Great Before The Lord

Et erit magnus coram Domino... Non corporis hic, sed animae magnitudinem declaravit. Est coram Domino magnitudo animae, magnitudo virtutis: est etiam parvitas animae, et pueritia virtutis. Juxta enim animae et corporis numeramus aetates, non pro ratione temporis, sed pro qualitate virtutis; ut vir perfectus ille dicatur, qui careat errore pueritiae, et lubricum adolescnetiae animi maturtiate non sentiat: pusillus autem, qui nullum adhuc virtutis videatur habuisse processum. Unde illud in Hieremia, cum misereretur Dominus deflentis Ephraem, et peccata propria deprecantis: ' A juventute, inquit, mea delictus mihi filius Ephraem, puer in deliciis. Si enim non fuisset puer in deliciis numquam peccavisset. Et bene utrumque dixit, et in deliciis, et puerum; est enim puer, qui non peccat: Ecce puer meus, quem elegi. Per delicias itaque peccavit, qui ita erat informatus a Domino, ut nescius esset erroris, Ergo et si puer in deliciis non fuisset, et si virum perfectum virtutis processisset aetate, numquam lapsus fuisset; ut illi necesse esset veniam suorum petere delictorum, cum magis meritorum praemia sperare deberet. Quid etiam Dominus noster in Evangelio videtur exprimere, cum dicit: 'Nolite contemnere unum ex pusillis istis' Sed loco suo plura serventur. Ergo pusillus contrarius est magno. Et si, juxta Apostolum, parvulus sub elementis est: 'Cum enim essemus parvuli, sub elementis hujus mundi eramus': ergo magnus supra elementa mundi est. Erit itaque Johannes magnus non virtute corporis sed animae magnitudine. Denique non fines alicujus propagavit imperii, non triumphos aliquos bellici certaminis adoreis praeoptavit, sed quod est amplius, in deserto praedicens, delicias hominum corporisque lasciviam magna animi virtute depressit. Parvulus ergo in saeculo magnus in spiritu. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, Evangelii secundum Lucam, Liber I Source: Migne PL 15.1546b-d

And he will be great before the Lord... 1 Here it is not the body but the soul that declared greatness. In the presence of the Lord greatness of soul, is greatness in virtue; littleness of soul is a puerility of virtue. We may reckon age by the soul or by the body, but not by calculation of time, but on account of the quality of virtue, so that a man is said to be perfect who is free from the errors of youth, who on account of maturity of soul does not know the unstable ways of youth. He is very little who appears not to have progressed in virtue. Whence in Jeremiah when the Lord comforts the weeping and praying Ephraem and pardons his sins: 'From his youth, He says, beloved to me, my son Ephraem, a child in pleasures.' 2 For if he were not a child in pleasures he would never have sinned. And well it speaks of both crimes and of youth, for there is the boy who does not sin, 'Behold my son, whom I have chosen.' 3 By pleasure, then, he erred, he who thus shaped by the Lord so that he not know error. So if a boy has never been in error, and if he has advanced to the age of the perfect man of virtue, never would he have fallen, so that he would have to beg forgiveness for sins, when rather he would hope to gain the reward of  merit. Which even our Lord in the Gospel seems to express when He says, 'Do not treat one of these little ones with contempt.' 4 But in its place let there be greater guarding. Therefore little is contrary to great. And if, according to the Apostle, a little boy is beneath the elements: 'When we were little ones we were beneath the elements of this world,' 5 so he who is great is above the elements of the world. Thus John will be great, not by bodily strength, but by greatness of soul. He did not push forward the frontiers of some empire, he did not desire some triumphs with the spoils of war, but, what is greater, preaching in the desert, he crushed down the human enjoyments and the desires of the flesh by the greatness and strength of his soul. Little, then, in the world, great in spirit Saint Ambrose, from the Commentary The Gospel of Luke, Book 1 1 Lk 1.17 2 Jerem 31.20 3 Isaiah 43.10 4 Mt 18.10 5 Galat 4.10