meditation. Previously the Holy Spirit’s essential responsibility for creating the bond
of spiritual marriage was noted. Now the Spirit’s role is further reinforced as
Ambrose declares “it is the Spirit of God” who “make[s] us heavenly minded” and
“lifts up our souls towards heaven.”^201
Returning to Jesus’ Ascension it becomes clear that this event provided his
early disciples with important lessons in the art of looking or beholding. This
accounts for Ambrose’s emphasis on the importance of “looking off” the world and its
many distractions so that a person could be “looking on” Jesus.^202 It is essential to
make this choice “[b]ecause we cannot look fixedly on Christ, and such things
together, and at once; the eye cannot look upwards and downwards, at once in a direct
line; we cannot seriously minde heaven and earth in one thought.”^203 Further, he
instructs his auditors that there are two ways of looking, ocular or mental “or the
inward eye” and further, mental looking can be “either notional and theoretical; or
practical and experimental.”^204 The entire focus of Looking Unto Jesus is
experimental as it “stirs up the affections.”^205 Ambrose bemoans the soul’s meager
interest in following Jesus’ example when he writes “[c]onsider that Christ looked off
heaven and heavenly things for you, how much more should you look off the earth
and earthly things, the world and worldly things for him.”^206
Ambrose employs a triad of words to capture the depth of this visio Dei,
looking, beholding, and gazing. Jesus is the object of focus in every situation.
(^201) Ambrose, Looking Unto Jesus (^) , 846.
(^202) Ambrose, Looking Unto Jesus, 5.
(^203) Ambrose, Looking Unto Jesus, 10.
(^204) Ambrose, Looking Unto Jesus, 18-9.
(^205206) Ambrose, Looking Unto Jesus, 22-3.
Ambrose, Looking Unto Jesus, 14.