HOMILY WEEK 26 01 – Year II
Qualities of a Strong Faith:
Memorial of St. Jerome
(Job 1:6-22; Ps 17; Lk 9:46-50)
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“In all of this, Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing.”
That conclusion to the first reading today sets the stage for the readings and the message they convey – that strong faith in God’s loving presence and providence entails childlike trust, loving inclusivity and the ability to accept redemptive suffering.
Jesus had called the twelve apostles together and given them power to heal and set people free. They had fed five thousand people. Some of them had witnessed the Transfiguration. It was a heady time for them, so it’s understandable the disciples were thinking about greatness and how special they were. They had been specially chosen by Jesus himself, after all.
The response by Jesus was to place a little child beside him, and teach them that the least among them is the greatest. One of the most striking characteristics of a little child is a total and fearless trust in their parents. Can we be that secure in God’s love for us and so totally trusting in God’s presence and providence in our lives that we can let go of any need for attention, acclaim or power? Another characteristic of a child is an acute awareness of their total dependence on the adults in their life. Can we have that same humble attitude of our total dependence on God to do in us what we cannot do for ourselves?
The disciples then try to stop someone, also doing deeds of power, who was not specially chosen like them, and expect Jesus to respond in a like manner. To their surprise, Jesus retorts that whoever is not against them is for them. Again, can we be so secure in God’s love and providence, that we can be open and inclusive and see how God is working in the world, outside of the box and in surprising and least expected ways?
Turning to the first reading, we hear the well-known story of the suffering of Job – how he lost everything to tragedy and calamity, but did not lose his faith in God’s loving presence in his life. As such he pre-figures Jesus as the suffering servant. Just as Job was able to accept his suffering without bitterness or resentment, Jesus went through his passion to his crucifixion like a lamb led to slaughter, with only forgiveness on his lips and in his heart.
This episode about Job from the Old Testament is a teaching about the cross, before the cross is even thought of. And it presents us with perhaps the most striking quality of a strong faith in God and God’s presence and providence in our lives – to be able to accept suffering and inconvenience in our lives without bitterness or resentment, like Jesus on the cross. Then our suffering in a mystical yet very real way is connected to the suffering of Jesus and takes on deep meaning and purpose. It becomes redemptive suffering and helps build up the kingdom of God.
That is a lesson our world desperately needs to hear today, given how so many seem to have lost their faith in God, and have no understanding of the powerful role suffering can play in their lives. Indeed, there are lessons in life that we will learn only through suffering. Awards to children bring honor to a family, but they do not develop depth and character – it is the presence of a Down’s Syndrome child or other such obstacle and how it is graciously accepted with faith, that truly develops the character of a family.
Today the Church invites us to honor and emulate a great example of someone who truly lived these teachings, St. Jerome, who was born in Dalmatia about 342 and baptized in Rome 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 language enabled him to translate Hebrew and Greek books of the Bible into Latin, the language of the common people; this translation is called the Vulgate. In the 16th century, the Council of Trent 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 noble Roman women under his spiritual direction used their wealth to build convents, monasteries and hospices. These consecrated women, led by St. 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, translators, archeologists, librarians and students.
We are invited to imitate St. Jerome in his response to Jesus, to believe in him, to fall in love with his Word, and to live out our faith with humble, childlike simplicity. I have had the privilege of visiting the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, built over the caves where St. Jerome spent his last days, and celebrated the Eucharist in two of those caves with our pilgrimage groups.
Inspired by St. Jerome, who was so focused on the Word of God in the earliest centuries of the church, I had a dream as an active bishop of a diocese to begin a secular institute of women who would be dedicated to spreading the Word of God, called Servants of the Word. That dream was shared with, and has been expanded by, Lucie Leduc, director of the Star of the North Retreat Centre where I serve as chaplain and spiritual director. She added care for creation as that is the first bible; our staff added community building, contemplative living, and justice as right relationships following up to the TRC calls to action, and our signature program of Aurora Living was born. We have just started a second two-year cycle with a focus on earth-keeping by a resource person from the A Rocha intentional community in B.C. How true the saying that a dream kept to oneself remains just a dream; a dream shared has a chance of becoming reality.
The Eucharist is an act of deep faith. We believe we are hearing the Word of God, and that through the power of the Holy Spirit, humble gifts of bread and wine will be transformed into the body and blood of Jesus. May our celebration deepen our faith in God’s loving presence and providence, and empower us to have childlike trust, loving inclusivity and the ability to accept some redemptive suffering in our lives.
