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On the Sacraments
St Ambrose of Milan, tr. Thompson, 1919
Book 4, The Grace of Innocence and “renewal of youth” Resulting from Baptism
It follows that you come to the altar. You began to come; the angels watched, they saw you approaching, and that human nature, which before was stained with the murky filth of sin, suddenly shone bright in their sight. And accordingly they said, Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness made white?1 The angels then also wonder. Wilt thou know that they wonder? Hear then the Apostle Paul saying that those things have been bestowed on us which even angels long to see;2 and again, What eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.3
Then recall what thou hast received. Holy David the prophet saw this grace in a figure, and desired it. Wilt thou know that he desired it? Again hear him saying, Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.4 Why? Because snow, although it is white, quickly turns black with any dirt, and is spoilt; this grace which thou hast received, if thou hold fast that which thou hast received, will be lasting and eternal.
Thou camest thus with desire to the altar, since thou hadst seen such grace. Thou camest with desire to the altar, to receive the sacrament; let thy soul say, And I will go unto the altar of my God, unto God who maketh glad my youth.5 Thou hast put off the old age of sins, thou hast taken the youth of grace; this the heavenly sacraments bestowed on thee. Therefore, again hear David saying, Thy youth shall be renewed as the eagle’s.6 Thou beginnest to be a good eagle, seeking heaven, scorning earthly things. Good eagles are about the altar; for where the body is, there also are the eagles.7 The altar is a type of the body,8 and the body of Christ is on the altar; ye are eagles, renewed by the washing away of sin.
Notes
- Cant. viii. 5. Cf. de Myst. vii. 35. Like Ambrose the author reads dealbata (“made white”), following LXX. The words “from the wilderness” are found in Heb. and Vulg., but not in LXX.
- 1 Pet. i. 12. The writer, by a slip of memory, attributes the words to St. Paul.
- 1 Cor. ii. 9. Cf. de Myst. viii. 44, note.
- Ps. li. 7 (l. 9, Vulg.). Cf. de Myst. vii. 34.
- Ps. xliii. (xlii. Vulg.), 4. Cf. de Myst. viii. 43, where the psalm is similarly quoted in connexion with the approach to the altar. But the use of this psalm, as part of the preparation in the Roman Mass, is of late date, and its appearance in some editions of the Ambrosian Missal is due to borrowing from the Roman rite (see Ceriani, Notitia Lit. ambros. p. 24).
- Ps. ciii. (cii. Vulg.), 5.
- Mt. xxiv. 28; Lk. xvii. 37. Cf. i. 2. 6.
- The sense of this expression is illustrated by the following passage from the Glossa Ordinaria (Migne, P.L., cl. 405). The Body of Christ “is called an altar in other places of the divine Scriptures also, because on it, that is, on faith in it, as on an altar, our offered prayers and works become acceptable” (quoted by Westcott on Heb. xiii. 10). (T.)