Large Catechism – Confident.Faith

Today we commemorate Ambrose of Milan, Pastor and Hymnwriter. Along with Augustine, Jerome, and Gregory the Great, Ambrose of Milan is considered one of the four great Latin Doctors of the Church. Becoming Bishop of Milan in AD 374 — largely by acclamation — Ambrose would go on to be a prolific hymnwriter and defender of the faith. Ambrose played no small part in suppressing the Arian heresy through his interactions with Emperor Gratian and Emperor Theodosius. Many are undoubtedly familiar with Ambrose’s hymn, “Savior of the Nations, Come”.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Andrew, Apostle. Brother of Simon Peter, St. Andrew was born in the village of Bethsaida. Originally a follower of St. John the Baptist, Andrew was called and became the first disciple of Christ. Church tradition holds that Andrew was martyred on an X-shaped cross. It is St. Andrew’s Day that determines the beginning of the Western Church Year, as the First Sunday in Advent is always the Sunday nearest to St. Andrew’s Day.

Today we commemorate Noah. Noah, son of Lamech, was instructed by God to build an ark. Faithful and obedient to God, Noah constructed the Ark that would carry him and his wife and his sons and their wives — the only eight people to survive the Flood. After the floodwaters subsided, Noah built an altar and gave thanks to God for His mercy in preserving the human race through Noah and his family. In promising never again to destroy all life from the Earth, God made the rainbow a sign of His covenant with man and all life. Whenever we see a rainbow, we should think of God’s great mercy and His steadfast love. We commemorate Noah for his faith and for his obedience to the word of God — for believing that God will do what He says He will do.