Bringing Forth Christ

Book excerpt: Fairacres Publications 90 The short though profoundly mystical work, The Five Feasts of the Child Jesus, which is presented here in a new translation, came from the pen of St Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, and one of the most renowned followers of St Francis of Assisi. We are given five meditations on scenes in the life of Christ. Contrary to what one might expect from the title, however, the theme of these meditations is spiritual motherhood, namely the doctrine concerning the mystical birth of God’s Word in the soul and the vocation of every Christian to become a mother of Christ. Men and women alike are invited to fashion their spiritual lives on Mary, the Mother of the Lord and the image of the Church, and to develop the maternal element in their nature. St Bonaventure brought the skills of a poet and a theologian to his task; his work belongs to the rich heritage of Franciscan spirituality, it is also a minor classic of the spiritual tradition of western Christianity and has a message pertinent to our times.