Various Deaths

Sine ut mortui sepeliant mortuos suos... Quomodo autem mortui sepelire mortuos possunt, nisi cum ab infidelibus humatur cadaver cuius ita cor animam perdidit, ut illorum animae Deum: sive quia duplex hic intelligenda est mors, una naturae, altera culpae? Est etiam mors tertia, in qua peccato morimur, et Deo vivimus, sicut Christus qui peccato mortuus est: Quod enim mortuus est peccato, mortuus est semel: quod autem vivit, vivit Deo. Una est igitur mors, qua copula corporis et animae separatur, non formidabilis, non timenda; cum discessio quaedam nostri videatur esse, non poena: non metuenda fortibus, desideranda sapientibus, miseris expetenda, de qua dictum est: Quaerent homines mortem, et non invenient eam. Est et alia quae saecularium afferat interitum voluptatum: in qua non natura, sed delicta moriuntur. Hanc mortem subimus consepulti baptismate, et mortui cum Christo ab elementis huius mundi, cum actus patimur prioris oblivia. Hanc mortem voluit, cum prophetaret Balaam, ut Deo viveret, et ideo dixit: Moriatur anima mea in animis iustorum, et fiat semen meum ut semen eorum. Est et tertia mors, quando Christus, qui est vita nostra, nescitur: scire autem Christum vita est sempiterna, quae nunc iustis praesto est in umbra, in futurum autem erit facie ad faciem; Spiritus enim ante faciem nostram Christus Dominus, de quo dixit: In umbra eius vivimus in gentibus. In umbra alarum eius speravit David, in umbra eius concupivit, et sedit Ecclesia. Si tantum, Domine Iesu, confert umbra tua, quantum utique veritas afferet? Quemadmodum vivemus, quando iam non erimus in umbra, sed in ipsa vita? Nunc enim vita nostra abscondita est cum Christo in Deo. Cum autem Christus, inquit, apparuerit, vita nostra, tunc et nos cum eo apparebimus in gloria Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, Expositio Evangelii Secundum Lucam, Liber VII Source: Migne PL 15.1708d- 1709b

Let the dead bury their own dead... 1 But how can the dead bury the dead unless the corpse is buried by the faithless, whose heart had lost the soul as their souls have lost God? Or because there is a twofold understanding of death, one by nature and one by fault? And indeed there is a third death in which we die to sin and live to God, as Christ who died to sin. 'For in that He died to sin, He died once, but in that He lives, He lives to God.' 2 Therefore there is one death which separates the body and soul and it is not terrifying nor to be feared, when it seems we have been cut off from what is ours, it is not a punishment. The brave should not fear it, the wise should desire it, and the wretched should hope for it, concerning which is written, 'Men shall seek death and they shall not find it.' 3 Then there is another death which brings about the ruin of worldly pleasures, in which it is not nature but faults that perish. We undergo this death when we are co-buried in baptism, and we are dead with Christ to the elements of the world, when we undergo forgetfulness of our prior conduct. This is the death that was wished for when Balaam prophesied so that he might live for God, and therefore said, 'May my soul die as the souls of the righteous, and may my seed be as their seed.' 4 The third death is when Christ, who is our life, is not known, for to know Christ is eternal life, 5 which is given to the righteous as a shadow, and in the future they shall see face to face, for the spirit before our face shall be the Lord Christ, concerning which it was said, 'In His shadow we live among the nations.' And David hoped in the shadow of his wings, and he desired his shadow, and he sat in the assembly. 6 If you only give your shadow, O Lord Jesus, how much shall the truth bring forth? How shall we live when we shall not be in your shadow but in that life? Now indeed our life is hidden from us with Christ in God, and when He appears, our life, then we shall appear with Him in glory 7. Saint Ambrose, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Luke, Book 7 1 Lk 12.31 2 Rom 6.10 3 Apoc 9.6 4 Numb 23.10 5 Jn 17.13 6 Lament 4.20, Ps 56.2, Song 2.3 7 Colos 3.3