Today is the Feast of St. Jerome

St. Jerome lived from 347 to 420 AD. He did not start out as a saint. None of them ever do. He was baptized and became a Christian at the age of 19. As a young man, he had a hunger and thirst for knowledge, so he dedicated himself to learning languages: Latin, Greek, and then Hebrew. Most of all, he loved reading the Roman and Greek Philosophers. Cicero was his favorite, and he devoted all his leisure time to reading him. 

While on his way to Jerusalem to study Hebrew, Jerome became gravely ill and fell into a coma. In this state, God gave him a vision of his particular judgment at the moment of his death. Suddenly his soul came back to his body. When he arose, he shared with those around him the vision. Later he wrote about it. “Suddenly I was caught up in the spirit and dragged before the judgment seat of the Judge; and here the light was so bright, and those who stood around were so radiant, that I cast myself upon the ground and did not dare to look up. Asked who and what I was, I replied: “I am a Christian.” But He who presided said: “You lie, you are a follower of Cicero and not of Christ. For ‘where your treasure is, there will thy heart be also.’” Letter XXII. 30

From that day forward, he read the books of God with an even greater zeal than he ever read the books of men.

Pilgrimage to the Holy Land

In 385, Jerome went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In 386, he came to Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, a cave beneath the Church of the Nativity built by Queen Helena. And there he decided to make his home, living in a cave adjoining the place where Jesus was born. In the place where the Word of God was born, Jerome translated the Bible from its original languages of Hebrew and Greek into the common language of the West, Latin, so that all people could read or hear the Word of God and by it nourish their souls. 

“Jerome’s translation of the Bible became known as the Vulgate, the official text of the Church, which, after its recent revision, remains the authoritative Latin version used by the Church to this day.”

What can we learn from St. Jerome? Above all, this: to love the Word of God in Sacred Scripture. St. Jerome said: Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.

The Bible is the most direct way God speaks to us

So often people say, “God never speaks to me.” I ask them, “Well, how much time do you spend listening to God by reading Scripture and then thinking about it and talking it all over with the Lord in a personal conversation?” Usually, almost never. Instead, we wake up and read email and the news and listen to lots of human voices.

Imagine how much better our lives would be if the first thing we did was open up the Bible, knowing that God, my Father, wants to speak directly to me today, and the last thing we did at night.

The Catechism (104) reminds us that, “In Sacred Scripture, the Church constantly finds her nourishment and her strength, for she welcomes it not as a human word, but as what it really is - the word of God. In the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven comes lovingly to meet his children and talks with them.”

Scripture really is the words of God

Because God is the primary author who inspired the human authors to write whatever He wanted and nothing more, Scripture is the word of God. That is why the CCC teaches that the inspired books teach the truth. Since therefore all the inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Sacred Scripture firmly, faithfully and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures.

Because God is its author, Scripture teaches without error those truths which are necessary for our salvation. But to know those truths we have to read them, think about them, live them.

Our Lady said, "Dear children! Today I invite you to read the Bible every day in your homes. And let it be in a visible place so it will always encourage you to read it and to pray. Thank you for having responded to my call." (October 18, 1984)

Who do you follow?

Having died and finding himself before the judgment seat, God said to Jerome, “You are a follower of Cicero and not of Christ.” Think how much time, energy, and attention we give to reading and watching news, social media, political and sports analysts…and how little time in comparison to reading and thinking about the Word of God in the Bible. When we stand at our particular judgment, and we will, who will Christ declare we follow based on how we use our leisure time?

Let’s make the firm resolution to read the Bible every day. A good place to begin is with the daily readings of the Mass, or even just the Gospel of the day. But don’t just read them. Think about them. Apply them to your life. Ask yourself, “Do I understand this? Am I living this? What concrete changes do I need to make to live it better?” Let it challenge you, convict you, and then make a simple, concrete resolution to put into practice what God is inspiring within you. 

That is how we become a follower of Christ.

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