The Presence Of The Good

Hoc bonum veniat in animam nostram, in nostrae mentis viscera, quod propitius Deus dat petentibus se. Hic est via nostra, hic est sapientia nostra, justitia nostra, pastor nostra, et pastor bonus, hic est vita nostra. Vides quanta bona in uno bono! Haec bona nobis praedicat Evangelistae. Haec bona requirens David, ait, 'Quis ostendit nobis bona?' Et ostendit ipsum esse bona, subjicens: 'Signatum est in nobis lumen vultus tui.' Quis autem lumen vultus Patris, nisi splendor gloriae, et imago invisibilis Dei, in quo et videtur et clarificatur Pater, sicut ipse clarificat Filium suum? Ipse est ergo Dominus Juseus summum bonum, quod nobis annuntiatum a prophetis, praedicatum ab angelis, promissum a Patre, evangelizatum est ab apostolis. Qui nobis tanquam maturitas advenit: nec solum tanquam maturitas, sed tanquam maturitas in montibus adest; ut nihil acerbum, nihil immaturum in nostris consiliis sit, nihil immite, nihil apserum in operibus ac moribus, qui primus Evangelizans bona adfuit. Unde et ait: Ipse qui loquebar, adsum,' id est, qui loquebar in prophetis, adsum in corpore, quod suscepi ex Virgine: adsum interior imago Dei, character substantiae. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, Epistola XXIX, Ad Ireneaum Source: Migne PL 16.1055d-1056b

May this Good come into our soul, and into depths of our mind, which the merciful God gives to those who seek Him. He is our Treasure, He is our Way, He is our Wisdom, He is our Righteousness, our Shepherd, the good Shepherd, He is our Life. You see how many goods there are in one good! These goods the Evangelists preach to us. These goods David seeks, saying, 'Who will show us good things?' And then he shows that He Himself is our Good, adding, 'The light of your face is sealed upon us.' 1 Who indeed is the light of the Father's face but the splendor of His glory and the image of the invisible God, in whom the Father is both seen and glorified, as He also glorifies His Son? 2 Thus the Lord Jesus Himself is that chief Good which was announced to us by prophets, declared by Angels, promised by the Father, preached by the Apostles. He has come to us as ripeness, not as ripeness only, but as ripeness in the mountains, that there be nothing bitter, nothing immature in our counsels, nothing harsh, nothing bitter in our actions or manners, the first Preacher of good tidings having come to us. Whence He said, 'He who spoke, I am here,' that is, I who spoke in the prophets, 3 am present in the body which I took from the Virgin; I am present as the interior image of God, the substantial character. Saint Ambrose of Milan, from Letter 29, To Ireneaus 1 Ps 4.6 2 Heb 1.3, Jn 17.5 3 Jn 4.26, Heb 1.1