St Jerome

St Jerome (340 - 420)

Today we remember  Jerome,  whose actions by the grace of God bought us the scripture to the west. He was born in Strido, in Dalmatia. He studied in Rome and was baptized there. He was attracted by the ascetic life and travelled to the East, where he was (unwillingly) ordained a priest. He was recalled to Rome to act as secretary to Pope Damasus, but on the Pope’s death he returned to the East, to Bethlehem, where (with the aid of St Paula and others) he founded a monastery, a hospice, and a school, and settled down to the most important work of his life, the translation of the Bible into Latin, a translation which, with some revisions, is still in use today. 

He wrote many works of his own, including letters and commentaries on Holy Scripture. When a time of troubles came upon the world, through barbarian invasions, and to the Church, through internal dissension, he helped the refugees and those in need. He died at Bethlehem.

Thy will be done

Whilst at a bible study class the other day a friend expressed.  “ought we not set spiritual goals, and work and pray toward them” .  I had thought that David an educated and clever person was a grounded Christian with a grasp on his faith, but clearly he is missing a step or some understanding.

In human endeavour we do make plans and set targets, which we then achieve, if only in part.  This is not so in our spiritual life.

We must let go and let God be our guide, and on his terms and time scale.  If we wish to be proactive the most we can do is discern.  Review our skills, weaknesses, position and resources. We can listen to the voice of those around us and in the media.  We can study scripture, but the most important thing is too listen to our emotions.  We need to hold the whole body of evidence in prayer and see if God is there guiding us.  i.e.  Frustration at work may be an indication it is time to move on.  Empathy for another’s situation may be a call to action to help them.

You and I must listen, and let God’s will be done, not our contrived wills.

I have also realised that if David can be misguided, can I not be misguided too.

“Please God grace us with the gifts of wisdom and discernment, so we can do your will.”

The Church is bad?

This speech only came to my attention yesterday.

When I heard it I could not but feel Mr Fry has a real point.  He is in essence right, although I am not sure if he is correct on all the details.  The Catholic Church is not an influence for good in the world,  it is like a child at school whose report reads tries hard, but could do better, a lot better.

Unless we address our faults, as individuals and as a community we will continue to do Christ a disservice.  We must be more like Christ.  You and I MUST be and bring Christ into the world.

"...mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa..."

  I must change.  You must change.  Together we must change the world and the Church, so that when Christ walks through the door he does not weep, or suffer righteous indignation.

Let us pray for the Pope and all Christian ministers to help us ensure the Church reflects Christ's Love.

It seems his Holiness is addressing some of the issues Mr Fry talks about.
Pope Francis: Church too focused on gays and abortion

You are special

Each of us has the capacity, in this world as well as the next, to be Christ carriers.  Each of us can and does hold a piece of the divine. You and I are special, in fact everybody is special.  Everybody is valuable.  The Pope, the priest, but also the gutter snipe, the thief, the prostitute and the merchant banker. In fact all 7.2 billion souls on the planet are special and are made in God's image and hold or can hold a part of the divine.

It is because of this value that God came into the world, to reveal himself in the person of Christ, God gave us the possibility of salvation, the opportunity to be reunited with him.

The Gospel records the widows joy in finding the lost coin, the shepherd the joy at finding the lost sheep and the father's joy at receiving the prodigal son.  It reveals the joy of God over recovering just one soul to himself.

This is why Christians rejoice in the Cross something so terrible, yet it was transformed into a means of redemption for the whole human race.

In the Cross we can see that Christianity is not an abstract and spiritual religion. It springs from God’s direct intervention in the affairs of the world, a real historical event involving real people and, in the end, a real execution on a real cross. We may theorize and theologize all we like; but all our theorizings and theologizings are nothing without the history on which they are based. Take away that history – take away the Cross – and Christianity is nonsense.

Because our fallen brothers and sisters are special too, you and I are called, no obliged, to reach out and help them to redemption, draw them and society to Christ and to love.  Please God, give us the grace to do that.

Prayer for peace in Syria

O God of peace, who are peace itself

and whom a spirit of discord cannot grasp,
nor a violent mind receive,
grant that those who are one in heart
may persevere in what is good
and that those in conflict
may forget evil and so be healed.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, 
one God, for ever and ever.

St John Damascene, pray for us.

The heart is willing but the flesh is weak.

The other day I was comforted when reading from A sermon of St Gregory the Great. He writes

“My mind is sundered and torn to pieces by the many and serious things I have to think about. When I try to concentrate and gather all my intellectual resources for preaching, how can I do justice to the sacred ministry of the word? I am often compelled by the nature of my position to associate with men of the world and sometimes I relax the discipline of my speech. If I preserved the rigorously inflexible mode of utterance that my conscience dictates, I know that the weaker sort of men would recoil from me and that I could never attract them to the goal I desire for them. So I must frequently listen patiently to their aimless chatter. Because I am weak myself I am drawn gradually into idle talk and I find myself saying the kind of thing that I didn’t even care to listen to before. I enjoy lying back where I once was loath to stumble.”

My mind is torn too, by the cares of life, the pressures placed on me by my employer, my family and my church. I find it hard to find time to pray or study. It was easy when living in a religious community, but it is a challenge when immersed in life. The people I meet in my daily life can be, coarse, rude, disrespectful to God. Although they appear godless, they are not, they too are made in his image. Unless I engage with their lives, meet them where they are, not put myself above them can I hope to carry Christ to them.

I pray that you and I have the grace despite the pressures on our time to give time to God and being in his presence. Also that we have large hearts to tolerate the weaknesses of others and allow Christ to come them through us.

St Gregory the Great

Pope St Gregory the Great (540 - 604) A man of humility and service, a deacon who became pope.

He was elected Pope on 3 September 590, the first monk to be elected to this office. 

He reformed the administration of the Church’s estates and devoted the resulting surplus to the assistance of the poor and the ransoming of prisoners. He negotiated treaties with the Lombard tribes who were ravaging northern Italy, and by cultivating good relations with these and other barbarians he was able to keep the Church’s position secure in areas where Roman rule had broken down. His works for the propagation of the faith include the sending of Augustine and his monks as missionaries to England in 596, providing them with continuing advice and support and (in 601) sending reinforcements. 

He wrote extensively on pastoral care, spirituality, and morals, and designated himself “servant of the servants of God.”

He founded a monastery in Rome and some others in Sicily, then became a monk himself. He was ordained deacon and sent as an envoy to Constantinople, on a mission that lasted five years.   He died on 12 March 604, but as this date always falls within Lent, his feast is celebrated on the date of his election as Pope.