The answer to that question is fruitful to reflect on. These texts were divinely inspired, so their author is God, but they were written in a human way, in a time, place, and culture, by human authors, so their author is also a human being. Because of this, there are two “audiences” – the audience intended by the human author and the audience intended by the divine author. These audiences many times overlap, but God sees much further than any human author sees.
The evangelist, Matthew, for example, wrote his Gospel to a primarily Jewish audience. There are many Jewish themes, elements, and arguments throughout that Gospel which make it clear that it came from a learned Jew who was writing to convince Jews of Jesus’ divinity and his claim to be the Christ. Matthew probably had a good sense that his gospel would outlast him and so we could also say that he wrote for a future audience who would one day read his work and come to know Jesus.
One difference here between Matthew and God is that God not only intends the scripture to be read by a future audience, but he knows the future audience. Additionally, Matthew only passively speaks to any future audience members – they read his words knowing he wrote them but not considering that they can in any way communicate with Matthew through the reading of the text.
God, on the other hand, actively speaks to these future audience members – they read his words knowing he wrote them and realizing that he truly is presently speaking as they read that text and they can communicate with him directly in conversation with these texts. As St. Augustine once wrote, “Your prayer is a conversation with God: when you read, God is speaking to you; when you pray, you are speaking to God” (En. Ps. 85.7, Trans. Boulding, p. 227).
It is for this reason that the author of the Letter to the Hebrews can write, “Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). This word is living not because the words on the page have any special power in themselves but because of the One who communicates through them and the ideas, stories, and images they transmit – that One speaks in them.
You’re probably wondering, “What about St. Francis?”
Well, the next phase in Francis’ life is so powerfully moving because he heard the words of the Gospel and acted as perfectly according to them as possible. He wanted to live his life as the apostles did, and he knew Jesus spoke directly to him in those holy words read at Mass.
At the beginning of his third chapter of the Life of St. Francis, St. Bonaventure shares that Francis heard a call from the Lord into a deeper poverty while he was at Mass. St. Bonaventure writes, “One day when he was devoutly hearing a Mass of the Apostles, the Gospel was read in which Christ sends forth his disciples to preach and explains to them the way of life according to the Gospel: that they should not keep gold or silver or money in their belts, nor have wallet for the journey… (Matt. 10:9). When he heard this, he grasped its meaning and committed it to memory. This lover of apostolic poverty was filled with an indescribable joy and said: ‘this is what I want; this is what I long for with all my heart.’” (Quoted from The Life of St. Francis, Translated by Ewert Cousin, ch. 3.1)
St. Francis not only committed this to memory, he committed it to action. It is from this seed that his order would be founded. May we strive with all our hearts, like St. Francis, to listen to God’s word in the scriptures and follow his call with joy!