Memorial of Saint Jerome, priest and doctor of the Church
There’s a line in a song that goes: “Freedom’s just another word for ‘nothing left to lose’.” During this week we have been reading the story of Job, and perhaps we have been amazed by his continued faith in God despite his dire circumstances. Job demonstrates a complete dependence on God; though perhaps hidden during his times of success, this dependence is illuminated when he encounters tough times. Today’s passage from Job could be summed up by the phrase, “Freedom’s just another word for ‘nothing left to lose’” in the sense that Job, having lost everything material including wealth and family, is left with God and perhaps even more aware of it than ever before. Rather than letting his misfortune lead him to despair, Job speaks confidently of his belief in God’s saving work.
The responsorial psalm refrain also brings out this theme: “I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living” (Ps. 27:13). No matter what our situation here on earth – whether of prosperity or struggle – we have something that we look forward to seeing. We keep our final destination in mind, and sometimes, like Job, the most difficult situations are the ones that make us most aware that our life on earth is temporary.
There is great freedom in realizing our human weakness. It is an opportunity to grow closer to God and recognize our utter dependence upon God. True freedom is not being free to do whatever it is that we want for ourselves, but rather being free to do what God wants because we see God as our final end, guiding us every step of the way.
When we consider today’s gospel passage from Luke, we see this dependence on God lived out in the lives of Jesus’ disciples. They were sent into a difficult situation, knowing that they would be easy prey and would have few resources. But though they had “nothing left to lose,” they also had the best gift possible: they knew Jesus personally and they knew that the Kingdom of God they were preaching was true.
In our own ways, we have the opportunity to practice dependence on God. We often find ourselves in difficult situations. At times, there are dramatic life-changing experiences not unlike Job. But aside from those, we also have daily challenges: that late afternoon moment when we’re tired and feel like we just can’t handle one more whining remark from a coworker or one of our children, that rude person who cuts us off on the road when we’re running late to a meeting, the canceled flight that prevents us from getting where we need to go, and so on. We can let these moments throw us into the spiral of exasperation, or we can use them as reminders that we are utterly dependent on God and will find freedom only when we can live for God, directing all of our thoughts and actions toward God. These moments can lead us to the sin of anger, but they can also lead us to prayer, if we so choose.
Today we celebrate the feast of St. Jerome, best known as the translator of the Bible. The words we read today at Mass were originally written in Hebrew and Greek, but Jerome helped to make our Holy Scriptures accessible to the common person, who spoke Latin. His Vulgate translation continues to influence the Catholic Church’s understanding of Scripture, and is often one basis for the translation into other languages. When we think of what an enormous task translating the Bible would be – learning the languages, understanding the meaning, choosing the best words in a different language – we can imagine that Jerome might have been lead to despair. And we wouldn’t be surprised if he had moments of wishing he could give up. However, St. Jerome’s faith in God and dependence on God – his personal closeness to Jesus (Jerome worked in a cave in Bethlehem next to the cave where Jesus was born) – gave him the strength and endurance to undertake this task. Let us ask, then, for the intercession of St. Jerome as we seek freedom – the freedom that is dependence on God.
- Maria Morrow