Today is the Feast of Saint Ambrose of Milan, the great Doctor of the Church, died ARSH 397.
Below are a few choice quotations. All good, certainly, but having the hallmark dish at every American potluck dinner for the past 70 years named after you cannot be understated as an achievement. I mean, Cool-hhhWhip AND marshmallows? Canned mandarin oranges and pineapple? Shredded sweetened coconut? MARASCHINO CHERRIES?
Happy Feast.
Saint Ambrose, pray for us.
Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.
When we speak about wisdom, we are speaking about Christ. When we speak about virtue, we are speaking about Christ. When we speak about justice, we are speaking about Christ. When we speak about peace, we are speaking about Christ. When we speak about truth and life and redemption, we are speaking about Christ.
Our own evil inclinations are far more dangerous than any external enemies.
As in paradise, God walks in the Holy Scriptures, seeking man.
Love is like a shadow, one can only catch it by falling into it.
In some causes silence is dangerous.
When we find ouselves in some grave danger we must not lose courage but firmly trust in God, for where there is the greatest danger, there is also the greatest help from Him who wants to be called our ‘Help’ in times of peace and in times of tribulation.
Remember, then, that you received a spiritual seal, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of knowledge and reverence, the spirit of holy fear. Keep safe what you received. God the Father sealed you, Christ the Lord strengthened you and sent the Spirit into your hearts as the pledge of what is to come.
True repentance is to cease from sin.
Law is twofold — natural and written. The natural law is in the heart, the written law on tables. All men are under the natural law.
The Lord Jesus Himself proclaims, ‘This is My Body.’ Before the blessing of the heavenly words something of another character is spoken of; after consecration it is designated ‘Body’. He Himself speaks of His Blood. Before the consecration it is spoken of as something else; after the consecration it is spoken of as ‘Blood’. And you say, ‘Amen’, that is, ‘It is true.’ What the mouth speaks, let the mind within confess; what the tongue utters, let the heart feel.
To be content, to find true love, is what essentially drives us all, but if found, would it be recognized?
Blessed, plainly, is that life which is not valued at the estimation of outsiders, but is known, as judge of itself, by its own inner feelings. It needs no popular opinions as its reward in any way; nor has it any fear of punishments. Thus the less it strives for glory, the more it rises above it. For to those who seek for glory, that reward in the shape of present things is but a shadow of future ones, and is a hindrance to eternal life, as it is written in the Scriptures: ‘Truly I say to you, they have received their reward’
It was not by dialectic that it pleased God to save His people.
We ask for what reason our Lord was unwilling to state the time of His coming (cf. Mk. 13:31-32). If we ask it, we shall not find it is owing to ignorance, but to wisdom. For it was not to our advantage to know; in order that we being ignorant of the actual moments of judgment to come, might ever be as it were on guard, and set on the watch-tower of virtue, and so avoid the habits of sin; lest the day of the Lord should come upon us in the midst of our wickedness.