Today, July 15, as our church celebrates the Memorial of Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor, our Church invites us to read and reflect on a passage from the book of Sirach (39:1-10) entitled "The wisdom of the man who is learned in the Scriptures" Our treasure, which follows, is from the Journey of the Mind to God by Saint Bonaventure.
Saint Bonaventure was born about the year 1218 at Bagnorea in Tuscany. He studied philosophy and theology at Paris and, having earned the title Master, he taught his fellow members of the Order of Friars Minor with great success. He was elected Minister General of the Order, a position he filled with prudence and wisdom. After being made Cardinal-Bishop of Albano, he died at the Council of Lyons in 1274. His writing did much to illuminate the study of both theology and philosophy.
The Journey of the Mind to God, is a 1259 book by Saint Bonaventure that outlines a model for how people can unite with God through prayer. The book is a classic of Catholic spiritual reading and follows Augustine's path to God, from the external world to the interior world of the mind, and beyond. Bonaventure argues that people are images of God through their reason and intellectual ability, not their appearance. The book is divided into six chapters that demonstrate how to make the journey, which has three stages: outside us, within us, and above us.
The Wisdom of Ben Sira derives its title from the author, "Yeshua [Jesus], son of Eleazar, son of Sira". The author, a sage who lived in Jerusalem, was thoroughly imbued with love for the wisdom tradition, and for the law, priesthood, Temple, and divine worship. As a wise and experienced observer of life he addressed himself to his contemporaries with the motive of helping them to maintain religious faith and integrity through study of the books sacred to the Jewish tradition.
The book contains numerous well-crafted maxims, grouped by affinity, and dealing with a variety of subjects such as the individual, the family, and the community in their relations with one another and with God. It treats friendship, education, poverty and wealth, laws, religious worship, and many other matters that reflect the religious and social customs of the time. Written in Hebrew in the early years of the second century B.C., the book was finished by ca. 175. The text was translated into Greek by the author's grandson after 117 B.C.
Though not included in the Jewish Bible after the first century A.D., nor, therefore, accepted by Protestants, the Wisdom of Ben Sira has been recognized by the Catholic Church as inspired and canonical. The Foreword, though not the proper part of the book, is always included with it because of its antiquity and importance.
