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On the Sacraments
St Ambrose of Milan, tr. Thompson, 1919
Book 5, Farther Illustrations of the Blessings of Communion from Psalm xxiii. and from…
Therefore thou hast come to the altar, thou has received the body of Christ. Hear again what sacraments thou hast obtained. Hear holy David speaking. He too foresaw these mysteries in the spirit and rejoiced and said that he lacked nothing.1 Why? Because he that hath received the body of Christ shall never hunger.2
How often hast thou heard the twenty-second Psalm3 and not understood? See how it is suited to the heavenly sacraments. The Lord is my shepherd; and I shall not want. In a green pasture, there hath he made me to lie down. He hath tended me by the water of comfort, he converteth my soul. He hath led me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted me.4 Rod is rule, staff is passion; that is the eternal Divinity of Christ, but also his passion in the body. The one created, the other redeemed. Thou hast prepared a table before me against them that trouble me. Thou hast anointed my head with oil, and my inebriating cup how glorious it is.5
Therefore thou hast come to the altar, thou hast received the grace of Christ, thou hast obtained the heavenly sacraments. The Church rejoices in the redemption of many and is glad with spiritual exultation that her white-robed household stand at her side.6 Thou hast this in the Song of Songs. In joy she calls Christ, having ready a feast which can seem worthy of heavenly banqueting. Therefore she says: Let my brother come down into his garden and take the fruit of his fruit-trees.7 What are his fruit-trees? Thou becamest a dry tree in Adam; but now through the grace of Christ thou hast budded into a fruitful tree.
The Lord Jesus willingly accepts and with heavenly condescension answers to his church. I am come down, he says,8 into my garden; I have gathered the vintage of myrrh with my ointments. I have eaten my bread with my honey and I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, he says, my brethren, and be drunk.
I have gathered the vintage of myrrh with my ointments. What is that vintage? Learn the vine and you shall recognize the vintage. Thou hast brought, he says, a vine out of Egypt,9 that is the people of God. Ye are the vine, ye are the vintage; planted as a vine, as a vintage have ye given fruit. I have gathered the vintage of myrrh with my unguents, that is for the sweet savour which you have received.
I have eaten my bread with my honey. Dost thou see that in this bread there is no bitterness, but all is sweetness? I have drunk my wine with my milk. Dost thou see that the joy is of that kind which is not defiled with the stains of any sin? For as often as thou drinkest thou receivest remission of sins and art inebriated with the spirit. Whence also the Apostle says: Be not drunk with wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit.10 For he who is drunk with wine staggers and reels: he who is inebriated with the Spirit is rooted in Christ. And therefore it is a glorious inebriation, which works sobriety of mind. This is what we briefly mention with respect to the sacraments.
Notes
- Ps. xxiii. (xxii. Vulg.) 1.
- Jn. vi. 35. Cf. de Myst. viii. 48.
- The author follows the numbering of the Psalms in the Latin Version, which is also that of the LXX.
- Ps. xxiii. (xxii. Vulg.) 1-4.
- Ps. xxiii. (xxii. Vulg.) 5. Cf. de Myst. viii. 43 (note).
- A reference to the newly-baptized in their white robes. Cf. de Myst. vii. 34. The word familia (rendered “household”) is of common occurrence in the prayers of the Western service-books.
- Cant. v. 1. Cf. de Myst. ix. 56.
- Cant. v. 1. Cf. de Myst. ix. 57, 58.
- Ps. lxxx. 8 (lxxix. 9, Vulg.).
- Eph. v. 18. The reading “Holy Spirit” is also found in Ambrose, de Noe et Arca, 29.