Have Some Honey

Honoring the life and legacy of St. Ambrose

12/07/2021

Eph 3:8-12 Brothers and sisters: To me, the very least of all the holy ones, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the inscrutable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for all what is the plan of the mystery hidden from ages past in God who created all things, so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the Church to the principalities and authorities in the heavens. This was according to the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness of speech and confidence of access through faith in him.

The month of December is especially productive in the liturgical calendar for its plethora of saints and scholars, its mystics and martyrs. Just like a garden displays its greenest growth closer to the source of water, so the garden of Christian holiness displays some of the most delicate flowers of Christ’s saints the closer we get to the Birthday of he who is “living water” as he told the Samaritan woman in Jn 4. For example, on Dec. 3 we celebrated the great Jesuit missionary, St. Francis Xavier, who traveled “all the way to India” to evangelize.

Today, on Dec. 7 we admire St. Ambrose, a brilliant doctor of the Church. On Dec. 14 we contemplate the spiritual giant St. John of the Cross. On Dec. 26 we stand in awe of the first martyr, St. Stephen, the deacon. And on Dec. 27, we praise the Lord for the Holy Innocents who died in Christ’s place to appease the hatred of Herod. And I didn’t even mention two favorite feasts of Mother Mary, her Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8 and Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 12. As the King enters his court of creation, his saintly subjects rise to greet him, clothed in grace and glory, twinkling like colorful Christmas lights awaiting the coming of the Light of the world.

Today, let’s take a closer look at one of the finest flowers on display in December, namely, St. Ambrose of Milan. He lived a relatively short life, only 57 years, from 340 to 397, but he did more with the little time he had than many of us do with our abundance of time. Let me point out just three petals on this flower of faith. First, St. Ambrose is the patron saint of beekeepers, a practice which is swarming in popularity these days.

According to tradition, a swarm of bees settled on his face while a baby lying in his crib, leaving behind a drop of honey. Ambrose’ father believed that was s sign of the saint’s future wisdom and eloquence, he would be “honey-tongued.” Indeed, Ambrose is listed next to the legends like Augustine, Jerome and Gregory the Great as one of the four doctors of the Western Church. So, you should eat a little local honey today in honor of St. Ambrose.

The second petal we can examine is Ambrose’s famous dictum: “When in Rome do as the Romans do.” Have you ever heard that phrase or used it yourself? It was the sage advice Ambrose gave to his student, St. Augustine, about how to be flexible in liturgical matters like the Mass. In the fourth century, different areas of the Roman empire had slightly different ways of saying Mass, but the basics were always the same.

Some bishops demanded strict uniformity but Ambrose advocated flexibility, as long as the liturgy promoted the love of Christ. Ambrose’s advice is good for us to keep in mind when the Mass does not go exactly as we like. We like some priests who celebrate the Mass they “should,” while we disagree with and dislike others. Warm flexibility signals faith better than frozen rigidity to rules.

And a third petal in Ambrose’s flower is his prized pupil, St. Augustine. Led by the eloquence and example of St. Ambrose, Augustine was brought back from paganism to the practice of the faith, and the holy bishop of Milan is mentioned affectionately in Augustine’s autobiography, “The Confessions.” The best measure of a teacher is the caliber of his or her students.

If we judge the tree of a teacher by the fruits, then St. Ambrose rightly towers above other teachers for his influence on St. Augustine. Our greatest legacy will not be our personal accolades and awards and achievements, but rather the lives of those we touch and leave behind. And Ambrose left a great legacy in Augustine, who was known as the “Doctor of Grace.”

My friends, as we wind our way through the liturgical garden of December, be sure to stop and smell the roses of the saints. They give off the sweet fragrance of Christ, as St. Paul wrote in 2 Co 2:15, “For we are the aroma of Christ for God, among those who are being saved.” May St. Ambrose bless all beekeepers, may he help us to be more flexible in our faith life, and finally may we leave behind a legacy of lives that we brought a little closer to Christ.

Praised be Jesus Christ!