Monday, 26 October 2015

Ambrose 2. Psalm 118:151. Mark 10:46-52.BLIND beggar .

COMMENT: 
Mark 10:46-52. Blind beggar ....

Thomas Merton

Psalms Are Our Prayer

Above all, Psalm 1I8, the longest of them all, is a litany of praises extolling the peace that is found in the will of God. This Psalm, which might at first seem dull and "juridical" -since it praises the Torah from beginning to end-turns out, on long acquaintance, to be one of the most contemplative of them all. St. Ambrose, indeed, commented on it in terms appropriate to the Canticle of Canticles. It is a song of the soul that rejoices in perfect self-surrender to God.

Pointing out that in this Psalm 1I8, as well as in the various sapiential books, moral and mystical meanings are mingled together, St. Ambrose describes how the
Church welcomes the coming of Christ In this Psalm:-

Holy Church, who in the beginning of the world was espoused to God in paradise, who was prefigured in the deluge, announced by the Law, called by the prophets, has long awaited the redemption of men and the beauty of the Gospel. She now runs, impatient of delay, to kiss the Spouse, exclaiming: "Let Him kiss me with the kiss of His mouth."
In Psalmum CXVlII. MPL 15 :1.201.

Chanting the numerous verses of this long hymn to the will of God, we learn to recognize, in God's will for us, the fulfilment of the Mystery of Christ in our own lives, and we hasten to co-operate with the action of the Holy Spirit, who, in all that He does, strives to unite the sons of the Church more closely in the unity of the Mystical Christ.
When we are fully and whole-heartedly united with the will of God and striving to bear one another's burdens and build the mystical City of God on this earth, we find our peace-filled hearts spontaneously overflowing with that praise of God which is the joy of the poor whom He has deigned to call to the riches of divine sonship. Rectos decet colladatio! (Praise is fitting in those who are sincere with God.)

Sunday, 25 October 2015


25/10/2015 Ambrose Ps. 118:151


Sunday, 27 October 2013


Psalm 118 by Saint Ambrose

Monastic Office of Vigils.   
St. Ambrose Ps. 118
....... He penetrates the soul, then, and illuminates it as with the brightness of eternal light. But although his virtue is poured out among all and into all and over all, since he was born of the Virgin for the sake of all, both good and bad, just as he commands his sun to rise over good and bad, nevertheless he warms only those who come near to him. For just as people shut out the sun's brightness when they close the windows of their houses and choose to live in darkness, so those who turn their backs on the Sun of Righteousness cannot see its splendor. They walk in darkness, and it is plain to everyone that they them­selves are the cause of their blindness. Open your windows, then, so that your whole house shines with the brightness of the true Sun; open your eyes so that you can see the Sun of Righteousness rising for you.

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