Scripture Meditation: Ambrose on Scripture as a Mirror

Ambrose of Milan (d. 397) taught that Scripture serves as a mirror for the soul. He wrote: "As a mirror reveals the face, so the divine Scriptures reveal the heart." When we read Scripture, we see both who we are and who God calls us to become. Ambrose was himself converted partly through hearing the Scriptures chanted in worship, and he passed on a deep love for the sung and spoken word.

Ambrose taught his congregation to memorize Scripture: "Let the first thing in the morning and the last thing at night be to recite the Psalms. As the body cannot live without food, so the soul cannot live without the nourishment of the word." He saw memorization not as a feat of intellect but as a way of internalizing God's word so deeply that it became part of one's very being.

Practical application: Choose one verse per week to memorize. Write it on a card or set it as your phone background. Recite it at morning and night, as Ambrose recommended. After four weeks, you will carry four verses in your heart. Over a year, this simple practice builds an interior library of Scripture that the Holy Spirit can draw upon in every circumstance.