ANSWERS TO CERTAIN OBJECTIONS BROUGHT AGAINST THE DOCTRINE OF THE BLESSED
EUCHARIST.
Many and great difficulties are wont to arise in man’s mind concerning
the dogma of the Blessed Eucharist. We, therefore, deem it expedient,
to devote some space to their consideration. When we declare that the
whole Body of Christ is contained in a little bread, and all His Blood
in a little wine; and that, at the same time, the whole Christ is in
Heaven; it seems as if we were affirming an impossibility. For Christ
can only be present in this Sacrament in one of two ways. Either, the
bread is changed into the Body of Christ; and this appears to be out
of the question. For a thing into which another thing is changed, has
no existence before this change; it only begins to exist when this
change has taken place. If, then, the bread be changed into the Body of
Christ, His Body cannot have existed before the bread was changed into
It; just as the serpent into which the rod of Aaron was changed had no
existence previous to this miracle. Thus, the Body of Christ which is in
the Blessed Eucharist, is not the Body which is in Heaven, but another
Body newly produced. Or else, we may say that the Body of Christ which
is in Heaven, comes by local movement into the Blessed Sacrament. But
this seems, likewise, impossible. Firstly, because, unless His Body
left Heaven altogether, it would have to be in two places at once.
Secondly, because local movement cannot terminate in more than one place
at the same time; and we know that many Hosts are consecrated at once.
Thirdly, because one Body cannot be in more than one place at the same
moment. How, also, can a full-grown Body be contained in a little Host,
and all Its Blood in a small chalice? Again, it seems impossible that
accidents can exist without their substance; the more so as we know, by
experience, that the consecrated bread and wine do what accidents alone
could not do—(_e.g._, nourish, warm, and strengthen the body)—and that
the consecrated wine, if consumed to excess, would produce intoxication.
Furthermore, the consecrated elements are subject to vicissitudes,
such as burning, putrefaction, etc., which could not affect mere
accidents. And, again, if the elements be divided into small particles,
how can the Body of Christ be present in each fraction? Our answer to
these objections is that which we have made before, _viz._, that the
infinite power of God can do more than we can conceive; and that, what
is impossible to nature and to man, is possible to Him. In the Blessed
Eucharist there is nothing beyond the power of God. For we say that the
Body and Blood of Christ are present in this Sacrament by conversion.
And this is not impossible to God, although it is impossible to nature,
which cannot change one thing into another thing already in existence.
If the infinite power of God can create something out of nothing, can it
not, much more, cause one substance to be transformed into another, and
therefore the substance of bread and wine to become the substance of the
Body and Blood of Christ?
Since, then, the Body of Christ is not present in the Blessed Eucharist
by local movement, _i.e._, by descent from Heaven into the Host, but
solely by conversion, we must admit that His presence in Heaven differs
modally from His sacramental presence. In Heaven His Body, like other
bodies, occupies space and is extended; but He is present in the Host,
not by mode of extension, but in an indivisible manner, and in a mode so
wonderful, that this whole Body is present in every fragment of the Host.
This mode of existence is possible only to God, whose power exceeds the
bounds of our intelligence. But, observe, that in the Blessed Eucharist
the Body of Christ is present under the appearance of bread, and His
Blood under that of wine; but as His Blood, His Soul, and his Divinity
never leave His Body, and His Body never leaves His Blood, the whole
Christ is, by natural concomitance, present in every particle and drop of
both species. Christ, furthermore, is not present in this Sacrament as in
a place. Therefore, although there are many Hosts on many altars, He is
not in many places but in many Sacraments. We see this in our own case,
for we know that our whole soul is in every part of our body, and yet we
do not say that it is in different places; because the soul is not in the
body as in a place, but as the form in its matter.
As God has created all things out of nothing by His own Power, without
the aid of other causes, He can produce all natural effects without using
secondary causes. Therefore, although, naturally speaking, substance
upholds accidents, God can preserve accidents without the help of
substance. Many philosophers have maintained that quantity can exist
without substance; and we say that in the Blessed Eucharist, not quantity
only, but all other accidents, do, by the power of God, exist without
substance. Not only does God enable accidents to exist without substance;
but He enables them to do, and to suffer, that which substance would do
and suffer, were the accidents joined to substance, _e.g._, to nourish,
to intoxicate, to putrefy, to burn, etc. These actions and sufferings do
not extend to the Body of Christ, but only to the accidents. Thus when
the Host is broken, the fracture does not affect the Body of Christ,
which remains entire in each particle.[22] Many other difficulties may be
urged against the dogma of the Eucharist, but the solution we have given
to the difficulties enumerated, will pave the way to the solution of all
others. And it will be manifest that the Catholic Faith does not, in this
doctrine, propose to our belief anything impossible to God.