Transfiguration or Mary on Easter morning or the saints in heaven they cannot but be
ravished by the overwhelming sight of Jesus’ beauty.
Ambrose follows the pattern of Bernard in emphasizing the importance and
interaction of the intellectual and affective development of ravishment.^105 He declares
that his method of meditation is to “begin in the understanding [and] end in the
affections.” Here he quotes Bernard in a familiar passage related to the integration of
these two approaches, “[f]or as holy contemplation has two forms of ecstasy, one in
the intellect, the other in the will; one of enlightenment, the other fervor.”^106 Scholars
indicate while the Cistercian abbot desired a balance he often preferred the affective
dimension.^107 This was likely due both to his resistance to the more intellectual
approach of his rival Peter Abelard and the less stable nature of the intellect since the
Fall.^108 Ambrose asserts that the intellectual forms the foundation for the affective
and a careful reading of his uses of ravishment confirms that he consistently follows
this pattern. Further, if the intellect is lacking there cannot be any affective response.
This is clearly revealed by those who foolishly neglect the spiritual duties that could
provide a rich experience of Jesus. Ambrose bewails this sadness, “[t]hey have not
that love to Christ, which Christs beholders have; they meditate not upon Christ as
lovers on their love; they delight not themselves in Christ... Surely they have no
flaming, burning love to Christ... O they feel not those ravishing comforts, which
usually Christ speaks to the heart, when he speaks from his heart in love.”^109 Further,
in a revealing passage Ambrose declares, “Christs inward beauty would ravish love
(^105) McGinn discusses the interplay of k (^) nowledge and love in Bernard. Growth of
Mysticism 106 , 200-3.
107 Ambrose, Media (1657), 222. This reference is to Bernard SCC 49.4.^
108 See Casey, Athirst for God, 100 and Butler, Western Mysticism, 102.^
109 McGinn, Ambrose, Growth of MysticismLooking Unto Jesus, 34, cf. 35. , 201.^