"On The Soul's Desire for Christ" by Saint Ambrose of Milan 378 AD

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[00:00:01]Concerning the soul's desire for Christ by Saint Ambrose of Milan.

[00:00:08]An excerpt from his book Hexameron, written in 378 AD.

[00:00:15]I have described sufficiently both the origin of Holy Isaac and the grace he received in my discussion of his father.

[00:00:22]He abounds in glory in that he was born as a reward to Abraham, his incomparably great father.

[00:00:28]And no wonder, since there were prefigured in him the birth and passion of the Lord. An aged woman who was sterile brought him to birth according to God's promise, so that we might believe that God has power to bring it about that even a virgin may give birth.

[00:00:42]He was offered for sacrifice in a singular fashion that he might not be lost to his father and yet might fulfill the sacrifice.

[00:00:50]Likewise, by his very name, he prefigures grace. For Isaac means laughter, and laughter is the sign of joy. Now, everyone knows that he, Jesus Christ, is the joy of all who checked the dread of fearsome death, took away its terror, and became for all men the forgiveness of their sins.

[00:01:09]The one is named and the other denoted, the one portrayed and the other foretold. He is the one that the slave girl despised even then. For his sake, it was said even then, "Cast out the slave girl, for the son of the slave girl shall not be heir with my son Isaac." He is the one for whom his father obtained an alien wife. He is the one, mild, humble, and gentle, who went out into the field to meditate when there came Rebecca.

[00:01:35]For a wise man should remove himself from fleshly pleasures, elevate his soul, and draw away from the body. This is to know oneself, a man, homo in Latin, but Enos in the language of the Chaldeans. Enos, successor, called upon God in hope, and so is thought to have been transported.

[00:01:52]And so only that man seems to be man who puts his hope in God. Moreover, the clear and truthful sense of the passage is that one who puts his hope in God does not dwell on earth, but is transported, so to speak, and cleaves to God. And so, Isaac is good and true, for he is full of grace and a fountain of joy.

[00:02:11]To that fountain came Rebecca to fill her water jar, for scripture says that going down to the fountain, she filled her water jar and came up. And so, the church, or the soul, went down to the fountain of wisdom to fill its own vessel and draw up the teachings of pure wisdom, which the Jews did not wish to draw from the flowing fountain.

[00:02:32]Listen to him as he says who that fountain is. They have abandoned me, the fountain of living water.

[00:02:39]The soul of the prophets ran thirsting to this fountain, even as David says, "My soul has thirsted after the living God," that he might fill his thirst with the richness of the knowledge of God and might wash away the blood of foolishness with watering of spiritual streams.

[00:02:55]For this is the flow of blood, as the law indicates, that is detected when a man joins with a woman in intercourse during her menstrual period. A woman is a delight and allurement of the body, and so watch out that the firmness of your mind not be bent and softened by the bodily pleasure of intercourse, and thus dissolve into all her embraces and open up her fountain that ought to have been shut and closed in by zealous intent and reasoned consideration.

[00:03:21]"You are an enclosed garden, a fountain sealed," says the Song of Songs. For once the firmness of the mind is dissolved, thoughts of bodily pleasure pour forth. They are very harmful and flare up into an unrestrained longing for grave danger. But if careful attention had been devoted to guarding the lively mind, it would have checked them. Consider, then, O man, who you are and to what end you maintain your life and well-being. What then is man? Soul or body or a union of both?

[00:03:49]We are one thing, our possessions are something else. He who is clothed is one person, his clothing something else. We read in the Old Testament all the souls that went into Egypt in reference to men. And elsewhere it was said, "My spirit shall not remain in those men since they are flesh." And so we read that man is used to refer to either of the two, the soul and the flesh. But the difference is this, that when the term soul is used to refer to man, the Hebrew who cleaves to God and not to the body is meant as in this passage, "A soul is blessed which is altogether sincere."

[00:04:23]But when flesh is employed in reference to man, a sinner is meant as in this passage, "But I am carnal, sold into the power of sin.

[00:04:31]For I do not understand what I do, for it is not what I wish that I do, but what I hate that I do."

[00:04:37]This sentiment appears later with reference to both terms, for he who wishes is one, he who hates is another, and he who does another.

[00:04:45]There follows, "But if I do what I hate, I consent to the law that it is good.

[00:04:50]Now therefore it is no longer I who do it, but the sin that dwells in me." This also appears more clearly, "I see a law of my flesh warring against the law of my mind and making me prisoner to the law of sin."

[00:05:02]Although Paul said that both men were at war in him, the internal and the external, yet he preferred to establish himself in the part that comprises the soul rather than in the body. For when his soul, in which he preferred to exist, was being drawn captive to sin, he confirms his preference saying, "Unhappy man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death?" Thus he desired to be delivered from an external enemy, so to speak. Therefore, the soul is not blood because blood is of the flesh, nor is the soul a harmony because harmony of this sort is also of the flesh. Neither is the soul air because blown breath is one thing and the soul something else. The soul is not fire, nor is the soul actuality, but the soul is living. For Adam became a living soul, since the soul rules and gives life to the body, which is without life or feeling.

[00:05:52]There is also the more excellent man, of whom it is said, "But the spiritual man judges all things, and he himself is judged by no man."

[00:06:00]Such a one is more excellent than others. On this account, David also says, "What is man that you are mindful of him, or the son of man that you visit him?" Man is become like to vanity. Man, according to the image of God, is not like to vanity, but he who has lost it and has fallen into sin and has tumbled into material things, such a man is like to vanity. The soul, therefore, is excellent according to its nature.

[00:06:24]But it generally becomes subject to corruption through its irrationality, so that it inclines to bodily pleasures and to willfulness, while it does not keep to moderation. Or else, it is deceived by the imagination, turns to matter, and is glued to the body.

[00:06:40]Thus, its visibility is hindered, and it is filled with evil. For while it is intent on evil, it it fills itself with vices and grows more unrestrained from the want of goodness.

[00:06:50]Moreover, the perfect soul turns away from matter, shuns and rejects everything that is excessive or inconstant or wicked, and neither sees nor approaches this earthly defilement and corruption. It is attentive to things divine, but shuns earthly matter.

[00:07:04]But its flight is not to depart from the earth, but to remain on earth, to hold to justice and temperance, to renounce the vices and material goods, not their use. Holy David fled from the face of Saul, not indeed to depart from the earth, but to turn away from the contagion of a cruel, disobedient, and treacherous man.

[00:07:22]He fled cleaving to God, just as he himself said, "My soul has stuck fast to you."

[00:07:27]He withdrew and lifted himself away from the vices of this world. He lifted up his soul, even as Isaac meditated, or as others have it, walked about in the field. For this also is evidence of a familiar association with the virtues, that each man walk about in the innocence of his own heart and no wise involves himself in earthly vices and with his mind's unhindered step takes the path that is without reproach and does not open up any place in himself to corruption.

[00:07:54]Such was Isaac as he awaited Rebecca's coming and made ready for a spiritual union. For she came already endowed with heavenly mysteries. She came bearing mighty adornments in her ears and on her arms because in her hearing and in the works of her hands there is clearly revealed the beauty of the church and we know that it was rightly said to her, "May you become thousands of myriads and may your seed possess the cities of their enemies."

[00:08:19]Therefore, the church is beautiful for she has acquired sons from hostile nations. But this passage can be interpreted in reference to the soul which subdues the bodily passions, turns them to the service of the virtues, and makes resident feelings of subject to itself.

[00:08:35]And so the soul of the patriarch Isaac seeing the mystery of Christ, seeing Rebecca coming with vessels of gold and silver as if she were the church with the people of the nations and marveling at the beauty of the word and of his sacraments says, "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth." Song of Songs.

[00:08:52]And Rebecca seeing the true Isaac, that true joy and true source of mirth, desires to kiss him. What does it mean then, "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth?"

[00:09:02]Think upon the church in suspense over many ages at the coming of the Lord long promised her through the prophets and think upon the soul lifting herself up from the body and rejecting indulgence and fleshly delights and pleasures and laying aside as well her concern for worldly vanities. For a long time now she has desired to be infused with God's presence and has desired to the grace of the word of salvation and has wasted away because he is coming late and has been struck down, wounded with love as it were since she cannot endure his delays.

[00:09:33]Turning to the Father, she asked that he sent to her the God the Word and giving the reason why she is so impatient, she says, "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth." She asked not for one kiss, but for many kisses, so that she may fulfill her desire. For as a lover, she is not satisfied with the meager offering of a single kiss, but demands many, claims many as her right, and thus has grown accustomed to recommend herself the more to her beloved. Indeed, she has gained approval in the gospel, for she has not ceased to kiss my feet.

[00:10:04]And so, her sins, many as they are, are forgiven her because she has loved much.

[00:10:10]Therefore, such a soul also desires many kisses of the word, so that she may be enlightened with the light of the knowledge of God. For this is the kiss of the word, I mean the light of holy knowledge. God the word kisses us when he enlightens our heart and man's very governing faculty with the spirit of the knowledge of God. The soul that has received this gift exults and rejoices in the pledge of wedded love, and says, "That I opened my mouth and panted." For it is with the kiss that lovers cleave to each other and gain possession of the sweetness of grace that is within, so to speak. Through such a kiss, the soul cleaves to God the word, and through the kiss, the spirit of him who kisses is poured into the soul, just as those who kiss are not satisfied to touch lightly with their lips, but appear to be pouring their spirit into each other.

[00:11:01]By the prayers of the holy Theotokos, Saint Ambrose of Milan, and all the saints, may the Lord Jesus Christ our God have mercy on us and save us. Amen.