Excerpt from
Ambrose of Milan's Method of Mystagogical Preaching
The Gospel of Matthew Year A
Craig Alan Satterlee
© The Order of St. Benedict, Inc., Collegeville, Minnesota. All rights reserved. No part of this may be reproduced by any means, without the written permission of The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota 56321.

Content

Preface

Introduction

CHAPTER 1
“YOU SAW WHAT IS SEEN, BUT NOT WHAT IS DONE”: THE NEED FOR MYSTAGOGY

The Need for Mystagogy

Hypothesis

The Investigation

Why Study Ambrose?

Method

Excursus: The Critical Problem of De sacramentis

CHAPTER 2
“HAVING BEEN RENEWED BY BAPTISM, HOLD FAST TO THE STYLE OF LIFE THAT BEFITS THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN WASHED CLEAN”: SETTING THE STAGE

Birth, Family, and Faith Formation

Education

The Governor and his City

Election as Bishop

The Bishop and the Empire

Ambrose the Pastor

The Moral Leader

Ambrose’s Private Side

Ambrose the Theologian

Ambrose the Saint

CHAPTER 3
“I YIELD TO MY DESIRE TO TEACH”: AMBROSE: THE PREACHER

Ambrose the Preacher

Ambrose on Preaching

What Made Ambrose an Effective Preacher?

Reflection: The Pneumatic Dimension of the Preacher

Appraising Our Portrait

CHAPTER 4
“THIS FAMILY CLOTHED IN WHITE”: THE NEWLY BAPTIZED OF MILAN: THE LISTENERS

Listening to the Listeners

The Newly Baptized of Milan

The Church of Milan

The Decision to Be Baptized

Mystagogy in Context

Summary

The Newly Baptized as Participants in Mystagogy

Think, Feel, Decide, and Do

The Neophytes’ Ability to Listen

Involving the Neophytes in Mystagogy

Catechetical Style

Recreating the Neophytes’ Experience

Speaking for the Neophytes

Reflection: The Pneumatic Dimension of the Listeners

CHAPTER 5
“I SHALL BEGIN NOW TO SPEAK OF THE SACRAMENTS WHICH YOU HAVE RECEIVED”:
INITIATION IN MILAN: THE TEXT

Initiation in Milan

Stage One: Enrollment

Stage Two: Lenten Formation

Lenten Instruction

Fasting

Scrutinies

Creed

Disciplina Arcani

Stage Three: The Rites of Initiation

Ephphatha

Entrance into the Baptistry

Prebaptismal Anointing

Renunciation

Exorcism and Consecration of the Water

Baptism: Decent into the Font, Baptismal Profession and Immersion, Coming Out of the Pool

Postbaptismal Anointing

Washing of the Feet of the Neophytes

Vesting with White Robes

Spiritual Seal

Procession to the Altar

Stage Four: Easter Eucharist

Liturgy and Mystagogy

The Rites are Inseparable from Scripture

Explanation Follows Experience

The Rites are God’s Means of Giving Faith

The Rites are Specific and Authentic

The Rites are Means and Not Ends

The Rites are the Continuing Drama of Salvation

The Rites Speak Symbolically

The Rites are a Mystery

Interpretation of the Rites Is in Keeping with Their History, Structure, and Theology

A Variety of Methods Is Used to Incorporate and Interpret the Liturgical “Text”

Direct and Uncritical Transfer of the Text to the Listener

Allegorical Interpretation of the Text

Typological Interpretation of the Text

Interpretation of the Intent of the Text

Thematic Interpretation

Interpretation by Translation of the Text

Reflection: The Pneumatic Dimension of the Rites

CHAPTER 6
“GATHER FROM THE HOLY SCRIPTURES”: INTERPRETING THE RITES

The Importance of Scripture

Selecting the Text

Scripture and Mystagogy

The Mystery of Scripture

Methods of Interpretation

Typology

Allegory

Construction of Intricate Chains of Reasoning

Interpretation by Translation

Direct and Uncritical Transfer of the Text

Means of Incorporation

Quotation

Narration

Summary

Allusion

Speaking the Bible

Reflection: The Pneumatic Dimension of Scripture as Interpreter of the Rites

CHAPTER 7
“MILKY SPEECH”: THE SHAPE OF MYSTAGOGY

The Shape of De sacramentis

Overall Structure

The Structure of the Sermons

Using Inductive Reasoning

Providing Definition

Moving From Problem to Solution

Progressing from the Lesser to the Greater

Flashback

Enriching the Structure

Language

Description

Illustration

Tone

Summary

Structure and Mystagogy

Unity

Ecclesial Consciousness

Recognition

Identification

Anticipation

Intimacy

Reflection: The Pneumatic Dimension of the Shape of Mystagogy

CHAPTER 8
“BUT NOW MY VOICE GROWS WEAK AND TIME IS RUNNING OUT”:
MYSTAGOGY AS PROCLAMATION EVENT

Why Delivery Is Essential to Effective Preaching

Essential Components of Effective Sermon Delivery

The Preacher

Attitude

Character of the Preacher

Habits

Style and Method of Delivery

Voice

Nonverbal Communication

The Liturgical Context

The Architectural Setting

Reflection: The Pneumatic Dimension of Sermon Delivery

CHAPTER 9
“WE TOO ARE NOT WITHOUT DISCERNMENT”:
DISCERNING A METHOD OF MYSTAGOGICAL PREACHING

Question Ambrose’s Assumptions

God’s Presence and Activity in the Rites

Church and Culture

Explanation and Participation

The Preacher: Steward of the Mysteries and Spiritual Guide

The Patristic Approach to Scripture

Summary

Arrive at the Message

Establish the “Text”

Evaluate the Rites

Interpret the Rites

Begin with the Rites Themselves

Turn to Scripture

Use Several Tools of Interpretation

Typology

Allegory

Chains of Reasoning

Intent of the Text

Translation

Direct and Uncritical Transfer of the Text

Pile Up Meanings

Rely on the Church’s Tradition

Spell Out the Implication of Participating in the Rites

Summary

Craft the Homily

The Structure of Mystagogy

Enriching the Structure

Language

Description

Illustration

Incorporate the Texts of Liturgy and Scripture

Tone

Summary

Retrace the Journey

The Preacher

The Liturgical Context

The Architectural Setting

Applying Our Method

Question Ambrose’s Assumptions

Arrive at the Message

Craft the Homily

Retrace the Journey

Reflection: The Pneumatic Dimension of a Method of Mystagogy

Conclusion

BIBLIOGRAPHY

PREFACE

Although written in the context of Notre Dame’s doctoral program in liturgical history and homiletics, this study grows out of more than a dozen years of parish ministry. Confronted by a culture that increasingly cannot be counted on to reinforce the Christian faith or participate in the formation of Christians, the Church today questions the nature of the connection between Word and Sacrament on the one hand and liturgy and mission on the other. Today the Church is struggling to make worship relevant to people’s lives and to articulate how baptism and the Eucharist are formative and reflective of the everyday life of faith, and not merely an eschatological sacrament and a memorial of Christ.

As I sought to answer these questions and address these concerns in the course of pastoral ministry, I looked to the history of the liturgy, particularly to the period of the early Church. I was intrigued by the catechumenate, which uses liturgy to form Christians and takes seriously that they live in a culture at odds with the faith. I was particularly fascinated by the period of mystagogy or postbaptismal catechesis, which is characterized by sermons that probe the mysteries, the rites of initiation, for their biblical resonances and importance for Christian life. I found that while this type of preaching holds great potential for the Church today, it remains largely undefined. While we know what the Fathers did in the period of mystagogy or postbaptismal catechesis, we do not know how they did it.

The goal of this volume is to develop a method of mystagogical preaching for today’s Church by looking at the sermons of Ambrose of Milan and asking, What did Ambrose do and how did he do it? The hypothesis of this study is that our best way to learn how to preach mystagogically is by using one of the fourth-century mystagogues as our guide. In this regard this work is a case study, one way of doing mystagogy. In very broad terms, it is modeled after William Harmless’s Augustine and the Catechumenate¹ and is rightly understood as a companion volume to that work. In order to address every stage of the process of sermon preparation, from the influence of the preacher and the listeners to the text and its interpretation to crafting and delivering the sermon, I present topics beyond preaching and liturgy. Still, this study is neither an exhaustive biography of Saint Ambrose nor a complete history of the Church of Milan nor a detailed analysis of patristic exegesis. While this volume is primarily intended for preachers, pastors, catechists, and all who are interested in exploring the depth of the meaning of the Christian sacraments and their implications for daily life, it will also be of interest to those who study early liturgy, early Church history, and the history of preaching, especially since the subject of Ambrose as a preacher remains largely unexplored.

Inasmuch as the task I am undertaking is to develop a method of mystagogical preaching, I have structured this study using headings, points, and stages. My intention is to provide the reader with a clear path through the process of sermon preparation and delivery and clear markers along the way. The risk is that the structure of this study may strike some readers as a bit schematic, make the process seem mechanical, and make Ambrose’s preaching seem flat. My hope is that this criticism is balanced by the ease with which readers can return to this work in order to review a particular topic or answer a specific question. As for Ambrose’s preaching, this study is in many ways a commentary on De sacramentis and De mysteriis. Consequently, it is best to read this volume with Ambrose’s mystagogical works close at hand.

INTRODUCTION

This volume proposes a method of mystagogy for today’s Church based on the preaching of Ambrose of Milan. Mystagogy (mystagogia) is sustained reflection on the Church’s rites of initiation, preaching on the “mysteries” of the Christian faith. Mystagogy is scripturally based, takes place within a liturgical setting, is addressed exclusively to the Christian community, and has as its goal the formation of Christians rather than providing religious information to Christians. Mystagogy draws the hearers into the mysteries, moving them to enter spiritually and intellectu ally into the rites in which they have previously participated but may have understood only in terms of sense-perception. Thus, the ultimate goal of this sustained reflection is to have a persuasive, enlightening, deepening effect on the hearers’ understanding of the Church’s rites of initiation so that their experience of the mysteries leads them to live the Christian life.

The hypothesis of this study is that our best way to learn to preach mystagogically is by using a fourth-century mystagogue as our guide. This hypothesis rests on three realities: we need a method of mystagogy based on actual practice; we have no such contemporary models; and the works of the early Church were used to create contemporary ministries of Christian formation such as the R.C.I.A.

Chapter 1 establishes the need for mystagogy: to provide both a better understanding of the period of postbaptismal catechesis in ministries of Christian formation such as the R.C.I.A. and effective sacramental catechesis generally. Chapter 2 lays out the historical context of Ambrose and his Church. Chapters 3 through 8 are a series of six historical studies:on Ambrose as preacher, on the neophytes of Milan as audience, on the rites of initiation as the “text” on which mystagogy is based, on Ambrose’s use of Scripture to interpret that text, on the way he crafts these sermons, and on the characteristics of his delivery. Then, in the last chapter, we do as Ambrose reports to have done and discern from the practice of others what it is well for us to maintain by proposing a method of mystagogy for the contemporary Church.