79. Let us, however, see whether the prophet
does not say that that earth is to be worshipped which the Lord Jesus
took upon Him in assuming flesh. And so, by footstool is
understood earth, but by the earth the Flesh of Christ, which we this
day also adore There can
be no doubt that St. Ambrose held what is known as the Real Presence in
the Sacrament of the Eucharist, and is here asserting the custom of his
day, viz., that Christ was worshipped as indivisibly God and Man in
that Sacrament. Similar expressions are to be found in other
Fathers, and in St. Ambrose elsewhere; e.g. De Fide, V.
10; De Mysteriis, §§ 52–54, 58. Bishop
Andrewes, formerly of Winchester (ob. a.d.
1626), refers to St. Ambrose as follows: “Nos vero et in
Mysteriis Carnem Christi adoramus cum Ambrosio, et non id, sed eum qui
super altare colitur. Nec Carnem manducamus quin adoremus prius
cum Augustino.…El Sacramentum tamen nulli
adoremus.” Resp. ad Bellarmin, p.
195. in the
mysteries, and which the apostles, as we said above, adored in the Lord
Jesus; for Christ is not divided but is one; nor, when He is adored as
the Son of God, is He denied to have been born of the Virgin.
Since, then, the mystery of the Incarnation is to be adored, and the
Incarnation is the work of the Spirit, as it is written, “The
Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall
overshadow thee, and that Holy Thing Which shall be born of thee shall
be called the Son of God,” S. Luke i. 35. without
doubt the Holy Spirit also is to be adored, since He Who according to
the flesh was born of the Holy Spirit is adored.