Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - The Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, at his general audience on Wednesday 14 November, continued his presentation of the figure of Saint Jerome who dedicated his life to studying the Bible and in fact Pope Benedict XVI described him as an “eminent doctor of the interpretation of Sacred Scripture”. Saint Jerome “underlined the joy and the importance of being familiar with the Bible texts”, deeming it a necessity for the believer and this conviction led him to affirm that “to ignore Scripture is to ignore Christ”. He was truly "in love" with the Word of God: he considered the Bible “incentive and source of Christian life for every situation and every person” the Pope said, citing several excerpts from the Saint's writings. To penetrate ever more deeply the Word of God requires “constant and progressive application. Only a profound spirit of prayer and the assistance of the Holy Spirit, can lead us to understand the Bible”.
“Therefore a passionate love for Scripture pervaded Jerome's whole life - the Pope said in his catechesis -, a love which he sought to encourage in the faithful…For Jerome a fundamental criteria for the method of interpreting the Scriptures was being in tune with the teaching of the Church. We can never read Scripture alone. We find too many closed doors and easily fall into error. The Bible was written by the People of God and for the People of God inspired by the Holy Spirit. Only in this communion with the People of God can we truly enter as 'we' into the nucleus of the truth which God himself wishes to share with us. For Jerome authentic interpretation of the Bible must always be in harmony and agreement with the faith of the Catholic Church”.
However in his teaching Jerome did not overlook the moral aspect: “Indeed he often recalls the duty to live in keeping with the Divine Word and that only by living it we find the capacity to understand it. This consistency is indispensable for every Christian, for the preacher in particular, so that his actions, should they be discordant with regard to his speeches, do not cause him embarrassment … the Gospel must lead to attitudes of genuine charity, since in every human being the very Person of Christ is present”.
The Pope then recalled that |Jerome “left us rich and varied teachings on Christian ascetic life… An ascetic life included the practice of pilgrimages. In particular Jerome gave impulse to pilgrimages to the Holy Land, where pilgrims were given hospitality in hostels built close to the monastery of Bethlehem, thanks to the generosity of Paola, a noblewoman and the spiritual daughter of Jerome”. Important also the contribution Jerome made with regard to Christian prayer: “Among Jerome's principal intuitions as a pedagogue - the Pope said - it is necessary to underline the importance attributed to a healthy and complete education in early childhood, the special responsibility recognised to parents, the urgency of serious moral religious formation, the need to study for a more complete human formation. Moreover an aspect widely ignored in those times, but considered vital by our author, was the promotion of women, whose right to complete human, scholastic, religious and professional formation he recognised.”
Concluding his catechesis, Pope Benedict recalled the effective contribution made by Jerome towards “safeguarding in the fledgling Christian culture, positive and valid elements of Jewish, Greek and Roman culture. Jerome recognised and assimilated the artistic values, the riches of sentiment and the harmony present in the classics which educate the heart and the imagination to noble sentiments”.
At the end of his catechesis, the Holy Father addressed French speaking pilgrims who had accompanied to Rome to relics of Therese of Lisieux: “After the audience I will have the joy of praying in front of her relics, as many people will have a chance to do during the whole week in various different churches in Rome”. The Pope mentioned three anniversaries concerning Saint Therese this year: 120 years since she travelled to Rome to ask the Pope's permission to enter a Carmelite convent despite her young age, the 80th anniversary of her proclamation as patron Saint of the Missions and the 10th anniversary of her inscription among the Doctors of the Church. He recalled that Saint Therese longed to learn the languages of the Bible to better understand Sacred Scripture, and he encouraged those present to follow the example of Saint Therese and Saint Jerome and find the time to read the Bible regularly, becoming in this way familiar with the word of God and encountering Christ, “to live in intimate communion with Him”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 15/11/2007 - righe 54, parole 750)
