Whether Christ Received and Gave to the Disciples His Impassible Body?
Objection 1: It seems that Christ both received and gave to the
disciples His impassible body. Because on Matt. 17:2, "He was
transfigured before them," the gloss says: "He gave to the disciples
at the supper that body which He had through nature, but neither
mortal nor passible." And again, on Lev. 2:5, "if thy oblation be
from the frying-pan," the gloss says: "The Cross mightier than all
things made Christ's flesh fit for being eaten, which before the
Passion did not seem so suited." But Christ gave His body as suited
for eating. Therefore He gave it just as it was after the Passion,
that is, impassible and immortal.
Obj. 2: Further, every passible body suffers by contact and by being
eaten. Consequently, if Christ's body was passible, it would have
suffered both from contact and from being eaten by the disciples.
Obj. 3: Further, the sacramental words now spoken by the priest in
the person of Christ are not more powerful than when uttered by
Christ Himself. But now by virtue of the sacramental words it is
Christ's impassible and immortal body which is consecrated upon the
altar. Therefore, much more so was it then.
_On the contrary,_ As Innocent III says (De Sacr. Alt. Myst. iv), "He
bestowed on the disciples His body such as it was." But then He had a
passible and a mortal body. Therefore, He gave a passible and mortal
body to the disciples.
_I answer that,_ Hugh of Saint Victor (Innocent III, De Sacr. Alt.
Myst. iv), maintained, that before the Passion, Christ assumed at
various times the four properties of a glorified body--namely,
subtlety in His birth, when He came forth from the closed womb of the
Virgin; agility, when He walked dryshod upon the sea; clarity, in the
Transfiguration; and impassibility at the Last Supper, when He gave
His body to the disciples to be eaten. And according to this He gave
His body in an impassible and immortal condition to His disciples.
But whatever may be the case touching the other qualities, concerning
which we have already stated what should be held (Q. 28, A. 2, ad 3;
Q. 45, A. 2), nevertheless the above opinion regarding impassibility
is inadmissible. For it is manifest that the same body of Christ
which was then seen by the disciples in its own species, was received
by them under the sacramental species. But as seen in its own species
it was not impassible; nay more, it was ready for the Passion.
Therefore, neither was Christ's body impassible when given under the
sacramental species.
Yet there was present in the sacrament, in an impassible manner, that
which was passible of itself; just as that was there invisibly which
of itself was visible. For as sight requires that the body seen be in
contact with the adjacent medium of sight, so does passion require
contact of the suffering body with the active agents. But Christ's
body, according as it is under the sacrament, as stated above (A. 1,
ad 2; Q. 76, A. 5), is not compared with its surroundings through the
intermediary of its own dimensions, whereby bodies touch each other,
but through the dimensions of the bread and wine; consequently, it is
those species which are acted upon and are seen, but not Christ's own
body.
Reply Obj. 1: Christ is said not to have given His mortal and
passible body at the supper, because He did not give it in mortal and
passible fashion. But the Cross made His flesh adapted for eating,
inasmuch as this sacrament represents Christ's Passion.
Reply Obj. 2: This argument would hold, if Christ's body, as it was
passible, were also present in a passible manner in this sacrament.
Reply Obj. 3: As stated above (Q. 76, A. 4), the accidents of
Christ's body are in this sacrament by real concomitance, but not by
the power of the sacrament, whereby the substance of Christ's body
comes to be there. And therefore the power of the sacramental words
extends to this, that the body, i.e. Christ's, is under this
sacrament, whatever accidents really exist in it.
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