The Letters of S. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan

by Bishop of Milan Saint Ambrose

13. Wherefore every soul which receives that bread which comes down from heaven is the house of bread, that is, the Bread of Christ, being nourished and supported and having its heart strengthened by that heavenly bread which dwells within it. Hence Paul also says, 1 Cor. x. 17. For we being many are one bread. Every faithful soul is Bethlehem, as Jerusalem also is said to be, which has the peace and tranquillity of that Jerusalem which is above, in heaven. That is the true Bread which, when broken into pieces, fed all men.

14. The fifth version[279] has the words, ‘the house of Bread.’ For ‘Beth’ signifies a house, and ‘lehem’ signifies bread. From the other versions I imagine that the unbelief of the Jews, who feared to convict themselves, either led the writers to omit it or others to erase it.

15. And that Bethlehem is of the tribe of Judah we learn from that passage in the book of Judges, Jud. xix. 2. where the Levite took to him a concubine out of Bethlehem-judah, and his concubine was incensed against him, and returned to her father’s house in Bethlehem-judah.

16. Now Christ’s Mic. v. 2. goings forth were from everlasting[280], because our life[281] then commenced, when He Ps. xix. 5. went forth to run His course, and gave to Israel the day of salvation. Mic. v. 3. Until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth. To that soul to which Christ hath come fruitfulness or bringing forth hath come also; so it was with the Church, who has Is. liv. 1. brought more than she that had children;who has brought forth seven, that is, a lawful peaceful and tranquil progeny. Now that soul begins to conceive, and Christ to be formed in her, which welcomes Him on His arrival and is so fed by His plenty that she is in want of nothing, and other souls by seeing her return unto the way of salvation.

17. Mic. v. 5. And there shall be peace to him, but it is by temptations that he must be tried; then, when he has shut out or repulsed vain thoughts, when he has subdued all the motions of his rising passions, when distress and persecution and hunger and peril and the sword press hard upon him, will the value of his peace and tranquillity be tested. Then, it is said, shall be peace; because in all these things Rom. viii. 37. we are conquerors through Him that loved us, because we trust in Him that neither death nor the power of temptations shall cast off or separate us from His love. He will send temptations, that the just may be proved. The Lord sends temptations, not that He wishes any man to be beguiled, but because the weak are for the most part vanquished by temptation, whilst the strong are proved by them.

18. Then there shall be to them Mic. v. 7. dew from the Lord, and rest; then the soul of the just shall be Ib. 8. as a young lion among the flocks of sheep. I cannot doubt but that this similitude should, after the manner of the Gospel, be referred to Christ, for He has said, S. Matt. xiii. 43. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. For Mic. v. 10. his chariots shall be broken; that is to say, the senseless impulses and motions of the body shall be appeased; that condition shall cease wherein 2 Cor. vii. 5. Without are fightings, within are fears, and over all, that is, within and without, tranquillity shall prevail; nor shall there be any resistance or repugnance to this good will, because the obedience of the flesh, when Eph. ii. 14. the middle wall of partition is broken down, and both are made one, shall abolish all discord.

19. But if any weak soul, like Israel according to the flesh have stumbled, and, shaken by persecutions, have separated herself in some degree from the love of Christ, she is checked and reproved as faithless, and ungrateful, and unbelieving, as one who, after being freed from the vanitiesof the world, has looked behind her and so relapsed into them again; as one from whom no gifts, no sacrifice of bulls, but only to know what is good and to do justly, has been required. Mic. vi. 8. He hath showed thee, o man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to have mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? But since the weaker soul has not kept this commandment, the Lord says to her, Ib. vii. 1. Woe is me, for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape-gleanings of the vintage. And the prophet, in whom the Lord spoke, says to that soul, Ib. 2. Woe is me, the good man is perished out of the earth. This is as though the Lord Himself spoke, in compassion for the future punishment of sin, and as weeping over our transgressions.

20. Then the soul, learning that she will gather no fruit from what she has sown; that in the loss of her harvest nothing will remain to strengthen her, that she will press her olives, but will find no oil of gladness, nor will drink the wine of pleasantness; finding also in the works of the flesh all things full of blood, full of circumvention, of fraud and deceit, hollow shows of affection, and pre-concerted guile; nay, those of her own household adverse to her; and therefore that the motions of her companion the body, which are grievous enemies of the soul, must be guarded against; turns to God, and begins to hope in Him, and knowing that the flesh is truly an enemy to her, says to it, Ib. 8. Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy, when I fall I shall arise, when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.

21. Finding moreover that she is mocked by some power which opposes her following a better path, and domineers over her, so that she has been delivered 1 Cor. v. 5. for the destruction of the flesh, to be afflicted with various evils, assigned to her either by the Lord to satisfy for her sins, or by the Evil One who is envious of her conversion, and desires to harass and regain her to himself, finding this, she says, Mic. vii. 9. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, Who either chastens me in my fall, or has given thee power to persecute me, because I have sinned against Him, but I will endure until He plead my cause. For unless I shall confess, and pay the priceof my iniquities, I cannot be justified. But being justified and having paid double for my sins, He shall Mic. vii. 9. execute judgment for me, laying aside His wrath, since the sentence against me is satisfied. Ib. He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold His righteousness and gaze on His delights. Then she that is mine enemy, that is, the malice of the devil, shall see the light of my reconciliation and shame shall cover her which saith to me, Where is the Lord thy God? She shall behold in me His pity and His love.

22. Wherefore let us not listen to him when we are in any of the troubles of this world, be it bodily pain, or the loss of our children, or of other necessaries, let us not listen to his words, Where is the Lord thy God? It is under severe pain that his temptations are to be feared, it is then that he seeks to turn the sick soul astray.