Abstract
Anyone familiar with the writings and exhortations of Pope Francis recognizes that his imagination, his mode of expression, and his pastoral perspectives are steeped in the Scriptures. This is true not only of the images and biblical refrains that animate his expressive rhetoric, but, more importantly, the deep motifs of the Scriptures that give force to his pastoral priorities. Virtually all of his major encyclicals and statements, from his post-synodal exhortation The Joy of the Gospel to his encyclical Fratelli Tutti, on Fraternity and Social Friendship, are built around analyses of major biblical passages.
That biblical consciousness is on full display in what is accurately billed not as a commentary but as a “spiritual and pastoral” reading of the Gospel of Mathew, composed of reflections of Pope Francis drawn together by the Italian Salesian priest, Gianfranco Venturi. This is not intended as an exegesis of the Gospel text. As he has done with the other three Gospels, the editor uses the general narrative framework of Matthew’s narrative to gather pertinent quotations of the Pope that have some connection to the motifs of the unfolding Gospel. In some cases, this will be reflections on characters in the Gospel—Mary, Joseph, the Magi, the Pharisees—and at other moments only glancing connections to specific sections of Matthew through motifs such as call to mission or care for the poor and vulnerable.
The value of this work is not so much the light it throws on Matthew’s Gospel but the opportunity it offers the reader to absorb the lively, deeply pastoral, and challenging preaching of this remarkable pope.