The Fathers
Speak:
St. Ambrose
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!
