Sermon XIV. On the Three Marvels in the Reception of Christ's Body

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### Sermo XIV

### De tribus mirabilibus in corporis Christi perceptione

Venite, comedite, etc. Prov. ix, 5. Ut supra. Mirabilia opera tua Domine, et anima mea cognoscit nimis. Psal. cxxxviii, 14.

Dicto parum superius de tribus mirabilibus divinae operationis, quae considerantur in Domini corporis consecratione, et postea de tribus aliis in ejusdem corporis possessione: hic dicendum est de tribus ultimis considerandis in ejus perceptione.

I. Mirabile est, quod corpus Christi dum manducatur, non minuitur.

II. Quod si non manducatur, quodammodo minuitur.

III. Quod dum manducatur, augmentatur.

Primum mirabile signum considerandum in perceptione corporis Domini est, quod cum manducatur, non minuitur. Et hoc est contra haereticos qui dicunt: « Si corpus Christi omni monte majus esset, jamdiu Clerici illud consumpsissent. » Hujus ergo tam mirae rei, scilicet inconsumptibilitatis corporis Christi in manducatione sui, triplex ratio potest assignari. Prima ratio est quotidiana potestas consecrandi. Secunda, incorruptibilitas sui. Tertia, infinita causa pascendi.

I. Prima ratio quod corpus Domini dum manducatur, non minuitur, est quotidiana potestas consecrandi. Nam quia omnibus diebus, et omnibus fidelium locis, et sub tot hostiis quot sufficiunt fidelibus, verum et unitum corpus Christi, ex praecepto ejus consecrare possumus: idcirco dum illud manducamus, consumere vel minuere non possumus, nec valemus. Sicut enim in nobis, causa salutis aeternae, semper manet affectus illud manducandi: sic et potestas et effectus consecrandi. Et cum jam consecratum manducamus, nequaquam illud minuimus: quia id semper in se veraciter perseverat integrum, ne sacramentaliter in Ecclesia possit deficere, semper consecrando in forma panis: quia sacramentum in nutriendo et renovando conservamus, quod pulchre figuratum est in panibus propositionis, de quibus dicitur, Exod. xxxv, 13: Pones super mensam meam panes propositionis in conspectu meo semper. Et quomodo dicitur super Lev. xxiv, 5 et seq.: Accipies quoque similam, et coques ex ea duodecim panes, et statues illos super mensam meam, ut sit panis in monimentum oblationis Domini. Per singula sabbata mutabuntur foedere sempiterno. Similiter de igne Dei dicitur, Lev. vi, 12 et 13: Ignis in altari semper ardebit, quem nutriet Sacerdos subjiciens ligna mane per singulos dies. Ignis iste numquam deficiet in altari. Sed mensa illa cum panibus et ignis cum altari deficit, quid igitur? mentitus est Deus? absit, sed umbra deficit in Synagoga: veritas manet, nec deficit in Ecclesia. Sacerdos enim noster semper Sacramentum altaris consecrando nutrit: et corpus Christi quod in illo semper idem est, numquam manducatione fidelium deficit.

### Sermon XIV

### On the Three Marvels in the Reception of Christ's Body

Come, eat, etc. Proverbs 9:5. As above. Your works are marvelous, O Lord, and my soul knows exceedingly. Psalm 138:14.

Having spoken a little above about the three marvels of divine operation which are considered in the consecration of the Lord's body, and afterward about three others in the possession of the same body, here one must speak about the last three to be considered in its reception.

I. It is marvelous that Christ's body, while it is eaten, is not diminished.

II. That if it is not eaten, it is in a certain way diminished.

III. That while it is eaten, it is increased.

The first marvelous sign to be considered in the reception of the Lord's body is that when it is eaten, it is not diminished. And this is against the heretics who say: "If the body of Christ were greater than every mountain, long ago the Clerics would have consumed it." Therefore a threefold reason can be assigned for so marvelous a thing, namely the inconsumptibility of Christ's body in the eating of it. The first reason is the daily power of consecrating. The second is its incorruptibility. The third is the infinite cause of feeding.

I. The first reason that the body of the Lord, while it is eaten, is not diminished, is the daily power of consecrating. For because on all days, and in all places of the faithful, and under as many hosts as suffice for the faithful, we can consecrate the true and united body of Christ from his precept, therefore when we eat it, we cannot and are not able to consume or diminish it. For just as the desire of eating it always remains in us as a cause of eternal salvation, so also the power and effect of consecrating. And when we eat what has already been consecrated, we in no way diminish it, because it always perseveres truly whole in itself, so that it cannot sacramentally fail in the Church, always by consecrating in the form of bread, because we preserve the sacrament in nourishing and renewing. This was beautifully figured in the loaves of proposition, concerning which it is said, Exodus 35:13: You will place upon my table the loaves of proposition in my sight always. And as is said on Leviticus 24:5 and following: You will also take fine flour and bake from it twelve loaves, and you will set them upon my table, so that the bread may be for a memorial of the oblation of the Lord. They will be changed every Sabbath by an everlasting covenant. Similarly concerning the fire of God it is said, Leviticus 6:12 and 13: Fire on the altar will always burn; the Priest will nourish it by placing wood beneath it morning by morning on individual days. This fire will never fail on the altar. But that table with the loaves and the fire with the altar fails; what then? Has God lied? Far from it; rather, the shadow fails in the Synagogue; the truth remains and does not fail in the Church. For our Priest always nourishes the Sacrament of the altar by consecrating, and the body of Christ, which is always the same in it, never fails by the eating of the faithful.

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II. Secunda ratio ad idem est vera incorruptibilitas corporis hujus. Surrexit enim glorificatum, immortale, et immutabile, et impossibile posse corrumpi. Psal. xv, 10: Non dabis Sanctum tuum videre corruptionem. Unde cum illud manducamus, non sicut alius cibus, corrumpitur, nec mutatur in corpus nostrum: sed influit nobis sine corruptione sui spirituale nutrimentum. Hoc figuratum est III Reg. xvii, 16, ubi pugillus farinae in domo viduae, per multos dies cibans totam familiam, non defecit, juxta verbum Eliae. Augustinus: « Qui manducat me, dicit Dominus, vivit propter me: Non ergo timeamus manducare panem istum, fratres, ne forte consumamus illum, et postea quod manducemus, non inveniamus. Quando enim manducatur, vita manducatur: nec occiditur, quando manducatur, sed mortuos vivificat: manducatus reficit, sed non deficit: vivit manducatus, quia surrexit occisus. » Hinc etiam lapidi pretioso comparatur, de quo virtus exit phantasmata fugandi vel inflationes sedandi, vel operandi alia, sine diminutione sui. Deut. xxxii, 13: Constituit hominem, ut sugeret mel de petra, oleumque de saxo durissimo. Petra autem erat Christus, I ad Corinth. x, 4. Sicut ergo gemma, virtutem suam effundendo, non minuitur: sic corpus Domini nos pascendo non minoratur.

III. Tertia ratio ad idem est causa pascendi. Quotquot enim ad ipsum accedere possunt, pastum sufficientem in ipso inveniunt. Hinc Dominus fons vivus, et lux vera vere dicitur.

De primo, Gen. ii, 6: Fons ascendebat e terra, id est, Christus, dicit Glossa, irrigans universam superficiem terrae, id est, inspirans cordi utilia, et honesta. Jerem. ii, 13: Me dereliquerunt fontem aquae vivae.

De secundo, Joan. i, 9: Erat lux vera, quae illuminat omnem hominem venientem in hunc mundum.

Sicut ergo fons terram irrigat, et sine sui diminutione herbas, et arbores nutrit: sic Christus Ecclesiam pascit. Item, sicut sol non deficit, toti mundo lumen suum communicando: sic nec Christus, Ecclesiam totam pascendo. Hinc evidens exemplum est in candela, de qua millesies tantus sumi potest ignis, quantus in ea est: nec propter hoc minuitur lumen ejus. Igitur multo potius Dominus nos seipso pascit: nec tamen deficit. Psal. cxliv, 15: Oculi omnium in te sperant Domine: et tu das escam illorum in tempore opportuno... Tu autem idem ipse es, et anni tui non deficient (Psal. ci, 28).

II.

Secundum mirabile signum in perceptione corporis Domini est, quod si non manducatur, quodammodo minuitur. Ad intelligentiam tam mirae rei, sciendum quod duo sunt corpora mystica in hoc mundo, scilicet corpus mysticum Christi, et corpus diaboli, sive Antichristi: ad quorum alterum pertinent omnes homines mundi.

II. The second reason for the same thing is the true incorruptibility of this body. For it rose glorified, immortal, and immutable, and impossible to be able to be corrupted. Psalm 15:10: You will not give your Holy One to see corruption. Hence when we eat it, it is not corrupted as another food is, nor is it changed into our body; but spiritual nourishment flows into us without its own corruption. This was figured in 3 Kings 17:16, where the handful of flour in the widow's house, feeding the whole household for many days, did not fail, according to the word of Elijah. Augustine says: "He who eats me, says the Lord, lives because of me. Therefore let us not fear, brothers, to eat this bread, lest perhaps we consume it and afterward not find what we may eat. For when it is eaten, life is eaten; nor is it killed when it is eaten, but it gives life to the dead. Having been eaten, it refreshes, but does not fail. Having been eaten, it lives, because having been killed, it rose." Hence also it is compared to a precious stone, from which power goes out for driving away phantasms or calming swellings, or doing other things, without diminution of itself. Deuteronomy 32:13: He established man so that he would suck honey from the rock, and oil from the hardest stone. But the rock was Christ, 1 Corinthians 10:4. Therefore just as a gem is not diminished by pouring out its power, so the body of the Lord is not made less by feeding us.

III. The third reason for the same thing is the cause of feeding. For however many can approach him find sufficient pasture in him. Hence the Lord is truly called a living fountain and the true light.

Concerning the first, Genesis 2:6: A fountain ascended from the earth, that is, Christ, says the Gloss, watering the whole surface of the earth, that is, inspiring useful and honorable things to the heart. Jeremiah 2:13: They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water.

Concerning the second, John 1:9: He was the true light, which illuminates every man coming into this world.

Therefore just as a fountain waters the earth and nourishes grasses and trees without diminution of itself, so Christ feeds the Church. Likewise, just as the sun does not fail by communicating its light to the whole world, so neither does Christ by feeding the whole Church. Hence there is an evident example in a candle, from which a fire a thousand times as great as is in it can be taken, and on account of this its light is not diminished. Therefore much more does the Lord feed us with himself, and nevertheless does not fail. Psalm 144:15: The eyes of all hope in you, O Lord, and you give them their food in opportune time... But you are the same, and your years will not fail (Psalm 101:28).

II.

The second marvelous sign in the reception of the Lord's body is that if it is not eaten, it is in a certain way diminished. For understanding so marvelous a thing, one must know that there are two mystical bodies in this world, namely the mystical body of Christ and the body of the devil, or of Antichrist; all men of the world belong to one or the other of these.

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I. Corpus Christi sancta est Ecclesia, tamquam ipsius munda et fidelis sponsa, cujus ipse caput est: et singulae personae fidelium, sine culpa criminali, sunt ipsius membra: et omnes, qui corpus ejus digne sumunt, membra ipsius fiunt. I ad Corinth. xii, 27, 12: Vos estis corpus Christi, et membra de membro ... Sicut enim corpus unum est, et membra habet multa: ita et Christus. Item, I ad Corinth. x, 17: Unum corpus multi sumus, omnes, qui de uno pane participamus.

II. Econtra corpus diaboli universitas est iniquorum tamquam illius meretrix et adultera, cujus ipse caput est, et singulae personae malorum sunt membra. Job, xli, 6: Corpus illius quasi scuta fusilia, compactum squamis se prementibus. Gregorius: « Corpus diaboli sunt omnes iniqui, qui quia per obstinationem duri sunt, et per vitam fragiles, scutis fusilibus comparantur. Hoc corpus diaboli recte compactum squamis se prementibus dicitur: quia cum de iniquitate sua corripitur, quibus valet tergiversationibus, se excusare conatur: et quasi quasdam squamas defensionis objicit, ne transfigi sagitta veritatis possit. » Dicit Glossa super illud Apoc. xvii, 1: Veni ostendam tibi damnationem meretricis magnae. « Meretrix ista magna est Antichristus, et omnes mali, qui tempore ejus erunt, qui sedet super aquas multas, id est, jam regnat super malos praesentes, quorum omnium est ipse caput. » Unde sciendum, quod sicut Christus per se, et per suos semper studet membra diaboli praecidere, et membris suis incorporare, secundum illud Act. x, 13: Surge Petre, occide, et manduca: sic diabolus per se, et per suos conatur membra Christi tollere, et meretricis suae membris vilibus unire. I Pet. v, 8: Sobrii estote, et vigilate: quia adversarius vester diabolus tamquam leo rugiens circuit, quaerens quem devoret. Deut. xxxi, 16: Populus iste fornicabitur post deos alienos, et derelinquet me. I ad Cor. vi, 13: Nescitis quoniam corpora vestra, membra sunt Christi? Tollens ergo membra Christi, faciam membra meretricis? Absit, ut tantum nefas faciam: quod tamen, heu! multi faciunt. Augustinus: « Non possunt simul esse corpus Christi, vel membra Christi, et membra meretricis, nec isti dicendi sunt manducare corpus Christi, qui sunt membra meretricis. » Ecce quod isti mali non manducant corpus Christi, scilicet spiritualiter, etsi manducent sacramentaliter: sed non manducando spiritualiter corpus Christi, et male vivendo, tollunt membra Christi, et faciunt ea membra diaboli: et sic diminuunt, quantum in se est, corpus Christi: quod enim diabolo in animabus accrescit, Christo decrescit, et corpus ejus mysticum diminuitur.

I. The body of Christ is the holy Church, as his clean and faithful bride, whose head he himself is; and the individual persons of the faithful, without criminal fault, are his members; and all who worthily receive his body become his members. 1 Corinthians 12:27, 12: You are the body of Christ and members from a member ... For just as the body is one and has many members, so also Christ. Likewise, 1 Corinthians 10:17: We who participate in one bread are one body, though many.

II. On the contrary, the body of the devil is the universality of the wicked, as his prostitute and adulteress, whose head he himself is, and the individual persons of the evil are members. Job 41:6: His body is like molten shields, compacted with scales pressing upon one another. Gregory says: "The body of the devil is all the wicked, who, because they are hard through obstinacy and fragile through life, are compared to molten shields. This body of the devil is rightly said to be compacted with scales pressing upon one another, because when it is rebuked concerning its iniquity, by whatever evasions it can, it tries to excuse itself, and it throws up, as it were, certain scales of defense so that it cannot be pierced by the arrow of truth." The Gloss says on that text Apocalypse 17:1: Come, I will show you the damnation of the great prostitute. "That great prostitute is Antichrist and all the evil who will be in his time, who sits upon many waters, that is, he already reigns over the present evil, of all of whom he himself is the head." Hence it must be known that just as Christ, by himself and through his own, always strives to cut off the members of the devil and to incorporate them with his members, according to that saying, Acts 10:13: Rise, Peter, kill and eat, so the devil by himself and through his own attempts to take away the members of Christ and to unite them to the vile members of his prostitute. 1 Peter 5:8: Be sober and watch, because your adversary the devil goes around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Deuteronomy 31:16: This people will fornicate after foreign gods and will abandon me. 1 Corinthians 6:13: Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Therefore taking the members of Christ, shall I make them members of a prostitute? Far from it, that I should do so great a crime, which nevertheless, alas, many do. Augustine says: "They cannot at the same time be the body of Christ, or members of Christ, and members of a prostitute; nor are those to be said to eat the body of Christ who are members of a prostitute." Behold that these evil persons do not eat the body of Christ, namely spiritually, although they eat it sacramentally; but by not eating the body of Christ spiritually, and by living badly, they take away the members of Christ and make them members of the devil; and thus, as much as lies in them, they diminish the body of Christ, for what grows for the devil in souls decreases for Christ, and his mystical body is diminished.

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III.

Tertium mirabile signum in perceptione Dominici corporis est, quod dum manducatur a fidelibus, tunc augmentatur. Et hoc potest probari dupliciter, scilicet ratione, et similitudine.

I. Primo, probatur istud mirabile ea ratione, quod dum manducatur corpus Christi, non ipsum, ut alius cibus, in manducantem convertitur, sed e converso vere manducans spiritualiter in illud mutatur, nam manducantem se Dominus sui corporis mystici membrum facit, et sibi ipsi eum incorporans cum suo corpore quod de Virgine sumpsit, quodammodo unum efficit. I ad Corinth. x, 17: Unum corpus multi sumus, omnes, qui de uno pane participamus. Item, I ad Corinth. xii, 27: Vos estis corpus Christi, et membra de membro. Augustinus: « Commendavit Christus in hoc sacramento corpus et sanguinem, quod suum et fecit nos ipsos. Nam et nos ipsi corpus ipsius facti sumus: caro enim nostra carni ejus unita et incorporata unum cum illa efficitur. » Osee, xiv, 8: Convertentur sedentes in umbra ejus: vivent tritico, id est, Dominici corporis Sacramento, quod dicitur umbra Christi: quia dat se ibi non in sua luce, sed in velamine. Sic comedentes convertentur, quia in corpus Christi mutabuntur: et sic patet dum multi fidelium comedunt corpus Christi, et in illud ipsi mutantur, et membra ejus efficiuntur, quod corpus Christi dum manducatur, augmentatur.

II. Secundo, probatur idem similitudine humanae scientiae. Nam quanto magis homo scientiam suam aliis distribuit, tanto amplius crescit. Matth. xxv, 22: Domine, duo talenta tradidisti mihi; ecce alia duo lucratus sum. Boetius: « Scientia est animi nobilis possessio, quae avarum dedignatur possessorem: nisi publicetur, elabitur: et distributa, suscipit incrementum. » Similiter divina sapientia incarnata multis in cibum donata, sapientes facit, et in se quodammodo convertit: et sic dum comeditur, non minuitur, sed augmentatur. Eccli. i, 9: Creator omnipotens creavit sapientiam in Spiritu sancto, id est, incarnari fecit, et secundum datum suum praebet illam diligentibus se: et in hoc sapientia Dei crescit, dum multos in sapientia crescere facit. Ad Eph. iv, 15 et 16: Crescamus in illo per omnia, qui est caput nostrum Christus: ex quo totum corpus compactum, scilicet per fidem, et connexum per charitatem in mensuram uniuscujusque membri, augmentum corporis facit in aedificationem sui in charitate. Amen.

III.

The third marvelous sign in the reception of the Lord's body is that while it is eaten by the faithful, then it is increased. And this can be proved in two ways, namely by reason and by likeness.

I. First, this marvel is proved by the reason that when the body of Christ is eaten, it is not itself, like another food, converted into the one eating, but conversely the one truly eating spiritually is changed into it, for the Lord makes the one eating him a member of his mystical body, and by incorporating him to himself with his body which he took from the Virgin, he in a certain way makes him one. 1 Corinthians 10:17: We who participate in one bread are one body, though many. Likewise, 1 Corinthians 12:27: You are the body of Christ and members from a member. Augustine says: "Christ commended in this sacrament the body and blood which is his, and he made us ourselves. For we ourselves have also been made his body; for our flesh united and incorporated with his flesh is made one with it." Hosea 14:8: Those sitting in his shade will be converted; they will live by wheat, that is, by the Sacrament of the Lord's body, which is called the shadow of Christ, because he gives himself there not in his own light but in a veil. Thus those eating will be converted, because they will be changed into the body of Christ; and thus it is clear that when many of the faithful eat the body of Christ and are themselves changed into it and made his members, the body of Christ, while it is eaten, is increased.

II. Secondly, the same thing is proved by the likeness of human knowledge. For the more a man distributes his knowledge to others, the more it grows. Matthew 25:22: Lord, you handed two talents to me; behold, I have gained two others. Boethius says: "Knowledge is a possession of a noble mind, which disdains an avaricious possessor: unless it is made public, it slips away; and when distributed, it receives increase." Similarly divine wisdom incarnate, given as food to many, makes them wise and in a certain way converts them into itself; and thus while it is eaten it is not diminished, but increased. Ecclesiasticus 1:9: The omnipotent Creator created wisdom in the Holy Spirit, that is, he made it to be incarnate, and according to his gift he offers it to those loving him; and in this the wisdom of God grows, while it makes many grow in wisdom. Ephesians 4:15 and 16: Let us grow in him through all things, who is our head, Christ; from whom the whole body, compacted, namely through faith, and connected through charity according to the measure of each member, makes the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in charity. Amen.