From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Our goal in life   
      
   Our goal in life, the very reason we were created in the first place,   
   is for union with God. We were made for God and our hearts are   
   restless until they rest in him. Lucian of Antioch (240-312), an early   
   Christian theologian and martyr, once said that "a Christian's only   
   relatives are the saints." Those who follow Jesus Christ and who seek   
   the will of God enter into a new family, a family of "saints" here on   
   earth and in heaven. Jesus changes the order of relationships and   
   shows that true kinship is not just a matter of flesh and blood. Our   
   adoption as sons and daughters of God transforms all our relationships   
   and requires a new order of loyalty to God and his kingdom. Do you   
   hunger for God and for his word?   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   December 7th - St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan   
      
   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,   
   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   
   otherworldly 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 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 .   
      
      
   Saint Quotes:   
   “No one heals himself by wounding another.”   
   --Saint Ambrose   
      
   “But if these beings angels guard you, they do so because they have   
   been summoned by your prayers.”   
   --Saint Ambrose   
      
   “The Church of the Lord is built upon the rock of the apostles among   
   so many dangers in the world; it therefore remains unmoved. The   
   Church’s foundation is unshakable and firm against assaults of the   
   raging sea. Waves lash at the Church but do not shatter it. Although   
   the elements of this world constantly beat upon the Church with   
   crashing sounds, the Church possesses the safest harbor of salvation   
   for all in distress.   
   --Saint Ambrose   
      
   There is a stream which flows down on God’s saints like a torrent.   
   There is also a rushing river giving joy to the heart that is at peace   
   and makes for peace.   
   --Saint Ambrose   
      
   He who read much and understands much, receives his fill. He who is   
   full, refreshes others. So Scripture says: “If the clouds are full,   
   they will pour rain upon the earth.”   
   --Saint Ambrose   
      
   "Therefore, let your words be rivers, clean and limpid, so that you   
   may charm the ears of people. And by the grace of your words win them   
   over to follow your leadership. Solomon says: “The weapons of the   
   understanding are the lips of the wise”; and in another place he says:   
   “Let your lips be bound with wisdom.” That is, let the meaning of your   
   words shine forth, let understanding blaze out. Let no word escape   
   your lips in vain or be uttered without depth of meaning.”   
   --Saint Ambrose   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Prayer to the Sacred Heart   
      
   May all the words that I speak be dipped in the Blood of Thy Sacred   
   Heart, Jesus, that they may be so many arrows to pierce the hearts of   
   all who hear them with love for Thee.   
      
    - Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)