Whether the Eucharist Is Necessary for Salvation?
Objection 1: It seems that this sacrament is necessary for salvation.
For our Lord said (John 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.
Obj. 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.
Obj. 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 (A. 1, Obj. 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 Pet. 3:20, 21. And it has been
said above (Q. 68, A. 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 (Q. 68, A. 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 (Q. 63, A. 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 Obj. 1: As Augustine says, explaining John 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 Obj. 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 Obj. 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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