Whether the Body of Christ Be in This Sacrament in Very Truth, or
Merely As in a Figure or Sign?
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 (John 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."
Obj. 2: Further, our Lord said (Matt. 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.
Obj. 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.
Obj. 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 John 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 Luke 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 (Matt. 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 (John
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 John 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 Obj. 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 John 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 Obj. 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 (Matt. 26:11): "But Me you have
not always." Nevertheless He is invisibly under the species of this
sacrament, wherever this sacrament is performed.
Reply Obj. 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 Obj. 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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