Sunday, September 29, 2024

The Naked Truth - God alone is!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

September 30, 2024 - Remembering St. Jerome
Job 1:6-22; Luke 9: 46-50

Naked I was born, naked will I die! God gave and God has taken it back. Blessed be the name of the Lord... Job is given by the Word today as the brilliant example of a child of God! His properties burned, he remained calm. His cattle were gone, he bore it all. His servants were killed he held on to the Lord. His children died altogether, he broke down but in the bosom of the Lord! That was Job, of whom the Lord was proud of.

Jesus teaches us the same lesson in the Gospel ...your ego, your social status, your position and power, your possession and your attachments... nothing can stand the test of time. God alone will. Whether we believe or not the Lord is. Whether we praise the Lord or not, the Lord is worthy of all the praise in the world. Whatever we do and whatever we are involved in, even without our own full knowledge of it, we are serving the purposes of the Lord. 

St. Jerome whom we celebrate today is an excellent example of this - all through his intellectual search, he was being prepared to be an exceptional instrument in spreading the Word of God to the world far and wide. When he understood it, he surrendered himself totally to the plan of God. Bcause he knew, ultimately that which is going to prevail is God's will. 

God alone is almighty and God's purposes alone give meaning to anything that exists. The truth finally is, whoever we are and whatever we have, everything will pass. The naked truth is, God alone is, God alone will forever be!