Most of the saints are remembered for some outstanding virtue or devotion which they practiced, but Jerome is frequently remembered for his bad temper! It is true that he had a very bad temper and could use a vitriolic pen, but his love for God and his son Jesus Christ was extraordinarily intense; anyone who taught error was an enemy of God and truth, and Saint Jerome went after him or her with his mighty and sometimes sarcastic pen.
He was above all a Scripture scholar, translating most of the Old Testament from the Hebrew. Jerome also wrote commentaries which are a great source of scriptural inspiration for us today. He was an avid student, a thorough scholar, a prodigious letter-writer and a consultant to monk, bishop, and pope. Saint Augustine said of him, “What Jerome is ignorant of, no mortal has ever known.”
Saint Jerome is particularly important for having made a translation of the Bible which came to be called the Vulgate. It is not the most critical edition of the Bible, but its acceptance by the Church was fortunate. As a modern scholar says, “No man before Jerome or among his contemporaries and very few men for many centuries afterwards were so well qualified to do the work.” The Council of Trent called for a new and corrected edition of the Vulgate, and declared it the authentic text to be used in the Church.
In order to be able to do such work, Jerome prepared himself well. He was a master of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Chaldaic. He began his studies at his birthplace, Stridon in Dalmatia. After his preliminary education, he went to Rome, the center of learning at that time, and thence to Trier, Germany, where the scholar was very much in evidence. He spent several years in each place, always trying to find the very best teachers. He once served as private secretary to Pope Damasus.
After these preparatory studies, he traveled extensively in Palestine, marking each spot of Christ’s life with an outpouring of devotion. Mystic that he was, he spent five years in the desert of Chalcis so that he might give himself up to prayer, penance, and study. Finally, he settled in Bethlehem, where he lived in the cave believed to have been the birthplace of Christ. Jerome died in Bethlehem, and the remains of his body now lie buried in the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome.
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).
“When You Wrestle With Pigs in the Mud, You’re Gonna Get Dirty“
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
March 20-21, 2021
Gospel: John 11: 1-45
I’ve hear a lot these days that we live in a “cancel culture.” Do you know what that is? It’s when people say mean things about you and try to erase your very existence. However, I disagree that we are living in a cancel culture. I was in a cancel culture. I was in the U.S. Army for 24 years and served in three wars. They tried to put an expiration date on my birth certificate, and they were pretty darn good at it too. That’s cancel culture. We are not living in a cancel culture. What we have here is an evil culture. People are trying to do evil under the appearance of good. They are claiming what was evil is now good. These sins are included in the four sins in scripture that cry out to Heaven for vengeance. Members of the cancel culture scream at you just as they screamed at our Lord and crucified Him. There’s nothing new under the sun as scripture says. And there’s not. The good news for us is that we don’t have to be that way. But, if you wrestle with pigs in the mud, the pigs doesn’t mind, but you’re going to get dirty.
Let me ask you a question. Do you know what the secret to happiness is? Want me to tell you? Our Lord has told us to be holy. He said, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you.” This is a peace that the world cannot take away. So, if we seek and strive for holiness and to be one with our good Lord each day, we will have a happiness that no one can take away. That doesn’t mean you won’t have your share of sorrows and troubles. We all have our illnesses, and we all have our struggles. Our loved ones have been taken from this world to Heaven. That happens to us all. It doesn’t mean Christ stopped loving us. It means we are sharing in some of His Passion for the sake of the Body of His church, for our own redemption, and for the souls of others. We know deep down that as long as we do not turn away from our Lord through mortal sin or unrepented venial sin, He will always be there. Even though we cannot feel it, He is always present with us. Our peace and joy will come later after our trial on Earth is done. Our suffering is redemptive.
Saint John Paul II was suffering from end-stage Parkinson’s. He loved classical music, so they brought in a world famous orchestra and conductor to play for him. I don’t know his name…it’s not ZZ Top, so it’s beyond me. Because of the steroids he was on for the Parkinson’s, he was bloated, shaking and drooling. He could barely move. The last piece the orchestra played was his favorite, and the orchestra played it so beautifully, it would have made angels weep. When the orchestra finished playing, the conductor turned around and looked nervously at the Pope. The conductor was a little scared, because they were playing for the pope. The Holy Father could barely move, but he looked at the conductor and gave him a thumbs up. Even in his suffering, you knew he was a man of God. He had a happiness about him no matter what happened. He had the weight of the whole Church on his shoulders. He had a fatal illness that is terribly debilitating. But, he still had peace. And, that’s what we can have, because we have Christ. However, because we have Christ, we have an obligation to help others.
So, how do we fight this so-called cancel culture? We must try to be even more holy and to pray for people. Some of them are like those in I see in the gated community, a state sponsored residence with its own security system. Those incarcerated never had a chance. They were abused in childhood, so the chances were less than average that they would have a good life. They had a lot of things working against them. Granted, they chose to do evil, but they had a lot more crosses than we do. That’s not an excuse, but it’s a mitigating factor. How do we help those people who are evil and who try to say what we believe is evil and must change? Even the Catholic Church says sometimes what we believe must change. That’s not true. They are lying. They aren’t wrong…they are lying. Educated people who know better are lying. How do we change that? Have a little chat with them? Even though I’m almost 68, I’m still a soldier, and part of me would love to say, “Let’s go outside and discuss this.” No. Our Lord said to love them, sacrifice for them, and pray for them. They were taught from a young age that sin was good. We see the outcomes of sin and evil. We don’t have to be like them. But, instead of fighting with them, we need to love them.
Those who advocate evil are just like little children who don’t get their way, and they throw a tantrum. That’s me some days. Ever had a child…or a husband…throw a temper tantrum? What happens? Like our guardian angels, and like any good parent, we slowly take them in our arms, close to our heart. They are all worn out from their temper tantrum and break down in tears. So, we hold them close to our heart, giving them comfort and love. That’s what we are to do with this cancel culture. We can hold out our arms to them, no matter what they say to us, and no matter what they try to do to us. We can pray for them, sacrifice for them, and slowly bring them in to our heart.
This culture is not cancel…I know what cancel is. Cancel is evil. We are living in an evil age. Actually, every age is evil. But, we don’t have to be like that. Remember, when you grow close to Jesus, you have both a gift and a command to go out and bring others in and to change the culture. What’s very sad about people who are caught up in the cancel culture is that they don’t see how blind they are. They are like someone who has had too much to drink. The cops stop them, and they say, “I only had two beers!” Really? That math is wrong. They can’t stand up, never mind drive. “I’m okay!” They don’t see it…they are blind. It’s just like alcohol blinds the alcoholic and dope blinds the dope addict. And, the only cure for that is divine love.
During my time working in hospitals, I’ve learned that the only proper way to treat a disease is to find out what the disease is. So, we shouldn’t say it’s a cancel culture when it’s an evil one. People who are not eradicating evil are promoting it. There’s a big difference. Saint Mother Teresa tried to eradicate evil, and look at the love she spread. So this is what we do. We don’t have to be like them; instead, we need to love them, to pray for them, and to sacrifice for them.
How will you apply this message to your life? Will you, like Saint Mother Teresa, try to eradicate evil by spreading God’s love?
You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to https://annunciationcatholicalbemarle.com/ and clicking on “Blog” then “Categories” and then “Sermon Notes. From a cell phone, click on “Blog” then “Menu” and then “Categories” (located at the end of page). There is also a search box if looking for a specific topic.
