The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the First Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Ambrose, 07 December 2023
Isaiah 26:1-6 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Matthew 7:21, 24-27
Unlike Lent,
this Season of Advent
is always superseded by
too much ado and noise
of commercialism as Christmas
approaches; there is hardly a hint
not even among us in the church
of the need to be silent,
of the value of silence,
and essence of silence
in life no matter what is the season.
Although our first reading
evokes in us a great feeling of
joyful celebrations following the
salvation of people, there is still
the underlying tone of silence in you
and with you, dear God our loving Father,
of silent witnessing to your justice and
righteousness.
How lovely that today we also
celebrate the Memorial of St. Ambrose,
a great bishop and Doctor of the Church
whom St. Augustine deeply admired and
converted him to Christianity; may we
appreciate like St. Augustine the silence of
St. Ambrose:
When [Ambrose] read, his eyes scanned the page and his heart sought out the meaning, but his voice was silent and his tongue was still. Anyone could approach him freely and guests were not commonly announced, so that often, when we came to visit him, we found him reading like this in silence, for he never read aloud.
Confessions of St. Augustine
At that time, knowledgeable
and learned people read aloud
for everyone to be aware of their
presence but not St. Ambrose
who deeply moved St. Augustine
to notice it in his Confessions.
This Advent,
teach us O Lord to cultivate
the discipline and virtue of silence,
especially in doing what is good,
in witnessing Jesus Christ who warned us,
"Not everyone who says to me,
'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven,
but only the one who does the will
of my Father in heaven"
(Matthew 7:21).
May our deeds speak louder
than our words
and beliefs.
Amen.
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