Return of the Prodigal Son by Pompeo Batoni - 1773

Evolution for the Catholic Student

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Thursday, June 28, 2012

The Fathers Speak: St. Ambrose


The Fathers Speak: 
St. Ambrose


          St. Ambrose (A.D. 340-397) was a fourth century bishop of Milan, and is a Doctor of the Church.  He was known for his holiness and brilliant intellect.  He was also instrumental in the conversion of St. Augustine.  There is such a wealth of writing from Ambrose, I have included excerpts from only two pieces: On Repentance and On the Mysteries.  These excerpts include comments on the Sacrament of Penance (Confession), the priestly ministry, Baptism as a born again regeneration, the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the primacy of the pope as successor of Peter, and more.  Ambrose is a very early and prolific Catholic writer whose works are invaluable apologetic tools that prove the early Church was Catholic and contained practices and beliefs that have been preserved today only in the Catholic Church.


On Repentance

And the Lord indeed came to a sinner, though indeed He had no sin, and desired to be baptized, having no need of cleansing; who, then, can tolerate you, who think there is no need for you to be cleansed by penance, because you say you are cleansed by grace, as though it were now impossible for you to sin?

Could Paul teach in opposition to his own act? He had at Corinth forgiven sin through penance, how could he himself speak against his own decision? Since, then, he could not destroy what he had built, we must assume that what he says was different from, but not contrary to, what had gone before

Therefore most evidently are we bidden by the teaching of the Lord to confer again the grace of the heavenly sacrament on those guilty even of the greatest sins, if they with open confession bear the penance due to their sin

The Church holds fast its obedience on either side, by both retaining and remitting sin; heresy is on the one side cruel, and on the other disobedient; wishes to bind what it will not loosen, and will not loosen what it has bound, whereby it condemns itself by its own sentence. For the Lord willed that the power of binding and of loosing should be alike, and sanctioned each by a similar condition.

The office of the priest is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and His right it is specially to forgive and to retain sins.

In like manner it seemed impossible that sins should be forgiven through repentance, but Christ gave this power to His apostles, which has been transmitted to the priestly office. That, then, has become possible which was impossible

…for they have not the succession of Peter, who hold not the chair of Peter, which they rend by wicked schism; and this, too, they do, wickedly denying that sins can be forgiven even in the Church, whereas it was said to Peter: "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever thou shall loose on earth shall be loosed also in heaven.


On the Mysteries

We have proved the sacraments of the Church to be the more ancient, now recognize that they are superior. In very truth it is a marvelous thing that God rained manna on the fathers, and fed them with daily food from heaven; so that it is said, "So man did eat angels' food." But yet all those who ate that food died in the wilderness, but that food which you receive, that living Bread which came down from heaven, furnishes the substance of eternal life; and whosoever shall eat of this Bread shall never die, and it is the Body of Christ.

In that sacrament is Christ, because it is the Body of Christ, it is therefore not bodily food but spiritual.

So, then, having obtained everything, let us know that we are born again…If, then, the Holy Spirit coming down upon the Virgin wrought the conception, and effected the work of generation, surely we must not doubt but that, coming down upon the Font, or upon those who receive Baptism, He effects the reality of the new birth.

Nor, again, is there the Sacrament of Regeneration without water: "For except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God...

Do not consider the merits of individuals, but the office of the priests….Believe, then, that the Lord Jesus is present at the invocation of the priest, Who said: "Where two or three are, there am I also." How much where the Church is, and where His Mysteries are, does He vouchsafe to impart His presence!