Thursday, January 8 : Saint Ambrose

Drink first of the Old Testament so as to drink afterward of the New. If you do not drink of the first you will not be able to quench your thirst at the second. Drink of the first to take your thirst away, of the second to staunch it completely… Drink of the cup of both the Old Testament and the New for in these two you drink Christ. Take away your thirst with Christ for he is the vine, he is the rock that caused water to gush forth, he is the spring of life. Drink Christ for he is “the stream whose runlets gladden the city of God”, he is peace and “from his breast flow rivers of living water”. Drink Christ to quench your thirst with the blood of your redemption and the Word of God. The Old Testament is his word and so is the New. We drink Holy Scripture and we eat it and then the eternal Word descends into the veins of the spirit and the life of the soul: “Not by bread alone does man live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God”. Therefore, quench your thirst with this Word yet in its proper order: first drink it in the Old Testament and then, without delaying, in the New. He himself says almost insistently: “People who walk in darkness, see this great light; you who dwell in a land of death, a light has shone upon you”. So drink without delay and a great light will enlighten you: no longer the ordinary light of day, whether that of the sun or the moon, but the light that casts out the shadow of death. (Biblical references : Jn 15:1; 1 Co 10:4; Ps 36[37]:10; 45[46]:5; Eph 2:14; Jn 7:38; Dt 8:3; Mt 4:4; Is 9:1 LXX; Mt 4:16; Lk 1:79)

Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team