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Objection 1: It seems that the body of Christ is not in this
sacrament in very truth, but only as in a figure, or sign. For it is
written (Jn. 6:54) that when our Lord had uttered these words:
"Except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His
blood," etc., "Many of His disciples on hearing it said: 'this
is a hard saying'": to whom He rejoined: "It is the spirit that
quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing": as if He were to say,
according to Augustine's exposition on Ps. 4 [On Ps.
98:9]: "Give a spiritual meaning to what I have said. You are
not to eat this body which you see, nor to drink the blood which they
who crucify Me are to spill. It is a mystery that I put before you:
in its spiritual sense it will quicken you; but the flesh profiteth
nothing."
Objection 2: Further, our Lord said (Mt. 28:20):
"Behold I am with you all days even to the consummation of the
world." Now in explaining this, Augustine makes this observation
(Tract. xxx in Joan.): "The Lord is on high until the world be
ended; nevertheless the truth of the Lord is here with us; for the
body, in which He rose again, must be in one place; but His truth
is spread abroad everywhere." Therefore, the body of Christ is not
in this sacrament in very truth, but only as in a sign.
Objection 3: Further, no body can be in several places at the one
time. For this does not even belong to an angel; since for the same
reason it could be everywhere. But Christ's is a true body, and it
is in heaven. Consequently, it seems that it is not in very truth in
the sacrament of the altar, but only as in a sign.
Objection 4: Further, the Church's sacraments are ordained for
the profit of the faithful. But according to Gregory in a certain
Homily (xxviii in Evang.), the ruler is rebuked "for demanding
Christ's bodily presence." Moreover the apostles were prevented
from receiving the Holy Ghost because they were attached to His
bodily presence, as Augustine says on Jn. 16:7: "Except I
go, the Paraclete will not come to you" (Tract. xciv in
Joan.). Therefore Christ is not in the sacrament of the altar
according to His bodily presence.
On the contrary, Hilary says (De Trin. viii): "There is no
room for doubt regarding the truth of Christ's body and blood; for
now by our Lord's own declaring and by our faith His flesh is truly
food, and His blood is truly drink." And Ambrose says (De
Sacram. vi): "As the Lord Jesus Christ is God's true Son so
is it Christ's true flesh which we take, and His true blood which we
drink."
I answer that, The presence of Christ's true body and blood in this
sacrament cannot be detected by sense, nor understanding, but by faith
alone, which rests upon Divine authority. Hence, on Lk.
22:19: "This is My body which shall be delivered up for you,"
Cyril says: "Doubt not whether this be true; but take rather the
Saviour's words with faith; for since He is the Truth, He lieth
not."
Now this is suitable, first for the perfection of the New Law.
For, the sacrifices of the Old Law contained only in figure that
true sacrifice of Christ's Passion, according to Heb. 10:1:
"For the law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very
image of the things." And therefore it was necessary that the
sacrifice of the New Law instituted by Christ should have something
more, namely, that it should contain Christ Himself crucified, not
merely in signification or figure, but also in very truth. And
therefore this sacrament which contains Christ Himself, as Dionysius
says (Eccl. Hier. iii), is perfective of all the other
sacraments, in which Christ's virtue is participated.
Secondly, this belongs to Christ's love, out of which for our
salvation He assumed a true body of our nature. And because it is the
special feature of friendship to live together with friends, as the
Philosopher says (Ethic. ix), He promises us His bodily presence
as a reward, saying (Mt. 24:28): "Where the body is, there
shall the eagles be gathered together." Yet meanwhile in our
pilgrimage He does not deprive us of His bodily presence; but unites
us with Himself in this sacrament through the truth of His body and
blood. Hence (Jn. 6:57) he says: "He that eateth My
flesh, and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me, and I in him."
Hence this sacrament is the sign of supreme charity, and the uplifter
of our hope, from such familiar union of Christ with us.
Thirdly, it belongs to the perfection of faith, which concerns His
humanity just as it does His Godhead, according to Jn. 14:1:
"You believe in God, believe also in Me." And since faith is of
things unseen, as Christ shows us His Godhead invisibly, so also in
this sacrament He shows us His flesh in an invisible manner.
Some men accordingly, not paying heed to these things, have contended
that Christ's body and blood are not in this sacrament except as in a
sign, a thing to be rejected as heretical, since it is contrary to
Christ's words. Hence Berengarius, who had been the first deviser
of this heresy, was afterwards forced to withdraw his error, and to
acknowledge the truth of the faith.
Reply to Objection 1: From this authority the aforesaid heretics
have taken occasion to err from evilly understanding Augustine's
words. For when Augustine says: "You are not to eat this body
which you see," he means not to exclude the truth of Christ's body,
but that it was not to be eaten in this species in which it was seen by
them. And by the words: "It is a mystery that I put before you;
in its spiritual sense it will quicken you," he intends not that the
body of Christ is in this sacrament merely according to mystical
signification, but "spiritually," that is, invisibly, and by the
power of the spirit. Hence (Tract. xxvii), expounding Jn.
6:64: "the flesh profiteth nothing," he says: "Yea, but as
they understood it, for they understood that the flesh was to be eaten
as it is divided piecemeal in a dead body, or as sold in the shambles,
not as it is quickened by the spirit . . . Let the spirit draw nigh
to the flesh . . . then the flesh profiteth very much: for if the
flesh profiteth nothing, the Word had not been made flesh, that It
might dwell among us."
Reply to Objection 2: That saying of Augustine and all others like
it are to be understood of Christ's body as it is beheld in its proper
species; according as our Lord Himself says (Mt. 26:11):
"But Me you have not always." Nevertheless He is invisibly under
the species of this sacrament, wherever this sacrament is performed.
Reply to Objection 3: Christ's body is not in this sacrament in
the same way as a body is in a place, which by its dimensions is
commensurate with the place; but in a special manner which is proper to
this sacrament. Hence we say that Christ's body is upon many
altars, not as in different places, but "sacramentally": and
thereby we do not understand that Christ is there only as in a sign,
although a sacrament is a kind of sign; but that Christ's body is
here after a fashion proper to this sacrament, as stated above.
Reply to Objection 4: This argument holds good of Christ's bodily
presence, as He is present after the manner of a body, that is, as
it is in its visible appearance, but not as it is spiritually, that
is, invisibly, after the manner and by the virtue of the spirit.
Hence Augustine (Tract. xxvii in Joan.) says: "If thou hast
understood" Christ's words spiritually concerning His flesh, "they
are spirit and life to thee; if thou hast understood them carnally,
they are also spirit and life, but not to thee."
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