“Ignorance of Scripture is Ignorance of Christ.”
This might be the most famous quote from the saint whose feast we celebrated a few days ago: St. Jerome. There are many legendary stories about him, his temper, his austerity… but one thing he is best known for is his dedication to Scripture. He was one of the driving forces of the Latin Vulgate: the translation of the Bible into Latin. Knowing that many people in the Christian community of the 4th century could not read things like ancient Hebrew, Jerome set out to make the Word of God more accessible to the people.
That is why St. Jerome wrote in his commentary on Isaiah: “For if, according to the Apostle Paul, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God and the one who does not know the Scriptures does not know the power of God and his wisdom, [then] ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.” But then just a few sentences later, he says “let no one think that I desire to summarize the subject of this book in a few words, when the Scripture at hand contains all the Lord’s mysteries.” He said that ignorance of Scripture was ignorance of Christ, but that he did not intend to summarize the book.
This got me thinking about what he could have meant. I’ve quoted St. Jerome for many years since I teach Scripture to high school students. And year after year we go over many of the tools of Scriptural analysis: exegesis, the 2-source Theory, form criticism, and the like. I give them a basic overview of the content of the Bible. In this way, in coming into contact with the Word of God written in human language, they also encounter the Word of God who was in the beginning with God.
And here in formation, we continue to learn and overcome our ignorance. But it is only recently that I think I started to understand what St. Jerome was really getting at. If ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ, then knowing Scripture is knowing Christ. For many years, I thought this meant that the study of Scripture brings us closer to God. And that is very true. But I don’t think that is all St. Jerome meant.
What does it really mean to “know” Scripture?
I think of how when I entered diaconate formation, we became obliged to pray the liturgy of the hours every day. My apologies to you who are holier than I, but when I started praying morning prayer and evening prayer, it felt more of a chore than anything. I remember during my interviews before entering formation, I asked if we could do virtual classes from home instead of driving in when it got snowy. I remember that the head of formation not only said no, but he said that it was important to come so that we could pray the liturgy of the hours together. And I will tell you that I did not understand. I was ignorant.
I fulfilled my obligation to pray the liturgy of the hours, to pray the psalms and canticles. I began to memorize them from repetition, like the Magnificat or the Canticle of Zechariah. But imperceptibly, something else was happening.
I remember I was driving down the street one day, feeling a little down. And without realizing it, I started praying, “Oh God, you are my God. For you I long. My body pines for you like a dry weary land without water.” Or I’d be taking out the garbage on a cold morning and I think, “Frost and chill, bless the Lord.” Or I would be kneeling after mass and pray, “at the name of Jesus, every knee must bend in the heavens, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue proclaim to the glory of God the Father, Jesus Christ is Lord.”
This felt different than just rote memorization. I asked my spiritual director about this and he said that this is part of what should be happening. The Scripture isn’t just something external to us that we read. Instead, the Word of God is being woven into the very fabric of our lives.
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