St. Jerome: God Can Redeem Your Past & Use It for His Glory

Published 2 hours ago

St. Jerome is remembered as one of the great Doctors of the Church and the scholar whose monumental work gave the Latin-speaking Church the Vulgate. But Jerome did not begin his life as the saint we remember today.

Raised in a pagan household and given an extraordinary education in Greek, Latin, rhetoric, and philosophy, Jerome nevertheless struggled morally in his youth. As he began investigating Christianity, he would descend into the Roman catacombs and contemplate the tombs, reminding himself that death would one day come for him as well. That meditation on eternity helped change the direction of his life.

After illness and the deaths of friends made an enormous impression upon him, Jerome resolved that if he recovered, he would dedicate himself entirely to God. He abandoned his former course of study for Scripture, entered the desert, embraced an ascetical life, and learned Hebrew from a converted Jewish monk. Already proficient in Greek and Latin, Jerome became extraordinarily equipped for the work Providence had prepared for him.

Jerome would eventually assist Pope St. Damasus in Rome and devote decades of his life to Scripture. He settled near Bethlehem, where he perfected his Hebrew and undertook the tremendous labor associated with the Latin Vulgate, spending years translating Scripture and then writing biblical commentary.

Yet Jerome was still Jerome. He was famous for his difficult temper, and the sermon recounts colorful stories of his sharp exchanges and struggles with his own temperament. His sanctity did not mean he never struggled. Instead, his life demonstrates that even saints had predominant faults against which they had to fight patiently.

And that may be the most encouraging lesson of his life.

God never wastes anything.

Jerome's education, linguistic ability, failures, conversion, penance, scholarship, and even the circumstances of his earlier life could ultimately be turned toward God's purposes. He gave his life to Christ, and centuries later Christians continue to benefit from that decision.

Whatever your past has been, give the future to God.

St. Jerome, pray for us.

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00:00 St. Michael Comics
00:25 Feast of St. Jerome
00:34 St. Jerome and the Latin Vulgate
00:59 Jerome Wasn't Always a Saint
01:15 His Pagan Education and Early Life
01:41 Jerome Begins Thinking About Conversion
02:05 Investigating the Catholic Faith
02:13 Jerome Goes Into the Catacombs
02:29 His Conversion and Travels
02:52 Illness Changes Jerome's Life
03:08 He Resolves to Give His Life to God
03:25 St. Jerome Enters the Desert
03:50 Learning Hebrew
04:14 The Three Languages of Scripture
04:38 Jerome Becomes a Priest
04:52 Pope St. Damasus Calls Him to Rome
05:01 The Council of Rome and the Biblical Canon
05:18 Which Books Belong in the Bible?
06:16 Jerome Assists Pope St. Damasus
06:25 The 73 Books of Scripture
06:49 Where Did We Get the Bible?
07:12 The Death of Pope St. Damasus
07:31 Jerome Leaves Rome
07:40 St. Jerome's Spiritual Direction of Women
08:03 St. Paula Supports Jerome's Work
08:33 Jerome Goes to the Holy Land
08:40 Living at Bethlehem
08:57 Translating the Scriptures
09:06 The Vetus Latina and Septuagint
09:39 Why Jerome Wanted a New Latin Translation
10:02 Translating the Bible
10:12 15 Years Translating & 15 Years Commenting
11:13 St. Jerome the Historian and Writer
11:38 St. Jerome's Famous Temper
12:04 Jerome Throws Rocks at Visitors
12:18 St. Jerome vs. St. Augustine
12:52 Even Saints Have Faults
13:08 Be Patient While Fighting Your Faults
13:26 The Death of St. Jerome
14:00 God Never Wastes Anything
14:18 God Can Redeem Your Past
14:36 Jerome Remembered His Death
14:53 God Redeemed the Time
15:09 Give Your Life to God
15:23 Our Good Works Follow Us
15:32 God Wants Us to Succeed
15:48 Sensus Fidelium App
15:56 Real Estate for Life