Wednesday – Feasts of St. Jerome

Gospel – Luke 9:57-62

Looking Back, Moving Forward

St. Jerome Statue, St Catherine Church, Bethlehem

Jesus almost seems nostalgic in today’s Gospel.  Everyone else has a home, a place to lay their head and He does not.  It’s as if He is looking back, as we often do, to those days when life was normal, simpler, calmer.  A life in Nazareth with His parents, a home, family time.

But life has changed!  Priorities have changed! 

Hmm!  Somehow that seems rather familiar!  Given the past 2 years, I think Ginger and I can relate to that!  Moving from Chicago to Heiskell!  Looking back on friends and family, memories of our Dakin home although I’m sure that life has never actually been normal!  And then trying to look ahead, plan for the future!  Nostalgia for yesterday; hope for tomorrow!

And so Jesus’ mission moves forward.  It may sound insensitive for Him to remark that the dead should bury the dead.  But He is making a point – don’t dwell in the past; don’t live in the past.  The Mission continues and we must move forward!  We are all tasked with this Mission to spread the Word.  It doesn’t mean we abandon our past or our roots but we are called to set priorities, to focus on being disciples!

St. Jerome, whose feast we celebrate today, understood that all too well.  He converted around the age of 24 and then spent the rest of his life as an ascetic, shunning the lures of the world and devoting himself to writing and translating the Bible into Latin, what we call the Vulgate. 

As in today’s Gospel, Jesus calls all of us to follow Him, to change our life and our priorities.  How do we answer?  Do we stubbornly hang on to the past or do we move forward to the Kingdom?

Thank you all for your support and encouraging words!

 

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