September 30, 2026
Memorial of Saint Jerome, Priest and Doctor of the Church
Lectionary: 457
Reading 1
Job answered his friends and said:
I know well that it is so;
but how can a man be justified before God?
Should one wish to contend with him,
he could not answer him once in a thousand times.
God is wise in heart and mighty in strength;
who has withstood him and remained unscathed?
He removes the mountains before they know it;
he overturns them in his anger.
He shakes the earth out of its place,
and the pillars beneath it tremble.
He commands the sun, and it rises not;
he seals up the stars.
He alone stretches out the heavens
and treads upon the crests of the sea.
He made the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the constellations of the south;
He does great things past finding out,
marvelous things beyond reckoning.
Should he come near me, I see him not;
should he pass by, I am not aware of him;
Should he seize me forcibly, who can say him nay?
Who can say to him, "What are you doing?"
How much less shall I give him any answer,
or choose out arguments against him!
Even though I were right, I could not answer him,
but should rather beg for what was due me.
If I appealed to him and he answered my call,
I could not believe that he would hearken to my words.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm
88:10bc-11, 12-13, 14-15
R. (3) Let my prayer come before you, Lord.
Daily I call upon you, O LORD;
to you I stretch out my hands.
Will you work wonders for the dead?
Will the shades arise to give you thanks?
R. Let my prayer come before you, Lord.
Do they declare your mercy in the grave,
your faithfulness among those who have perished?
Are your wonders made known in the darkness,
or your justice in the land of oblivion?
R. Let my prayer come before you, Lord.
But I, O LORD, cry out to you;
with my morning prayer I wait upon you.
Why, O LORD, do you reject me;
why hide from me your face?
R. Let my prayer come before you, Lord.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I consider all things so much rubbish
that I may gain Christ and be found in him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
As Jesus and his disciples were proceeding
on their journey, someone said to him,
"I will follow you wherever you go."
Jesus answered him,
"Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."
And to another he said, "Follow me."
But he replied, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father."
But he answered him, "Let the dead bury their dead.
But you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God."
And another said, "I will follow you, Lord,
but first let me say farewell to my family at home."
Jesus answered him, "No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/093026.cfm
Commentary on Job
9:1-12,14-16
In today’s reading Job responds to Bildad of Shuah, one of
his friends and comforters. Basically, Bildad had said that punishment of the
wicked is as certain as the laws of nature. There is an implication that Job’s
misfortunes are somehow the punishment for his wrongdoings.
Job agrees with this in principle and does not claim that he
is sinless. Still, he does wish to have an opportunity to prove that at least
he is not guilty of the kind of sin that would bring down on him such terrible
misfortunes as he has experienced. He will make serious complaints against
God’s treatment of him, but he never abandons his God nor (as Satan foretold)
does he curse him.
Much later in the book (chap 42—Saturday’s reading) it is
implied that Job persevered, but in these earlier chapters he does so with
impatience. We talk about the ‘patience of Job’, but the book is really
concerned with his perseverance and refusal to rebel against God. “You have
heard of the endurance of Job”, says the Letter of James (5:11).
In today’s reading Job admits that God is all-powerful:
…how can a mortal be just before God?
His speech is filled with the imagery of the courtroom:
“answer him”, “argue with him”, “innocent”, “plead”, “Judge”, “summon[ed]”,
“pronounce me guilty”, “judges”, “court”, “charges…against me”, “witnesses”.
Job strongly argues his innocence, but he feels that because God is so great,
there is no use in contending with him. Job’s innocence does him no good. The
reason is that God:
…is wise in heart, and mighty in strength…
Job then sings a hymn to the overwhelming power of God over
his creation; he is the Master and there is no other. He moves mountains and
performs countless wonders. But Job feels no blessings from all this. These
actions simply speak of an unchallengeable power. Job does not yet see that
God’s power is controlled by goodness and justice (see Jesus’ words in the
Sermon on the Mount about the universality of God’s love, Matt 5:45). At this
point, however, Job cannot see clearly that God’s power is controlled by
goodness and justice. He sees simply a God who can do what he likes when he
likes and against whom the creature has no redress.
The power of God is illustrated in the ways he can overturn
mountains and move the earth so that it shakes on its pillars. The ancient
world believed that the earth was a flat surface supported underneath by great
pillars. Earthquakes, too, must have been a truly frightening experience (as
they still are for us today, but we at least now understand their cause). Later
in the book, the earth will be described as suspended over nothing (Job 26:7).
God can control the rising and setting of the sun and the
shining of the stars. He alone made the vast heavens and “trampled the waves of
the Sea”.
The Jerusalem Bible comments:
“In the Babylonian cosmogonies, Tiamat (the Sea) cooperated
in the birth of the gods and was then conquered and subdued by one of their
number. The imagination of the people, or of poets, seized on this story:
Yahweh became the conqueror who then set Chaos in order and ever after held the
Sea and its monsters in control.”
Canaanite texts describe the goddess Asherah as walking on
the sea (or sea-god) to subdue it. So, in the same way, God ‘treads on the
waves’ to control the boisterous sea.
It is the same God who made the vast constellations in the
skies—the Great Bear (Plough), Orion and the Pleiades. Although the ancients
did not understand fully the nature of heavenly bodies they were overawed by
their size and mystery and their movements, which were often believed to
influence events on earth. There was more astrology than astronomy. They would
have even been more overawed if they had known the true size and extent of the
heavens.”
This hymn to the vastness of the universe, all made by an
all-powerful God, only makes Job feel worse. He wishes to argue his innocence,
but he feels that because God is so great there is no use in contending with
him. Job’s innocence does him no good. There is no use asking God, “What are
you doing?” He is answerable to no one:
How then can I answer him,
choosing my words with him?
For God is both judge and jury:
Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him;
I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.
Job is obviously not yet clear about what is happening to
him.
He acknowledges God’s absolute power over him, but at the
same time, questions whether it justifies the situation he now finds himself
in. Like his friends, he is still largely of the conviction that the good are
rewarded and the evil punished in this life. It is the challenging of this very
belief which is at the heart of this book.
The pain and the suffering of the good are not signs of
God’s displeasure at all. They can in time be seen positively as signs of grace
and God’s love steering us into a deeper relationship with him. Other more
impersonal happenings are often simply the effects of the forces of nature
(physics, chemistry and biology), and it is not reasonable to expect God to interfere
with these.
This is the move from passive fatalism to a positive and
welcoming acceptance of whatever way God comes into our lives. Sickness and
death are not the ultimate evils; sin, the absence of truth and love, is.
Commentary on Luke
9:57-62
Today’s passage has to be seen in the light of yesterday’s
Ordinary Time Gospel (Luke 9:51-56). Jesus has reached an important stage in
his public life and mission. He is now irrevocably on his way to Jerusalem and
all that that means for him—and us.
But he does not want to go alone. His whole purpose is to
have people go with him. Already there are his disciples, but there will be
more. Today we see three ‘candidates’ coming forward with a lot of good will,
but Jesus makes them aware of what following him really means. Their responses
to Jesus’ remarks are not given so we do not know whether they became followers
or not. The point Luke is making is to show what following Jesus entails.
The first says very generously that he will go wherever
Jesus is going. Jesus answers:
Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but
the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.
These words of Jesus indicate not poverty or indigence, but
freedom. To follow Jesus fully one needs to be free, not to be tied down by
anything and not to be anxious about having or not having things.
There is no evidence that Jesus was poor in the sense of
being deprived of the necessities of life. He did not own a house, but it is
never even hinted that, by necessity, he had to sleep out in the open air. He
belonged to a group of people who more than willingly shared what they had with
him.
The second man from today’s Gospel was actually invited by
Jesus to be a follower. But he asked first to be allowed to go and bury his
father. This does not mean that his father had just died and he wanted to
attend the funeral. It is more likely that he wanted, as a dutiful son, to wait
for his father’s death before going off with Jesus.
But that is not good enough. The call of Jesus transcends
needs of family, tradition and culture. The needs of the living outweigh those
of the dead. His father might not die for years; what was the man supposed to
do in the meantime?
Once we are aware of Jesus’ call the only time to answer is
now. In spite of that, we should not read these lines too rigidly. Clearly, for
example, there would be times when one would want to be present at the death of
a parent, especially to provide support for the grieving spouse. That would be
in total harmony with respect for parents and love for the neighbour. But the
man in the example is in a totally different situation. He is talking about an
event in the future whose time and place are not known.
Finally, another would-be follower asked first for
permission to go home and say goodbye to his family. It was similar to a
request made by Elisha when he was called to succeed Elijah as prophet (1 Kings
19:19-21). Elijah’s answer was, “Go ahead.” So what we have here seems a very
reasonable request, but it is rejected by Jesus who says:
No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit
for the kingdom of God.
Like Jesus himself turning his face towards Jerusalem and
all that it means for him, once the decision has been made to serve God and his
people, there can be no turning back.
Again, the words of Jesus should not be taken literally.
Read in that way, they would be totally at variance with the loving and
compassionate quality of Jesus’ character. The point that is being made in all
three examples is the absoluteness, the unconditionality that is required in
the following of Jesus. It is a theme which is emphasised more than once in
Luke’s Gospel. We cannot be fence-sitters, to have our cake and eat it too.
Being a follower of Jesus can never be a part-time affair. It is all or
nothing. At the same time, the demands of agape-love are always there.
It is a matter each time of discerning where the truly loving act lies.
If we are honest, a lot of us are like these men in our
following of Christ and in the living out of our faith. We do have our material
wants (distinct from needs); we feel we cannot live without ‘our little
comforts in life’. Today, let us pray for a high degree of freedom in being able
to accept unconditionally God’s will for us. To have that freedom is one of the
greatest blessings and graces of our life.
https://sacredspace.com/commentary/
Wednesday,
September 30, 2026
Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Father,
You show Your almighty power in
Your mercy and forgiveness. Continue to fill us with Your gifts of love.
Help us to hurry towards the
eternal life You promise and come to share in the joys of Your kingdom.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives
and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading - Luke 9: 57-62
As Jesus and his disciples were proceeding on their journey,
someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus
answered him, "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the
Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head." And to another he said,
"Follow me." But he replied, "Lord, let me go first and bury my
father." But he answered him, "Let the dead bury their dead. But you,
go and proclaim the Kingdom of God." And another said, "I will follow
you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home." Jesus
answered him, "No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was
left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God."
Reflection
In today's Gospel the long and
hard journey of Jesus continues from the periphery of Galilee to the capital
city. Leaving Galilee, Jesus enters Samaria and continues toward Jerusalem. Not
all understand Him. Many abandon Him because the demands are enormous. Others
get close to Him and decide to follow Jesus. At the beginning of His pastoral
activity in Galilee, Jesus had called three: Peter, James and John (Lk 5:
8-11). Also, in Samaria, there are three people who present themselves, who are
called. In Jesus’ responses there are requirements or conditions for being able
to be His disciples.
•
Luke 9: 56-58: The first one of the three new
disciples. At that time, as they traveled along, they met a man who said to
Jesus, “I will follow You wherever You go.” Jesus answered, “Foxes have holes
and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay His
head.” To this first person who wants to be His disciple, Jesus asks him to
divest himself of everything: he will have nowhere to lay his head.
•
Luke 9: 59-60: The second one of the three new
disciples. To another one He says “Follow Me.” And he replied, “Let me go and
bury my father first.” Jesus replied, “Leave the dead to bury their dead; your
duty is to go and spread the news of the Kingdom of God.” To this second person
called by Jesus to follow Him, He asks him to let the dead bury the dead. It
was a popular saying which meant this: leave aside the things of the past. Do
not lose time with what happened. Look ahead. After having discovered new life
in Jesus, the disciple should not waste time on what has happened in the past.
This theme was also in Gn 19: 17, as Lot was instructed. In the Sacrament of
Reconciliation we see this as well. It is important to have “detachment from
sin”, as well as contrition. Do not look back and see the past as something to
yearn for, but instead, leave the sin of the past and look to follow Jesus.
•
Luke 9: 61-62: The third one of the three new
disciples. Another said, “I will follow You, Sir, but first let me go and say
good-bye to my people at home.” But Jesus replied, “Once the hand is laid on
the plough, no one who looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God.” Jesus asks
this third person called to discipleship to break the bonds of family unity. On
another occasion He had said, “Anyone who loves his father and his mother more
than Me cannot be My disciple” (Lk 14: 26; Mt 10: 37). Jesus is more demanding
than the prophet Elijah, who allowed Elisha to greet and take leave of his
parents (1 Kings 19: 19-21). This also means to break the nationalistic bonds
of race and the patriarchal family structure.
•
These are three fundamental requirements for
those who want to be the disciples of Jesus: (a) to abandon material goods, (b)
not to be attached to things of the past (c) to break away from the family
bonds. In reality, nobody, not even one wishing to do so, can break the family
bonds or break away from things lived in the past. What is asked is to know how
to re-integrate everything (material goods, personal life and family life) in a
new way around the new axis, which is Jesus and the Good News of God which He
has brought to us.
•
Jesus lived and became aware of what He was
asking of His followers. With His decision to go up to Jerusalem, Jesus reveals
His plan. His journey toward Jerusalem (Lk 9: 51–19: 27) is depicted as the
undertaking (Lk 9: 51), the exodus (Lk 9: 31) or the crossing (Lk 17: 11).
Arriving in Jerusalem Jesus fulfills the exodus, the undertaking or the
definitive crossing from this world toward the Father (Jn 13: 1). Only a truly
free person can do this, because such an exodus presupposes the dedication of
one's whole life for the brothers (Lk 23: 44-46; 24: 51). This is the exodus,
the crossing, the undertaking of which the communities should be aware, if they
are to carry on Jesus' mission.
Personal Questions
•
Compare each one of these three requirements
with your life. How well are you fulfilling these requirements?
•
What problems arise in your life as a result of
the decision which you have made to follow Jesus?
For Further Study
St Francis was one who took the
call from Jesus seriously. Like many saints, he was very involved in the
pleasures of the time. However, once he recognized the call, he began to
follow, ultimately “not looking back.” He was serious about not compromising in
this regard, and his sincerity even moved Pope Innocent III. In fact, most
saints don’t begin as “saints”, but at some time decide to follow these three
requirements of Jesus without compromise. Take some time to read the lives of a
few saints such as St Francis of Assisi, St Ignatius of Loyola, St Benedict, or
St Bernard, just to name a few.
Concluding Prayer
Yahweh, You examine me and know me, You know when I sit, when
I rise,
You understand my thoughts from
afar. (Ps 139: 1-2)
Saint Jerome, Priest and
Doctor
Jerome was born about 341 AD at Strido in Dalmatia
(modern-day Croatia). He was first educated by his father and then was taught
by the grammarian Donatus in Rome. His study of rhetoric is apparent in the
quality of his later writing. Prior to his baptism just before 366 AD, he liked
to visit the churches and catacombs of Rome. He also travelled in Gaul, his
native Dalmatia, and Italy.
It was at Trier in Aquileia that he decided, with some good friends,
to become a monk. But after a quarrel, arising from some real or supposed
scandal, Jerome left for Palestine. In 374 AD, he was in Antioch in Syria where
two of his companions died and Jerome himself became seriously ill. It was
during his sickness that he had a dream in which he saw God condemning him for
being a Ciceronian rather than a Christian, and this experience affected him
for a number of years.
He became a hermit in the Syrian desert for five years, gave
up his beloved classics and began learning Hebrew in order to study the Old
Testament in its original language. With his knowledge of Greek and his
training in style and rhetoric, he was now ready for his future work as a
writer and translator. Unfortunately, Jerome also had the reputation of being
cantankerous and sarcastic, which led to his making a number of enemies all
during his life.
He was raised to the priesthood in Antioch, even though he
did not want to be ordained and in fact never celebrated the Eucharist. He then
went to study in Constantinople under Gregory of Nazianzus, where he felt more
at home than with monks in the deserts of Syria.
He translated Eusebius’ Chronicon (Chronicle) from
Greek into Latin, as well as some of Origen’s homilies. He also wrote his first
scriptural work on the Vision of Isaiah, which in a later form was dedicated to
Pope Damasus I. Subsequently, he returned to Rome as interpreter to Paulinus, a
claimant to the See of Antioch, and was retained as ‘secretary’ by Damasus,
then a very old man.
He produced a number of small pieces, mainly involving
translations of Scripture. It was at this point that he began the enormous task
of making a standard Latin text of the whole Bible. It was not really a
completely new translation, but more a revision of existing texts made from the
original Hebrew and Greek. He began with the four Gospels and the Psalms. He
eventually completed almost the whole text of the Bible which became known as
the Vulgate (literally, ‘popularised version’). He also wrote much
appreciated commentaries on the Prophets and the Letters of the New Testament.
His commentary on Matthew’s Gospel became a standard work.
During his three years in Rome, he also became the spiritual
director of a group of semi-monastic women. This relationship gave rise to some
gossip, generally regarded as unjustified, but it was not helped by his sarcasm
and arrogance. He left Rome in 385 AD—as he had left Syria and Constantinople
before—under something of a cloud. He was determined to make a new start, this
time in Bethlehem, where Paula, one of his Roman directees, established a
convent and Jerome a monastery. It was here that he would spend the rest of his
life teaching, writing and studying.
During his life he aimed to produce the most accurate
version of the Bible and to explain the meaning of the text through sound
interpretation. He also believed that monastic life should be based on
Scripture-centred prayer, what we now call lectio divina. Such a life
should be based on the teachings of the Gospels and Paul, and its finest
example was Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Although marred by his difficult temperament, his learning
had no equal at that period except for Augustine. His Letters are regarded as
the finest of the time. And his deep spirituality and austerity of life were
unquestioned.
Jerome died in Bethlehem on 30 September, 420, and was
buried under the church of the Nativity there, close to the graves of his
spiritual companions, Paula and Eustochium, and close to the traditional site
of the birth of Christ. Later his body was transferred to the basilica of St
Mary Major in Rome.
In art, it has been common to represent Jerome as a
cardinal, although there was no such thing at the time. Even when shown as a
scantilly clad anchorite, with cross, skull and Bible as the only furniture of
his cell, the red hat or some other indication of his rank is usually
introduced somewhere.
He is also often shown with a lion, due to a medieval story
in which he removed a thorn from a lion’s paw, and, less often, an owl, the
symbol of wisdom and scholarship. Writing materials and the trumpet of final
judgment are also part of his iconography. One Renaissance pope commented that
it was well Jerome was shown holding a stone, representing his penitential
life, because otherwise it would be difficult to regard him a saint! He is also
one of the four Latin Doctors.
https://sacredspace.com/commentary/f0930s/
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