Vigils Reading – St Ambrose

A Letter to Irenaeus by Saint Ambrose

If someone has taken up residence in the heavenly city, let him not leave its life and customs, since he is an inhabitant. Let him not again depart, or retrace the steps, I do not say, of the body, but of the heart. Let him not come back from there. Behind him is wantonness; behind is impurity. Your feet should not turn back, neither should your actions turn back. Your hands should not hang idle, nor should the knees of your devotion and faith become weak. Let no weakness cause your will to backslide, nor evil deeds recur. You have made your entrance, now remain. You have reached this place, stand firm. ‘Being safe, save thy life.’

In your ascent, take the straight path; it is not safe to turn back. Here is the road; there is downfall. Here is the path upward; there, a precipice. there is work in ascending, danger in ascending. The Lord who is powerful will protect you if you are grounded and hedged round with the ramparts of the Prophets and the bulwarks of the Apostles. For this reason, the Lord says to you: ‘Enter and tread the grape, for the vintage time is here.’ Let us be found within, not out of doors. In the Gospel, too, the Son of God says: ‘Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take his vessels.’ Surely, He does not mean our present dwelling but that one of which ‘He has spread the sky like a roof.’

Remain within, therefore, within Jerusalem, within your soul which is peaceful, meek, and tranquil. Do not leave it or go down to take your vessels with honors or riches or pride. Remain within, so that strangers may not pass through you, so that neither sins nor vain works nor useless thoughts may pass through your soul. This will not happen if you wage a holy war against the snare of the passions on behalf of devotion and faith and in the pursuit of truth, if you will put on the armor of God in your fight against spiritual diseases and the cunning of the Evil One who tempts our senses with cunning and fraud. Yet, he is easily crushed by the gentle warrior who does not sow discord, but, as befits the servant of God, attaches faith with moderation and refutes those who are his adversaries. Of this man Scriptures says: ‘Let the warrior who is gentle arise,’ and the weak man says: ‘I can do all things in him who strengthens me.’

Waters will flow upon him from his vessels and the depths of his wells, or from his belly will flow living waters, spiritual waters which the Holy Spirit gives to the faithful. May He deign to water your soul, too, so that in you there may abound the fount of water springing up into life