The Memorial of St Jerome

Zech. 8:1-8, Lk. 9:46-50. God desires that we be close to Him so that He can reveal His inner life to us. The first reading recalls the return of the people of God to Jerusalem as a fulfilment of His promise: “I will bring them back to dwell within Jerusalem. They shall be my people, and I will be their God, with faithfulness and justice.” In the same way, God brings us to Himself at the moment we go far away from Him. Only through grace and prayer, that we may be able to return home with God. To have a full revelation of God, we also need to accept the Kingdom of God like a little child as Jesus tells us in today's Gospel.

Jesus noticed the intention of the disciples about greatness, He pulls a child close and says to disciples: “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” He made this comparison because a child’s faith, unlike that of adults, is truly pure and genuine and not masked by other worldly desires. Sometimes, we are unable to reach out to God with the fullness of sincerity and genuine love, as we allow ourselves to be tempted and pulled away from God’s loving and tender care. St Jerome whose memorial we celebrate sets a good example for us in the way we can draw close to God. For Jerome "an ignorant of God is the ignorance of the Scriptures". Jerome was renowned for his great dedication to God, spending many years and decades in solitude, loving God and devoting himself in prayer to God through an ascetic lifestyle and the Scriptures. He wrote the Latin translation of the Scriptures, from the Greek Septuagint Scriptures into what is eventually known as the Latin Vulgate Bible.

May the Lord continue to bless us in our endeavours and guide us in our journey of faith! Amen!! Good morning and have a productive week!!