The Unshakeable Resolve of Mercy

Zech 8:20-23, Psalm: 86, Lk 9:51-56

Memorial of Saint Jerome, Priest and Doctor of the Church

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, on this Memorial of Saint Jerome, the great Doctor of the Church who dedicated his life to the sacred Word, the Scriptures present us with a powerful contrast between the world’s vision of power and God’s unshakeable resolve to save through mercy.

The prophet Zechariah paints a magnificent vision of the future, a reversal of Babel’s division. He foretells a day when people and inhabitants of many cities will not compete or fight, but will spontaneously seek the Lord. They will say, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” This is the mission of God’s people: to live in such faithful communion with the Lord that our very lives become a beacon, attracting others to the peace and truth of the living God. Our holiness is meant to be missionary.

This vision of universal attraction finds its ultimate fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ, “the Word made flesh,” whom Saint Jerome so loved. In the Gospel, we see this divine mission in action, but it meets with a starkly human response. Jesus was “resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem.” His face is set like flint. He knows the rejection, suffering, and death that await Him, yet He moves forward with unwavering purpose: to accomplish the Father’s will and open the gates of salvation for all.

When a Samaritan village rejects Him because of their ancient prejudice against Jerusalem, James and John react with the world’s logic of power. They ask, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?” Their response is one of vengeance, of divine wrath unleashed upon enemies. But Jesus “turned and rebuked them.” His way is not the way of retaliation. He does not force compliance with threats of fire; He wins hearts through the fire of Divine Mercy that He will pour out from the Cross. He simply moves on to the next village, His resolve unbroken, His mission of mercy unchanged.

This is the heart of the Catholic faith we have inherited. God’s power is perfected in mercy, not in wrath. As Pope Francis constantly reminds us, “God does not want to punish sinners but to welcome them.” The Church is not a fortress for the perfect, but a field hospital for the wounded, called to attract the world not by its political power, but by its radiant charity and mercy.

Saint Jerome, though known for his fiery temper and fierce debates, was ultimately conquered by this mercy. He left the glamour of Rome for the austerity of a Bethlehem cave, not to escape the world, but to serve it better by giving it the ultimate gift: the Word of God translated into the language of the people (the Vulgate). His life’s work was to make it possible for every person to “go with us” and hear that God is with us. He embodied the resolve of Christ, tirelessly working so that all might have access to the One who is Divine Mercy itself.

The comfort for us is this: when we face rejection, misunderstanding, or failure in our Christian mission, we are not alone. We follow a Lord who was also rejected. The challenge is to reject the temptation to respond with the world’s logic of anger or division. We are called to the resolute determination of mercy.

How do we apply this? We persevere in prayer for those who annoy or oppose us. We respond to insults with silence or a kind word. We continue to offer the truth of the Gospel, not with a hammer, but with the gentle persistence of Christ, who never stops seeking the lost.

As Saint Jerome himself said, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” Let us, like him, cling to the Word. May it give us the courage to set our faces resolutely toward our own Jerusalem, to be living witnesses of the merciful God who is with us, so that many will say, “Let us go with you.” Amen.