Saint Ambrose - Open your mouth to the Word of God
King David writing Psalm 86 by Guercino (1591-1666); 1651; inscribed GLORIOSA DICTA SVNT DE TE CIVITAS DEI. PSALM.S 86. (lower right, on the tablet held by David); commons.wikimedia.org
Open your mouth to the Word of God
From the Commentaries of Saint Ambrose, Bishop, regarding the Psalms
(Ps. 36: 65-66: CSEL 64, 123-125)
(Ps. 36: 65-66: CSEL 64, 123-125)
In every moment your heart and your mouth must medidate the wisdom of God, and your lips proclaim the justice of God; you must always carry in your heart the law of your God. This is why Scripture tells you: you will speak of these at home and on the road, lying down, and awake. Let us speak then about the Lord Jesus, because He is Wisdom; He is the Word, the Word of God.
This is because it is also written: Open your mouth to the word of God. For God the one that repeats His words and meditates on them in his inner being, lives. Let us always speak about Him. If we speak about wisdom, He is wisdom; if we speak about virtue, He is virtue; if we speak about justice, He is justice; if we speak about peace, He is peace; if we speak about the truth, about life, about redemption, He is all this.
It is written: Open your mouth to the word of God. You open your mouth, as He is the one that speaks. In this sense the psalmist said: I am going to hear what the Lord says, and the very Son of God says: Open your mouth and I will satiate it. Yet, not all can perceive wisdom in all its perfection, as Solomon or Daniel did; nevertheless, all are filled with the spirit of wisdom according to their capacity, provided that they have faith. If you believe, you possess the spirit of wisdom.
For this reason then, meditate, and speak always of the things of God, when you are in your house. By the word house we can understand the church, or also, our inner self, so we speak in our inner self with our selves. Speak with prudence so as to avoid sin; let it not be that you fall due to your excessive talking. Talk inside your inner self with your own self as one who judges.
Speak when you are on the road, so that you never cease doing so. Speak along the way if you speak in Christ, because Christ is the way. On the way, speak with yourself, speak with Christ. Pay attention as to how you have to speak to Him: I want - He says - that men pray in every place, raising to Heaven their hands purified, clean of anger and altercations.
Speak, O man, when you lie down, lest the sleep of death surprise you. Pay heed as to how you have to speak to Him when you lie down: I will not give sleep to my eyes, nor repose to my eyelids, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the Fort of Jacob. When you arise, speak to achieve what He has commanded you to do. Feel how Christ awakens you. Your own soul says: I sleep, yet my heart watches: it is the voice of my beloved that calls me. (Canticle of Canticles 5,2), and Christ says: Open up to me, my sister; my friend, my dove, my perfect one (ibid). You feel how you must awaken Christ. The soul says: I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you stir not up, nor awake my beloved, until it wants to (Canticle of Canticles 3,5).
Love, is Christ.
RESPONSORIAL - 1 Co. 1, 30-31; John 1, 16
R. Christ Jesus has been made by God for us wisdom, justice, sanctification and redemption;
V. From his plenitude we have all received grace upon grace.
R. And so in this manner - as Scripture states - "he who glorifies him/herself, may they glorify themselves in the Lord".
PRAYER
O God, You have promised to remain with the righteous and sincere of heart; grant us to live in such a manner that we deserve to always have You with us. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of Holy Spirit and is God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Open your mouth to the Word of God
From the Commentaries of Saint Ambrose, Bishop, regarding the Psalms
(Ps. 36: 65-66: CSEL 64, 123-125)
(Ps. 36: 65-66: CSEL 64, 123-125)
In every moment your heart and your mouth must medidate the wisdom of God, and your lips proclaim the justice of God; you must always carry in your heart the law of your God. This is why Scripture tells you: you will speak of these at home and on the road, lying down, and awake. Let us speak then about the Lord Jesus, because He is Wisdom; He is the Word, the Word of God.
This is because it is also written: Open your mouth to the word of God. For God the one that repeats His words and meditates on them in his inner being, lives. Let us always speak about Him. If we speak about wisdom, He is wisdom; if we speak about virtue, He is virtue; if we speak about justice, He is justice; if we speak about peace, He is peace; if we speak about the truth, about life, about redemption, He is all this.
It is written: Open your mouth to the word of God. You open your mouth, as He is the one that speaks. In this sense the psalmist said: I am going to hear what the Lord says, and the very Son of God says: Open your mouth and I will satiate it. Yet, not all can perceive wisdom in all its perfection, as Solomon or Daniel did; nevertheless, all are filled with the spirit of wisdom according to their capacity, provided that they have faith. If you believe, you possess the spirit of wisdom.
For this reason then, meditate, and speak always of the things of God, when you are in your house. By the word house we can understand the church, or also, our inner self, so we speak in our inner self with our selves. Speak with prudence so as to avoid sin; let it not be that you fall due to your excessive talking. Talk inside your inner self with your own self as one who judges.
Speak when you are on the road, so that you never cease doing so. Speak along the way if you speak in Christ, because Christ is the way. On the way, speak with yourself, speak with Christ. Pay attention as to how you have to speak to Him: I want - He says - that men pray in every place, raising to Heaven their hands purified, clean of anger and altercations.
Speak, O man, when you lie down, lest the sleep of death surprise you. Pay heed as to how you have to speak to Him when you lie down: I will not give sleep to my eyes, nor repose to my eyelids, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the Fort of Jacob. When you arise, speak to achieve what He has commanded you to do. Feel how Christ awakens you. Your own soul says: I sleep, yet my heart watches: it is the voice of my beloved that calls me. (Canticle of Canticles 5,2), and Christ says: Open up to me, my sister; my friend, my dove, my perfect one (ibid). You feel how you must awaken Christ. The soul says: I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you stir not up, nor awake my beloved, until it wants to (Canticle of Canticles 3,5).
Love, is Christ.
RESPONSORIAL - 1 Co. 1, 30-31; John 1, 16
R. Christ Jesus has been made by God for us wisdom, justice, sanctification and redemption;
V. From his plenitude we have all received grace upon grace.
R. And so in this manner - as Scripture states - "he who glorifies him/herself, may they glorify themselves in the Lord".
PRAYER
O God, You have promised to remain with the righteous and sincere of heart; grant us to live in such a manner that we deserve to always have You with us. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of Holy Spirit and is God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Open your mouth to the Word of God - From the Commentaries of Saint Ambrose (340-397), Bishop, regarding the Psalms
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