As for me, I have not hastened from being a shepherd to follow you: neither have I desired the woeful day; you know: that which came out of my lips was right before you.
Read Chapter 17
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
I dearly love those priests and deacons who, once they have finished a duty, do not allow themselves to remain away any longer. As the prophet says, “I am not weary following after you.” Who can be weary following Jesus, for he says, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” Let us, then, always follow Jesus and never falter, for if we follow him, we never fail, because he gives his strength to his followers. The nearer you are to this strength, the stronger you will be. Sometimes, while we follow him, our adversaries say to us, “Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come.” Let us not grow weary of following him, and let us not be turned aside when confronted by a crafty question. It was said to the prophet when he was being sent to prison and cast into a pit of mire, “Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come.” But he followed it the more and therefore reached the goal and received the crown, because he was not weary following Jesus. “There is no wea...
The Lord has indeed made every day—not only has made but also continues to make. I mean, he makes every day as follows: he makes his sun rise on the good and the bad and sends rain on the just and the unjust. So we are not to imagine that this ordinary kind of day, which is common to good and bad alike, is meant in this place, where we heard, “This is the day that the Lord has made.” What particular sort of day can it be when it says, “Let us exult and be joyful in it”? What sort, but a good one? What sort, but a very choice, lovable, desirable one, the sort about which Jeremiah said, “And I have not yearned for the day of men, you know it well”? - "Sermon 229b.2"
Troubled. Hebrew, "in haste to be a pastor after thee. "Chaldean, "I delay not, at thy command, to announce thy truths to them "chap. i. 6. Jeremias was aware of the dangers attending his office, yet not dismayed.
Day: approbation, (1 Corinthians iv. 3.) or advantages of the world. (Calmet)
Of man. Hebrew also "of the wretched: "anush. I wished rather for the people's welfare, (Haydock) and sought not their ruin. (Chaldean) (Theodoret)
Let us give thanks to God, and let us ask him in his good will to be our shield and crown, that we may never depart from him and that we may follow him and declare with Jeremiah, “I was not weary of following you.” To him be glory forever and ever. Amen. - "Homilies on the Psalms 2 (Ps 5)"
For it is but little for a monk to have once made his renunciation, that is, in the early days of his conversion to have disregarded the present world, unless he continues to renounce it daily. For to the very end of this life we must with the prophet say this: “And I have not desired the day of man, you know it well.” Wherefore also the Lord says in the Gospel: “If anyone will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” - "Conference 3.24.2"
