Tag Archives: saint

Patron Saint of the Imperfect: St. Jerome

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Bar 1:15-22
Lk 10:13-16

Irascible! Confrontational! Bitingly sarcastic! Stubbornly considering his view and the truth as one and the same!  With such traits can one come out a Saint?  Yet that is today’s Saint, Jerome– Jerusalem’s Fifth Century biblical scholar!

How did this happen? The same way Peter, Paul, Magdalene and Theresa came out Saints.  The Babylon Exiles, Baruch tells us today, in the end lamented they failed to heed the Voice of God.”

Yes, the irascible, confrontational and sarcastic Jerome, when it counted, heeded God’s Voice.  For instance, upon his conversion to a serious Faith life Jerome went into the desert to study and pray where he endured hallucinations of all sorts along with many sexual temptations.  To ward off these personal and spiritual assaults he began studying Hebrew, finding it painfully arduous and grueling.  He wrote to a friend, “The effort it cost me, the difficulties I went through and the number of times I gave up in despair, only to take it up again are things to which those who lived with me can bear witness as well as I.”

Most of us familiar with Jerome’s amazing scholarship might be surprised by his sensitivity and compassion.  Evidently he was also listening to the Voice of his Lord within.  After leaving Rome to take up life and study in the Holy Land Jerome kept contact with his friends in Rome.  Fifth Century news from Rome reported the violence tearing Rome apart.  It caused Jerome severe personal anguish, “When I was told about the deaths of Pammachius and Marcella, the sack of Rome and the end of many brothers and sisters, I was overwhelmed and did nothing all day but think of the safety of each and everyone.”

Plunder by Aleric and the Visigoths brought more disheartening news.  Jerome listened closely to the Voice of the Lord in the news of Rome’s chaos. Listen as he embraces God’s Providence: “I cannot help them all but I grieve and weep with them.  Completely involved in the activities charity imposes on me, I have set aside my commentary on Ezekiel and almost all study.  For today we must translate the words of the Scriptures into deeds, and instead of speaking saintly words we must act them.”

God’s Providence has a way of purifying the irascible, the contentious and the sarcastic from the hearts of the Imperfect.  If we but hear the Voice of the Lord and harden not our hearts, Providence will have Its way and we too can become saints.

- Fr. Lucian Clark, C.P. lives with the Passionist Community, Union City, NJ.  He directs the Passionist Volunteers International with six Volunteers serving in Mandeville, JA.

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We are Called and Sent to Witness

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Rv 21:9b-14
Jn 1:45-51

Feast of St. Bartholomew

The Book of Revelation, aka “The Apocalypse”, claims to be a “revelation of Jesus Christ… to his servant John” (Rev. 1:1). In today’s reading “The holy city Jerusalem” can be understood to be an image of the Christian Church which is “the bride… of the Lamb” (Rev. 21:2) who is the risen Christ. This is Christian imagery for the New Jerusalem, the Old Jerusalem being the location of the Temple of Israel (the place where God was to be found) which had been recently destroyed by the Romans. Twelve gates, guarded by twelve angels, are inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. Twelve courses of foundation stones are inscribed with the name of the twelve apostles. (Rev. 21:12-14)

The Church, the bride of Christ, is built on the holy enduring double foundation of the great Hebrew tradition of faith and the witness of the Apostles!

According to today’s Gospel, Nathaniel believed and became a foundation stone of the City of God! He was a Jew who wondered, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46) but was open to change his opinion. Nathaniel experienced Jesus and believed, so Jesus promised him a vision of the glory of the Son of Man (John 1:51). The other Gospels and the Book of the Acts of the Apostles call Nathaniel “Bartholomew”. And that is ALL that we know about him.

Nathaniel saw, he believed, he followed. No one recorded what he did or what happened to him after the Resurrection. Even so the whole Church remembers a faithful Jew who believed that God became present in the Temple; who became a foundation stone of the new temple, the new City of God, by witnessing Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

He never brought attention to himself but the whole Church remembers that he was there.

All of us are likewise invited to see, to adjust our opinion, to believe, and to follow. Some of us are destined to do so more boldly, more publicly. Most of us are destined to do so more quietly, perhaps even more privately. But all of us are called and sent to witness to our rich tradition of faith and our current relationship with Christ in the New Jerusalem, the City of God, the Mystical Body of Christ -the community of faith which we call “Church” – by our presence to and with each other.

Fr. John M. Lee, C.P., Retreat Director, Bishop Molloy Retreat House, www.bishopmolloy.org

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An Earthen Vessel

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St. James, Apostle
2 Cor 4:7-152
Mt 20:20-28

Today’s first reading applies St. Paul’s description of himself and his co-workers as earthen vessels to James– son of Zebedee and Salome, brother of John, apostle of Jesus Christ.  In contrast to others on the list of apostles, we know quite a bit about James. He worked in the family fishing business.  Along with brother John and fishing partners Peter and Andrew, he was among the first disciples called by Jesus. With Peter and John, he constituted a special group among the chosen twelve—special, but not flawless. The three were privileged to witness Jesus’ Transfiguration and to be invited to keep Him company in the Garden of Gethsemane.  On the first occasion, they were, understandably and appropriately, overcome with fear and awe.  On the second, they slept as Jesus agonized.

James and John apparently shared some of the impetuosity for which Peter is noted.  Jesus nicknamed them “Sons of Thunder.”  On one occasion we hear Him reprimanding them for their over-eagerness to call down fire from heaven to destroy an unwelcoming town (Lk 9:55). They were also ambitious.

Interestingly, the Gospel chosen for the feast of St. James presents him in an unflattering light. We can easily picture the little delegation approaching Jesus: Salome in front, her sons behind her, waiting eagerly while she makes her proposal.  Undoubtedly, she is ready to give solid reasons why her boys deserve the highest honors.  Obviously, all three misunderstand the nature of the Kingdom, as do the other ten angry disciples.  Jesus sets them all straight.  To be great in his eyes is not a matter of prestige and power.  Greatness consists in serving others, even to the point of dying for them.

Nevertheless, Jesus’ initial response to Salome’s request has been gentle.  He accepts the sincerity of the brothers’ “we can” in answer to his question about drinking the cup of suffering.  In fact, He assures them, “Yes, you will.”  The Acts of the Apostles (12:2) relates that James was beheaded on orders of Herod Agrippa, who ruled Judea from 41 to 44 A.D. He drained the cup.

In the end, the stories of the apostles’ weaknesses and character flaws are encouraging to us.  What matters is not how many times we fail or come short but how ready we are to accept instruction, start over, and continue to follow Jesus on the road of Cross and Resurrection. We too are earthen vessels.

Sister Mary O’Brien is a member of the Passionist Sisters’ community in Union City, NJ.

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