Memorial of Saint Jerome, Priest and Doctor of the Church
Saint Jerome and my birthday.
Memorial of Saint Jerome, Priest and Doctor of the Church
Reading: Job 1:6-22
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 17:1bcd, 2-3, 6-7
Alleluia: Mark 10:45
Gospel: Luke 9:46-50
Today is the Memorial of St. Jerome and coincidently, my birthday. St. Jerome was born around the year 347 AD and died September 30, 420 AD. He had extensive knowledge of the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages and translated by Bible into Latin. This translation of the Bible is called the Vulgate and is what the Douay-Rheims Bible is translated from. The Douay-Rheims Bible is my preferred Bible in my home. Because of his contributions to theology, he was recognized as a Doctor of the Church in 1298 by Bope Boniface VIII. He was canonized in 1767 during the pontificate of Pope Clement the XIII.
Job
Today’s reading kicks off the Book of Job. The reading consists of three parts; “The Interview Between the Lord and the Satan.”, “The First Trial”, and “Job’s Reaction.”
“The Interview Between the Lord and the Satan.”
I first read this book over 12 years ago after having a discussion with my godfather and he compared me to Job. And over the years as I reread this book now it makes me wonder about the nature of this book and if it is simply a book about moral teachings vs “historical fact.” I say this because we have the angelic court, in Hebrew beney’ ha’elohim, meeting with God and then the Satan, in Hebrew hashatan1, arrives. God asks the satan where he has been and the satan replies, “Roaming the earth and patrolling it.” (Job 1:7) God then points out Job to the satan and notes the faithfulness of Job, but the satan rebuts saying that Job is only faithful because God protects Job and his family. God then tells the satan he can do to Job what he will, but he is not allowed to kill Job.
When I was researching for today, my initial understanding was that nothing evil (the satan) could stand before God, similar to the human soul that dies in a state of mortal sin can never appear before God except in the Particular Judgement and General Judgement. The Particular Judgement being when a specific person dies and his soul is immediately judged and either enters into Heaven, Purgatory, or Hell. The General Judgment being on the Last Day and those final souls are released from Purgatory and enter into Heaven and all souls in Heaven and Hell are reunited with their bodies and live in glory with God or eternal damnation in Hell. But the satan is able to stand before God only because God wills and allows it.
A consideration for this reading is around the word “evil.” The word “evil”, in Hebrew ra, is used in this context in Job. There is no distinction between moral evil and suffering with ra.2 3
God is infinitely good and all his works are good.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 385
Based on this we know that God does not “cause” evil to happen, but he does allow it. God allows the satan to take away and destroy all of Job’s personal goods and to kill his sons and daughters. Through this lens we can now understand war, famine, natural disasters, murders, miscarriages, abortions, and countless others. These things are from Satan and not God.
The First Trial
In the first trial, four messengers come to Job, each with news worse than the previous messenger. The first messenger describes the carrying off his oxen, donkeys and the killing of his servants by Sabeans, the second messenger of his sheep and servants by God’s fire from heaven, the third messenger of the carrying off of his camels and the killing off of his servants by the Chaldeans, and finally the fourth messenger telling Job of the death of his sons and daughters as the house of the eldest son collapsed on them. All of these seem rather dramatic, except we can look upon these in light of current events, such as the catastrophe in the wake of Hurricane Helene.
Job’s Reaction
In all of the events leading up to this for Job, his faith does not fail him. He does not break down and curse God, as the satan had predicted.
20 Then Job arose and tore his cloak and cut off his hair. He fell to the ground and worshipped.
21 He said, “Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I go back there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD!”
22 In all this Job did not sin, nor did he charge God with wrong.Job 1:20-23
I pray that if something as tragic as this happens to me, that I will stand firm in my faith. I see so many people blame God when something happens in their life, such as if they lose their job, or a family member dies suddenly, or their spouse walks out on them. We are called to prayer and worship God, both in good time and bad. He gives us all that we have, and we need to be grateful for it. He can also take it away and perhaps we need to learn a lesson in it. And sometimes, that lesson may simply be to have faith and to love God.
The Second Prediction of the Passion, The Greatest in the Kingdom, and Another Exorcist
In today’s reading from the Gospel of St. Luke, Jesus gives his disciples another prediction of his crucifixion. But still, they are not able to understand the meaning behind what he is saying to them.
The disciples also begin to argue over which of them is the greatest. With this Jesus takes a child and sets it next to him.
… “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. For the one who is least among all of you is the one who is the greatest.”
Luke 9:48
And finally, John reports to Jesus saying that there is a person casting out demons in his name and that they (him and the other disciples) tried to prevent him from doing so because he does not follow with them.
Jesus said to him, “Do not prevent him, for whoever is not against you is for you.”
Luke 9:50
Once again, we have Jesus predicting his Passion and once again, they still do not understand. And similar to kids in a schoolyard, we have the disciples arguing about who is the greatest amongst them. There is also unrighteous indignation on the part of John and the rest of the disciples concerning a man casting out demons in Jesus’ name.
As we read scriptures, do we simply read the words on the page? Are we diving into and learning what the words mean or do we simply read and let the words go in one ear and out the other so to speak. Saint Jerome is quoted as saying “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.”, in his commentary on the Book of Isaiah. I have long been ignorant of Scripture. I started learning more about the Bible with the Bible in a Year podcast with Father Mike Schmitz about 3 1/2 years ago. I have conversations with a person now and that person inspires me to learn more.
We need to learn and pay attention to God’s word, and we need to stop acting like children on the schoolyard playground. We need to be helping get people to Christ. And we need to help each other out to get there. We can try to go it alone, but it will be a very long road. Together, we can help each other get to heaven.
A Prayer of Saint Jerome for Christ’s Mercy
O Lord, show Your mercy to me and gladden my heart. I am like the man on the way to Jericho who was overtaken by robbers, wounded and left for dead. O Good Samaritan, come to my aid. I am like the sheep that went astray. O Good Shepherd, seek me out and bring me home in accord with Your will. Let me dwell in Your house all the days of my life and praise You for ever and ever with those who are there. Amen.4
Today’s music:
Bergsman, J and Pitre, B. (2018). A Catholic Introduction to the Bible, Volume 1, The Old Testament. Ignatius Press. p.539
Bergsman, J and Pitre, B. (2018). A Catholic Introduction to the Bible, Volume 1, The Old Testament. Ignatius Press. p.541
Strong, J. (2010). Evil. In The New Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Red Letter Edition. p.240, Thomas Nelson
Catholic Culture. Catholic Prayer: A Prayer of Sain Jerome for Christ’s Mercy. https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/prayers/view.cfm?id=1330#:~:text=O%20Lord%2C%20show%20Your%20mercy,the%20sheep%20that%20went%20astray.