Whether Christ Received His Own Body and Blood?
Objection 1: It seems that Christ did not receive His own body and
blood, because nothing ought to be asserted of either Christ's doings
or sayings, which is not handed down by the authority of Sacred
Scripture. But it is not narrated in the gospels that He ate His own
body or drank His own blood. Therefore we must not assert this as a
fact.
Obj. 2: Further, nothing can be within itself except perchance by
reason of its parts, for instance, as one part is in another, as is
stated in _Phys._ iv. But what is eaten and drunk is in the eater and
drinker. Therefore, since the entire Christ is under each species of
the sacrament, it seems impossible for Him to have received this
sacrament.
Obj. 3: Further, the receiving of this sacrament is twofold, namely,
spiritual and sacramental. But the spiritual was unsuitable for
Christ, as He derived no benefit from the sacrament; and in
consequence so was the sacramental, since it is imperfect without the
spiritual, as was observed above (Q. 80, A. 1). Consequently, in no
way did Christ partake of this sacrament.
_On the contrary,_ Jerome says (Ad Hedib., Ep. xxx), "The Lord Jesus
Christ, Himself the guest and banquet, is both the partaker and what
is eaten."
_I answer that,_ Some have said that Christ during the supper gave
His body and blood to His disciples, but did not partake of it
Himself. But this seems improbable. Because Christ Himself was the
first to fulfill what He required others to observe: hence He willed
first to be baptized when imposing Baptism upon others: as we read in
Acts 1:1: "Jesus began to do and to teach." Hence He first of all
took His own body and blood, and afterwards gave it to be taken by
the disciples. And hence the gloss upon Ruth 3:7, "When he had eaten
and drunk, says: Christ ate and drank at the supper, when He gave to
the disciples the sacrament of His body and blood. Hence, 'because
the children partook [*Vulg.: 'are partakers' (Heb. 2:14)] of His
flesh and blood, He also hath been partaker in the same.'"
Reply Obj. 1: We read in the Gospels how Christ "took the bread . . .
and the chalice"; but it is not to be understood that He took them
merely into His hands, as some say, but that He took them in the same
way as He gave them to others to take. Hence when He said to the
disciples, "Take ye and eat," and again, "Take ye and drink," it is
to be understood that He Himself, in taking it, both ate and drank.
Hence some have composed this rhyme:
"The King at supper sits,
The twelve as guests He greets,
Clasping Himself in His hands,
The food Himself now eats."
Reply Obj. 2: As was said above (Q. 76, A. 5), Christ as contained
under this sacrament stands in relation to place, not according to
His own dimensions, but according to the dimensions of the
sacramental species; so that Christ is Himself in every place where
those species are. And because the species were able to be both in
the hands and the mouth of Christ, the entire Christ could be in both
His hands and mouth. Now this could not come to pass were His
relation to place to be according to His proper dimensions.
Reply Obj. 3: As was stated above (Q. 79, A. 1, ad 2), the effect of
this sacrament is not merely an increase of habitual grace, but
furthermore a certain actual delectation of spiritual sweetness. But
although grace was not increased in Christ through His receiving this
sacrament, yet He had a certain spiritual delectation from the new
institution of this sacrament. Hence He Himself said (Luke 22:15):
"With desire I have desired to eat this Pasch with you," which words
Eusebius explains of the new mystery of the New Testament, which He
gave to the disciples. And therefore He ate it both spiritually and
sacramentally, inasmuch as He received His own body under the
sacrament which sacrament of His own body He both understood and
prepared; yet differently from others who partake of it both
sacramentally and spiritually, for these receive an increase of
grace, and they have need of the sacramental signs for perceiving its
truth.
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