Friday 30th September 2022
St. Jerome
Priest, Doctor
(340 – 420),
He was born in Dalmatia. 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 died at Bethlehem.
Entrance Antiphon : Cf. Ps 1: 2-3
Blessed indeed is he who ponders the law of the Lord day and night: he will yield his fruit in due season.
Collect
O God, who gave the Priest Saint Jerome a living and tender love for Sacred Scripture, grant that your people may be ever more fruitfully nourished by your Word and find in it the fount of life. 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.
First reading : Job 38:1,12-21,40:3-5
From the heart of the tempest the Lord gave Job his answer. He said: Have you ever in your life given orders to the morning or sent the dawn to its post, telling it to grasp the earth by its edges and shake the wicked out of it, when it changes the earth to sealing clay and dyes it as a man dyes clothes; stealing the light from wicked men and breaking the arm raised to strike? Have you journeyed all the way to the sources of the sea, or walked where the Abyss is deepest? Have you been shown the gates of Death or met the janitors of Shadowland? Have you an inkling of the extent of the earth? Tell me all about it if you have! Which is the way to the home of the light, and where does darkness live? You could then show them the way to their proper places, or put them on the path to where they live! If you know all this, you must have been born with them, you must be very old by now! Job replied to the Lord: My words have been frivolous: what can I reply? I had better lay my finger on my lips. I have spoken once… I will not speak again; more than once… I will add nothing.
Psalm 138:1-3,7-10,13-14
R/ Lead me, O Lord, in the path of life eternal.
- O Lord, you search me and you know me, you know my resting and my rising, you discern my purpose from afar. You mark when I walk or lie down, all my ways lie open to you.
- O where can I go from your spirit, or where can I flee from your face? If I climb the heavens, you are there. If I lie in the grave, you are there.
- If I take the wings of the dawn and dwell at the sea’s furthest end, even there your hand would lead me, your right hand would hold me fast.
- For it was you who created my being, knit me together in my mother’s womb. I thank you for the wonder of my being, for the wonders of all your creation.
Gospel Acclamation : Ps144:13
Alleluia, alleluia! The Lord is faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds. Alleluia!
Gospel : Luke 10:13-16
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. And still, it will not go as hard with Tyre and Sidon at the Judgement as with you. And as for you, Capernaum, did you want to be exalted high as heaven? You shall be thrown down to hell. ‘Anyone who listens to you listens to me; anyone who rejects you rejects me, and those who reject me reject the one who sent me.’
Prayer over the Offerings
Grant us, O Lord, that, having meditated on your Word, following the example of Saint Jerome, we may more eagerly draw near to offer your majesty the sacrifice of salvation. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon : Cf. Jer 15: 16
Lord God, your words were found and I consumed them; your word became the joy and the happiness of my heart.
Prayer after Communion
May these holy gifts we have received, O Lord, as we rejoice in celebrating Saint Jerome, stir up the hearts of your faithful so that, attentive to sacred teachings, they may understand the path they are to follow and, by following it, obtain life everlasting. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
Jesus warns the cities of Chorazin and Capernaum, as He warns us today, both as individuals and as a society. It is certainly true that there are people in other parts of our country, our society, and our world who would respond much more generously than we have done, if they were given what we have been given, saw what we have seen and heard what we hear. How many opportunities have we wasted? We waste everything, ranging from money to water, food, clothes – in short, the basic amenities, while people suffer on the streets, sleep hungry and have no shelter or clothes to wear. If they had what we have, they would make better use of it. Whatever we have is a miracle and a blessing from God. How many times have we returned from school with no results, whereas there are people craving for education? Can we make good use of these opportunities and help those in need?