contemplated since Ambrose takes readers through a complete cycle from the time
before Jesus’ birth until the final judgment. Ambrose’s strong emphasis upon looking
unto Jesus as a synonym for contemplation provides another very critical insight. For
Ambrose and the Puritans, contemplation had a strong relational dimension that was
directed toward a specific person, Jesus or God rather than some abstract truth. This
is very significant for their understanding of spiritual marriage. People relate to Jesus
Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit to the glory of God. Robert Webber,
cognizant of that distinction, asserts that during the later medieval period
“[s]pirituality, which was once a contemplation of God’s saving acts, now
contemplated the self and the interior life.”^192 Ambrose and his fellow Puritans
decidedly altered this focus in their contemplation since the only appropriate response
to God’s love was to love God in return. However, before proceeding further it must
be acknowledged that Ambrose, like many other spiritual writers, did not always use
the term contemplation consistently. There are some occasions when his language
suggests more of the sense to think or ponder than a mystical gazing or intense loving
focus upon some aspect of God or God’s creation.^193
Ambrose reflects Calvin’s previously mentioned emphasis on Jesus’
Ascension and heavenly-mindedness. Accordingly “what is heaven but to be with
Christ” and “what is this communion with Christ, but very heaven aforehand.”^194
Once a person’s betrothal to Jesus in spiritual marriage was sealed that person would
hunger and desire a deepening sense of being in a growing union and communion
with Jesus and to taste the joys of heaven more fully until the fullness in heaven was
(^192) Webber, Divine Embrace (^) , 51. (^)
(^193) See for example Ambrose, Looking Unto Jesus, 506 (incorrectly numbered 514),
509 (incorrectly numbered 517). (^194) Ambrose, Looking Unto Jesus (^) , 1161 (incorrectly numbered 1061), 40.