Saturday, 12/7/13
St. Ambrose, born in
340, was a catechumen as a boy in Milan. Then, while his sister became a nun,
Ambrose stopped short of baptism. At thirty he became the governor of northern
Italy, and that had him in daily attendance on the emperor of the west.
At that time the
emperor in Constantinople was an Arian, and throughout the Roman Empire there
were more Arians than true Christians. In
1350 an Arian named Auxentius,
was made bishop of Milan. Over the next twenty-four years Auxentius saw to it
that people regarded Jesus as no more than a good man. At his death in 374 the
emperor of the west ordered Ambrose to gather the leading people of Milan to
find if they could decide on a new bishop who would be acceptable to both the
Christians and the Arians.
As the big open
debate was going on, a child called out, “Let Ambrose be our bishop.”
Surprisingly, everyone agreed to that. They saw to it that Ambrose was baptized
the following day, then, ordained a bishop a few days later.
Ambrose, with
excellent advisors, set out to be a worthy bishop; and he found the biggest difficulty facing him was that
of undoing the harm done by Auxentius. He had to find a way to get people to
fully respect Jesus as the Son of God. That had him hitting on a most unusual
plan. He began demanding that people show the same reverence for Jesus in the
Blessed Sacrament that they did for the Emperor. When they came into the
presence of the Blessed Sacrament they would have to kneel, treating Jesus like
an emperor. Only fine linen and gold could touch the Eucharist.
His scheme worked.
People took to treating Jesus like an emperor.
However, there was a
drawback. Up to that time there had been no Christian altars. For the Eucharist
they had still been on the floor around a low table, the way it had been at the
Last Supper. As the one presiding gave them the Eucharist they imagined Jesus
at their side, urging them to join him as one offering to the Father.
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