A READING FROM A COMMENTARY
ON PSALM 118 BY ST AMBROSE
How abundant is the grace of the
Church, how great the rewards of a living faith! Since these invite us, let us
forestall the rising sun to greet Christ, the Sun of justice, before he can
say: See, here I am. He both wants and expects us to be there before him.
You can hear Christ’s desire and expectation expressed in his words
to the angel of the church
of Pergamum: Repent, or I
will soon come to you, and to the angel of Laodicea: Be zealous and repent. See, I stand
at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come
in to him. He will have no difficulty in entering; no barrier of closed doors
was able to shut out his body after he had risen from the dead. Suddenly,
unexpectedly, he was present in the room where the Apostles were gathered. He
had already tested the Apostles; he wants now to test your zeal and devotion.
In time of persecution he may take the initiative; where all is tranquil, he
wants you to be ready and waiting for him.
Be on the watch before the sun is visible in the sky. Awake,
sleeper, and rise from the dead, so that Christ may shine on you. If you are
vigilant you will receive Christ’s light before sunrise. Before daybreak he
will shine into the depth of your heart. Even as you say: My spirit watches for
you in the night, Christ will make the light of morning illuminate your
nocturnal meditation on the word of God. As you meditate, light will dawn.
Seeing the light - not of the day but of grace - you will exclaim: Your
commandments are my light! When day finds you meditating on God’s word and the
pleasant task of prayer and psalmody delights your mind, you will once more say
to the Lord Jesus: You fill both morning and evening with joy.
In obedience to their master Moses, the Jewish people have the sacred
Scripture recited continuously, night and day, by elders appointed for this
purpose. Ask an elder about anything else and you will find this is his only
skill: to recite the Scriptures in sequence. With the Jewish elders there is no
worldly conversation: Scripture alone is their occupation; voice follows voice
in turn so that the holy sound of God’s commandments knows no holiday. How then
can you, a Christian, with Christ as your master, take your sleep without fear
of having it said to you: This people
does not even honour me with its lips. The Jewish people do so, but you do
not. What a length of time you are sunk in sleep, in secular affairs, in the
cares of this life, in things of earth! At least divide your time between God
and the world. When you cannot carry out the business of this world in public
and are hindered from pursuing it by the darkness of night, give time to God,
give yourself to prayer. To keep yourself from dropping off to sleep, recite a
psalm, cheat sleep with holy guile. In the morning hurry off to church, offer
the first fruits of your prayers, and after that, if the world and its needs
call you, you will be able to say: My
eyes are watchful in the morning, to meditate on your words. Then you can
attend to your affairs with a serene mind.
St Ambrose, Sermo 19, 30-32 (CSEL 63, 437-439), from Word in Season 1
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