St. Jerome and Issues of Connectivity and Creativity

My post on St. Jerome has been published at the Living Lutheran website.  Go here to read it.

As is often the case, I learn a lot when I write these pieces.  Being a good Lutheran, I always think of Martin Luther as being the first to translate the Bible into a common language that all could read.  I'm wrong.  Hundreds of years earlier, Jerome translated the Bible into Vulgate Latin.

I see that translation as his most important contribution, but he was one of the more prolific writers of his generation.  I think of all the resources that I have right at my fingertips.  I think of the computer, which makes my writing more speedy.  But I probably cannot hope to match the output of Jerome.

Yesterday was one of those days when I felt a bit frazzled and hectic at work.  It's probably time to take my own advice:  "As we celebrate the life of St. Jerome, it’s a good day to think about how to apply the lessons of his life to our own. Maybe we need an ascetic plan to face our daily lives; we could experiment with less technology and more listening for God. Maybe we need periodic retreats so that we can recalibrate and focus on what’s important."

I wrote that chunk of text just 12 hours before my phones would die, which would leave me disconnected.  As I wrote in yesterday's post, at first I felt annoyed, but as the week-end progressed, I felt liberated.

It's relatively easy to disconnect at home.  It's harder to disconnect on the job.  What ascetic practices could I adopt to help in that arena?

Hmm--stay tuned!