LETTER LXXIX. 

S. Ambrose here assures Bellicius, whose recovery from sickness had occurred just at the time when he professed himself a believer in Christ, that both his sickness and recovery were to be ascribed to his so doing, and exhorts him to endeavour to keep Christ near him, and to prepare himself with all diligence for the other Sacraments.

AMBROSE TO BELLICIUS, GREETING.

1. You have sent me word that while you were lying afflicted by a severe sickness you believed in the Lord Jesus, and straightway began to recover. This sickness therefore was unto salvation, bringing greater pain than danger, for you had long deferred your promise. This is the meaning of the text, I  wound, and I heal. He wounded by sickness, He healed by faith. For He saw that the inward affection of your mind was not without pious desires, but that they were shaken and unsettled by delays, and so He thought fit to admonish you, in a way which while it did not injure your health, excited your devotion.

2. For how should He do an injury to health Who is wont to say, as we read in the Gospel, I  will come and heal him. Being invited by your friends to visit your house He doubtless said, I  will come and heal him; Although you heard Him not, He, as God, spoke to you imperceptibly, and although you saw Him not, still beyond doubt He visited you in spirit.

3. But in truth you have seen Him, for you have believed in Him, you have seen Him, for you have received Him into the dwelling of your mind, you have seen Him in the Spirit, you have seen Him with your inward eyes. Take care then not to let this new Guest depart, long expected, late received, even Him  in Whom we live and move and have our being. You have tasted the first beginnings of faith, let not the word be hidden in your heart. Herein lies all grace and every gift. For no man judges of the secret recesses of a house by its entrance, since all the fruit is within; nor is it the part of a wise man to look from the window into the house, and it is folly for a man to listen at the door.

4. The mysteries of the more perfect Sacraments are of one kind; for the Scripture says,  Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.  Of another kind are the things which the prophets have announced concerning future glory,  unto whom it was revealed, and to whom the saints have preached the Gospel  with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the Angels desired to look into. Of another kind again are those mysteries wherein is the redemption of the world, the remission of sins, the distribution of graces, the participation of the Sacraments: when you receive these you will wonder that a gift so transcendent should have been bestowed on man, as to make the manna which we wonder should have been rained down from heaven on the Jews seem to you to have possessed neither so much grace nor so much efficacy towards salvation. For all who received this manna in the wilderness died, save Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb, whereas he who tastes this Sacrament shall never die.

May the Lord Jesus send you restoration. Farewell.

1095 EPISTOLA LXXIX.

 1269D 

 Bellicio, qui cum credidisset in Christum, e morbo convaluerat,   1270A   asserit et morbum et sanitatem ejusdem Christi tribuenda visitationi; atque ut ipsum retineat, et ad alia sacramenta properet, illum hortatur. 

AMBROSIUS BELLICIO salutem.

1. Jactatum te gravi aegritudine significasti mihi credidisse in Dominum Jesum, et jam coepisse revalescere. Ad salutem igitur ea infirmitas fuit, plus aculei quam periculi ferens; quia diu promissum remorabaris. Hoc est quod ait:  Percutiam, et sanabo (Deut. XXXII, 39). Percussit infirmitate, sanavit fide. Vidit enim interiorem affectum tuum non vacuum piae cupiditatis, sed excuti dilationibus; et ideo admonere maluit, ita ut salutem non laederet, devotionem excitaret.

 1270B 2. Quomodo enim saluti noceret, qui solet dicere, ut legimus in Evangelio:  Ego veniam, et curabo eum (Matth. VIII, 7)? Ergo et cum a tuis invitaretur, ut inviseret domum tuam, sine dubio dixit:  Ego veniam, et curabo eum. Et si non audisti eum, ille tamen quasi Deus insensibiliter locutus est: et si non vidisti eum, ille tamen quod te incorporaliter inviserit, dubitari non potest.

3. Sed vidisti eum, qui credidisti ei; vidisti eum, qui recepisti eum hospitio tuae mentis: vidisti eum spiritu, vidisti eum oculis interioribus. Tene ergo hospitem novum, diu exspectatum, sed sero susceptum: in quo et  vivimus, et sumus et movemur (Act. XVII, 28). Gustasti igitur fidei prima exordia, non fiat verbum occultum in corde tuo. Haec omnis gratia  1270C est, hoc est omne munus. Nemo enim penetralia domus de ingressu aestimat, siquidem omnis fructus in interioribus est; neque enim sapientis est a fenestra respicere in domum, et stultitia hominis audire per ostium.

4. Alia sunt sacramentorum perfectiorum mysteria; quia  Oculus non vidit, nec auris audivit, quae praeparavit Deus diligentibus eum, ut dixit Scriptura (I Cor. II, 9). Alia sunt illa, quae de gloria futura annuntiarunt prophetae, quibus revelatum est, et evangelizarunt sancti (Ibid.),  Spiritu Dei misso de coelo, in quem concupiscunt et angeli videre, ut ait apostolus Petrus (I Pet. I, 12). Alia sunt illa, in quibus est mundi redemptio, peccatorum remissio, gratiarum divisio, sacramentorum participatio: quae cum  1270D acceperis, tunc mirabere tantum donatum esse homini, ut illud manna, quod miramur fluxisse de coelo  1271A Judaeis (Exod. XVII, 15 et seq.), nec tantae gratiae nec tantae operationis judices ad salutem fuisse. Illud enim quicumque acceperunt in deserto, mortui sunt, praeter Jesum Nave, et Caleb (Num. XXXII, 12): 1096 hoc sacramentum quicumque gustaverit, non morietur in aeternum. Sanet te Dominus Jesus. Vale.