Dear Parishioners,

The back cover of this quarter’s Notre Dame Magazine features the following quotation by James Carroll,

The very act of storytelling, of arranging memory and invention according to the structure of the narrative, is by definition holy. We tell stories because we can’t help it. We tell stories because we love to entertain and hope to edify. We tell stories because they fill the silence death imposes. We tell stories because they save us.

These rich insights by James Carroll, an American historian, author and journalist, help us to understand why telling stories was a preferred mode of teaching employed by Jesus and other great figures throughout history. Jesus’ stories, frequently told as parables (a particular kind of story), emerged from the holiness of his very being. They became, and have remained, vehicles of salvation because they reveal, as far as words are able, precious glimpses into the mystery of God.

Shortly after the Christian church was born, the evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) wove Jesus’ stories into larger narratives that each painted a unique portrait of Jesus. These narratives, later called “gospels,” meaning “good news,” were originally liturgical texts that were proclaimed when Christians gathered for worship. In order to preserve the integrity and authenticity of these gospel accounts, they were committed to memory and written down. In a culture where few people could read or write, these handwritten texts were revered and protected, especially by the deacons of the church communities. One can witness the reverence shown to the scrolls of the Torah (the first 5 books of the Old Testament) in Jewish synagogue services. At a prescribed ritual moment in their liturgy, a rabbi or cantor removes the sacred scroll, adorned with elegant coverings of cloth and metalwork, from the ark and solemnly carries it throughout the congregation. As they do so, the worshipers reach out and touch the scroll with their prayer shawl (tallit), a hymnal or bare hand and touch these to their lips as a sign of loving reverence. As the scrolls are processed throughout the synagogue, the cantor or choir sings joyful melodies while some of the worshipers even dance in the aisle. This is all a powerful expression of a community’s appreciation for the stories inscribed on the Torah scrolls that will soon be chanted to the congregation in the Hebrew language. Catholic Christians enact a similar ritual procession at Sunday Mass with the Gospel Book.

It always strikes me, especially at this time of year, how people, religious or not, engage in the art of storytelling. In times past, as nights got longer and colder, people would sit by the hearths in their homes and recount stories from the past. Around the festival of Halloween and Christmas people love to tell ghost stories because it is believed that during these “thin times” of the year, spirits from the other world might pay them a nocturnal visit as did the three ghosts of Christmas past, present and future to Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens beloved novel A Christmas Carol.

We Catholics have time honored customs that honor the faithful departed especially during the month of November. As we witness the created world around us experience a type of death with trees losing their leaves, our religious imaginations quite naturally call us to ponder the end of life as we know it. Lighting candles and visiting graves are two such customs both of which invite great storytelling that highlights the qualities, good or bad, in those who have gone before us. It is probably safe to assume that one day, we too, will be the subjects of stories like these.

So as we immerse ourselves more fully into this transitional time of year, we might consider renewing our own appreciation for stories and the artistic enterprise of telling them. Writing stories could be a colorful way of passing the time during these bleak, somber months leading up to the winter solstice. Then, on the 25th of December we might be even better prepared to hear, once again, the greatest story ever proclaimed in human history of how the Word became flesh and lived among us.

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