'Throw wide the gate of your heart, stand before the sun of the everlasting light that shines on every man. This true light shines on all, but if anyone closes his window he will deprive himself of eternal light. If you shut the door of your mind, you shut out Christ. Though he can enter, He does not want to force His way in rudely, or compel us to admit Him against our will....
'Our soul has a door; it has gates. Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, eternal gates, and the King of glory will enter. If you open the gates of your faith, the King of glory will enter your house in the triumphal procession in honor of His passion.'Holiness too has its gates. We read in Scripture what the Lord Jesus said through His prophet: Open for Me the gates of holiness. It is the soul that has its door, its gates. Christ comes to this door and knocks; He knocks at these gates. Open to Him; He wants to enter, to find His bride waiting and watching.'
St. Ambrose, from an exposition of Psalm 118; from Office of Readings
Photo: public domain via Wikimedia
Painting: John William Waterhouse; original image reversed
I recently opened a gate when I asked to be filled with the Blood of Christ, and am now undergoing a mighty scrubbing and emptying. It is unpleasant, but I am fighting to keep the gates open through...thankfulness and appreciation of nature! Surprising, isn't it, that it should be this stone, out of many, that the Lord has given me to wedge against the gate so it wouldn't shut? His ways are never mine indeed! Pray for me, my friend, pray that I persevere.
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