Chapter XII.
The heavenly sacraments are revealed to those who confess their sins: when these uncertain things are said in the psalm, it is signified that they are not made manifest; but especially in this place, the washing of baptism is prefigured.
While she was saying these things, and confessing the filth of special and common sins, suddenly the splendor of truth and the brightness of spiritual grace shone upon her. Having surpassed the shadow, by the prophetic spirit she herself saw the sacraments of celestial mysteries, of which Moses had foreshadowed in the Law (Exod. XXIV, 7 and following). Therefore, wounded by the wound of charity, and captured by the desire to investigate truth, she extended the gaze of her mind to higher things, and foreseeing future things, she saw treasures of wisdom and knowledge in Christ, she foreknew the sacrament of baptism and, amazed, she suddenly exclaimed, saying: Behold, for you have loved truth: you have revealed to me the uncertain and hidden things of your wisdom (Psal. L, 8). The mysteries are not uncertain, because they are certain; nor are the secrets and hidden things of wisdom uncertain, but not yet revealed. For this signifies that they have not yet been made clear. For eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love Him. Therefore, seeing these things, He says: 'Behold, now no longer in shadow, nor in figure, nor in type, but in truth the open light shines forth: behold, now I see the truth, I acknowledge the splendor of truth: now I worship You, O Lord our God, with greater devotion.' For behold, you have loved the truth, not by mirror, not in an enigma, but face to face you have shown yourself to me, O Christ; in your sacraments I find you. These are the true sacraments of your wisdom, by which the hidden aspects of the mind are cleansed.
Therefore, now happy and secure, because the fullness of wisdom had been revealed to him, he says to the Lord: You will sprinkle me with hyssop, and I will be cleansed; you will wash me, and I will be made whiter than snow (Psalm 50:9). And indeed, it does not empty the sacraments of the Old Testament, but it teaches that the mysteries of the Gospel are to be preferred; it demands to be cleansed with hyssop according to the Law (Exodus 12:22); it desires to be washed according to the Gospel; and it considers itself to be made whiter than snow if it has been cleansed. He was sprinkled with a bundle of hyssop with the blood of the lamb (Lev. 14:6), who desired to be cleansed by a symbolic baptism. But the one who is washed is cleansed by the flowing waters of the eternal font, and is made white as snow, and their guilt is forgiven. Finally, it is said of the soul itself: 'Who is she that ascends, purified?' (Song of Sol. 8:5). Before being baptized, she is the one who says: 'I am black but beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem' (Song of Sol. 1:4). For she was black, dark, and disfigured by the horror of sins; but after being cleansed through baptism, she merits the forgiveness of her offenses and ascends to Christ, made white. Then the Lord spoke through Isaiah, saying: 'If your sins are like scarlet, I will make them white as snow' (Isaiah 1:18), meaning, if they are bloody, if they are foul, I will cleanse them. This is the intelligible snow, of which it is said that the garments of the Lord Jesus shone like snow in the Gospel (Matthew 17:2), because sin did not know Him. For the flesh He put on was free from all defilement. Why do you marvel that He saw the sacraments of baptism, when He said above, in describing the Lord's passion: 'The Lord feeds me, and I lack nothing; He has placed me in a green pasture, and He has led me by the water of refreshment' (Psalm 23:2). And elsewhere: The voice of the Lord is upon the waters, the God of majesty hath thundered (Psalm 28:3). And concerning the same sacrament, He hath spoken more fully: Thou hast prepared a table before me, thou hast anointed my head with oil, and thy chalice which inebriateth me, how goodly is it! (Psalm 22:5).