Ambrose and Augustine

Seeing saintly people as our lasting legacy

12/07/2020

Luke 5:17-26 One day as Jesus was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there, and the power of the Lord was with him for healing. And some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed; they were trying to bring him in and set him in his presence. But not finding a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the stretcher through the tiles into the middle in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “As for you, your sins are forgiven.”

I believe a big part of our legacy will be not only what we ourselves accomplish but what we help others to achieve as well. That is, we will be judged not only by what we leave behind but who we leave behind. I have been a priest for 25 years, and a pastor for 23 of those 25 years. In those 23 years as a pastor I have had more associate priests than I can shake a stick at. And I have wanted to shake a stick at a few of them. Most have gone on to be great pastors, and a few have even left the priesthood, I’m sorry to say. But the older I get the more keenly I feel the need to be a good influence on these young men, and mentor them well. Their future is perhaps the best measure of my past.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Ambrose, the beloved bishop of Milan, Italy. Ambrose was born in about 340 A.D. and died on April 4, 397, only 57 years old. He became bishop of Milan in 374. Perhaps Bishop Ambrose’s greatest priestly protégé was St. Augustine. It was the influence of Ambrose’s holiness and wisdom – together with his mother’s prayers and tears – that moved St. Augustine to convert to Catholicism and be baptized in 387.

Of all the many priests that Ambrose had mentored, none was as renowned as St. Augustine, who himself became a bishop and was declared the “Doctor of Grace” because he insisted God’s grace was primary and our human efforts secondary in our salvation. And Augustine’s convictions about sin and salvation had come in no small part from the pen and lips of Ambrose. If Ambrose’s life is measured by the legacy of who he left behind, he has nothing to worry about.

Let me share a little of how St. Augustine regarded his mentor Ambrose. Augustine is in the position to know Ambrose best. One of the most famous autobiographies ever written was St. Augustine’s Confessions, translated into more languages than any other book, except the Bible itself. The priestly protégé of St. Ambrose wrote glowing about his mentor: “So I came to Milan, to Ambrose, the bishop, a man renowned among the most distinguished people in the world, but who was your devout worshipper. His powers of communication supplied your people promptly with the abundance of your wheat and the gladness of oil and the sober intoxication of wine.” Augustine is referring to Ambrose’s faithful administration of the sacraments when he mentions “wheat, oil and wine.”

The Doctor of Grace continued: “In my state of ignorance you (God) brought me to him, so that once I came to knowledge he could lead me to you.” Finally, he finishes: “That man of God took me up in a fatherly fashion, and like the true bishop he was, delighted in my coming to Milan” (Confessions, IX, 13). St. Augustine was the largest feather in Ambrose’s cap because the future of one’s students is the best measure of a teacher’s past.

My friends, take a moment today to think about the people who have mentored you. Like St. Augustine give God thanks for the holy and wise people who have crossed your path and made you the "spiritual giant" you are today: parents and priests, teachers and coaches, uncles and aunts, grandparents and godparents, authors and actors. If you ever write an autobiography, pay them the same compliment that St. Augustine lavished lovingly on St. Ambrose.

But we should also be aware of our legacy, not only what we leave behind but who we leave behind. Their future will be the best measure of our past. So, today, also pray for your children and grandchildren, your students and players, and all those who come under the sphere of your influence. Like St. Augustine wisely said, it is God who brings them to us, like it was God who brought Augustine to Ambrose. Why? So that we can lead these precious souls back to God, like Ambrose helped Augustine to be baptized and convert to Catholicism. In the end, our life will be judged not by leaving behind great successes, but by leaving behind great saints.

Praised be Jesus Christ!