CQOD: 12/07/05 -- Ambrose on overcoming avarice

Christian Quotation of the Day

December 7, 2005

Feast of Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, Teacher, 397

Meditation:
    And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' And he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God."
    -- Luke 12:16-21 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    What will you do if your product still further increases next year? You should then destroy again the warehouses which you are now preparing to build, and build bigger. For the reason why God has given you fruitful harvests is that He might either overcome your avarice or condemn it; wherefore you can have no excuse. But you keep for yourself what He wished to be produced through you for the benefit of many—nay, rather, you rob even yourself of it, since you would better preserve it for yourself if you distributed it to others.
    ... St. Ambrose of Milan (339-397)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Show me, Lord, how to give my life away.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2004
    http://www.cqod.com/cqoddtcb.html

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