And
so it is Proved that Bread is made the True Body of Christ
In order that no one through
observing the outward part should waver in faith, many instances are brought
forward wherein the outward nature has been changed, and so it is proved that
bread is made the true body of Christ. The treatise then is brought to a
termination with certain remarks as to the effects of the sacrament, the
disposition of the recipients, and such like.
Perhaps you will say, “I see something else, how is it that you
assert that I receive the Body of Christ?” And this is the point which remains
for us to prove. And what evidence shall we make use of? Let us prove that this
is not what nature made, but what the blessing consecrated, and the power of
blessing is greater than that of nature, because by blessing nature itself is
changed.
Moses was holding a rod, he cast it down and it became a serpent.
Again, he took hold of the tail of the serpent and it returned to the nature of
a rod. You see that by virtue of the prophetic office there were two changes,
of the nature both of the serpent and of the rod. The streams of Egypt were
running with. a pure flow of water; of a sudden from the veins of the sources
blood began to burst forth, and none could drink of the river. Again, at the
prophet’s prayer the blood ceased, and the nature of water returned. The people
of the Hebrews were shut in on every side, hemmed in on the one hand by the
Egyptians, on the other by the sea; Moses lifted up his rod, the water divided
and hardened like walls, and a way for the feet appeared between the waves.
Jordan being turned back, returned, contrary to nature, to the source of
its stream. Is it not clear that the nature of the waves of the sea and of the
river stream was changed? The people of the fathers thirsted, Moses touched the
rock, and water flowed out of the rock. Did not grace work a result contrary to
nature, so that the rock poured forth water, which by nature it did not
contain? Marsh was a most bitter stream, so that the thirsting people could not
drink. Moses cast wood into the water, and the water lost its bitterness, which
grace of a sudden tempered. In the time of Elisha the prophet one of the sons
of the prophets lost the head from his axe, which sank. He who had lost the
iron asked Elisha, who cast in a piece of wood and the iron swam. This, too, we
clearly recognize as having happened contrary to nature, for iron is of heavier
nature than water.
We observe, then, that grace has more power than nature, and yet so
far we have only spoken of the grace of a prophet’s blessing. But if the
blessing of man had such power as to change nature, what are we to say of that
divine consecration where the very words of the Lord and Saviour operate? For
that sacrament which you receive is made what it is by the word of Christ. But
if the word of Elijah had such power as to bring down fire from heaven, shall
not the word of Christ have power to change the nature of the elements? You
read concerning the making of the whole world: “He spake and they were made, He
commanded and they were created.” Shall not the word of Christ, which was able
to make out of nothing that which was not, be able to change things which
already are into what they were not? For it is not less to give a new nature to
things than to change them.
But why make use of arguments? Let us use the examples He gives, and
by the example of the Incarnation prove the truth of the mystery. Did the
course of nature proceed as usual when the Lord Jesus was born of Mary? If we
look to the usual course, a woman ordinarily conceives after connection with a
man. And this body which we make is that which was born of the Virgin. Why do
you seek the order of nature in the Body of Christ, seeing that the Lord Jesus
Himself was born of a Virgin, not according to nature? It is the true Flesh of
Christ which crucified and buried, this is then truly the Sacrament of His
Body.
The Lord Jesus Himself proclaims: “This is My Body.” Before the
blessing of the heavenly words another nature is spoken of, after the
consecration the Body is signified. He Himself speaks of His Blood. Before the
consecration it has another name, after it is called Blood. And you say, Amen,
that is, It is true. Let the heart within confess what the mouth utters, let
the soul feel what the voice speaks.
Christ, then, feeds His Church with these sacraments, by means of
which the substance of the soul is strengthened, and seeing the continual
progress of her grace, He rightly says to her: “How comely are thy breasts, my
sister, my spouse, how comely they are made by wine, and the smell of thy
garments is above all spices. A dropping honeycomb are thy lips, my spouse,
honey and milk are under thy tongue, and the smell of thy garments is as the
smell of Lebanon. A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse, a garden enclosed,
a fountain sealed.” By which He signifies that the mystery ought to remain
sealed up with you, that it be not violated by the deeds of an evil life, and
pollution of chastity, that it be not made known to thou, for whom it is not
fitting, nor by garrulous talkativeness it be spread abroad amongst
unbelievers. Your guardianship of the faith ought therefore to be good, that
integrity of life and silence may endure unblemished.
For which reason, too, the Church, guarding the depth of the
heavenly mysteries, repels the furious storms of wind, and calls to her the
sweetness of the grace of spring, and knowing that her garden cannot displease
Christ, invites the Bridegroom, saying: “Arise, O north wind, and come, thou
south; blow upon my garden, and let my ointments flow down. Let my Brother come
down to His garden, and eat the fruit of His trees.” For it has good trees and
fruitful, which have dipped their roots in the water of the sacred spring, and
with fresh growth have shot forth into good fruits, so as now not to be cut
with the axe of the prophet, but to abound with the fruitfulness of the Gospel.
Lastly, the Lord also, delighted with their fertility, answers: “I
have entered into My garden, My sister, My spouse; I have gathered My myrrh
with My spices, I have eaten My meat with My honey, I have drunk My drink with
My milk.” Understand, you faithful, why He spoke of meat and drink. And there
is no doubt that He Himself eats and drinks in us, as you have read that He
says that in our persons He is in prison.
Wherefore, too, the Church, beholding so great grace, exhorts her
sons and her friends to come together to the sacraments, saying: “Eat, my
friends, and drink and be inebriated, my brother.” What we eat and what we
drink the Holy Spirit has elsewhere made plain by the prophet, saying, “Taste
and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man that hopeth in Him.” In that
sacrament is Christ, because it is the Body of Christ, it is therefore not
bodily food but spiritual. Whence the Apostle says of its type: “Our fathers
ate spiritual food and drank spiritual drink,” for the Body of God is a
spiritual body; the Body of Christ is the Body of the Divine Spirit, for the
Spirit is Christ, as we read: “The Spirit before our face is Christ the Lord.”
And in the Epistle of Peter we read: “Christ died for us.” Lastly, that food
strengthens our heart, and that drink “maketh glad the heart of man,” as the
prophet has recorded.
So, then, having obtained everything, let us know that we are born
again, but let us not say, How are we born again? Have we entered a second time
into our mother’s womb and been born again? I do not recognize here the course
of nature. But here there is no order of nature, where is the excellence of
grace. And again, it is not always the course of nature which brings about
conception, for we confess that Christ the Lord was conceived of a Virgin, and
reject the order of nature. For Mary conceived not of man, but was with child
of the Holy Spirit, as Matthew says: “She was found with child of the Holy
Spirit.” If, then, the Holy Spirit coming down upon the Virgin wrought the
conception, and effected the work of generation, surely we must not doubt but
that, coming down upon the Font, or upon those who receive Baptism, He effects
the reality of the new birth.
By Saint Ambrose of
Milan, On the Mysteries
Photo
taken from Wikimedia Commons
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