Have you

Greetings on this the Memorial of Saint Jerome, Priest and Doctor of the Church
Readings: Jb 38:1, 12-21; 40:3-5; Ps 139:1-3, 7-8, 9-10, 13-14ab; Lk 10:13-16
Notes: In our first reading today, the Lord asks a series of questions:

Have you…

It is a two-edged sword type of question.

• Have you – done wonderful and marvelous things (created, know all things)?
• Have you – done things you’d rather not talk about (wicked, proud)?

Makes you think, no?

Our Alleluia verse today sums it up well:

If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

In today’s gospel portion, Jesus reminds us that if you have heard the Lord speak, then you have responsibilities. The responsibility is to be like the One who made you and called out to you.

• If today you hear his voice, respond in-kind.
• If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

You really can be like Jesus in your ways. Just ask the Lord for help to be thus.
Just like Saint Jerome, we fall frequently into sin (all the usual problems of men), but we rise in repentance.

• Stand up.
• Dust off.
• Praise God.
• Aid humankind.

Personal note: One of my goals during the sabbatical was to learn Spanish and Creole, at least at the level of liturgical competence. I have failed miserably. Please pray for me I can turn this around before the sabbatical is over. It is such an important goal! Hear these words of Saint Jerome:

St. Jerome studied Hebrew in preparation to translate the Old Testament. He wrote, “It is more honorable to take a little trouble to get at the truth, and adapt one’s ear to an unfamiliar tongue, than to come out with a sham solution.” (One Bread, One Body, www.presentationministries.com)

I am embarrassed. Pray for me.

Reflection

Jerome was a strong, outspoken man. He had the virtues and the unpleasant fruits of being a fearless critic and all the usual moral problems of a man. He was, as someone has said, no admirer of moderation whether in virtue or against evil. He was swift to anger, but also swift to feel remorse, even more severe on his own shortcomings than on those of others. A pope is said to have remarked, on seeing a picture of Jerome striking his breast with a stone, “You do well to carry that stone, for without it the Church would never have canonized you” (Butler’s Lives of the Saints).

https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-jerome

First reading
Then Job answered the LORD and said:

Behold, I am of little account; what can I answer you?
I put my hand over my mouth.
Though I have spoken once, I will not do so again;
though twice, I will do so no more.

Responsorial Psalm
Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.

O LORD, you have probed me and you know me; you know when I sit and when I stand; you understand my thoughts from afar. My journeys and my rest you scrutinize, with all my ways you are familiar.

Alleluia Verse
If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Gospel Portion
Jesus said to them, “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!

For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you.

And as for you, Capernaum, ‘Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.’

Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me.

And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry