Brian Cavanaugh, TOR
© August 2005
 

published in ANALECTA TERTII ORDINIS REGULARIS (Rome, Italy),
Vol. 36/174 (2005) pp. 343-352.

About those who minister the Word of God, Thomas of Celano points out that St. Francis used to say that “the preacher must first secretly draw in by prayer what he later pours out in sacred preaching; he must first of all grow warm on the inside or he will speak frozen words on the outside” (2C 163).  This is enlightened advice, as well, for catechists, religious education teachers and others who have the opportunity to minister the Word of God. That is, before speaking, teaching or preaching one needs to set aside adequate time for prayer to draw in deeply God’s inspiration and listen to the Word.

St. Francis Spoke Life-Giving and Profound Words

According to Celano, the beauty of the preaching of St. Francis flowed from his love of God and an ardent desire to invite others to experience the same thing. 

Although the evangelist Francis preached to the simple, in simple, concrete terms, since he knew that virtue is more necessary than words, still, when he was among spiritual people with greater abilities he gave birth to life-giving and profound words. With few words he would suggest what was inexpressible, and weaving movements with fiery gestures, he carried away all his hearers toward the things of heaven.  (2C 107) 

St. Francis tells Pope Innocent a Story‑Parable

In exploring storytelling within the Franciscan tradition, it is amazing to note that the origins of the Franciscan fraternity began with a story‑parable that St. Francis received from Christ while in prayer. This was prompted by Pope Innocent’s insistence that Francis try to discern God’s will regarding permission for his rule of life.

When [Francis] presented himself and his followers before Pope Innocent to request a rule for his life, it seemed to the Pope that their proposal for a way of life was beyond their strength. A man of great discernment, he said to Francis: ‘My son, pray to Christ that through you he may show us his will, so that once we know it, we may confidently approve your holy desire.’…[Francis] prayed intently and devoutly exhorted his companions to appeal to God. 

…In praying, the answer came to him and he told his sons the news of salvation. Thus, Christ’s familiar speaking in parables is recognizable. 

‘Francis,’ [Christ] said, ‘Say this to the pope: “Once upon a time there was a poor but lovely woman who lived in a desert. A king fell in love with her because of her great beauty; he gladly betrothed her and with her had lovely children. When they had grown up, having been nobly raised, their mother said: ‘Dear children, do not be ashamed because you are poor, for you are all children of a great king. Go joyfully to his court and ask for what you need.’…They presented themselves boldly to the king: they were not afraid to look at him since they bore his very image. When the king saw his likeness in them, he was surprised, and asked whose sons they might be. When they said they were the children of the poor woman who lived in the desert, the king embraced them. ‘You are my heirs,’ he said, ‘and my sons; have no fear!’…The king then sent orders to the woman to send all his sons to be fed at his court.’’ This parable made the saint happy, and he promptly reported this holy message to the pope. 

Francis himself was this woman…because he was fruitful and bore many children. The desert was the world, which was wild and sterile, with no teaching of virtue. The many beautiful children were the large number of brothers, clothed with every virtue. The king was the Son of God, whom they resemble by their holy poverty.… 

The lord pope was amazed at the parable presented to him, and recognized without a doubt that Christ had spoken in this man. He remembered a vision he had seen only a few days earlier, and instructed by the Holy Spirit, he now believed it would come true in this man. He saw in a dream the Lateran Basilica almost ready to fall down. A religious man, small and scorned, was propping it up with his own bent back so it would not fall. ‘I’m sure,’ he said, ‘he is the one who will hold up Christ’s Church by what he does and what he teaches!’ Because of this the lord pope easily bowed to his request…He quickly granted what was asked and promised even more. (1C 16)

Stories Have Power

In her book Storytelling from the Bible, Janet Litherland maintains that “stories have power. They delight, enchant, touch, teach, recall, inspire, motivate, challenge. They help us understand. They imprint a picture on our minds. Consequently, stories often pack more punch than sermons. Want to make a point or raise an issue? Tell a story. Jesus did it. He called his stories ‘parables’.”[1]

In fact, Mark points out in his Gospel that Jesus “did not speak to them without a parable” (Mk. 4:34).  The parable was a new method of teaching that Jesus chose to use. Parables and stories teach a natural wisdom of morality, of healing, of compassion, of values and ethics. Jesus wanted to imprint a picture on our minds that would touch us with a lasting impression in the deepest part of our spirit. Jesus wanted us to get the picture, the bigger picture.

Stories, parables, fables, anecdotes and illustrations are thrown alongside the biblical word to help us to see the “bigger picture” in life. They help us to understand there is more to life than our own limited and narrow spheres of experience. They create pictures in our minds and enlighten our imagination to comprehend a greater dimension of life than we normally are used to experiencing. That is what Jesus tried to accomplish with his disciples and with the crowds that flocked to hear him speak: to take them to a place where there is new way of living, loving and healing; a new world that these people never could have imagined on their own. Such is the task for those who minister the Word to God’s people — to open people’s imagination toward the things of heaven.

 In his reflections, Frank Seilhamer highlights the essence of Jesus’ use of the parables in his teaching.

Parable is the translation…of two Greek terms — parah meaning ‘near’ or ‘vicinity’ and ballo meaning ‘to throw’ — that mean ‘to throw along side of.’ What is involved is a story created to be thrown along side of a true‑life situation to drive home the central point the storyteller is trying to make. As Jesus demonstrated, a good picture is worth a thousand words…which a person can visualize, then pin to their memory.[2]

Gifted Communicators Can Tell a Story

Joe Griffith in the introduction to his book Speaker’s Library of Business Stories, Anecdotes and Humor asserts that good story telling is an integral part of good communication.  He states that, 

…gifted communicators have one common denominator: They can tell a story. More to the point, they can use a good story to make a point and to fix that point in their listener’s mind… 

By sprinkling illustrations…throughout your presentation, you will grab the imagination of your listeners in a way that films or television are hard pressed to duplicate. Never forget that as a communicator you are appealing to the most powerful image-producing mechanism on earth…the human mind. It thrives on images. Good stories are triggers that release an explosive, powerful, positive form of communication energy. 

To quote the late Dr. Carl Winters, for years a popular member of the prestigious General Motors speaking staff, ‘If you want to be a successful speaker, you’ve got to have a message with stories for people to remember your message by.’[3] 

Stories and parables ring true to human life with fresh insights into truths that are taught by the catechist or repeated from the pulpit. These truths can become so familiar and well known that people no longer hear them. The creative use of the imagination, as it were, “dresses up” these truths through storytelling in new garments so that we take notice of them and a moral or spiritual truth can be extracted. 

A rabbi was once asked, ‘Why does a parable possess such great influence?’

The rabbi replied. ‘I will explain this by way of a parable: ‘Truth was accustomed to walk about as naked as Truth was born. No one allowed Truth to enter a home and everyone who encountered Truth ran away in fright.  

‘Truth felt greatly embittered and could find no resting place. One day Truth beheld Parable attired in colorful, expensive garments. Parable inquired, ‘Why are you so dejected, my friend?’  

‘Truth replied, “I am in a bad situation. I am old, very old, and no one cares to have anything to do with me.” 

‘“Not so,” retorted Parable, “it is not because of your age that you are disliked by people. Look, I am as old as you are, and the older I grow, the more do I seem to be loved. Let me disclose to you the secret of my apparent popularity. People enjoy seeing everything dressed up and somewhat disguised. Let me lend to you some of my garments, and you will see that people will like you as well.”’

‘Truth followed this counsel and dressed in the garments of Parable. Ever since then, Truth and Parable have walked hand in hand, and everyone loves them both’.[4]

For me, beginning to tell stories was not really a conscious decision. It emerged from within me as natural as could be for a priest of Irish heritage — as if there is some storytelling gene. This is not to say that I have not spent considerable time researching storytelling as an art form or that stories just pop up easily. For over 25 years I have collected numerous volumes of storytelling books, and have hand‑written enough stories, so far, to fill twelve composition books.  I have also filled thirty‑eight journals with quotations. The difficult part for me, however, when I am asked about the how’s and why’s of storytelling, is trying to describe my approach to using storytelling within ministry of the Word.

Two of the biggest obstacles in moving from simply telling a story to becoming a storyteller are risk and fear. Yes, it is a risk to get into a story so that it becomes real or somehow rings true to human life, with all the nuances of voice inflections, posture and facial expressions that emerge from the story. Marshall McLuhan once said so well: ‘The medium is the message.’ As storytellers in ministry of the Word we are the medium through which the biblical message is communicated. Communications experts tell us that 7% of communication occurs through the words used, 38% through the way the words and the voice are used, while 55% of communication occurs through non‑verbal body language. Indeed, the medium is the message.

Are you afraid people will laugh at you? Or, maybe, is it that they are laughing with you, within the setting of the story? This was a big hurdle for me when I first began my preaching ministry. I was so concerned about what the congregation thought that I hesitated to take many risks and venture into “deep” waters. I was suffering from what could have been called “paralysis of perfectionism.” If one takes no risks then one cannot fail, but, alas, neither can one succeed. Face your own obstacles; take the necessary risks to overcome your own fears. If you haven’t heard it already, fear can be understood as an acronym: False Expectations Appearing Real.

What changed my preaching style actually changed my future ministry as well. What began as personal, journal‑writing therapy, collecting positive quotations and stories quickly assumed a new perspective when I took what was then a big risk and shared some stories and quotations from my journals in my preaching.

When people would come up and ask for a copy of this quotation or that story I was amazed! These were my “personal” stories and quotes, and other people found them helpful too! Gradually I took more risks and told more stories; now people seem to expect me always to come up with a good story. A bonus to storytelling ministry, from my experience, is that people tend to listen more attentively and enter into the story with the catechist, teacher or preacher, enabling him or her to make the connection with the biblical word, the stories of their lives and the kingdom of God.

The Golden Legend

The exemplum is a classic fable or popular anecdote to which has been added a moral…They were used in sermons, much as parables were used by Christ. The oldest known Christian examples occur in the homilies of Saint Gregory the First (c. 600).…In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, certain monks developed the narration of the exempla into an art that was very successful. This was in large measure due to the example set by the Dominicans and by prelates such as Jacques de Vitry; known to have compiled a number of collections of sermons with stories.[5]

Therefore, we may be reassured, as catechists, and others who engage in the ministry of the Word, that when we use stories, parables, illustrations and anecdotes, we are not being faddish or simplistic, but stand in good company with a rich heritage.
 
Invite People to Faith

William R. White points out in Speaking In Stories that “the goal of preaching [catechetics] is not to inform…(it) is about inviting people to faith…to help people make connection between the biblical word and the stories of their lives.”[6]

Now I will try to answer a couple of questions that I am often asked: Where do you find these stories and parables to use in catechesis or preaching? What kinds of resources are available?

In reflecting on his own experience, Fr. Murray Bodo, OFM, writes:  

I began to choose only those stories that have that mysterious, archetypal quality that speaks to something profound within us, some deep desire of the human heart. 

…Like prayer, they took me along with them and somehow effected in me inner transformations not unlike those experienced by Francis and his companions…Whoever told the first stories was not only remembering but reliving, as well. And what he or she remembered was conditioned by what had happened within, those unforgettable changes in attitude and behavior that reveal the Spirit’s presence in our lives. The stories, then, are the incarnation of the efficacy of God’s Word… and their very retelling itself becomes an effective word.[7]

Stories Contain a Dynamic Life‑Force

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus tells the following parable, “A man scatters seed on the ground. He goes to bed and gets up day after day. Through it all the seed sprouts and grows without his knowing how it happens” (Mk. 4:26‑29).

There is a delightful story by Jean Giono that illustrates how being faithful to the scattering of seeds in storytelling ministry can bring forth an abundance of good things. 

In the 1930s a young traveler was exploring the French Alps. He came upon a vast stretch of barren land. It was desolate. It was forbidding. It was ugly. It was the kind of place you hurry away from. It had been devastated during World War I. 

Then, suddenly, the young traveler stopped dead in his tracks. In the middle of this vast wasteland was a bent‑over old man. On his back was a sack of acorns. In his hand was a four‑foot length of iron pipe.

The man was using the iron pipe to punch holes in the ground. Then from the sack he would take an acorn and put it in the hole. Later the old man told the traveler, ‘I’ve planted over 100,000 acorns. Perhaps only a tenth of them will grow.’ The old man’s wife and son had died, and this was how he chose to spend his final years. ‘I want to do something useful,’ said Elzeard Bouffier. 

Twenty‑five years later the now not‑as‑young traveler returned to the same desolate area. What he saw amazed him. He could not believe his eyes. The land was covered with a beautiful forest two miles wide and five miles long. Birds were singing, animals were playing, and wildflowers perfumed the air. 

The traveler stood there recalling the desolate area that once was; a beautiful oak forest stood there now — all because someone cared.[8]

This miracle occurred because someone was faithful to sowing the seeds. Storytelling will plant seeds of faith and hope in people’s lives that will take root and grow in abundance. If you are faithful to sowing the seeds of God’s Word, the empty wastelands of desolation and despair can be transformed.

The master gave his teaching in parables and stories, which his disciples listened to with pleasure — and occasional frustration, for they longed for something deeper. 

The master was unmoved. To all their objections he would say, ‘You have yet to understand that the shortest distance between a human being and Truth is a story.’[9]

-----------------------------
 

Author’s Note: Fr. Brian Cavanaugh, TOR, works at Franciscan University, Steubenville Ohio.  He is the author of numerous books and articles on storytelling, and most notably The Sower’s Seeds series of storytelling resources published by Paulist Press. This article expands and refines ideas presented in two previous articles, “Storytelling as Ministry” and “Picturing the Kingdom of God: Storytelling in Preaching,” both published in The Priest, December, 1994 and September 1996, respectively. These articles are also available on his website at http://www.appleseeds.org.