PRESERVATION OF FIRE
- Feb 24
- 1 min read
200 Words: Recorded to Rekindle
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911):
Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.
Pope Leo XIV reflected on the relationship between Tradition and the Bible in his Wednesday Catechesis:
There exists a close connection and communication between sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture.
For both of them, flowing from the same divine wellspring, in a certain way merge into a unity and tend toward the same end (28 January 2026).
The ‘fire’ is Christ. The ‘wellspring’ is Christ.
Jesus never wrote anything, except a little unknown scription in dirt (John 8).
No, he lived in an oral culture, where spoken words are powerful, and powerfully arranged by the speaker to enable the reception of truth.
So, the Bible is a record of oral tradition, written down to preserve fire.
But the Bible is meant to be proclaimed and heard – received – so as to transform the heart.
We sense the unity of tradition and scripture. Take for instance St. Paul’s earliest account of the resurrection of Jesus:
For I ‘handed over’ to you as of first importance what I also received (1 Corinthians 15).
Spoken word is written word:
Not ashes, but the preservation of fire.
AMEN.
