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Objection 1: It seems that this sacrament is necessary for
salvation. For our Lord said (Jn. 6:54): "Except you eat
the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you shall not
have life in you." But Christ's flesh is eaten and His blood drunk
in this sacrament. Therefore, without this sacrament man cannot have
the health of spiritual life.
Objection 2: Further, this sacrament is a kind of spiritual food.
But bodily food is requisite for bodily health. Therefore, also is
this sacrament, for spiritual health.
Objection 3: Further, as Baptism is the sacrament of our Lord's
Passion, without which there is no salvation, so also is the
Eucharist. For the Apostle says (1 Cor. 11:26): "For as
often as you shall eat this bread, and drink the chalice, you shall
show the death of the Lord, until He come." Consequently, as
Baptism is necessary for salvation, so also is this sacrament.
On the contrary, Augustine writes (Ad Bonifac. contra Pelag.
I): "Nor are you to suppose that children cannot possess life, who
are deprived of the body and blood of Christ."
I answer that, Two things have to be considered in this sacrament,
namely, the sacrament itself, and what is contained in it. Now it
was stated above (Article 1, Objection 2) that the reality of the
sacrament is the unity of the mystical body, without which there can be
no salvation; for there is no entering into salvation outside the
Church, just as in the time of the deluge there was none outside the
Ark, which denotes the Church, according to 1 Pt.
3:20,21. And it has been said above (Question 68, Article
2), that before receiving a sacrament, the reality of the sacrament
can be had through the very desire of receiving the sacrament.
Accordingly, before actual reception of this sacrament, a man can
obtain salvation through the desire of receiving it, just as he can
before Baptism through the desire of Baptism, as stated above
(Question 68, Article 2). Yet there is a difference in two
respects. First of all, because Baptism is the beginning of the
spiritual life, and the door of the sacraments; whereas the Eucharist
is, as it were, the consummation of the spiritual life, and the end
of all the sacraments, as was observed above (Question 63,
Article 6): for by the hallowings of all the sacraments preparation
is made for receiving or consecrating the Eucharist. Consequently,
the reception of Baptism is necessary for starting the spiritual life,
while the receiving of the Eucharist is requisite for its
consummation; by partaking not indeed actually, but in desire, as an
end is possessed in desire and intention. Another difference is
because by Baptism a man is ordained to the Eucharist, and therefore
from the fact of children being baptized, they are destined by the
Church to the Eucharist; and just as they believe through the
Church's faith, so they desire the Eucharist through the Church's
intention, and, as a result, receive its reality. But they are not
disposed for Baptism by any previous sacrament, and consequently
before receiving Baptism, in no way have they Baptism in desire; but
adults alone have: consequently, they cannot have the reality of the
sacrament without receiving the sacrament itself. Therefore this
sacrament is not necessary for salvation in the same way as Baptism
is.
Reply to Objection 1: As Augustine says, explaining Jn.
6:54, "This food and this drink," namely, of His flesh and
blood: "He would have us understand the fellowship of His body and
members, which is the Church in His predestinated, and called, and
justified, and glorified, His holy and believing ones." Hence, as
he says in his Epistle to Boniface (Pseudo-Beda, in 1 Cor.
10:17): "No one should entertain the slightest doubt, that
then every one of the faithful becomes a partaker of the body and blood
of Christ, when in Baptism he is made a member of Christ's body;
nor is he deprived of his share in that body and chalice even though he
depart from this world in the unity of Christ's body, before he eats
that bread and drinks of that chalice."
Reply to Objection 2: The difference between corporeal and
spiritual food lies in this, that the former is changed into the
substance of the person nourished, and consequently it cannot avail for
supporting life except it be partaken of; but spiritual food changes
man into itself, according to that saying of Augustine (Confess.
vii), that he heard the voice of Christ as it were saying to him:
"Nor shalt thou change Me into thyself, as food of thy flesh, but
thou shalt be changed into Me." But one can be changed into
Christ, and be incorporated in Him by mental desire, even without
receiving this sacrament. And consequently the comparison does not
hold.
Reply to Objection 3: Baptism is the sacrament of Christ's death
and Passion, according as a man is born anew in Christ in virtue of
His Passion; but the Eucharist is the sacrament of Christ's
Passion according as a man is made perfect in union with Christ Who
suffered. Hence, as Baptism is called the sacrament of Faith,
which is the foundation of the spiritual life, so the Eucharist is
termed the sacrament of Charity, which is "the bond of perfection"
(Col. 3:14).
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