Saint Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor- Memoria
The Memoria of Saint Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor
Today we celebrate the memoria of Saint Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the church. He was born in Tuscany and he studied philosophy and theology and later became a teacher. He was a Franciscan and, lived in the Thirteenth century. He defended the Franciscan order when people became suspicious of them due to the life of poverty they embraced, and what was wrongly perceived as an anti-institutional structure in them. He later became, the General of the order and he ruled with prudence and Wisdom. He thought that the simple and the uneducated could have a clearer knowledge of God than the wise and educated people. He believes in the power of God to imbue wisdom from on high. And Jesus would say, in Mtt 11:25, thank you Father, for you have hidden these things from the wise and revealing them to little children. Surprisingly, this is partly why Christian faith is often not very appealing to many. Because God is no respecter of persons nor class (see Romans 2:11). For truly God shows no partiality, but in every nation and age anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. For the Lord looks at the heart. (see 1 Samuel 16:7). Thanks to God for such gratuitousness of this gift of wisdom which he reveals even to mere children. Listen, all this is by no means an attempt to devalue formal education which is in itself is a gift from God. Rather it means that God chooses to give his wisdom to anyone regardless of background or class.
It then follows that God is the source of all wisdom. Hence, James 1:5 says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him or her ask God, who gives to all people generously.
But this wisdom in rooted in knowing the love of God. So, St Paul in today’s first reading from Ephesians 3:14-19, prayed that we be strengthened with might through his spirit in our hidden self, and that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith, (now listen to this) that you being rooted and grounded in love, may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breath and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fulness of God.
St Paul understood that God is the one who give true wisdom. He knew that wisdom is rooted in love, but not necessarily in our love for God but God’s love for us. So, he prayed that we experience the depth of this Love so that being rooted in that love, we may be filled with all the fullness of God. In other words, be filled with Christ, for Christ is the Wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24). In one of his writings called, “from the Journey of the Mind to God, Saint Bonaventure, said that Christ is the Staircase and the Vehicle like the throne of mercy over the ark of the covenant, and the mystery hidden from ages. One should turn full attention to this throne. But this mystery cannot be comprehended by anyone unless he or she surrenders to it, nor can one surrender unless one longs for it, nor can one long for it unless the Holy Spirit should come and inflame his innermost soul. He then said that, only grace makes this possible since the answer lies in God and not in us. St Bonaventure, as it were re-echoes what St Paul said in Eph 3 where we quoted before, that only through the power of the Holy Spirit shall we be filled with this wisdom, the wisdom that helps us choose, in all our dealings the ultimate Good, namely God.
In our world, when the knowledge of facts and figures has multiplied but true wisdom disappearing, let us ask Saint Bonaventure to intercede for us, for the grace of true prudence and wisdom especially for our children that are bombarded with facts and figures, left, right and centre. That all of their search for understanding, they may be rooted in the Love of God for them. And may this Love serve as a lens through which they interpret and analyse the world around them and are able to sieve out the destructive knowledge and be filled with true wisdom; May we all be filled with this same wisdom. In all we go through, may we be sustained by our knowledge of the length, height and depth of God’s love for us.
Let us pray
Eternal Father, through the power of your spirit in us, strengthen our inner self as we experience the depth of your love for us, that we may be filled with the wisdom that comes from you. Through Christ our Lord. Amen
Saint Bonaventure--- Pray for us
The Lord be with you
May almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Saint Bonaventure------ Pray for us