August 28 2026 - St. Augustine, bishop & doctor - Light for those wandering in darkness

 

For decades of his life, St. Augustine wandered in the darkness. He sought happiness in the pleasures of the flesh. He sought happiness in worldly philosophers. He sought happiness in strange sects. But they failed to satisfy and left him restless. But upon finding the Truth, the pearl of great price, the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Augustine gave his life entirely to Christ.

There are countless stories like Augustine’s up and down the centuries. Men and women who sought happiness, sought truth in a hundred thousand ways, but came to discover truth and goodness here in the Catholic Church.

In many cases, it was the witness of Ordinary Catholics that led them home. The faithful witness of Catholics at prayer, engaging in works of charity, of helping them when they needed help, helped them to open their hearts to the possibility that, herein lies goodness. That despite what the world says about God and the Church, there might be something to this Catholic stuff.

For Augustine, there appear to be two people that influenced him most. His mother, St. Monica, who prayed and wept and did penance for his conversion for decades. And the Bishop St. Ambrose, whose preaching captivated him.

St. Augustine’s mind and heart and soul longed for God and knowledge of Christ Jesus. And for him, it took a while for him to find his heart’s longing.

So we should be patient with those who seem to be wandering through life, for those outside of the Church, even those who left the Church. God has placed a longing in their hearts that can only be satisfied by God.

And yet, we should also be diligent in praying and working for their conversion. St. Augustine was converted because St. Ambrose was doing what he was supposed to be doing, and St. Monica was doing what she was supposed to be doing.

We need to be patient and diligent in praying and laboring for the conversion of souls. Including our own. It was because Ambrose and Monica had cultivated their own holiness, that God was able to work so effectively through them. Augustine was able to encounter Christ through Ambrose and Monica, because Ambrose and Monica and made a home for Christ in their own souls, and adorned that home richly—Augustine’s blindness was dispelled because of the light shining in Christ’s Holy Church.

St. Augustine is a great saint for our own day—who himself prays no doubt, for those addicted to sin, those fleeing the Church and the Truth of the Gospel, and for all of us, that we may be effective instruments for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

 

That the preaching of holy bishops and priests may attract those seeking for Truth to the Truth of the Gospels.

That Christian parents may be diligent in their prayer and good example for the forming their families in faith.

That our young people may be kept safe from the evils and errors of our culture. That they may seek and find Christ in the witness of the Church.

For those who have fallen into error or serious sin, those whose pride keeps them from knowing God’s mercy, and for those who have fallen away from the Church or do not know Christ, for their conversion and the conversion of all hearts.

That the love of Christ, the divine physician, may bring healing to the sick and comfort to all the suffering.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased priests and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.

 

December 7 2022 - St. Ambrose, doctor of the Church - To us Christ is everything

 

The title of “Doctor of the Church” is bestowed on certain saints for their skillful defense of the Faith. While they are known as Doctors, the name has no connection with medical science. Rather, in this context the term “doctor” refers to a learned man who is also a great teacher. A Doctor of the Church is therefore one who has plumbed the depths of theological mysteries and is recognized as a great teacher of the Faith for all Catholic generations. Holy Mother Church imparts great authority to the writings and teachings of these Doctors, and they serve as a kind of benchmark of orthodoxy.

In the sanctuary of St. Peter’s Basilica is the magnificent bronze sculpture of the throne of St. Peter. And at the base of the throne are statues of the four original doctors of the Church: St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Gregory the Great, and St. Ambrose, whom we celebrate today. The four saints were given the title “Doctor of the Church” by Pope Boniface XIII on September 20, 1295.

St. Ambrose was of the Roman nobility, trained in the classics, a poet, and a noted orator. In the year 370, while Ambrose was the Roman governor of Milan, the bishop died, and a heated argument erupted over who would be the next bishop.  Ambrose tried to resolve this dispute, and his oratory struck such a chord with the people that someone shouted out, “Ambrose for bishop”. Ironically, the great orator was speechless, for he had no intention of being a priest or bishop. He wasn’t even baptized, for he was only a catechumen preparing for baptism.

He resisted, claiming that he was unworthy, but the people continued to acclaim, “Ambrose for bishop”.  The people prevailed, mostly because Ambrose wanted to preserve peace.  So on December 7 of that year, he was baptized, and was consecrated a bishop, a week later.  He immediately gave away his wealth to the Church.  

Bishop Ambrose was well-educated in the classics, but he was almost entirely ignorant of the Scriptures. So the new Bishop briskly began to study them…talk about learning on the job! From the works of Origen, he learned to know and to comment on the Bible and to preach and defend the faith. 

We know how Ambrose’s preaching captivated the young St. Augustine, when Augustine was still dabbling in the heretical cults. Augustine heard the preaching of Bishop Ambrose, whose clear and zealous apostolic preaching caused Augustine to renounce his heresies and seek conversion. So Ambrose is a doctor of doctors.

Ambrose proclaimed the need to give your entire selves to Jesus Christ. “Omnia Christus est nobis!” Full of love for Jesus, Saint Ambrose proclaimed, “To us Christ is everything! If you have a wound to heal, he is the doctor; if you are parched by fever, he is the spring; if you are oppressed by injustice, he is justice; if you are in need of help, he is strength; if you fear death, he is life; if you desire Heaven, he is the way; if you are in the darkness, he is light…Taste and see how good is the Lord: blessed is the man who hopes in him!” Like Ambrose, may Christ be all for us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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We raise up our prayers of petitions, as we await with longing the Advent of Christ the Lord.

That the teaching and preaching of the Pope and all bishops and clergy will be founded firmly upon the full truth of the Word of God. 

That all those who wander in error, far from the Gospel of Christ, may be led through the preaching and example of the Christian people to the fullness of faith. 

That our president and all civil servants will carry out their duties with justice, honesty, and respect for the dignity of every human life.  

That Christ may banish disease, drive out hunger, and ward off every affliction.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Almighty ever-living God, who bring salvation to all and desire that no one should perish, hear the prayers of your people and grant that the course of our world may be directed by your peaceful rule and your Church rejoice in tranquility and devotion. Through Christ our Lord.

December 7 2021 - St. Ambrose - Honey-tongued Orator and Courageous Bishop

Prior to his conversion to Christianity, Ambrose was of the Roman nobility, trained in the classics, a poet, and a noted orator and governor of Milan, Italy.  In the year 370, while Ambrose was the Roman governor of Milan, the bishop died, and a heated argument erupted over who would be the next bishop.  Ambrose tried to resolve this dispute, and his communication skills were so excellent that someone shouted out, “Ambrose for bishop”.  The orator was speechless, for he had no intention of being a priest or bishop. He wasn’t even baptized, for he was still a catechumen preparing for baptism. 

 He resisted, claiming that he was unworthy, but the people continued to acclaim, “Ambrose for bishop”.  The people prevailed, mostly because Ambrose wanted to preserve peace.  So on December 7 of that year, he was baptized, and was consecrated a bishop, a week later.  He immediately divested himself of his earthly possessions, giving away his wealth to the Church.

 He is known as the “honey-tongued doctor” of the Church, his iconography often having bees and beehives, symbolizing his sweet and smooth oratory and his wisdom. He therefore Patron Saint of Bees and Beekeepers, if you were wondering. Put a drop of honey in your tea in honor of St. Ambrose!

“Care must be taken that our speech proceed not from evil passions,” writes Ambrose. “For in guarding his mouth, and restraining his tongue, and in not speaking before examining, pondering, and weighing his words… he certainly is practicing modesty, gentleness, patience. So he will not burst out into speech through displeasure or anger, nor give sign of any passion in his words, nor proclaim that the flames of lust are burning in his language, or that the incentives of wrath are present in what he says.”

 Ambrose, echoes the epistle of St. James, in the need to bridle our tongue, to control our words. James writes, “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, his religion is vain.” To bridle our tongue is to practice self-control, examining, pondering, weighing our words…thinking before we speak.

 

 Ambrose’s bridled and honey-tongued speech won over the young St. Augustine to the Christian faith, inspiring Augustine to renounce his heresies and wild living and embrace Christ.

Ambrose was certainly given the grace to preach, as St. Paul says in the epistle today, and also a boldness of speech and confidence. In 390, a riot erupted in Thessalonica and a Roman Governor was killed. In retaliation, the Roman Emperor Theodosius brutally massacred 7000 Thessalonians. For this heinous act, Bishop Ambrose excommunicated the emperor, who claimed to be a Catholic. Theodosius, before he could be readmitted to the Sacraments was to do public penance for condoning the murderous act.

 To justify the use of this spiritual authority over the emperor, Ambrose explained, “the emperor is in the church not over it.”  That’s a good reminder to all of us today—that bishops have an important role to play in the lives of the faithful, even those who are political leaders.

 One of his biographers wrote that, “At the last judgment people would still be divided between those who admired Ambrose, and those who thoroughly disliked him.”  Better disliked and in heaven, then admired and in hell.

 So let’s pray today for our bishops, and for all Christians that they may have the gifts of preaching and courage had by Saint Ambrose, bishop, and doctor of the Church.

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We raise up our prayers of petitions, as we await with longing the Advent of Christ the Lord.

That the teaching and preaching of the Pope and all bishops and clergy will be founded firmly upon the full truth of the Word of God.

That all those who wander in error, far from the Gospel of Christ, may be led through the preaching and example of the Christian people to the fullness of faith.

That our president and all civil servants will carry out their duties with justice, honesty, and respect for the dignity of every human life. 

That Christ may banish disease, drive out hunger, and ward off every affliction.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Almighty ever-living God, who bring salvation to all and desire that no one should perish, hear the prayers of your people and grant that the course of our world may be directed by your peaceful rule and your Church rejoice in tranquility and devotion. Through Christ our Lord.

 

 

December 7 2020 - St. Ambrose - Drinking deeply of the Word

 

Ambrose was of the Roman nobility, trained in the classics, a poet, and a noted orator made governor of the northern Italian city of Milan.  And in the year 370, while Ambrose was the Roman governor of Milan, the bishop died, and a heated argument erupted over who would be the next bishop.  Ambrose tried to resolve this dispute, and his oratory struck such a chord with the people that someone shouted out, “Ambrose for bishop”.  The orator was speechless, for he had no intention of being bishop, let alone a priest, he wasn’t ordained…he wasn’t even baptized, for he was still a catechumen preparing for baptism.  

He resisted, claiming that he was unworthy, but the people continued to acclaim, “Ambrose for bishop”.  The people prevailed, mostly because Ambrose wanted to preserve peace.  So on December 7 of that year, he was baptized, and was consecrated a bishop, a week later.  He immediately gave away his wealth to the Church.  

In his autobiography, the Confessions, St. Augustine talks about the impact of St. Ambrose upon his life. For years, Augustine had searching for the Truth, but not no avail. He wandered from one strange philosophy to another, even into the strange Gnostic cults like the Manicheas. 

The great turning point in Augustine’s life was during his stay in Milan. There he heard the preaching and teaching of the holy bishop St. Ambrose. Ambrose, by living an exemplary life worthy of Augustine’s admiration, was able to attract Augustine to the truth and goodness of the Christian Gospel.

In order to share the truth we must be grounded in the Word of God. St. Ambrose, as bishop, urged his priests to dedicate their free time to reading and studying the scriptures. Listen to Ambrose’s advice to his priests: “Drink, then, from Christ, so that your voice may be heard….He who reads much and understands much receives his fill.  He who is full, refreshes others.”

Having drunk deeply from the Word of God, St. Ambrose’s life was full of the life and truth of God, who through him, was able to touch the life of a searcher, like Augustine. 

What a perfect Advent saint and model for all of us. Like Our Lady, Ambrose said yes to God in a major moment in his life. And like Our Lady, Ambrose continued to say yes to God daily, sitting down with the scriptures in his lap, drinking deeply from the word of God.

May our lives and the Church be governed by the courage and wisdom which governed and filled the heart of St. Ambrose, doctor of the Church, that through us, Christ the Lord might draw others to himself for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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We raise up our prayers of petitions, as we await with longing the Advent of Christ the Lord.

That the teaching and preaching of the Pope and all bishops and clergy will be founded firmly upon the full truth of the Word of God. 

That all those who wander in error, far from the Gospel of Christ, may be led through the preaching and example of the Christian people to the fullness of faith. 

That our president and all civil servants will carry out their duties with justice, honesty, and respect for the dignity of every human life.  That Christ may banish disease, drive out hunger, and ward off every affliction.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Almighty ever-living God, who bring salvation to all and desire that no one should perish, hear the prayers of your people and grant that the course of our world may be directed by your peaceful rule and your Church rejoice in tranquility and devotion. Through Christ our Lord.

December 07 2018 - St. Ambrose, bishop and doctor - God works through intermediaries

Throughout Advent, we are confronted with quite an interesting dimension of God’s plan for human redemption: God works so often through intermediaries. He works through angels, angels who bring the announcement of his will. He works through Zechariah and Elizabeth, and John the Baptist proclaiming the coming of Christ. He works through Isaiah the prophet preparing the minds and hearts of God’s people to ready themselves, to put their trust and confidence in the goodness of God and his care for the poor in spirit. God works through a sinless virgin, literally coming into the world through her.

Again, we celebrate another wonderful Advent saint, who himself was an intermediary through whom God worked to bring souls to himself. For it was through the preaching and teaching and personal holiness and integrity of life of St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, that God worked to bring the fallen soul of St. Augustine back to himself. Augustine wrote in his Confessions how he had fallen into the foulest and most wicked of lifestyles, his mind corrupted with worldly error and vice.

Augustine describes anguish, in fact, hearing the words of Ambrose—anguish because Augustine began to recognize the errors of his ways, his arrogance. Through Ambrose, Augustine claims that God pierced his heart with his love. Powerful. Ambrose we know wasn’t the only intermediary in Augustine’s life. Augustine’s mother, St. Monica, shed a lifetime of tears and countless prayers for her wayward son.

Each one of us here today is able to profess the Catholic faith because that faith was shared with us by others. For many of us, it was our parents who gave us the gift of faith. Priests and religious sisters and catechists, too, strengthening our faith. Brother and sister Christians, through their own lives of holiness, inspiring us to be more selfless and humble. We all have a part to play in sharing the faith, and we must never underestimate the value of solid preaching and teaching and good Christian example.

It was because that Ambrose had cooperated with the grace of God in his own life, forming his mind through study of Latin, Greek, rhetoric, philosophy, literature, and of course sacred scripture, that he was able to be such an effective intermediary, a powerful instrument of evangelization.

Advent challenges us to prepare the way of the Lord in our minds and hearts, making straight the paths of our own life, that Christ may travel them, to brings souls to himself for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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We raise up our prayers of petitions, as we await with longing the Advent of Christ the Lord.

That the teaching and preaching of the Pope and all bishops and clergy will be founded firmly upon the full truth of the Word of God.

That all those who wander in error, far from the Gospel of Christ, may be led through the preaching and example of the Christian people to the fullness of faith.

That our president and all civil servants will carry out their duties with justice, honesty, and respect for the dignity of every human life.

 That Christ may banish disease, drive out hunger, and ward off every affliction.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Almighty ever-living God, who bring salvation to all and desire that no one should perish, hear the prayers of your people and grant that the course of our world may be directed by your peaceful rule and your Church rejoice in tranquility and devotion. Through Christ our Lord.

December 7 2017 - St. Ambrose - Drinking deeply of the Word of God

In his biography, the Confessions, St. Augustine details his conversion from heresy to orthodoxy, from vice to virtue. For years Augustine wandered from one strange philosophy to another, even into strange Gnostic cults like the Manichaeists.

The great turning point in Augustine’s life was during his stay in the northern Italian city of Milan. There he heard the preaching and teaching of the holy bishop St. Ambrose. Ambrose, by living an exemplary life worthy of Augustine’s admiration, was able to attract Augustine to the truth and goodness of the Christian Gospel.

Each one of us here today is able to profess the Catholic faith because that faith was shared with us by others. For many of us, it was our parents who gave us the gift of faith. Augustine came to the faith through the many tears shed and prayers offered by his mother Monica and being exposed to the truth in the preaching and life of a holy bishop. We all have a part to play in sharing the faith, and we must never underestimate the value of solid preaching and teaching and good Christian example.

In order to share the truth we must be grounded in the Word of God. St. Ambrose, as bishop, urged his priests to dedicate their free time to reading and studying the scriptures. Listen to Ambrose’s advice to his priests: “Drink, then, from Christ, so that your voice may be heard….He who reads much and understands much receives his fill.  He who is full, refreshes others.”

Advent is truly a time for all of us to drink deeply from Christ. For all of us are called to refresh others, to bring others to Christ in our own way. But we cannot give what we do not have. Unless we have drunk deeply, we will draw from an empty well.

Sit with the scriptures open upon your lap in a quiet place every day. "Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock” the Lord teaches in our Gospel today.  To reflect upon the prophets and the words of Our Lord is to open our minds, and hearts, and our souls more deeply to Christ, who longs to come to us and make his home in us with His Father, that we may share his light, his love, and his truth for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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We raise up our prayers of petitions, as we await with longing the Advent of Christ the Lord.

That the teaching and preaching of the Pope and all bishops and clergy will be founded firmly upon the full truth of the Word of God.

That all those who wander in error, far from the Gospel of Christ, may be led through the preaching and example of the Christian people to the fullness of faith.

That our president and all civil servants will carry out their duties with justice, honesty, and respect for the dignity of every human life.  That Christ may banish disease, drive out hunger, and ward off every affliction.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Almighty ever-living God, who bring salvation to all and desire that no one should perish, hear the prayers of your people and grant tha the course of our world may be directed by your peaceful rule and your Church rejoice in tranquility and devotion. Through Christ our Lord.