Join Themselves

Memorial of Saint Jerome, Priest and Doctor of the Church

Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion!
See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the LORD.
Many nations shall join themselves to the LORD on that day,
and they shall be his people and he will dwell among you. Zechariah 2:14-15A

While they were all amazed at his every deed,
Jesus said to his disciples,
"Pay attention to what I am telling you.
The Son of Man is to be handed over to men."
But they did not understand this saying;
its meaning was hidden from them
so that they should not understand it,
and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.  Luke 9:43b-45

Piety

Song of a Man Who Has Come Through

Not I, not I, but the wind that blows through me!

A fine wind is blowing the new direction of time.

If only I let it bear me, carry me, if only it carry me!

If only I am sensitive, subtle, oh, delicate, a winged gift!

If only, most lovely of all, I yield myself and am borrowed

By the fine, fine wind that takes its course through the chaos of the world

Like a fine, an exquisite chisel, a wedge-blade inserted;

If only I am keen and hard like the sheer tip of a wedge

Driven by invisible blows.

The rock will split, we shall come at the wonder, we shall find the Hesperides. (D. H. Lawrence)

Study

Once we have a relationship with Jesus, we have to give it away.  Zechariah reminds us in today’s first reading that the unique relationship of the Lord with the people of Jerusalem was going to be passed along to “many nations.”

Interesting choices in scripture for today which is the memorial to St Jerome.  Jerome was famous for translating the bible from Hebrew to Old Latin thus making it accessible to even more people. Saint Jerome is particularly important for having made a translation of the Bible which came to be called the Vulgate.  Jerome is the patron saint of archaeologists, Biblical scholars, librarians, students and translators.

Once we have a relationship with Jesus, we also have to be aware that it will be taken away from us. Today’s Good News includes the second prediction of the passion and death of Jesus. Even today, while we academically know the history of the Passion and Resurrection and Ascension, we may not always realize that our relationship to Jesus is something that comes and goes…getting closer at times and further distanced at other times.

Action

Recently, Pope Francis took steps to bring Jesus even closer to people through language.  Although there was a new translation of the Mass finalized recently, the Pope has returned authority for local vernacular to the bishops’ councils, and moved it away from the Roman Curia.

How can you bring Jesus closer to others?  None of us are likely to be cut out to become Biblical scholars or translators.  However, we can all do our part to bring Jesus to “many nations.”

I often think about the late Rev. Jerome Dollard, O.S.B.  He was my theology professor in my freshman year at Belmont Abbey.  In addition to bringing his classes a fresh perspective on Christianity, culture and politics, Fr. Jerome did amazing work with the Ecumenical Institute in a state where Catholics were in the minority to other faith traditions.

Fr. Jerome chose some very eclectic books for the mild minds he was melding.  The Little Red Book by Chairman Mao.  The Autobiography of Malcolm X.  A Harsh and Dreadful Love: Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement by William D. Miller.  Christ and Culture by H. Richard Niebuhr.  And American Civil Religion.

Although he died at a tragically young age on the day after Christmas in 1985, Fr. Jerome’s spirit always reminds me to pass along faith to others so that they can join themselves to Jesus. Allow the Holy Spirit to blow through you and spread to others.