The Child And The Image

Vulpes foveas habent, et volucres coeli nidos, ubi requiescant, nam Filius hominis non habet ubi caput suum reclinet. Non videtur convenire ratione, ut simplicem fidelemque istum arbitremur, qui Domini dignatione respuitur; cum indefessi famulatus obsequium spondisset: sed Dominus non obsequiorum speciem, sed puritatem quaerit affectus. Denqiue supra ait: Quicumque receperit puerem istum in nomine meo. Quo loco Dominus simplicitatem sine arrogantia docet, charitatem sine invidia, devotionem sine iracundia esse debere: nam et pueri mens provectionis affectu recipienda suadetur, quia dum puer nihil sibi vindicat, formam virtutis exsequitur: et si rationem nescit, culpam ignorat. Tamen quia plerisque non virtus, sed infirmitas videtur sine ratione simplicitas; ut tu veram recipias admoneris, id est, ut exsequaris industria munus naturae. Et ideo ait: Quicumque receperit pueram istum in nomine meo, me recepit. Et qui me recipit, recipit eum qui me misit. Qui enim imitatorem Christi recipit, Christum recipit: et qui imaginem Dei receperit, recipit Deum. Sed quia imaginem Dei non poteramus videre, facta est ad nos per incarnationem Verbi praesentia ut reconciliaretur nobis quae supra nos est divinitas. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, Evangelii secundum Lucam, Liber VII

'Foxes have their holes, and the birds of heaven their nests, where they may rest, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.' 1 And it does not seem in harmony with reason that we judge this is a simple and faithful fellow, who is rejected from the esteem of the Lord, when He has approved the service of the tireless serving boy, but the Lord does not care for the splendour of one's service but He seeks the purity of one's affection. Whence he said above, 'Whoever receives this child in my name.' 2 In which place the Lord teaches simplicity should be without arrogance, charity without envy, devotion without anger, for the mind of the boy He would persuade be taken up than the state of the elder, because while the boy vaunts himself in nothing, the way of virtue he follows, and if he does not know reason he is free from blame. However because virtue is not of many it seems that weakness without reason is simplicity, whence you are admonished to receive the truth, that is, that you seek with diligence the gift of nature. And therefore he says, 'Whoever receives this child in my name receives me; and he who receives me, receives the one who sent me.' 2 For he who receives an imitator of Christ, receives Christ, and he who receives an image of God, receives God. For because we were not able to see the image of God, by the incarnation was made for us the presence of the Word that the Divinity beyond us might be reconciled with us. Saint Ambrose, On The Gospel of Luke, from Book 7 1 Lk 9. 58 2 Lk 9. 48