35.

 But in a brief space Jerome became so enamored of the "folly of the Cross" that he himself serves as a proof of the extent to which a humble and devout frame of mind is conducive to the understanding of Holy Scripture. He realized that "in expounding Scripture we need God's Holy Spirit";[⁵⁵] he saw that one cannot otherwise read or understand it "than the Holy Spirit by Whom it was written demands."[⁵⁶] Consequently, he was ever humbly praying for God's assistance and for the light of the Holy Spirit, and asking his friends to do the same for him. We find him commending to the Divine assistance and to his brethren's prayers his Commentaries on various books as he began them, and then rendering God due thanks when completed.