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The Holy Father brings back to memory an important aspect of our growing up, especially before the arrival of the social media. What a great privilege it is, to reflect on what really constitute oral tradition on this 54th World Communications Day with the theme “That you may tell your children and grandchildren” Exodus 10:2. Life becomes History. This reflection is necessary for everyone, as we all are meant to examine our attitude based on how we tell stories about the events of our lives and the events of other realities because each day we tell one story or the other. To help us in this reflection, the stages in the formation of the Gospels will be our guide.

According to the catechism of the Catholic Church, we can distinguish three stages in the formation of the Gospels: The life and teachings of Jesus, the oral tradition and the written Gospels (CCC no 126).

The life and teachings of Jesus while here on earth came in different episodes, which make a whole. Each day of his life was a package of stories for people of his time. Definitely, they spoke about and told the stories of his miracles, his teachings and of his encounters whenever they got home. Some told them the way they were, some told them in a way that reflected some parts of the episodes, while some deviated entirely in their storytelling. Some understood his words, while some misconstrued him. Some did not comprehend his life and thus, insinuated and made erroneous conclusions. All of these affected the stories they told about each episode of his life.

The question of motive is always behind every story telling. Why would some people tell the stories of Jesus’ life exactly as they were, some tell the stories then with just some patches of truth and some exaggerate, while some others reduced the stories to nothing? This same event is still obtainable in our days. Some have said things we did not say or do. Some have told the things we did with just some patches of truth. Some have even made up their own stories of us, and as such crowned us thus.

The second stage is the oral tradition. It should be noted that oral tradition in this sense began even while Jesus was still alive. Just as it is pointed out above, many things were said about Jesus, while he was alive and those stories continued after his life. Thus, when the Bible records the inspired truths about our Lord Jesus Christ, at some instances, it equally points out the false teachings of the Jews about Jesus Christ; to really show to us that whatever they handed on till our time concerning Jesus, is false.

Oral traditions are messages that are transmitted orally from one generation to another. The Messages may be passed down through speeches or songs and may take the form of folktales and fables, epic histories and narrations, proverbs or sayings, and songs. Oral Traditions make it possible for a society to pass knowledge across generations without writing. They Help people make sense of the world and are used to teach children and adults alike about important aspects of their culture.

There is a rich tradition of oral storytelling in many parts of the world. Oral traditions guide social and human morals, giving people a sense of place and purpose. There is often a lesson or a value to instil, and the transmission of wisdom to children is a community responsibility. Parents, grandparents, and relatives take part in the process of passing down the knowledge of culture and history. Storytelling provides entertainment, develops the imagination, and teaches important lessons about every-day life. A storyteller’s tools are not just words, but gestures, singing, facial expressions, body movements and acting to make stories memorable and interesting. Sometimes masks and costumes are used to enhance a performance. A storyteller performs epics that can span hours or even days long relating to history and genealogy, battles and political uprisings of a community. They use riddles, proverbs and myths to educate and entertain. Storytelling is an important shared event with people sitting together, listening and even participating in accounts of past deeds, beliefs, taboos, andmyths. Gifted or well-known storytellers often repeat the story with the same words and sameexpressions in each performance as they travel. They also add new materials to an old storyto make it more interesting or meaningful to different audiences. Oral storytelling emphasizesrepetition of the language and rhythm, which are two of its most important characteristics.Storytellers often repeat words, phrases, refrains, sounds, whole lines and even stanzas. Theuse of repetition helps the audience remember the chorus and allows them to join in with thestoryteller. A story-teller pays close attention to the beat and how the words sound. Usingshort phrases makes the stories easier to understand and recall from memory. Whenaudiences who are familiar with the stories actively participate in their telling, they feel asense of belonging to the community. (https://static1.squarespace.com/static/53cfd0e5e4b057663ea1bc61/t/57b1e0b746c3c406dd172afd/1471275383444/Oral+Traditions+of+West+Africa.pdf)

This was exactly what the apostles did: “Indeed, after the Ascension of the Lord the Apostleshanded on to their hearers what He had said and done. This they did with that clearerunderstanding which they enjoyed…” (Dei Verbum 19).

The above clearly shows the mind of the Holy Father in his message this year as he statedthat: “I would like to devote this year’s Message to the theme of storytelling, because Ibelieve that, so as not to lose our bearings, we need to make our own the truth contained ingood stories. Stories that build up, not tear down; stories that help us rediscover our roots andthe strength needed to move forward together”

The emphasis here is the story woven/told by the storyteller. Like the time of Jesus, theintentions of the Pharisees, the elders and the scribes in weaving their stories of Jesus werevery different from that of the common Jews. Sometimes, stories are woven for exploitativepurposes, destruction, greed etc. The story of Jesus was told in his life time, in his presence tocause his death: he was blaspheming, he turned the people against the authority, he broke thelaws of the Sabbath, they said of him. The apostles however told the stories from onegeneration to the other to teach the truth and build up the faith. They used different styles,genres and languages to spread the stories of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

In our time, lots of stories told beautifully to portray false teachings and anti-life agendas; tocause uproar and spread rumours; to damage people’s integrity and reduce human dignityhave been seen. Ours is a generation that has distorted the stories handed on to us. All storieshave been tampered with. Even the Story of all stories, the Sacred Scriptures, has been retoldin several climes to support evil acts. Oral tradition handed on to our generation has beenpackaged in a manner such that many stories have lost their essence and relevance.

In the written stage, the sacred writers only synthesized the many things which have beenhanded on by word of mouth or in writing; explained some things in view of the situation oftheir churches and preserved the form of proclamation, but always in such fashion that they told us the honest truth about Jesus. The written stage would have been futile if the storieswritten down have been disrupted and twisted by the different storytellers of various ages.Since God himself has given us a story to tell of himself in his Son our Lord Jesus Christ, hehas become our great story and thus, “every human story is, in a certain sense, a divinestory”. In the history of every person, the Father sees again the story of his Son who camedown to earth. Every human story has an irrepressible dignity. Consequently, humanitydeserves stories that are worthy of it, worthy of that dizzying and fascinating height to which Jesus elevated it” (Pope’s Message on WCD, 2020 no 4). Thus as we continue to tell of the greatstory, the great storyteller waits eagerly for us at all times to see more of the story of his Sonin our lives. He wants to help in reweaving our stories. More can also be learnt in the stories of our Mother Mary and the stories of the saints.The story, the art of storytelling and the story teller become essential for us in our generation.What are the stories handed on to us that we have distorted? How have we told such stories? Who are our story tellers? If the story of the Exodus experience had been told wrongly down the ages among the Jews by the different storytellers, the feast of Passover might have taken another form during the time of Jesus. Storytelling then is a true story told by the storyteller.

Happy 2020 World Communications Day to us all.

Sr. Eunice Olusola Ikufisile, OSF
Director of Communications
Catholic Diocese of Oyo