Catholic Radio Dramas

Christ has Reconciled the World

From The Explanation of the Psalms by Saint Ambrose, Bishop (340-397)

Christ has Reconciled the World to God by His Own Blood

In reconciling the world to God, Christ stood in no need of reconciliation for himself. What sin of his was there to atone for, sinless as he was? When he was asked for the temple-tax, a sin-offering imposed by the law, he said to Peter: Simon, from whom do the kings of the earth receive tribute or tax? From their own sons or from strangers? Peter replied: From strangers. The Lord said to him: Then the sons are free. But so as not to give scandal to them, cast a hood and take the first fish that comes; open its mouth, and you will find a shekel. Take it and give it to them for me and for you.

Christ sows that he does not need to atone for sin on his own behalf: he is no slave of sin but, as Son of God, is free from all sin. The Son sets free, a slave remains in his sin. Christ is therefore free of all sin, and does not pay the price of his own redemption. His blood could pay the ransom for all the sins of the whole world. The one who has no debt to pay for himself is the right person to set others free.

It is not only that Christ has no ransom to pay or atonement to make for his own sins; if we apply his words to every individual man they can be taken to mean that individuals do not need to make atonement for themselves, for Christ is the atonement for all, the redemption for all.

Is any man’s blood fit to redeem him, seeing that it was Christ who shed his blood for the redemption of all? Is anyone’s blood comparable to Christ’s? Is anyone great enough to make atonement for himself over and above the atonement which “Christ has offered in himself, Christ who alone has reconciled the world to God by his blood? What greater victim, what more excellent sacrifice, what better advocate can there be than he who because the propitiation for the sins of all, and gave his life for us as our redemption?

We do not need, then, to look for an atonement or redemption made by each individual, because the price paid for all is the blood of Christ, that blood by which the Lord Jesus has redeemed us, he who alone has reconciled us to the Father. He has labored even to the end, shouldering our burdens himself. Come to me, he says, all you that labor, and I will refresh you.

Source: The Liturgy of the Hours – Office of Readings

Saint Ambrose (340-397) was born in Trier, Germany, the son of the praetorian prefect of Gaul. He was taken back to Rome at the death of his father and became a lawyer. He was known for his compelling oratory and learning. He was appointed assessor to Probus, the praetorian prefect of Italy, and appointed governor of Liguria by Emperor Valentinian in 372 at age 32. Two years later, he went to Milan to quiet the turmoil between the Arians and Catholics at the death of the presiding bishop.When Ambrose appeared there he was baptized and immediately consecrated bishop of Milan. He gave away all his possessions and began a serious study of Sacred Scripture, theology and the great Christian writers. He began to live a life of great austerity and soon became the most eloquent preacher of his day. He was acclaimed as the most formidable Catholic opponent of Arianism in the West.

He became advisor to Emperor Gratian and in 379 and persuaded him to outlaw Arianism in the West. Ambrose denounced a massacre of some seven thousand people in Thessalonica by Emperor Theodosius I, refusing him the sacraments until he performed a severe public penance – which Theodosius did. Ambrose died in Milan on April 4, 397 at the age of 57. He was one of the great figures of early Christianity and was responsible for the rise of Christianity in the West as the Roman Empire was dying. He wrote profusely on the Bible, theology, asceticism and wrote numerous homilies, psalms and hymns. It was Ambrose who brought St. Augustine, who revered him, back to his Catholic faith and baptized him in 397. He was declared a Doctor of the Church and is considered the exemplar of what a bishop should be; holy, learned, courageous, patient, and immovable when necessary for the faith.