415 part ii: meditations for more solemn feasts spends the whole night in prayer? What is it fitting for you to do, when you want to undertake some dutiful action of mercy; since Christ, about to send out the apostles, first prayed, and He prayed alone,”198 spending the whole night in prayer? Indeed, you should not approach to receive the present Holy Communion without a fervent prayer. 3. “And Bartholomew” (Lk 6:14). Consider how great a grace was granted to St. Bartholomew when he was called to the office of the sacred apostleship. For by receiving the high rank of apostolic dignity he seemed to gain possession of the heavenly heritage, and at the same time, to ascend to the eternal Kingdom. O the blessed religious, who are almost considered as the apostles’ successors in the sense that anyone called to the religious status is regarded as if called to the office of the sacred apostleship. Realize, therefore, how highly you should value this benefit of the religious vocation and how seriously you should respond to it. After Holy Communion 1. “He went out to a mountain” (Lk 6:12). You already have the Savior present in you; you already embrace Him with both arms. Do not let Him go, but follow Him to the mountain, having laid down the burdens of your passions and imperfections at the sacred table. “All great people,” says the Bishop of Milan, “all the eminent ones ascend to the mountain.”199 Why do you not assume great and sublime dispositions, and why do you not follow Christ to the mountain? “Not in physical footprints, but rather in sublime deeds.”200 Oh! The passions still overwhelm you and cast you back on the ground! 198 Ambrosius, Expositio Evangelii secundum Lucam: Liber V (Luc. VI, 12), in: PL, vol. 15, Ateliers catholiques du Petit-Montrouge, Paris 1845, p. 1648 (n. 1366). 199 Ibid., p. 1647 (n. 1365). 200 Ibid.: St. Ambrose continues: “ascend to this mountain, and follow Christ, that you yourself can be a mountain.”
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjI2Mw==