Fr Matthew Reese

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations…”
—Luke 24:45-47a

Dear Friends in Christ,

Today is the Feast of St Jerome, one of the great Doctors of the early Church, who died on this date in 420 AD.

St Jerome is perhaps best known as the translator of the Latin Vulgate Bible, a book written not in the classical Latin of the poets and philosophers, but in the common (“vulgar,” in the very old understanding of that word) tongue of ordinary Romans.

Jerome began his work on the Greek New Testament using the old Latin (Vetus Latina) version as his guide, but he translated the entire Old Testament from scratch. This meant going to the Hebrew source, rather than later Greek editions.

Jerome was a man of astounding scholarly and linguistic ability. He not only translated the Scriptures but also produced voluminous—and still quite useful—commentaries on them. He wrote on theology, morals, and the monastic life.

In his letters to a new priest, Jerome writes with eloquence and conviction about the centrality of Scripture in the life of faith:

“Read the divine scriptures constantly; never, indeed, let the sacred volume be out of your hand. Learn what you have to teach. Hold fast the faithful word as you have been taught that you may be able by sound doctrine to exhort and convince the gainsayers. Continue in the things that you have learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom you have learned them.” (Letter 52, to Nepotian).

I hope St Jerome would approve of our Daily Bread project here at Saint Philip’s. However imperfect our little reflections and commentaries may be, they act as just one more way to point us to the text, to point us to the boundless richness and beauty of Scripture.

So it feels appropriate that at today’s noonday mass we will hear this wonderful passage from Luke’s Gospel with which I began.

That we too may have our minds opened to understand, Jerome, pray for us.

Yours in Christ,

—Fr Matthew