Homily Feast of St. Jerome
Homily Feast of St. Jerome
“Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” These are the strong words of St. Jerome. He is probably one of the most important Biblical scholars if not the most important Catholic Biblical scholar to ever live.
Jerome was born in 342 in Dalmatia. He was educated in Rome. He assisted Pope Damasus until the Pope died. After that Jerome wanted to take vows and be a contemplative. He decided to go to Bethlehem to live there. He founded a monastery and dedicated his life to the translation of the Scriptures.
He translated the original Hebrew and Greek texts into Latin. His translation was the main text that other scholars referred to for a thousand years. When someone wanted to translate the Bible into a modern language the person translating would always use Jerome’s Latin text.
This proved problematic in getting an exact rendition of what the original writings said, however. The Catholic church almost made it a dogma that every translation had to originate with Jerome’s Latin works. Scholars were not to go back to Hebrew and Greek writing.
It was only in the nineteenth and twentieth century that the Bible was translated into modern languages from the original texts by modern writers. As a result, more people around the world were able to read the Bible in all its fullness which led to great renewal in the church.
Somehow it is ironic that Jerome’s text became a barrier to people engaging in scholarly study of Scripture. That is the last thing that he would have wanted. Jerome dedicated his life not only to biblical scholarship, but to also to encouraging ordinary people to read the Bible.
- How often do I read the Bible? When I go back and read the scriptures does that change me?
- Scripture can be used for study and scripture can be used for prayer. How do I use the word of God?
Dear Parishioners,
This weekend we will be having our last outdoor Mass. The weather is slowly getting colder. When we move back into the church, we will need people to sign-up online or call in to sign-up for Sunday Mass. We have been able to allow walk-ins up until now, but our capacity will be limited when we return to in door Mass. We need to spread people out at the various Masses and we will probably be all right. I thank you for being flexible.
I have been asked when our 6:30 a.m. daily Mass will return. I would like all the renovation work to be over in the church before we begin the 6:30 again. I would also like to know that infection rates are going to remain stable. I hate to start the Mass and then cancel it.
Our daily Mass attendance at 8 a.m. has run between 30 and 50. Before the pandemic, the daily Mass attendance was around 100 at the two Masses. There must be people at the 6:30 to have liturgy.
My gut feeling would be to try to start two Masses again during Advent. More people like to attend around that time.
Blessings,
Fr. Mark