S. Ambrose| Daily Meditation| Daily Quote by S. Padre Pio| Divine Mercy Reflection
St. Ambrose
(340?-397)
Both Calendars
One of Ambrose’s biographers observed that at the Last Judgment people would still be divided between those who admired Ambrose and those who heartily disliked him. He emerges as the man of action who cut a furrow through the lives of his contemporaries. Even royal personages were numbered among those who were to suffer crushing divine punishments for standing in Ambrose’s way.
When the Empress Justina attempted to wrest two basilicas from Ambrose’s Catholics and give them to the Arians, he dared the eunuchs of the court to execute him. His own people rallied behind him in the face of imperial troops. In the midst of riots, he both spurred and calmed his people with bewitching new hymns set to exciting Eastern melodies.
In his disputes with the Emperor Auxentius, he coined the principle: “The emperor is in the Church, not above the Church.” He publicly admonished Emperor Theodosius for the massacre of 7,000 innocent people. The emperor did public penance for his crime. This was Ambrose, the fighter, sent to Milan as Roman governor and chosen while yet a catechumen to be the people’s bishop.
There is yet another side of Ambrose—one which influenced Augustine (August 28), whom Ambrose converted. Ambrose was a passionate little man with a high forehead, a long melancholy face and great eyes. We can picture him as a frail figure clasping the codex of sacred Scripture. This was the Ambrose of aristocratic heritage and learning.
Augustine found the oratory of Ambrose less soothing and entertaining but far more learned than that of other contemporaries. Ambrose’s sermons were often modeled on Cicero, and his ideas betrayed the influence of contemporary thinkers and philosophers. He had no scruples in borrowing at length from pagan authors. He gloried in the pulpit in his ability to parade his spoils—“gold of the Egyptians”—taken over from the pagan philosophers.
His sermons, his writings and his personal life reveal him as an other worldly man involved in the great issues of his day. Humanity, for Ambrose, was, above all, spirit. In order to think rightly of God and the human soul, the closest thing to God, no material reality at all was to be dwelt upon. He was an enthusiastic champion of consecrated virginity.
The influence of Ambrose on Augustine will always be open for discussion. The Confessions reveal some manly, brusque encounters between Ambrose and Augustine, but there can be no doubt of Augustine’s profound esteem for the learned bishop.
Neither is there any doubt that Monica (August 27) loved Ambrose as an angel of God who uprooted her son from his former ways and led him to his convictions about Christ. It was Ambrose, after all, who placed his hands on the shoulders of the naked Augustine as he descended into the baptismal fountain to put on Christ.
Comment:
Ambrose exemplifies for us the truly Catholic character of Christianity. He is a man steeped in the learning, law and culture of the ancients and of his contemporaries. Yet, in the midst of active involvement in this world, this thought runs through Ambrose’s life and preaching: The hidden meaning of the Scriptures calls our spirit to rise to another world.
Quote:
“Women and men are not mistaken when they regard themselves as superior to mere bodily creatures and as more than mere particles of nature or nameless units in modern society. For by their power to know themselves in the depths of their being they rise above the entire universe of mere objects.... Endowed with wisdom, women and men are led through visible realities to those which are invisible” (Vatican II, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, 14–15, Austin Flannery translation).
Patron Saint of:
Bee keepers
Learning
Daily Meditation
Positive Self-Worth:
The more we focus on what God's plan for us might be, the less we need to concern ourselves with other people's reactions. Our self-worth is not dependent on other people's opinions of us. No one else has the power to make us better or worse than we are.
Quote by S.Padre Pio:
I exhort you in the sweet Lord to live tranquilly.
Divine Mercy Reflection
Reflections on Notebook Six: 327-365
We enter, now, the last of the six notebooks that Saint Faustina filled with revelations from our Lord about His unfathomable and perfect Mercy. At this point, the Message of Mercy should be clear and evoking of a deep trust in the incomprehensible love of God. All that has been shared to this point reveals that God is relentless in His pursuit of you, seeking only to love you unconditionally and to draw you into His glorious life for all eternity.
The greatest obstacle to this call to holiness is sin. But it is abundantly clear that sin is no match for the Mercy of God. His Mercy dispels your sin in an instant, disposing of your past errors forever. God’s only desire is the present moment, for in this present moment He comes to you, descending from the heights of Heaven, entering into the inner core of your soul so as to form a perfect communion with you, lifting you up to share in His divine life.
This final notebook will be reflected upon as a summary of all that has been reflected upon thus far. Just like the reflections on the first notebook, the reflections for this notebook will be short and to the point. Once you finish this chapter you are invited to return to it often as a way of quickly and easily reminding yourself of the abundant Mercy of God. The Lord’s love is perfect in every way. Allow Him to speak this truth to you with clarity and conviction.
Reflection 341: Adore the Lord My Soul
If you have ever been to a wonder of nature, the moment you behold it is an awe-inspiring moment. Looking at the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, or the Swiss Alps for the first time will take your breath away and leave you in a moment of adoration of God’s creation. But if the beauty of nature can evoke such a response, then the infinite beauty of God will leave you in awe for eternity. It will be a moment of such “Beholding” that every fiber of your being will be drawn to God the moment you are face-to-face. And that “moment” will become one eternal moment. That moment can begin now if you allow yourself to be drawn into the adoration of God (See Diary #1652).
Do you understand the idea of adoring God? There is only one way to understand and that’s to do it. For example, someone may tell you all about the Grand Canyon, and it may be interesting, but seeing it with your own eyes completely changes your understanding. Reflect today on whether or not you know what it means to adore God with your whole soul. If you do not, then seek out this supernatural marvel.
Oh Lord, I desire to adore You with all my being. I want to be mesmerized by Your beauty and glory. Draw me in, dear Lord, and allow me to have but a glimpse of the glory I am to behold for all eternity. Jesus, I trust in You.