September 30 2022 - St. Jerome - Living and Tender Love for Sacred Scripture

 

St. Jerome was born in the Balkans in 345. He was particularly adept at languages, mastering greek, latin, and Hebrew. His translation of the bible which came to be known as the Vulgate served for centuries as the official translation of the Church for liturgical use and church documents.

The Opening Prayer today refers to St. Jerome’s “living and tender love for Sacred Scripture”. Our love for the scriptures must be alive and active. A living devotion to scripture means we are pursuing it’s knowledge and wisdom daily. We are looking to it to help us in our trials, our dilemmas. It needs to guide the life of the Church, the life of a parish, the life of a family, the life of an individual in his struggle to overcome sin and develop virtue and holiness.

St. Augustine wrote in his Confessions the beautiful words, “Let your scriptures be my delight…O Lord, perfect me and reveal those pages to me! Your voice is my joy. Give me what I love…May the inner secrets of your words be laid open to me when I knock. This I beg by our Lord Jesus Christ in whom are hidden all treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

Love the scriptures, memorize them, as much as you can. Read difficult passages over and over until they become familiar. 

 The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “The Church…specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful.  to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.”

The scriptures are the undergirding of a just society. Where our nation has flourished has been because it has allowed the wisdom of the scriptures to guide its path, where our nation has suffered, has been because we have ignored its lessons, its warnings, its moral guidance.

There is often hesitation on the part of Catholics to be familiar with the Bible. Yet, for those who open its pages, the Scriptures are refreshing, they are consoling, they are instructive, and corrective, they are more valuable than gold.  We should read, and meditate on Scripture every day.  Having a “living and tender love for Scripture” leads us to a living and tender loving care for God and the willingness to follow his Holy Will.  

By studying the Scripture we come to know who we are, who we are meant to be, and so we must not be hesitant to learn How to read the bible, so that we may draw nearer to Christ. 

May St. Jerome’s heavenly intercession guide us in our living devotion and tender love of the Scriptures, that we may be equipped for the work of the Gospel and come to the eternal life promised within its pages, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That all Christians may be equipped for every good work by the word of God, that through our love of the scriptures we may grow in wisdom and courage to share the good news.

For the success of our parish RCIA programs, that the uninitiated may seek God and answer his call to holiness. 

For our young people, that they may be raised in homes where the Word of God is studied, cherished, and practiced. Let us pray to the Lord.

For all the needs of the sick and the suffering, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, the underemployed and unemployed, victims of natural disaster, war, and terrorism, for victims of the terrible storms in Florida, for all those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today, for their comfort, and the consolation of their families.

For the repose of the souls of our families, friends, and parish, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, and for N., for whom this mass is offered.

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord.

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2022 - Scripture in Public Worship and Private Prayer

 
Ezra the priest, from our first reading, was a descendent of those Israelites who had been carried away into exile by the Babylonians in 587 B.C.  For over a hundred years, Jews had lived and worked in Babylon, cut off from their traditions, their history, their rituals, their stories, and their worship.  A generation of Jews was growing up without knowing about God freeing their people from slavery in Egypt, they grew up without knowing the promises God made to Abraham, without the knowledge of the ten commandments or the promised land.  They grew up only knowing the gods and practices of Babylon-- a culture which practiced child sacrifice, polygamy, and other behaviors condemned by Jewish law.

Imagine if your children or grandchildren knew nothing about their family histories, knew nothing about their heritage, in fact, they had adopted practices which were exactly opposite of the truths of their faith.  In a way, not knowing their history, not knowing their faith, you would say, that they did not know themselves.  

While in captivity, some like Ezra the priest strove to keep alive knowledge of the Jewish faith and culture—but most of his fellow Jews had become assimilated by the surrounding culture. Then around the year 458, the Babylonian King Artaxerxes allowed Ezra and Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem and what they found broke their hearts.  They found Jerusalem, the once great capital, a wreck--her walls breached and knocked down, the great temple destroyed.  Priest and Prophet wept.

But inspired by God, they endeavored to rebuild the temple and rebuild their religion.  Nehemiah was tasked with the physical construction of the Temple, while Ezra the priest labored to reeducate the people who had grown ignorant of their history and traditions, their religious rituals and practices; he labored to teach the people who they were, give them a sense of identity as a nation set apart by God, and to teach them the laws of the faith which enabled them to be the people God had chosen them to be.

So as we heard, Ezra gathered the men, women, and children, and read to them from the Torah.  He stood on a raised platform in the rebuilt Temple, and from morning until midday read the Torah from beginning to end:  Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy.  For hours and hours the men, women, and children listened to their story, their family history, the laws which God had given them. They raised their hands in the air, and proclaimed, “Amen, Amen”.  And they bowed down to the ground and wept discovering who they were for the first time: they were not captives, they were not pagan Babylonians, they were the people chosen by God to manifest his greatness.

This is certainly a fitting reading to reflect upon on this Word of God Sunday. As you might remember, in 2019, Pope Francis declared the 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time as Sunday of the Word of God, directing us to consider how, in the life of the Church, the Scriptures are to be celebrated, studied, and shared. 

The story of Ezra and the people of Israel reconnecting with the scriptures, is a wonderful image of what the Church does every time we gather for public worship and the role of the scriptures in our private lives and our families.

Every time Christians gather for worship, at every Mass and liturgy, scripture is read. As Vatican II’s document on the liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium explains: “Sacred  scripture  is  of  the  greatest  importance in  the  celebration  of  the  liturgy.  For  it  is from  it  that  lessons  are  read  and  explained in  the  homily,  and  psalms  are  sung.  It  is  from the  scriptures  that  the  prayers,  collects,  and hymns  draw  their  inspiration  and  their  force, and  that  actions  and  signs  derive  their  meaning.” 

The Scriptures help continue to form us in the bonds of unity and charity and guide our activity out in the world.  For example, as we proclaim Gospel passages of Jesus healing the sick, we consider how Jesus heals each of us individually, how he heals the wounds of division in the human family, and how he sends us out to be bring his healing Word to the world.

So in our public worship, the scripture aids our mission and identity and opens us up to the power of the Spirit. In our private prayer lives and in our families, Scripture is meant to nurture, guide, form, challenge, and inspire us as well. A day shouldn’t go by without reading or meditating on some line of the Bible. Your day is impoverished without scripture. 

Paul instructs Timothy, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” So we do well to study, meditate, seek to understand the scriptures as best we can so that we can be equipped for the work God has for us.

I recommend starting your day by reading the daily mass readings which can be emailed to you daily or freely read on the United States Bishops Website.  Scripture is not always easy to understand. Read it anyway. You’ll no doubt find a word or phrase that resonates with you, through which God wants to speak to you. I also recommend reading the weekend readings prior to coming to mass. Having read and reflected upon the readings yourselves, you will derive so much more, than, if you simply come to mass, cold, so to speak. 

Read through them and ask yourselves questions like: what does this scripture mean in the concrete details of my life? What does God want me to learn here? What does this passage say about God, about Jesus, about the Church, about the Christian life? God what are you inspiring me to do through this scripture? What wounds are you healing? What virtues are you strengthening? What sins are you converting? Speak, O Lord, your servant is listening.

Having meditated on the scriptures, you will discover how God will use that time of prayer to enrich your family life and your encounters with strangers—how the scriptures are fulfilled in your lives.

Joshua chapter 8 says, “Keep this Book always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words”, says the book of Revelation, “and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it.”

May we continue our worship today thanking God for the Word which is a lamp to our feet and a light unto our path, the word which is more valuable than silver or gold, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.