St Jerome: Fighting Ignorance Through Sacred Scripture

 St Jerome, whose feast we celebrate today, is known for saying: "Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." I can actually speak first hand of this. The way I was led back to the Church and the practice of my Catholic faith was through the reading and studying of Scripture. The first words out of the mouth of my friend who helped me to return were: "Get a Bible and a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church."
As I began reading, especially from Scripture, I found myself actually coming to know Christ better. I had always known who He is, but actually knowing Him and developing a personal relationship with Him was something new to me.
You can't love someone unless you know them. Jesus is no different. In order to love Him, we need to come to know Him, not just know about Him. I think that this is the essence of what St Jerome was trying to say in that quote.
I will be eternally grateful to my friend for encouraging me to read Scripture. I continue to do so daily and my faith is deepened and enriched by it. My relationship with Christ has also grown. I believe that He wants us to come to know Him better so that we can love Him better. God's grace has much to do with this as well because our faith is a gift from God.
St Jerome was a brilliant scholar and we have him to thank for the translation of the Bible from the original Greek into Latin.
Let us ask this great saint and Doctor of the Church for his intercession so that we may never be ignorant of Scripture or Christ. And if you happen to suffer from a bit of a temper, St Jerome can surely sympathize; ask him for help there as well.

St Jerome, pray for us; help us to deepen our faith and relationship with Jesus Christ through coming to know and love Him more and better through Sacred Scripture.