The Apostle thus says,” Examine your calling, brothers, and how not many of you are wise, or powerful, or noble according to the flesh. God has chosen the foolish things of this world to shame the wise, the weak things of this world to shame the mighty, and the base and contemptible things of this world, and he chose the things that are not in order to destroy the things that are.” Since the world did not have the wisdom to recognise God from the orderliness, diversity, and constancy of his creatures, God saw fit to save those who believed through the foolishness of the Gospel message. He accomplished this neither through the persuasive words of worldly wisdom nor through clever eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its potency; where is the wise man, where is the grammarian, where are the natural scientists? God accomplished this rather through the display of power and the Spirit, so that the faith of believers might rest in the power of God and not in the wisdom of men.
How few now read Aristotle? How many are familiar with Plato’s name and works? Only a few idle old men study them in out-of-the-way places. The entire world, however speaks of our peasants and fishermen and sings their praises. Their simple words must presented – and when I say “simple” I mean the words themselves, not the concepts behind them. But if, in answer to your prayers, I could have the same spirit in expounding their epistles as they had when dictating them, you would see that there were as much majesty and breadth of true wisdom in them as there were arrogance and vanity in the learned men of the world. Let me briefly confess to you a secret of mine: I do not want the person who wishes to understand the Apostle through me to have such a difficult time making sense of my writings that he has to find someone to interpret the interpreter.
Saint Jerome +419
Papal Secretary, Scripture Scholar, Doctor of the Church
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