed before it the triumphs of so many heroes. Sometimes even, it recounts not only their virtues but also reveals their falls; in their victories we see what we must imitate, and in their falls what we must fear » (129).
In striving for good, we might sometimes believe ourselves to have some merit, but when we turn to the words of God, we hear loftier precepts and recognise all that we still lack. Scripture is like a surveyor’s staff, measuring our progress or our lack of it (130). It is a light that examines our life and a mirror that judges us. « Holy Scripture presents itself to the eyes of our soul as a mirror; we can contemplate our inner face there; we see our ugliness and our beauty; we become aware of our advancement or our lack of progress » (131).
Understanding the Word of God entails another requirement: « to lead others also to life ». « We must understand the words of God so that they are useful both to ourselves and communicated to others with a spiritual intention. Hence it is rightly said, “Eat the scroll and go, speak to the children of Israel” (Ez 3:1). It is as if He said concerning this holy nourishment, “Eat and give to eat; be satisfied and belch (eructa), receive and distribute, restore yourself and work” » (132). Not everyone is fit for this task of communicating the Word. Those who please their listeners are those who love to digest the Word of truth internally and whose life does not contradict their preaching (133). Moreover, those whose life is filled with the commandments of Scripture, who have it engraved inwardly and live by it, take delight in exposing it and know how to speak convincingly of Almighty God. It is therefore necessary that one who speaks of the Word of God first examines how one lives. « For in preaching, the conscience of holy love edifies far more than the skill of speech » (134).
Walking In The Night
In the present night, the Church finds it difficult to recognise the face of God, but the light of His Word allows her to walk by deeds. « Now the lamp shines upon the head of the Church (cf. Job 29:2–3) because holy Scripture illuminates the darkness of our spirit so that, in this obscure place of present life, when we perceive the light of the words of God, we see what is to be done. Now she walks by its light in the darkness, because the universal holy Church, even if she does not penetrate the secrets of another’s mind—since, so to speak, she does not recognise His face in the night—can nonetheless take the steps of good works, guided by the light of the Word from above » (135).
In the night of present life, Scripture shines for us like the stars of the commandments (136). Yet one can darken oneself with the light if one misunderstands the words of Scripture, just as one can wound oneself with a scalpel (137). The true child of light is « one who loves to hear the words of Scripture, understands them with wisdom, and what he receives through understanding, he grasps with the affection of love. Why is he called a child of light, if not because what is born of light is light? What is sin, if not darkness? What is good work, if not light? By directing the steps of their deeds along the path of Scripture, the saints, so to speak, resolve the light of spiritual teaching. John spoke of this light coming from the light, “Whoever is born of God does not sin, for the heavenly generation keeps him” (1 John 5:18). What does it mean to be “born of God,” if not to love His will as known in the holy Scriptures » (138).
The darker the night, the more urgent is the need for light. « All that was written was written for our instruction, that through patience and the consolation of the Scriptures, we might have hope” (Rom 15:4). If Scripture was prepared for our consolation, we must all the more read it when we see ourselves more weary under the burden of trials. Since we cannot return to eternal joys except through temporal trials, the entire purpose of holy Scripture is that the hope of enduring joy strengthens us in these passing adversities » (140).
The Feast Of God
God restores us, remakes us, recreates us constantly through His Word. « Wisdom has slaughtered her victims; she has sent out her maidens to call to the fortress and the city walls: ‘Let whoever is simple come to me’ (Prov 9:1–4). » Elijah set a table, that is, holy Scripture; we, weary, come to it with the burdens of the world, and it restores us with the bread of the Word and strengthens us at its feast against adversities. As elsewhere the Church says, « You prepare a table before me against those who oppress me » (Ps 22:5) (141). It is remarkable that Gregory applies these texts to Scripture rather than to the Eucharist.
The Lord makes us strong against temptation by remaking us through the nourishment of His Word. Hunger of the spirit is the silence of God endured by the reprobate. When the spirit lacks the Word of God, it is left powerless against temptation (142).
Holy Scripture is for us both food and drink (143). To read it is to eat it; yet one must also assimilate it. « Our mouth eats when we read the Word of God; our innermost being is filled when we understand and retain what we have taken the trouble to read » (144). Gregory then explains that these “innermost being” are nothing other than the depths of the spirit: « right intention, holy desire, humble will before God, benevolence towards one’s neighbour. When our spirit has received the nourishment of truth, our interior must not remain empty » (145).
The words of God restore the hungry spirit and shape the moral beauty of our life (146). They are the sustenance God gives us; we fill our belly at the feast of God (147). Every Christian carefully ruminates within their spirit the nourishment of the holy Word (148). Even the pagans are gripped by thirst for the Word; when at last they gain access, they drink it with all the greater eagerness because they have thirsted for it longer (149).
The words of Scripture are words of peace and words of life (150). They are the life of the believer, and they give life. Scripture is the rock on which the Church is built. The whole holy Church is founded on the mystery of the Scriptures (151).
Simplicity
The hypocrite seems to feed on Scripture, yet he does not truly feed on it, or he feeds only on what is low and external (152). For him, the Book is a dead thing because he receives Scripture not with love but for knowledge. He repeats the truths without loving them, and he does not perceive their inner flavour (153). « Often the hypocrite applies himself to learn the mysteries of holy Scripture, not to live by them, but to appear learned in the eyes of others; his bread becomes in his entrails gall of vipers (cf. Job 20:14), because, glorifying himself in knowing the holy Law, he turns the drink of life into poisoned draught; and what seemed to instruct him to live, causes him to perish as a reprobate…
Sometimes also the hypocrite, applying himself to the words of doctrine to display them, blinded by God’s righteous judgement, misunderstands even the words he sought wrongly. Slipping into the error of heresy, he finds death in eating the bread of Scripture, as if he had taken viper’s gall; and in his doctrine he finds death because he did not seek life in the words of life. Often, even if the hypocrite understands well the words of God, he loses them before finishing the course of his present life because he does not keep them in practice, so he no longer knows what he refused to put into action when he knew it. The hypocrite desires to know the words of God but not to accomplish them. He wants to speak learnedly but not to live by them. And because he does not wish to put into practice what he knows, he loses even what he knows; because he does not join the purity of action to his knowledge, neglecting this purity, he also loses his science. He casts out by forgetfulness the riches of the holy Law that he had swallowed through reading; God makes them leave his entrails, because by righteous judgement He removes from memory what he did not observe, lest he keep, even on the tongue, the precepts of God which he did not live. That is why the prophet says, « God says to the sinner, ‘Why recite my commandments? What have you to do with my covenant on your lips?’ » (Ps 49:16). If, however, the hypocrite seems to retain the words of doctrine on his lips until the end of his life, he will be all the more punished, since, being evil, he was not deprived of the excellent gift of God » (154).
The hypocrite is like a thief (155) or an adulterer. To be adulterous toward the Word of God (cf. 2 Cor 2:17) is to seek to use it for one’s own glory, to traffic in it. « In sexual relations, the adulterer does not seek the child but his own pleasure. He who is perverse and aims at vain glory is rightly called adulterous toward the Word of God, because through the holy Word he does not seek to engender children for God, but desires to display his knowledge. He who is driven by the pursuit of glory to speak, aims more at pleasure than at generation. That is why the sacred text rightly adds, ‘The eye will not see me’ (Job 24:15), because the human eye hardly perceives adultery accomplished in spirit. The perverse spirit accomplishes it all the more securely because he does not fear being seen by men, which would cause his confusion » (156). Some seek only what will make them seem learned and eloquent, desiring to know only what will make them shine (157).
By contrast, true knowledge of Scripture, which is a gift of God, is received and kept in simplicity. « Often God gives the knowledge of holy Scripture; but if the one who receives it glorifies himself, by the wrath of the righteous Judge, he becomes blind to holy Scripture itself; having sought through it superficial praise, he no longer perceives its depths » (158).
The Fire
A single word sums up the entire attitude of the reader toward Scripture and all that he must seek in it: “love, the strength of charity” (159). « God speaks to us through all holy Scripture for the sole purpose of drawing us to love of Himself and of our neighbour » (160). Through these two precepts, Scripture gives us life; we, who lay dead in sin, are revived. By its prescriptions, the Lord justifies us, corrects us, and vivifies us, for through them He reveals spiritual life and pours it into our spirits (161).
One must warm the spirit with Scripture. « Apply yourselves, I pray you, most dear brothers, to meditate on the words of God; do not despise the merits of our Redeemer, which have been sent to us. It is essential that the spirit be warmed by them, lest it grow numb in the cold of sin » (162).
Not only does Scripture warm, it also burns. « It inflames with the fire of love the one whom it spiritually fills. That is why it is written, ‘Your Word is a fire’ (Ps 118:140). That is why some who were on the way, hearing the words of God, exclaimed, ‘Was not our heart burning within us while He opened to us the Scriptures?’ » (Luc 24:32) (163).
Once the fire is kindled, it must be maintained. Our heart is this altar, where it is ordained that the fire burn without ceasing (cf. Lev 6:12); that is, explains Gregory, the flame of charity must always rise towards the Lord. And so that the flame does not fail, one must continually gather in one’s heart the examples of those who have gone before us and the testimonies of holy Scripture. For our inner renewal, it is always necessary to bring wood to nourish the fire; to cease doing so is to allow it to go out (164).
Loving The Word
To love God, to love His Scripture, and to find one’s joy in it is all one and the same. « To abound in delights regarding the Almighty (Job 22:26) is to be satisfied with love for Him at the feast of holy Scripture. And in His words, we find as many delights as, according to our progress, we discover diverse senses (historical, allegorical, contemplative…). One must know that the one who abounds in delights enjoys a certain rest and is freed from the fatigue of labour, for when the inner delights begin to abound in the soul, she no longer consents to dwell on earthly cares; seized by love for her Creator and liberated from her caprices, she yearns, even in weakness, for contemplation face to face, gaining strength even as she seems to tire… she hastens through rest towards the One she loves inwardly (ad ilium per quietem properat quem intus amat). That is why the admiration inspired in the Bride is described: ‘Who is this that rises up from the desert, abounding in delights?’ (Song 8:5).
If the holy Church did not abound in delights, she could not ascend from the desert of present life to the things above. She abounds in delights and ascends, for nourished by mystical senses, she is elevated daily to the contemplation of the things above. Thus too the psalmist affirms: ‘The night becomes my light in my delights’ (Ps 138:11), for the attentive spirit, restored by mystical understanding, is already illumined in the darkness of present life by the splendour of the coming day, so that even in the shadows of this corruption, the brilliance of the future light shines in its understanding; and nourished by the delights of the words, it learns through this foretaste what it may expect from the nourishment of truth » (165).
To taste the Word of God is already to glimpse the light that is coming.
The Face Of God
The entire purpose of Scripture is to awaken love for this light, to stir the desire for things above. « To those who seek the purity of the contemplative life, it is necessary to open what is most excellent in holy Scripture… so that they may rise all the more vigorously as that which they hear pleases them more greatly. » And the more they extend themselves upward through heavenly desires, the less remains in them that is not consumed by the flame of divine love (166).
Zechariah saw a flying scroll (Zech 5:2). This scroll is Scripture, because, speaking to us of the things of heaven, it draws our minds upward, so that we avoid desiring the things below. In this way, while possessing nothing, we may here receive a hundredfold when, in the perfection of the spirit, we do not seek to possess anything in this world (167). Yet it is not enough to renounce the things below in order to reach the summit at once; one attains it only step by step. When, reflecting on the precepts of holy Scripture, we turn our minds away from love of the corruptible life, we approach spiritual goods as by the steps of the heart (quasi quibusdam cordis passibus ad interiora properamus) (168).
Scripture condescends to our capacities and our pace; it speaks to those who live in time, and therefore uses terms that mark time; by humbling itself, it raises us. « When it recounts events that belong to eternity, unfolding in time, it subtly guides the thoughts of those accustomed to temporal things toward eternal realities; thus it pours into our souls an unknown sweetness under the guise of familiar words » (169). Eternity, the things above, spiritual goods, the light of the coming day—all that might seem abstract is sometimes rendered in a very concrete way. Scripture, which provokes tears of love in us, consoles our tears by promising that we shall see the face of our Redeemer (170).
Scripture opens us to love, yet on the other hand, it reveals itself only to one who has sought the love of God; one cannot access the understanding of the Word except through love (171). « It comes to pass that you feel the words of holy Scripture are heavenly if, inflamed by the grace of contemplation, you fix your gaze on heavenly things; the spirit of the reader recognises the admirable and ineffable power of the sacred Word when it is penetrated by love from above » (172).
To love the Word is to frequent it; Gregory delights in telling his correspondents of his joy in knowing that they strive to apply themselves to Scripture (173). To love the Word is to imitate humanity before the Fall, which enjoyed the words of God (174); it is to restore one’s spirit through love for what one understands: « then Scripture is vivifying » (175). To love it truly, finally, is to love it through one’s actions, to aspire to God through desire, and to fulfil what one has learned (176).
One final text gathers all these aspects of love: « There are two great movements that shake our hearts. One arises from fear, the other from love; one arises from the suffering proper to penitents, the other from the fervour of those who love. After the word of preaching, the first movement consists in weeping over the evil we have done… There is a second movement when, with many tears, we seek the heavenly goods of which we have heard… And because through these same holy words (of Scripture) we are inflamed with love for our Creator, burning with a great fervour, we weep that we are still far from the face of Almighty God… We who, knowing God, have begun to weep over our sins, already loving the One we have known, never cease to desire Him with tears… When the Testaments of God have begun to resound in the ear of the heart, the spirit of those who listen, touched by love, is moved even to lamentation. Hence it is that the words of holy Scripture become savoury in the hearts of those who read; hence they are often read by those who love, in silence, secretly, and without noise. Hence too it is said by another prophet: “…They open their mouth like the poor who eat in secret” (Hab 3:14)… (Which means) the nations open their hearts to the nourishment of holy reading and eat in secret like the poor, because they take the words of life in reading them, with haste and in silence » (177).
Conclusion
Gregory speaks extensively about the reading of Scripture, often commenting on texts that did not directly call for his mention. For him, the reading of Scripture is the subject of continuous teaching; he returns to it at all times, both opportune and otherwise. It is almost the only reading of which he speaks to his hearers or readers, which does not mean that the former Prefect of Rome was never moved by the Bible (178).
He himself often commented on Scripture in ways that contemporary exegetes can no longer permit themselves (179). Yet Gregory has a keen sense of the immense dignity of Scripture, a sense that has not gone out of fashion. At the same time, he knows, and often repeats, that its depths can be reached only through diligent labour and with the eye of love.
Scripture is a privileged place for encountering God: « God has spoken to us through Scripture, and that is sufficient. » In the life of the Christian, its reading is not an isolated exercise; in a sense, it encompasses the whole of Christian life. One could say that for Gregory, the perfect Christian is the one who knows how to read Scripture—provided it is recognised that this is not a purely intellectual exercise; its reading engages the whole person in conversion, toward God and toward others.
Gregory strongly emphasises the unity of reading and existence. Scripture lies at the heart of Christian life as one of its fundamental realities, as its highest demand: a place of encounter with the Lord who speaks to us there; bread for life and wine that intoxicates; comfort in trials, light in the night, and fire that burns within our hearts.
Notes (to be revised):
(1) Article Ecriturc sainte du Dictionnaire de Spirituality, t. IVZ Paris, I960, col. 169
A 176.
(2) Edition par le Pdre P. Verbraken dans le Corpus Christianoruni, Scries latina, CXLIV, Turnhout, 1963 ; pour des raisons de commodity toutes nos references seront neanmoins faites A la Patrologie de Migne.
(3) Exégèse médiévale, Seconde partie, I, Paris, 1961, p. 66-67.
(4) Hom. in Ez. 11,5,3 (PL 76,986B).
(5) In I Reg. 111,4,25 (PL 79,196D).
(6) Mor. 17,29,43 (PL 76,31 A).
(7) Mor. 20,32,62 (PL 76Z174B).
(8) Mor. 19,30,56 (PL 76,136A).
(9) Hom. in Ez. 11,3,18 (PL 76,968B). Cf. Mor. 22,18,44 (PL 76,240A) ABIpse Dominus…
testamentum novum per apostolos scripsit.
(10) In I Reg., Proocmium 2 (PL 79,19C).
(11) Mor. 20,9,20 (PL 76,149B).
(12) Mor. 18,26,39 (PL 76,58A).
(13) bid. (58B).
(14) Mor. 22,5,8 (PL 76,217A).
(14a) Duo sacri eloquii testamenta ABMor. 14,53,66 (PL 75,1074B) ; scripturam testa-
tnenti noviABMor. 22,18,44 (PL 76.240A) ; testamenti veteris dicta Mor. 18,39,60 (PL
76,71C).
(15) Le pain de la Parole ABMor. 17,29,43 (PL 76,31A).
(16)Hom. in Ez. 1,10,13 (PL 76,890C).
(17) Mor., Ep. miss. 2 (PL 75,513B).
(18) Mor. 18,13,21 (PL 76,49B).
(19) Hom. in Ez. 11,2,7 (PL 76,952C). DE BAEp. IV,31 (PL 77,706B).
3) Ibid. (706A).
(-)Hom. in Ez. 1,10,13 (PL 76,890C).
(K) Ibid. 11,3,15 (PL 76,965D).
CCFBMor., Ep. miss. 4 (PL 75,515A).
DG FBMor. 10,30,50 (PL 75,948B). ；DMor. 16,18,23 (PL 75,11328). Cf. eloquium Domini ABMor. 4,31,61 (PL 75,67OC).
(”)Mor. 1930,56 (PL 76,136A).
DG Hom. in Ez. 1,6,16 (PL 76,8368).
EAMor. 23,25,49 (PL 76,282A).
(30) Mor., Ep. miss. 4 (PL 75,515A).
4
(31) Mor. 6,5,6 (PL 75,7328). Cf. supema locutio ABMor. 19,11,18 (PL 76,107D). ；DMor. 18,39,60 (PL 76,72A).
!u
(33) Mor., Ep. miss. 5 (PL 75,516B). F
(34) Reg. Past. 111,24 (PL 77,94C).
EAIbid. (93D).
(36)Mor. 1,3,4 (PL 75T30C).
D
(37) Hom. in Ez. 1,6,2 (PL 76,829C) ; ibid. 7 (831B) ; hom. in Ev. 22,1 (1174C) ; ibid.
38,1 (1282B) ; ep. 11,52 (PL 77,596A).
(38) Pour cc sens, autres r^fdrences A la literature patristique dans A. Bl a is e , Diction-
nairc lalin-fratifais des auteurs chrctiens, Turnhout, 1954, au mot lectio, 3e sens.
DH BAHom. in Ez. 11,2,7 (PL 76,952C) ABPraeterita lectione jam diximus… Blaise ne
signalc pas ce sens.
(40) Hom. in Ez. 1,7,16 (PL 76,848A).
(41) Mor. Pracf. 2 (PL 75,517AB).
(12) Ibid.
(43) In I Reg. IV,4,49 (PL 79,267D).
(44) Toutcs les r^fdrenccs bibliques sont faites au texte latin soit de S. J^rdme, soit
d’une ancicnnc version (cf. PL 75,35-36).
(45) On rencontre assez souvent chez Gregoire Fexpression ABles anciens Peres, pour
designer les personnages de VAncicn Testament ; par exemple ABMor. 18,26,39 (PL 76,
58B) ; Mor. 18,39,60 (PL 76,71B). Parfois en opposition aux Peres ou aux docteurs du
Nouveau Testament ABHom. in Ez. 11,3,16 (PL 76,966B) ; opposition des vctcres doctorcs
de PAncien Testament aux novi praedicatores du Nouveau ABIn I Reg. IV,5,13 (PL 79,
290C).
(45a)p^rcs elus (traduction littdrale) ABles dlusz pour Gregoire, sont les vrais fidHes,
ceux qui vivent scion leur foi (cf. Y. Congarz Lrecclesiologie du haut nioyen age, Paris,
1968, p. 67).
(4G) In I Reg. IILL8 (PL 79448BC).
(47 )Mor. 23,19,34 (PL 76,271-272).
(48) In I Reg. 111,1,9 (PL 79,148C).
(W Ibid.
DI BAIbid. (148CD).
(51) Sermo Spiritus in aure cordis silenter sonat ABMor. 5,28,50 (PL 75,705-706).
(62) Hom. in Ez. 1,1,15 (PL 76,792D-793A). Pour le fait que FEsprit n’est pas toujours
present aux prophdtes, voir la suite de ce texte, ainsi par excmple que Mor. 2,56,89 (PL
75,597-598) et Dial. 11,21 (PL 66,174AB).
(53) Hom. in Ez. 1,1,15 (PL 76,793A).
(X) Ibid. (793AB).
(55 56 j Hom. in Ez. 1,6,16 (PL 76,836BC). Cf. hom. in Ez. 1,6,17 (PL 76,837A) ABLes deux Testaments … viennent i notre cceur. Il y a une perception des paroles de Dieu par
1’oreille du coeur ABHom. in Ez. 11,2,18 (PL 76Z948A).
(56) Ep. IV,31 (PL 77,706AB).
(57)Ibid. ; licence a ltd prise de supprimer le passage frequent du tu au vous qu’on
lit dans le textc latin.
(58) Mor. 19,30,56 (PL 76,136A).
(50) Hom. in Ez. 11,5,3 (PL 7&986B).
(co) In I Rcg.z Proocmium 5 (PL 79,22B).
(61) In I Reg. 1,1,9 (PL 79,27BC).
(62) In I Reg., Prooemium 3 (PL 79z19D-20B).
(«3) Mor. 20,1,1 (PL 7&135BC).
(64) Hom. in Ez. 11,53 (PL 76,986B).
(65)Hom. in Ez. 1,6,1 (PL 76,829B).
(66)ibid. (829A).
(07) Mor. 18,1 (PL 76,37D-38D).
(68)Hom. in Ez. 1,10,34 (PL 76,898B).
(69) Mor. 4, Praef., 1 (PL 75,633BD).
(70) Hom. in Ev. 22,2 (PL 76,1174D).
(71) Hom. in Ez. 1,6,7 (PL 76,831BC).
(72) Hom. in Ez. 1,9,30 (PL 76,883B-884A).
(73) Mor. 23,25,49 (PL 76,282A). L
(74)Reg. Past. 111,24 (PL 77.94C). Cf. Mor. 16,53,66 (PL 75J052D) ; sur 1c cortex
litterae ABMor. 21,1,2 (PL 76,188B).
(75)in I Reg” Prooemium 2 (PL 79,19A).
(76)Hom. in Ez. 1,6,13 (PL 76,834C).
JMFBHom. in Ez. 1,5,1 (PL 76,821B).
(78)Mor. 1,21,29 (PL 75z540C) ; cf. Mor. 656 (PL 75,732C) et hom. in Ez. 1,10,3 (PL
76,886D-887A). (79) Mor. 29,8,19(PL 76,487D).
(80) Hom. in Ez. 11,10,1 (PL 76,1058BC).
(81) A. Fe u il l e t , Le Christ sagesse de Dieu, Paris, 1966, p. 88.
(82)Hom. in Ez. 1,6,12 (PL 76,834A).
(83) Ibid. 15 (835A).
(84) Mor. 19,30,55 (PL 76,134AB).
(85) Mor. 20,1,1 (PL 76,135CD).
(86) in I Reg. IV,5,13 (PL 79,290C).
(87) Dial. IVZ42 (PL 77,400-401).
(88)Hom. in Ez. 1,6,13 (PL 76,834-835).
(80) Mor. 204,1 (PL 76,135C).
DKBAHom. in Ez. 11,5,4 (PL 76,986C-987A).
(91) Hom. in Ez. 1,7,9 (PL 76,844BQ ; cf. Mor. 20,14 (PL 76,135BC).
(92) Hom. in Ez. 1,7,16 (PL 76,848A).
BH Mor., Ep. miss. 4 (PL 75,515A).
(94)Hom. in Ez. 1,9,31 (PL 76,884A) ; cf. Mor. 30,19,64 (PL 76,559C).
(“)Mor. 6,16,22 (PL 75,741 AB).
(0G) Hom. in Ez. 1,10,1 (PL 76,886CD).
@BMFBHom. in Ez. 1,9,29 (PL 76,882D).
A Ibid.
Ibid. (882D-883A).
(iKDHom. in Ez. 1,10,5 (PL 7&887BD).
(I )Mor. 18,39,60 (PL 76,72A).
(102) Mor. 20,9,20 (PL 76,149AC).
(M3)Mor. 20,8,18 (PL 76,147CD).
(104)ibid. (148B).
(105) Ibid. 19 (148C).
D@ BIFBMor. 18,13,21 (PL 76,49AB).
(107) Mor. 16,18,23 (PL 75,1131D-1132B).
(108) Mor. 19,30,56 (PL 76,134C).
D@KBAMor. 23,20,37 (PL 76,273B).
(110) Super Cant., Prooemium 5 (PL 79,474D-475A).
(I”) Mor. 16,35,43 (PL 75Z1142CD-1143A).
(H2j Mor. 6,10,12 (PL 75,735D-736).
(113) Hom. in Ez. 1,10,11 (PL 76,890AB).
( 14) Hom. in Ez. 1,10,3 (PL 76,887A).
( 1G) Hom. in Ez. 11,9,8 (PL 76,1047B).
( 1G)ibid. (1047A).
(117)Hom. in Ez. 11,5,5 (PL 76,987-988).
(118) Mor. 22,5,8 (PL 76,217A).
( 19) Mor. 22,19,45 (PL 76,240BC).
(120) Mor. 31,33 (PL 76,573BC).
p21) Ep. XI,78 (PL 77J219A-1220A).
(122)Hom. in Ez. 1,10,7 (PL 76,888C-889A).
@顺 AReg. Past. 111,24 (PL 77,94C).
D@ECNBHom. in Ez. 1,7,11-12 FPL 76,846AD).
(125)in I Reg. IV,5,12 (PL 79,289AB).
(126) Hom. in Ez. 1,7,8 (PL 76,843C-844B).
(127) Hom. in Ez. 1,10,34 (PL 76,886A). < UCcriture sainte dans les deux Testaments
est droite cn ses avertissements, haute en ses promesses, terrible en ses menaces » ABcf.
Hom. in Ez. 1,6,18-19 (PL 76,837A-840C). Elle est comme un arc dans la main du Seigneur
qui envoie ses menaces aux coeurs des hommes comme des fleches ABcf. Mor. 1930,54
(PL 7&133C-134A).
(128)Reg. Past. 111,24 (PL 77,94CD).
Mor. 2,1,1 (PL 75,553D-555A) = Sources chretiennes, n° 32, p. 180 ; cf. In I
Reg. IV,5,31 (PL 79,305C) ABeleclomm speculum sacra scriptura est. Tous les excmples
de vertu donnes par les saints de FEcriture sont pour nous autant de boucliers contre
les vices ABHom. in Ez. 11,3,21-23 (PL 76,969-972). La vie des justes est une lecture
vivante ABMor. 24,8,16 (PL 76,295B).
(130)Hom. in Ez. 11,1,13 (PL 76,945A) ; cf. ibid. 11,2,7 (952C).
(131) Mor. 2,1,1 (PL 75,553D).
(m2)Hom. in Ez. 1,10,4 (PL 76,887B).
(M3)ibid. H (890B).
(134)ibid. 13 (890C).
(135)Mor . 19,11,18 (PL 76J07CD).
(136)Mor . 29,30,60 (PL 76,511c).
(137)Reg. Past. 111,24 (PL 77,93-94).
(138)in i Reg. \，,4,71 (PL 79,404-405).
D@H BAEp. 11,52 (PL 77,596C-597A).
@NOBAMor. 26,16,26 (PL 76,363AB).
(“1) Mor. 17,29,43 (PL 76,31AB).
(M2)Mor. 6,27,44 (PL 75,7530754A).
(143)Hom. in Ez. 1,103 (PL 76,886D).
( * )ibid. 6 (888A).
(145) i b i d.
(146) Mor. 6,5,6 (PL 75,732C). ^intelligence de 1’Ecriture restaure Fesprit et lui donne
des forces pour accomplir le bicn ABMor. 15,13,16 (PL 75z1088B).
(147) Ep. 11,52 (PL 77&5C).
(148)Mor. 1030,51 (PL 75,949B).
(149)Mor. 6,5,6 (PL 75,732BC).
(150)Reg. Past. 111,24 (PL 77,94D-95A).
(J51)in sacraniento scripturarum velut in loco fundata ABIn I Reg. 1,1,48 (PL 79,46C).
(152)Mor. 20,9,20 (PL 76,149BC).
(153)in i Reg. IV,3,49 (PL 79,267D・268A).
(164) Mor, 15,13-14,16-17 (PL 75,108801089A).
(164 165) Mor. 15,14,18 (PL 75,10890).
(150) Mor. 16,60,74 (PL 75,1156C). Cf. Mor. 22,16,39 (PL 76,236B) avec meme rdf&ence
h 2 Cor. 2,17.
(157) Mor. 20,8,18 (PL 76J47D).
(158)Mor. 29,30,60 (PL 76,51 IB).
(159) Mor. 20,9,20 (PL 76,149B).
(KO) Hom. in Ez. 1,10,14 (PL 76,891B).
(1G1) Hom. in Ez. 1,7,16 (PL 76,848AC).
(162) Hom. in Ez. I,3,18 (PL 76,968B).
(163j Super Cant., Proocmium 5 (PL 79,475A).
(167)Mor. 25,7,15 (PL 76,328BD).
(168) Mor. 16,19,24 (PL 75,1132B-1133A).
(169) In I Reg. 111,4,25 (PL 79,196CD).
( G7)Mor. 15,14,18 (PL 75J089BC) se refdrant A Mat. 19,29.
(108)Mor. 22,19,45 (PL 76,240C).
poo) Mor. 2,20,35 (PL 75,572D) dans la traduction de Sources chr^tiennes, n * 32,
p. 207.
D@M BAHom. in Ev. 25,4 (PL 76,1192A).
(171) Reg. Past. Ill,24 (PL 77,94B).
(172)Hom. in Ez. 1,7,8 (PL 76,844B).
(173)Ep. 111,67 (PL 77,668B).
(174)Dial. IV,1 (PL 77,317Q.
(175)in I Reg. IV,4,49 (PL 79,267D-268A).
(176)Mor. 6,8,10 (PL 75,735AB).
(K7)Hom. in Ez. 1,1039 (PL 76,902AC).
(* 8 )Voir par exemple ce que dit dom R. Gil l e t des sources des Morales sur Job
(Sources chretiennes, n° 32) p. 81-109.
@NSBASur Vimpossibilite de revenir A unc lecture pr&critique de 1’Ecriture, voir par
excmplc ABR. Ma r l e , Le problenie de l’herméneutique H « Foi et Constitution », Recherches
de Science Religieuse, t. 58, 1970, p. 101-112.