Memorial of Saint Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Today’s gospel retells Christ’s admonishment to build on a solid foundation. If we consider values as a foundation and the idea that values legislate and direct our choices, this passage makes perfect sense. If we look at bad decisions persons or institutions make, the usual cause of catastrophe is the choice of value that perhaps was not the best. Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Ambrose, one of the great fathers of the church, who helped the Christian community articulate its values so that better decisions could be made. His stances against heresy and incursions of secular power over the church set him as defender of the church and one of its greatest theologians. We may not be called to be a great theologian, but all of us are called to look at the values that motivate our decisions.