Show reverence to what is sacred, Church Fathers: Day 356

Show reverence to what is sacred

St. Jerome says that when he is angry (which happened to him often enough) or has evil thoughts, he is afraid to enter the basilicas of the martyrs. Is he being superstitious? Perhaps. Or perhaps he has a real sense of the reverence due those sacred places.

I confess my own fear, for possibly it may be thought to spring from su­perstition when I have been angry, or have had evil thoughts in my soul.

You may smile, perhaps, and deride this as on a level with the wild fancies of weak women. If so, I am not ashamed of having a faith like that of those who were the first to see the risen Lord; who were sent to the Apostles; who, in the per­son of the mother of our Lord and Savior, were commended to the holy Apostles.

Belch out your shame, if you will, with men of the world. I will fast with women—or with religious men whose looks witness to their chastity, and who, with cheeks pale from prolonged abstinence, show forth the chastity of Christ.

–St. Jerome, Against Vigilantius, 12

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .

Do I make a real effort to make myself worthy of entering any holy place I visit?

CLOSING PRAYER

Lord, when I enter your house, I acknowledge my failures, and I ask you for the strength to overcome them.

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