Works › Sermons on the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist
Volume 13 · pp. 699–702
Sermon VIII. On the Two Other Reasons for Which the Body of Christ Is Given Veiled
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### Sermo VIII
### De duabus aliis rationibus quibus datur corpus Christi velatum: quae sunt instructio morum, et imbecillitas omnium
Venite, comedite panem meum, etc. Prov. ix, 5.
Quomodo potest hic nobis dare carnem suam ad manducandum? Joan. vi, 53.
III.
Tertia ratio quod Dominus corpus suum dat velatum, est instructio morum. Job, xxvii, 18: Trahitur sapientia de occultis. Tria vero in sacramento occultantur, in quibus mores instruuntur, 1. Persona Salvatoris, 2. Pulchritudo magnae claritatis, 3. et Mirum opus omnipotentis.
1. De primo, Isa. xlv, 15: Vere tu es Deus absconditus, Deus Israel Salvator.
2. De secundo, Isa, viii, 17: Exspectabo Dominum, qui abscondit faciem suam.
3. De tertio, Eccli. xliii, 36: Multa abscondita sunt majora his: pauca enim vidimus operum ejus.
In his discimus tria tam virtuose abscondi posse in nobis:
I. Nostram personam.
II. Pulchritudinem corporalem.
III. Et bonorum operum intentionem.
Primum a persecutorum furore, secundum a stultorum inspectione, tertium ab humano favore.
I. Primo, discit in hoc sacramento justus abscondere personam suam propter tria: 1. Ut scilicet persecutoris ira quiescat, 2. Ut praeceptum a Domino opus perficiat, 3. Ut gloriosiorem coronam acquirat.
1. De primo, Isa. xxvi, 20: Vade populus meus, intra in cubicula tua, claude ostia tua super te, abscondere modicum ad momentum, donec pertranseat indignatio, scilicet, in persecutione, quod multi justorum leguntur fecisse.
2. De secundo, II ad Corinth. xi, 32 et 33: Damasci praepositus custodiebat civitatem ut me comprehenderet: et per fenestram in sporta dimissus sum per murum, et sic effugi manus ejus. Similiter Tobias cum juberet Rex occidi eum, fugiens nudus latuit, ut scilicet opera misericordiae quae coeperat, adimpleret1.
3. De tertio, I Reg. xxvi, 1: Cum fugeret David a facie Saul, absconditus est in colle Hachila, id est, in Domino. Hachila enim interpretatur suscipiens eum, unde Dominus susceptor meus2.
Absconditus autem est in Domino, ut per inclyta opera gloriosa sibi restaret regni corona. Joan. viii, 39: Tulerunt lapides Judaei, ut jacerent in Jesum: Jesus autem abscondit se, et exivit de templo.
II. Secundo, discit justus pulchritudinem corporalem abscondere ab hominum inspectione, quia exterior pulchritudo et ornatus multis fuit occasio casus. Decor ergo corporalis abscondi debet tribus modis: 1. Per habitus utilitatem, 2. Per jejuniorum austeritatem, 3. Per boni operis assiduitatem.
### Sermon VIII
### On the Two Other Reasons for Which the Body of Christ Is Given Veiled: Which Are Instruction of Morals and the Weakness of All
Come, eat my bread, etc. Proverbs 9:5.
How can this man give us his flesh to eat? John 6:53.
III.
The third reason that the Lord gives his body veiled is instruction of morals. Job 27:18: Wisdom is drawn from hidden things. But three things are hidden in the sacrament, in which morals are instructed: 1. The person of the Savior, 2. The beauty of great brightness, 3. and the marvelous work of the omnipotent.
1. Concerning the first, Isaiah 45:15: Truly you are a hidden God, God of Israel, Savior.
2. Concerning the second, Isaiah 8:17: I will await the Lord, who hides his face.
3. Concerning the third, Ecclesiasticus 43:36: Many hidden things are greater than these; for we have seen few of his works.
In these we learn that three things can be so virtuously hidden in us:
I. Our person.
II. Bodily beauty.
III. And the intention of good works.
The first from the fury of persecutors, the second from the inspection of fools, the third from human favor.
I. First, in this sacrament the just man learns to hide his person on account of three things: 1. Namely, so that the wrath of the persecutor may be quieted, 2. So that he may accomplish the work commanded by the Lord, 3. So that he may acquire a more glorious crown.
1. Concerning the first, Isaiah 26:20: Go, my people, enter into your chambers, close your doors over you, hide for a little while, for a moment, until indignation passes by, namely in persecution, which many of the just are read to have done.
2. Concerning the second, 2 Corinthians 11:32 and 33: At Damascus the governor was guarding the city so that he might seize me, and through a window I was let down through the wall in a basket, and thus I escaped his hands. Similarly Tobias, when the King ordered him to be killed, fled naked and lay hidden, so that, namely, he might complete the works of mercy which he had begun1.
3. Concerning the third, 1 Kings 26:1: When David fled from the face of Saul, he was hidden on the hill of Hachilah, that is, in the Lord. For Hachilah is interpreted as receiving him; hence, The Lord is my receiver2.
But he was hidden in the Lord so that through renowned works the glorious crown of the kingdom would remain for him. John 8:39: The Jews took stones to throw at Jesus, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
II. Secondly, the just man learns to hide bodily beauty from the inspection of men, because exterior beauty and adornment have been the occasion of a fall for many. Therefore bodily comeliness ought to be hidden in three ways: 1. Through usefulness of dress, 2. Through austerity of fasts, 3. Through constancy of good work.
1. De primo, Job. xvi, 16: Saccum consui super cutem meam, et operui cinere carnem meam. Gen. xxiv, 64 et 65: Rebecca, conspecto Isaac, tollens pallium, operuit se. I ad Cor. xi, 10: Mulier debet velamen habere super caput suum propter angelos, id est, propter bonos.
2. De secundo, ad Gal. vi, 14: Mihi mundus crucifixus est, et ego mundo. Quasi diceret: Vilis est mundus propter poenam suae sollicitudinis, et ego vilis mundanis propter macerationem mei corporis. Augustinus: « Carnem vestram domate jejunio, et abstinentia escae et potus, quantum valetudo permittit. »
3. De tertio, Psal. xxxviii, 12: Tabescere fecisti sicut araneam animam ejus. Sicut aranea ex suis visceribus trahens opus naturae, tabescit exinde: sic justus frequentans opera laboriosa charitate maceratur, et pallescit in corpore. Eccli. xxxi, 27: Jugum et lorum curvant collum durum, et servum inclinant operationes assiduae. Cant. i, 3: Nolite me considerare quod fusca sim, quia decoloravit me sol. Sol effectus ardoris, id est, opus amoris, Christus formam servi accepit, in qua claritatem deitatis abscondit. Unde Isa. lii, 2 et 3: Non est species ei neque decor, et quasi absconditus vultus ejus et despectus.
III. Tertio, discit justus in hoc sacramento virtutum et bonorum operum intentionem abscondere ab humano favore. Matth. xiii, 44: Simile est regnum caelorum, id est, conversatio justorum, dicit Glossa, thesauro abscondito in agro. Gregorius: « Sic sit opus in publico quatenus intentio maneat in occulto, ut et de bono opere proximo praebeamus exemplum, et tamen per intentionem qua Deo soli placere quaerimus, semper optemus secretum. »
Triplex vero bonum praecipue debemus abscondere a favore hominum, scilicet eleemosynam, orationem, jejunium.
1. De primo, Matth. vi, 2 et seq.: Cum facis eleemosynam, noli tuba canere ante te, tuba tumoris, jactantiae, et apparentiae, sicut hypocritae faciunt, ut honorificentur ab hominibus: Amen dico vobis, receperunt mercedem suam. Te autem faciente eleemosynam, nesciat sinistra tua, id est, intentio prava, quid faciat dextera tua, dilectio pura: ut sit eleemosyna tua in abscondito piae intentionis: et Pater tuus, qui videt in abscondito, reddet tibi.
1. Concerning the first, Job 16:16: I sewed sackcloth over my skin, and covered my flesh with ashes. Genesis 24:64 and 65: Rebecca, when she saw Isaac, taking her cloak, covered herself. 1 Corinthians 11:10: A woman ought to have a veil over her head on account of the angels, that is, on account of the good.
2. Concerning the second, Galatians 6:14: The world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. As if he were saying: The world is vile because of the punishment of its solicitude, and I am vile to worldly persons because of the maceration of my body. Augustine: "Subdue your flesh by fasting and abstinence from food and drink, as much as health permits."
3. Concerning the third, Psalm 38:12: You made his soul waste away like a spider. Just as a spider, drawing the work of nature from its viscera, wastes away because of it, so the just man, frequenting laborious works by charity, is macerated and grows pale in body. Ecclesiasticus 31:27: The yoke and strap bend a hard neck, and continual operations incline the servant. Song of Songs 1:3: Do not consider me because I am dark, because the sun has discolored me. The sun is the effect of heat, that is, the work of love. Christ accepted the form of a servant, in which he hid the brightness of deity. Hence Isaiah 52:2 and 3: There is no beauty for him nor comeliness, and his face is as if hidden and despised.
III. Thirdly, in this sacrament the just man learns to hide the intention of virtues and good works from human favor. Matthew 13:44: The kingdom of heaven, that is, the manner of life of the just, the Gloss says, is like a treasure hidden in a field. Gregory: "Let the work be in public in such a way that the intention remains in hiddenness, so that from the good work we may offer example to the neighbor, and yet through the intention by which we seek to please God alone, we may always desire secrecy."
But especially we ought to hide a threefold good from the favor of men, namely almsgiving, prayer, fasting.
1. Concerning the first, Matthew 6:2 and following: When you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, the trumpet of swelling, boasting, and appearance, as hypocrites do, so that they may be honored by men. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, let your left hand, that is, wicked intention, not know what your right hand, pure love, does, so that your alms may be in the hiddenness of devout intention, and your Father, who sees in hiddenness, will repay you.
2. De secundo, Matth. vi, 6: Et cum oraveris, intra in cubiculum tuum, id est, secretum mentis: et clauso ostio, omni aditu cordis, ora Patrem tuum in abscondito intentionis: et reddet tibi.
3. De tertio, ibidem, vi, 17 et 18: Et cum jejunas, unge caput tuum, id est, refice Christum operibus misericordiae, quod tibi subtrahis, membris ejus pauperibus conferendo: et faciem tuam lava, peccata cordis et sensuum lacrymis poenitentiae purgando: ne videaris hominibus jejunans, sed Pater tuus, qui videt in abscondito, reddet tibi.
IV.
Quarta ratio, quare Dominus corpus suum dat velatum, est imbecillitas omnium quae hoc exigebat. Nam claritatem hujus gloriosi corporis nullus posset ferre mortalis hominis oculus, nisi velatam, quod probatur tribus modis:
1. A figura legali.
2. Ab accidente materiali.
3. A ratione naturali.
I. Primo, probatur hoc a figura legali. Exod. xxxiv, 30 et 35: Videntes filii Israel ex consortio sermonis Dei cornutam Moysi faciem, timuerunt prope accedere, unde posuit velamen super faciem suam, quando loquebatur ad eos. Facies enim Moysi tam magnam concepit radiositatem ex frequenti et familiari appropinquatione ad divinum lumen, quod videbatur humanis oculis quasi cornuta, unde non potuerunt claritatem vultus ejus sustinere nisi velatam. Sic nimirum, imo multo magis corpus Christi Resurrectione ejus glorificatum, et spirituale ac deiforme factum, nullus potest inspicere mortalis hominis oculus, nisi alia specie velatum.
II. Secundo, probatur hoc ex eo quod accidit matri Dei Mariae, quae non potuit sustinere claritatem et gloriam praesentiae Filii Dei, nisi esset obumbrata. Carne autem Virginis velata majestas opere Spiritus sancti facta est possibilis ferri a Virgine, et etiam a nobis videri: unde Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis: et vidimus gloriam ejus3. Sed caro illa post Passionem et Resurrectionem glorificata, et ad similitudinem Dei clarificata, secundum illud Joan. xvii, 5: Clarifica me tu Pater apud temetipsum, claritate, quam habui prius, quam mundus esset, facta est impossibilis a nobis videri, vel ab oculis mortalibus in propria forma nuda videri, nisi esset velata aliqua specie visibili. Eccli. xi, 4: Mirabilia opera Altissimi solius, et gloriosa, et absconsa, et invisa. Juxta illud Exod. xxxiii, 20: Non videbit me homo, et vivet, verum in propria specie. I ad Corint. xiii, 12: Videmus nunc per speculum (rationis) in aenigmate, id est, in figura panis.
2. Concerning the second, Matthew 6:6: And when you pray, enter into your chamber, that is, the secret of the mind; and with the door closed, with every entrance of the heart closed, pray to your Father in the hiddenness of intention, and he will repay you.
3. Concerning the third, in the same place, 6:17 and 18: And when you fast, anoint your head, that is, refresh Christ by works of mercy, by conferring upon his members, the poor, what you withdraw from yourself; and wash your face, by purging the sins of heart and senses with tears of penance, lest you appear to men to be fasting, but your Father, who sees in hiddenness, will repay you.
IV.
The fourth reason why the Lord gives his body veiled is the weakness of all, which required this. For no eye of mortal man could bear the brightness of this glorious body unless veiled, which is proved in three ways:
1. From a legal figure.
2. From a material occurrence.
3. From a natural reason.
I. First, this is proved from a legal figure. Exodus 34:30 and 35: The sons of Israel, seeing from the fellowship of God's speech the horned face of Moses, feared to come near; hence he placed a veil over his face when he spoke to them. For the face of Moses conceived so great a radiance from frequent and familiar approach to the divine light that it appeared to human eyes as if horned; hence they could not endure the brightness of his face unless veiled. Thus surely, indeed much more, the body of Christ, glorified by his Resurrection and made spiritual and deiform, no eye of mortal man can behold unless it has been veiled by another species.
II. Secondly, this is proved from what happened to Mary the mother of God, who could not endure the brightness and glory of the presence of the Son of God unless she was overshadowed. But the majesty veiled by the flesh of the Virgin was made possible to be borne by the Virgin through the work of the Holy Spirit, and also to be seen by us; hence the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory3. But that flesh, glorified after the Passion and Resurrection and brightened to the likeness of God, according to that saying of John 17:5: Father, glorify me with yourself, with the brightness which I had before the world existed, has been made impossible for us to see, or to be seen by mortal eyes in its own naked form, unless it were veiled by some visible species. Ecclesiasticus 11:4: The marvelous works of the Most High alone are glorious, hidden, and unseen. According to that saying of Exodus 33:20: Man will not see me and live, truly in my own species. 1 Corinthians 13:12: We now see through a mirror, of reason, in an enigma, that is, in the figure of bread.
III. Tertio, probatur idem ratione naturali, quae est nimia dissimilitudo oculi nostri luminis, ad claritatem luminis corporis Christi. « Oculus enim noster, ait Augustinus, aeger et corruptibilis est: illius vero claritas incorruptibilis, et quodammodo immensa: » quia, ut dictum, deiformis: haec est enim ratio visibilitatis omnis luminis, similitudo aliqua videntis ad lumen: et quanto major similitudo ad lumen maximum, tanto limpidior est et dulcior visio. Hinc est, quod sanus oculus aliquatenus videre potest nudum corpus solum, et non corpus Christi: quia cum illo habet aliquam similitudinem luminis et corruptibilitatis, quam non habet cum corpore Christi: nisi enim oculus aliqua ex parte coelesti lumini similis esset, nequaquam illud videre posset, sicut nec auris, nec digitus, aut etiam caecus, scilicet, propter nimiam dissimilitudinem. Quia ergo ob nostram imbecillitatem et corporis Christi nimiam claritatem nequimus illud in hac vita videre nudum: teneamus gratanter ex sua bonitate involutum, donec reformet corpus humilitatis nostrae, configuratum corpori claritatis suae4, et sic per illam claritatem magnificatam, et usque ad incorruptionem roboratam, possimus videre dulciter oculo ad oculum Dominici corporis claritatem. Luc. xi, 34: Si oculus tuus fuerit simplex, id est, intentio cordis pura, totum corpus tuum lucidum erit, ad videndam scilicet claritatem Christi. I Joan. iii, 2: Scimus quoniam cum apparuerit, similes ei erimus: quoniam videbimus eum sicuti est. Bernardus: « Signum quidem videtur per superiores oculorum fenestras veritatem intrare debere ad animam, sed hoc nobis, o anima, servatur in posterum, cum videbimus facie ad faciem, et haec visio erit nobis vita aeterna. » Amen.
III. Thirdly, the same is proved by natural reason, which is the excessive unlikeness of the eye of our light to the brightness of the light of Christ's body. "For our eye," Augustine says, "is sick and corruptible, but the brightness of that one is incorruptible and in some way immense," because, as has been said, deiform. For this is the reason for the visibility of every light: some likeness of the one seeing to the light; and the greater the likeness to the greatest light, the clearer and sweeter is the vision. Hence it is that a healthy eye can to some extent see only a naked body, and not the body of Christ, because with that it has some likeness of light and corruptibility, which it does not have with the body of Christ. For unless the eye were in some part similar to heavenly light, by no means could it see that light, just as neither the ear, nor the finger, nor even a blind man could, namely because of excessive unlikeness. Therefore, because on account of our weakness and the excessive brightness of the body of Christ we cannot see it naked in this life, let us gratefully hold it wrapped by its goodness until he reforms the body of our humility, conformed to the body of his brightness4, and thus through that brightness magnified and strengthened even to incorruption, we may be able to see sweetly eye to eye the brightness of the Lord's body. Luke 11:34: If your eye has been simple, that is, the intention of the heart pure, your whole body will be bright, namely for seeing the brightness of Christ. 1 John 3:2: We know that when he appears, we will be like him, because we will see him as he is. Bernard: "Indeed the sign seems to have to enter into the soul through the higher windows of the eyes, but this is reserved for us, O soul, in the future, when we will see face to face, and this vision will be eternal life for us." Amen.
Notes
- Compare Tobit 1:22 and 23. (Cf. Tob. i, 22 et 23.) ↩
- Compare in many psalms, especially 3:4; 17:3; 41:10; 58:10, 17 and 18; 61:3; 90:2; 118:114; 143:2, etc. (Cf. in multis psalmis, praecipue iii, 4; xvii, 3; xli, 10; lviii, 10, 17 et 18; lxi, 3; xc, 2; cxviii, 114; cxliii, 2, etc.) ↩
- John 1:14. (Joan. i, 14.) ↩
- Philippians 3:21. (Ad Philip. iii, 21.) ↩
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