Today we honor Saint Ambrose, the bishop of Milan from 374 when elected by popular acclamation and ordained on this date (December 7th) until his death in 397. In those 23 years he brought life to the Church through his service to the poor, his teaching of the faith and his preaching, for which he was well known. It is said that a young Augustine, a non-believer who lived a "wild" life, heard Ambrose preach and was touched by the power of the word. He was attracted to the message of the Gospel and sought out Ambrose who led him to the Church. Augustine, of course, became the great saint and bishop of Hippo.
Ambrose in a letter to brother bishops spoke of the grace of their words winning over people to their message. In the Office of Readings I quote from this letter: "Let your words be rivers, clean and limpid, so that in your exhortations you may charm the ears of your people. And by the grace of your words win them over to follow your leadership. Let your sermons be full of understanding. Solomon says: The weapons of the understanding are the lips of the wise; and in another place he says: Let your lips be bound with wisdom. That is, let the meaning of your words shine forth, let understanding blaze out.
Let no word escape your lips in vain or be uttered without depth of meaning."
Great words for any preacher of the Word of God! Ambrose put this exhortation into practice, as evidenced by the effectiveness of his preaching.
Pray for those who are commissioned to preach and teach, that their words be an effective source of inspiration.
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