Today, September 30
Feast of the Day
No feast of the day
Saint of the Day
Jerome was born in Dalmatia about 342. He studied Latin and Greek in Rome where he was baptized at 18 by Pope Liberius. Having experienced a vision of Christ, Jerome withdrew into the Syrian desert for four years, praying, fasting and learning Hebrew. He was ordained in 377.
Jerome's mastery of languages enabled him to translate Hebrew and Greek books of the Bible, at the request of Pope Damasus, into the language of the common people, that is, Latin; this translation is called the Vulgate. In the 16th century, the Council of Trent (1545-63) declared Jerome's Vulgate an official text of the Catholic Church.
Jerome's rhetorical skill coupled with his fiery temperament made him a fierce opponent in theological debate and involved him in controversy most of his life. His last years were spent in Bethlehem where a group of Roman noblewomen under his spiritual direction used their wealth to build convents, monasteries and hospices. These consecrated women, led by Saint Paula, are regarded in Church history as a powerful witness to early Christian feminine spirituality.
Jerome died on this day in 420. His accomplishments in biblical studies are without parallel in Christian history. He is a doctor of the Church, and patron of scripture scholars.
©2011 Living with Christ, Novalis - Bayard Press Canada Inc., http://www.livingwithchrist.ca/. Reprinted with permission.
Readings of the Day
Book of Job 9,1-12.14-16.
Job answered his friends and said: I know well that it is so; but how can a man be justified before God? Should one wish to contend with him, he could not answer him once in a thousand times. God is wise in heart and mighty in strength; who has withstood him and remained unscathed? He removes the mountains before they know it; he overturns them in his anger. He shakes the earth out of its place, and the pillars beneath it tremble. He commands the sun, and it rises not; he seals up the stars. He alone stretches out the heavens and treads upon the crests of the sea. He made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south; He does great things past finding out, marvelous things beyond reckoning. Should he come near me, I see him not; should he pass by, I am not aware of him; Should he seize me forcibly, who can say him nay? Who can say to him, "What are you doing?" How much less shall I give him any answer, or choose out arguments against him! Even though I were right, I could not answer him, but should rather beg for what was due me. If I appealed to him and he answered my call, I could not believe that he would hearken to my words.
Psalms 88(87),10bc-11.12-13.14-15.
Daily I call upon you, O LORD; to you I stretch out my hands. Will you work wonders for the dead? Will the shades arise to give you thanks? Do they declare your mercy in the grave, your faithfulness among those who have perished? Are your wonders made known in the darkness, or your justice in the land of oblivion? But I, O LORD, cry out to you; with my morning prayer I wait upon you. Why, O LORD, do you reject me; why hide from me your face?
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 9,57-62.
As Jesus and His disciples were proceeding on their journey someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus answered him, "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head." And to another he said, "Follow me." But he replied, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father." But he answered him, "Let the dead bury their dead. But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." And another said, "I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home." Jesus answered him, "No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God."
Daily Reflection
There are numerous decrees forbidding entrance to China... But, aside from the dangers of prison and maltreatment, there are even greater ones that people here do not suspect... In the first place, loss of hope and trust in God, when it is for love of him and for his service that we are about to make his Law known and Jesus Christ, his Son, our Redeemer and our Lord, as he well knows. Since, in his blessed mercy, he has communicated these desires to us, to fail now in trust in his mercy and power before the perils we may run for his service is a far greater peril than all the harm God's enemies might cause us. If it matters to his greater service, God will keep us from all the perils of this life... Hence we have for our guard the Lord's word: “Whoever loves his life in this world will lose it and whoever loses it for God's sake will find it” (cf. Jn 12,25). And this like it: “Anyone who sets their hand to the plough and looks back is not worthy of the Kingdom of God”. As for us, bearing in mind these dangers of soul, which are so much greater than those of the body, we are all the more sure and certain of confronting bodily dangers... Therefore, however it may be, we are determined to go to China.