Saint Jerome

Saint Jerome  (347-420) is a Teacher of the Church, a saint, and one of the most outstanding scholars of the Catholic Church. He translated the Holy Scriptures into Latin (Vulgate); this translation of the Bible is still used in the Catholic Church today.

He studied in Rome, worked in Trier, Germany, and later in Venice. From 370 he was a member of a group of ascetic monks, and from age 26, he traveled to the East several times, where he visited various monastic communities.

Saint Jerome had to fight all his life with laziness and partly with his explosive and choleric nature, so regarding inactivity, he was competent in informing how laziness should be highly valued.

After the consecration of St., in 385, Hieronymus temporarily settled in Bethlehem and founded three female and one male monastery. One hundred seventeen Vulgate above of Jerome’s letters have been preserved from his work, but the most important work was the translation of the Holy Scriptures from Greek and Hebrew into Latin (the aforementioned Vulgate, which was later declared an official translation by the Council of Trent 1545-1564).

In 385, he settled in Bethlehem and founded three female and one male monastery. At this time, he also wrote his famous works – 117 letters of Hieronymus have been preserved, of which 19 were addressed to his contemporary St. Augustin; his work On Excellent Men (Church) is also known.

St. Jerome always said procrastination, laziness, and anger must be decisively fought. Like St. Paul, St. Jerome also claimed that laziness is a sin against Love. Laziness is the mother of all evils because it opens the door to temptation, and by not doing what we have, we harm ourselves (we don’t use our talents) and others.

Laziness is the mother of sin. As the Book of Sirach says ( Sir 22, 1-2 ): 1 . They throw a smeared stone at the lazy man, and everyone says he is worthy of contempt. 2 . They throw dung from the oxen at the sloth; whoever touches the throw, everyone shakes their hand.

As the Book of Proverbs says ( Proverbs 21:25 ): 25 . One’s lust kills a lazy person because robots protect his hands, and the Holy Scripture praises a diligent woman ( Prov . 31,27 ) because: 27 . He follows the progress of all the work around the house and does not eat from idle bread.

St. Paul openly says, in his Second Letter to the Thessalonians, that he who does not work should not eat either ( 2 Thess . 3:10-12 ): 10 . After all, even when we were with you, we commanded you this: He who does not want to work, let him not eat either. 11 . For we hear that some among you are living disorderly, doing nothing but chasing after useless things. 12 . Thus, we command and call upon them in the Lord Jesus Christ to work peacefully and thus eat their bread.

In one of his letters, St. Jerome wrote: “ Anyone who is inactive becomes a prey to vain desires. In Egypt, the monks in the monasteries had a rule that they would not accept anyone unwilling to work. Work is necessary to support the body, especially the soul. ” If we are busy doing good, then we are less susceptible to bad temptations, ” states another of his thoughts, St. Hieronymus.

Like St. Jerome, other saints encourage a determined fight against laziness. 9 points can help us in the battle against laziness:

1. Setting clear and realistic goals and priorities. _ St. Augustine of Hippie urges us to set accurate daily, weekly, annual, and lifelong dreams. We must try to fulfill as many of these goals as possible.

2. In the fight against laziness, proceed with successive steps. St. Francis of Assisi recommends dividing each task into smaller, partial units and solving them gradually.

3. Stay disciplined. Holy Mother Teresa of Calcutta states that if we want the lamp to burn continuously, we must pour oil into it. We must not neglect our duties; we must fulfill them with discipline.

4. Let’s be persistent and patient. In the fight against temptations and laziness, there is no need to give up if we partially fail. Saint Francis de Sales encourages us not to be discouraged even when we die. You don’t have to give up and keep going until you reach your goal.

5. Don’t get distracted. Saint John Paul II. states that if we are delighted within ourselves, we will not succeed. If we eliminate distractions within ourselves, our effectiveness will increase substantially.

6. Do not overload yourself unnecessarily. St. Augustine says that if we take too much work on our shoulders, our work will not be productive. It’s better to do one thing right than ten things wrong.

7. Generosity to others. St. Teresa of Avila says that perfect love is carried in the sign of love for neighbors, while our person is relegated to the background. When we think less about ourselves and more about our loved ones, it moves us to action and overcomes our spiritual laziness.

8. Work with love. As Saint Francis de Sales says, carrying out all activities with love in the heart is necessary. We don’t have to worry about the future if we are driven by love. Love is also a potent weapon against fear; the fear of failure is often the root of procrastination. A day not spent motivated by love is a day wasted.

9. Rest is not laziness. Rest does not mean that we do nothing; we engage in activities that require less effort. As Saint Josemaria Escrivá de Balaguer says, we should not confuse well-deserved rest with laziness. A well-deserved rest is a time when we can recharge our energy to continue with the next activity.