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Gospel: Luke 9:57-62
As Jesus and his disciples were proceeding
on their journey, someone said to him,
“I will follow you wherever you go.”
Jesus answered him,
“Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”
And to another he said, “Follow me.”
But he replied, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.”
But he answered him, “Let the dead bury their dead.
But you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.”
And another said, “I will follow you, Lord,
but first let me say farewell to my family at home.”
Jesus answered him, “No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Saint Jerome is often depicted seated at his desk with a quill in one hand, a bible manuscript in the other, and a skull in the corner – each item symbolic of how he lived his life.
He was studious, prayerful, and keenly aware of the passage of time.
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Born in the 4th century just after the legalization of Christianity, Jerome was baptized and raised in a religious household. But he did not take a genuine interest in the faith until he became gravely ill at the age of 30.
While bedridden, he had a vision of himself standing before the judgment seat of Christ, who accused him of taking more interest in secular literature than in the Word of God.
The vision struck him to the heart.
Shortly after his recovery, Jerome withdrew to the desert where he lived as a hermit for several years, studying the Old Testament in its original Hebrew.
Eventually, he was ordained a priest and became the secretary to Pope Damasus.
During that time, he began the most important work of his life – translating the bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin, the language of the day, providing the translation of the scriptures used by the Church for more than 1000 years – and is still used today.
It was a labor of love that took him 40 years to complete.
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After the death of Pope Damasus, Jerome was released from service, and allowed to establish a monastery in Bethlehem where he lived until his death.
Although he longed for a solitary existence, he was known for welcoming Christians fleeing from persecution into his home, saying, “We must always translate the words of Scripture into deeds.”
Jerome leaves us a few questions to ponder.
How important are the scriptures in my own daily life? In what ways do I translate my faith into action? Am I prepared to stand before the judgment seat of Christ?
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May Saint Jerome intercede for us, that we, too, would always find ways to translate our faith into action.
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Image credits: (1) SlideServe (2) Saint Jerome Writing, Caravaggio (3) Medium, young-catholics.com