Homily: Feast of St. Jerome

Feast of St. Jerome (Job 38:1-21-40:3-5) “Do I like Homework?”

St. Jerome was a tremendously important figure in the history of the church. We tend to forget that the canonical books of the Bible were not really agreed upon until the time of the Reformation. Even then there was disagreement between Catholics and Protestants over what should be included. To this day, the Catholic Bible has more books than the Protestant Bible.

Jerome tracked down many of the pieces of scripture that are in our Bible. St. Jerome lived in the fourth century. He began his life in Rome and worked in various capacities for the church. He eventually moved to the Holy Land and lived near Bethlehem. The Middle East had many pieces of scripture floating around. Jerome began to collect these works.

The pieces of scripture were written in three languages. Most of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew. Some of the New Testament was written in Aramaic. Most of it was written in Greek. We tend to forget that the religious language of the Jews at the time Jesus lived was Hebrew. The common language spoken on the street was Aramaic. The language of commerce was Greek. Latin was a relative new language. Jesus probably understood Aramaic, Greek and Hebrew, but he had little knowledge of Latin.

Jerome translated the Scriptures so they could be read in one language, Latin. Obviously, he was a wonderful linguist and scholar. His Latin text of the Bible was the authoritative text for Catholic Christians for many centuries. Only recently have Catholic scholars gone back to the original languages of the Bible to make translations of the Bible.

Living the life of a hermit, sitting in a cave and doing this tedious research must have been very time consuming. Great patience was needed. It also was an act of faith. Jerome probably never knew how many people would benefit from his work. But he persevered. Because he sacrificed his life for scholarship, we have a better understanding of the inspired word of God.

Reflection Questions:

1.    Does doing research appeal to me? Is it necessary?

2.    St. Jerome said ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. How much do I read the Bible?

 Dear Parishioners, 

          Recently a new playground was erected next to Culemans Hall. This playground is for children three and four years old. The money for the playground came from the proceeds of the Fall Festival that Seton School holds every October.

          I would like to thank those who contributed to his project. Hopefully, all the children of the parish will enjoy this addition to our grounds.

          Next week I will be traveling so I will not be having daily reflections on Facebook. These will return a week from next Tuesday.

          May Our Lady be with those who are suffering because of the hurricane in Florida.

          Fr. Mark