If you are in, you get it...

As I have mentioned before, I am teaching at the Catholic Biblical School of the Archdiocese of Denver, but only part-time. I was preparing my lecture for tomorrow and came across this quote by St. Ambrose of Milan. I thought it was quite beautiful to think about the Sacred Scripture where Jesus was admonishing his disciples to be attentive to their own life of faith. He then speaks of "two women grinding together [I am not sure he is referring to Snowboarding or skateboarding, if you are wondering!]; one will be taken and the other left." Then the Gospel goes on saying, "And [the disciples] said to him, "Where, Lord?" He said to them, "Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together." At first I wondered about whether this was referring to the fact that the Eagle at one point symbolized Rome, but it turns out that apparently, that became the case after the time of Jesus! So what could it mean? Well, I found this from St. Ambrose of Milan:

Let us first speculate what the eagles are, so we may determine what the body is. Those souls of the righteous are compared with eagles, because they seek the heights, leave the depths behind, and reportedly reach great age. If we understood about the eagles, we cannot doubt concerning the body, particularly if we remember that Joseph received the body of Christ from Pilate. Does it not seem to you that the eagles around the body are Mary of Cleopas, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the Mother of the Lord and the assembly of the apostles around the Lord's tomb?

I may not know you, but if you have a propensity to the Revelation of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, then I hope you find that as beautiful as I do. If not, perhaps this further quote of St. Ambrose will do it for you:

He says concering this body, 'My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.' Around this body, eagles fly spiritual wings. Around the body, eagles believe that Jesus has come in the flesh, because every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. Where faith is, there is the sacrament and the dwelling place of holiness. The body is also the Church, in which we are renewed in the spirit through the grace of baptism, and the frailities of old age are restored for ages of new life.

I don't know about you, dear reader, but I love the wisdom of the saints. They just put things so beautifully in their wisdom cultivated from their love for Jesus Christ, the only Son of God!