Monday, November 13, 2023

Ambrose has a word for you

Ambrose asks, Have not the rich lost all sense of proportion in their self-indulgence? Their riches have blinded them to the needs of the poor, daily paraded before their very noses.
You give coverings to walls and bring men to nakedness. The naked cries out before your house unheeded; your fellow-man is there, naked and crying, while you are perplexed by the choice of marble to clothe your floor. A poor man begs for money in vain; your fellow-man is there, begging bread, and your horse champs gold between his teeth. Other men have no corn; your fancy is held by precious ornaments. What a judgment you draw upon yourself! The people are starving, and you shut your barns; the people are groaning, and you toy with the jewel upon your finger. Unhappy man, with the power but not the will to rescue so many souls from death, when the price of a jewelled ring might save the lives of a whole populace.
—Christopher Hall, Reading Scripture with the Church Fathers, 175

<idle musing>
Indeed! Can you imagine the sermons he would give today? Not too many christians, in the US at least, would meet his approval. In fact, he would question whether or not the label Christians should even be applied to much of what passes for Christianity in this country.
</idle musing>

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