Coming to our Senses

Saturday of the 22^nd Week in Ordinary Time

1 Corinthians 4:6b-15; Luke 6:1-5

Years ago, I heard a Catholic Scripture scholar say, “The worst Bible studies I know of are the ones where the leader reads a bible passage, then looks up and asks everyone what they think it means.” I squirmed; I knew so little about the bible that asking other people made sense to me. He then said that after reading a bible passage, the first question should be, ‘What does the Church think it means?’ Again, I squirmed. I had no sense of who in the Church I was supposed to ask. Fortunately, as he went on to explain it, the light dawned. I had no sense, alright; in fact, I was missing four senses!

Since at least the time of St. Thomas Aquinas almost 800 years ago, the Church has taught that there are four interpretive keys, called “senses,” that help us draw meaning out of Sacred Scripture. Let’s take a moment and look at today’s reading from St. Paul in light of these four senses.

First is the literal sense, which is the meaning the author intended the passage to have. In this case, St. Paul is clear: He is admonishing the Corinthians, giving them a “wake up call.” He sees himself as their spiritual father, so he speaks to them as a father to his child, telling them (sometimes harshly) to wake up and realize how blessed they are, what a gift they have received, and at what cost. What do we take from this? I think the Holy Spirit wants us to ask ourselves if we appreciate what a gift our parents, teachers, clergy, and others have given us by bringing us to Christ, and if we are doing as they did.

Second is the allegorical sense, which asks how a passage speaks of, or leads to, Christ. If we look back to where St. Paul spoke of the Corinthians becoming kings, the allegorical sense would lead us to consider the kingship of Christ, who came to serve not to be served, and challenge us to follow his example of true servant leadership.

Third is the moral sense. How does this passage lead me to act? Certainly St. Paul detected a pride problem among the Corinthians; boasting, self-satisfaction, and choosing favorite preachers. The result was nothing but division. Through the moral sense, the Holy Spirit emphasizes to us that what matters is having the humility to boast only of Christ, allowing nothing to satisfy us but him, and having no honor or possession mean more to us than the gift of salvation he won by his blood.

Finally, the anagogical sense looks at how a passage relates or leads to eternal life. Although St. Paul spent a lot of time talking about the cost of evangelizing the Corinthians, the clear implication is that, as their spiritual father, he wanted nothing more than their eternal salvation. That is why Christ died, and why St. Paul was willing to do whatever he could to help them attain it, no matter the cost to himself.

Of course, all this can get much more sophisticated. Regardless, the Church through the power of the Holy Spirit has given us these four senses and urges us to use them as we contemplate the Word of God, not just that we may know more about Christ, but that we may come more and more to have the mind of Christ.

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