Works › Sermons on the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist
Volume 13 · pp. 751–752
Sermon XX conclusion
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1. Primo probatur felicitas digne communicantium magna ex optimae partis electione. Quia sicut Beata Virgo tribus sibi propositis, scilicet esse matrem, et non virginem: vel esse virginem, et non matrem: vel esse matrem et virginem: ultimam et optimam partem, scilicet esse utrumque simul, elegit: sic isti inter modos corpus Christi manducandi optimum modum elegerunt. Primus modus est manducare sacramentaliter tantum, et non spiritualiter. Secundus manducare spiritualiter tantum, et non sacramentaliter. Tertius manducare sacramentaliter et spiritualiter simul. Hanc ultimam et optimam partem, scilicet de primo modo comedere sacramentaliter, et de secundo modo comedere spiritualiter eligunt: et sic ex utraque parte quod melius est, comedunt: et ideo multum felices sunt. Eccle. viii, 15: Laudavi igitur laetitiam, quod non esset homini bonum sub sole, nisi quod comederet, et biberet, atque gauderet. Quasi diceret: Expertus sum plurima genera gaudiorum, et delectationum carnis, et mundi: et haec vanitas, et error: et finis eorum moeror et luctus, unde laudavi prae omnibus laetitiam, scilicet veram, id est, testimonium bonae conscientiae: et quod non esset homini bonum sub sole, id est, melius in hoc mundo, nisi quod comederet, scilicet panem, qui de caelo descendit, id est, corpus Christi: et biberet, scilicet, vinum quod laetificat cor hominis (Psal. ciii, 15), id est, sanguinem Domini.
2. Secundo probatur felicitas istorum magna a Spiritus sancti vera participatione. Psalm. lxxx, 17: De petra, melle saturavit eos. Quia scilicet fideles sugunt de corpore Christi dulcedinem Spiritus sancti. Sap. xii, 1: O quam bonus et suavis est, Domine, spiritus tuus in omnibus, qui scilicet fluit in nobis de tuo corpore. Augustinus: "Perceptione sanguis et corporis Christi homo vivit:" non sumens tantum sacramentaliter, quod et mali faciunt: sed pertingens usque ad Spiritus participationem: ut in corpore Deo tamquam membrum maneat, et ejus Spiritu vegetetur.
3. Tertio probatur idem ab ipsius Christi certa inhabitatione. Joan. vi, 57: Qui manducat meam carnem, et bibit meum sanguinem, in me manet et ego in illo. Hilarius: "Accepta carne Domini, et hausto sanguine, id efficitur, ut nos in Christo, et Christus in nobis sit: et in nobis Christus per carnem, dum ejus carnem accipimus: et sumus in eo dum secum hoc quod nos sumus, in Deo est."
III.
Tertium circa hunc modum considerandum, est ratio manducationis digne manducantium, id est, qua ratione dicitur quod tales manducant, et manducantur, et haec est hujusmodi ratio: quod dum corpus Christi a fidelibus digne manducatur, non ipsum ut alius cibus, in manducantem convertitur: sed e converso, vere manducans in illud spiritualiter mutatur. Nam manducantem se Dominus sui corporis membrum facit, et sibi incorporans per charitatem unit, et imagini bonitatis suae similem 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. Quod vero manducando corpus Christi non illud in nos, sed nos in illud convertimur, triplici similitudine probatur. Prima sumitur de virtute nostri amoris, secunda de virtute rei majoris, tertia de virtute surculi arboris.
1. Prima similitudo sumitur de virtute amoris nostri. Haec est enim vis amoris transformari cor amantis in amatum, id est, amati fortunae prosperae et adversae assimilari. Eccli. vi, 11: Amicus fixus, id est, fidelis, erit tibi coaequalis, id est, condolet tibi in adversis, et congaudet in prosperis. Hugo: "Ea vis amoris est, ut talem te esse necesse sit, quale illud est quod amas: ut cui per affectum conjungeris, in illius similitudinem ipsa quodammodo dilectionis societate transformaris." Cant. viii, 6: Pone me ut signaculum super cor tuum. Super cor tamquam super ceram calidam, puram et mollem, aptam suscipere impressam imaginem. Super cor, ergo calidum amore Dei, purum munditia sui, molle pietate proximi: corpus Christi ut sigillum ponitur, non ut ipsum quod immutabile est, in nos mutetur, sed nos in imaginem bonitatis ejus transmutemur.
1. First, the great happiness of those communicating worthily is proved from the choice of the best part. For just as the Blessed Virgin, with three things proposed to her, namely to be a mother and not a virgin, or to be a virgin and not a mother, or to be mother and virgin, chose the last and best part, namely to be both at the same time, so these persons among the modes of eating the body of Christ have chosen the best mode. The first mode is to eat sacramentally only, and not spiritually. The second is to eat spiritually only, and not sacramentally. The third is to eat sacramentally and spiritually at the same time. They choose this last and best part, namely to eat sacramentally according to the first mode and to eat spiritually according to the second mode; and thus from each side they eat what is better, and therefore they are very happy. Ecclesiastes 8:15: Therefore I praised gladness, because there was no good for a man under the sun except that he should eat and drink and rejoice. As if he were saying: I have experienced many kinds of joys and delights of the flesh and the world, and this is vanity and error, and their end is sorrow and mourning; hence I praised gladness before all things, namely true gladness, that is, the testimony of a good conscience; and because there was no good for a man under the sun, that is, nothing better in this world, except that he should eat, namely the bread which descended from heaven, that is, the body of Christ; and that he should drink, namely the wine which gladdens the heart of man (Psalm 103:15), that is, the blood of the Lord.
2. Secondly, the great happiness of these persons is proved from true participation in the Holy Spirit. Psalm 80:17: From the rock he satisfied them with honey. Because, namely, the faithful suck from the body of Christ the sweetness of the Holy Spirit. Wisdom 12:1: O how good and sweet, O Lord, is your spirit in all things, which namely flows in us from your body. Augustine says: "By the reception of the blood and body of Christ a man lives," not receiving only sacramentally, which even the evil do, but reaching all the way to participation in the Spirit, so that in God's body he remains as a member and is given life by his Spirit.
3. Thirdly, the same thing is proved from the certain indwelling of Christ himself. John 6:57: He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Hilary says: "When the flesh of the Lord has been received and the blood drunk, this is effected: that we are in Christ and Christ is in us; and Christ is in us through the flesh when we receive his flesh, and we are in him when that which we are is in God with him."
III.
The third thing to be considered concerning this mode is the reason of the eating of those eating worthily, that is, by what reason it is said that such persons eat and are eaten. And the reason of this kind is this: that when the body of Christ is worthily eaten by the faithful, it is not converted into the one eating as another food is, but conversely the one truly eating is spiritually changed into it. For the Lord makes the one eating him a member of his body, and by incorporating him to himself he unites him through charity and makes him like the image of his goodness. 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. That by eating the body of Christ it is not converted into us, but we are converted into it, is proved by a threefold likeness. The first is taken from the power of our love, the second from the power of the greater thing, the third from the power of the shoot of a tree.
1. The first likeness is taken from the power of our love. For this is the force of love: that the heart of the lover is transformed into the beloved, that is, assimilated to the prosperous and adverse fortune of the beloved. Ecclesiasticus 6:11: A fixed friend, that is, a faithful one, will be coequal to you, that is, he grieves with you in adversities and rejoices with you in prosperities. Hugh says: "Such is the force of love, that it is necessary for you to be such as that which you love, so that to him to whom you are joined through affection, you are transformed into his likeness by the very fellowship of love in a certain way." Song of Songs 8:6: Place me as a seal upon your heart. Upon the heart as upon warm, pure, and soft wax, fit to receive an impressed image. Therefore upon a heart warm with the love of God, pure by cleanness of itself, soft by piety toward neighbor, the body of Christ is placed as a seal, not so that it, which is immutable, may be changed into us, but so that we may be transmuted into the image of its goodness.
2. Secunda similitudo ad idem sumitur de virtute rei majoris. Nam si ad guttam aquae magnum vas vini fundatur, virtute multitudinis vini aqua ex toto in illud mutatur. Sed virtus Dominici corporis ineffabilis est magnitudinis, et nos multum exigui respectu illius. Psalm. cxliv, 3: Magnus Dominus, et laudabilis nimis: et magnitudinis ejus non est finis. Idem, xxxviii, 6: Substantia mea tamquam nihilum ante te. Isa. xl, 15: Ecce gentes quasi stilla situlae. Magnitudo itaque virtutis et dulcedinis Christi infusa exiguo et humili cordi nostro, vincit illud, et a se deficere facit, et in illam convertit, ut jam non mundanis hominibus, non nobis ipsis, sed ipsi Christo in voluntate, sermone, et bona conversatione, similes simus. Psalm. cxviii, 81: Defecit in salutare tuum anima mea.
3. Tertia similitudo ad idem sumitur de virtute rami arboris. Haec est proprietas surculi bonae arboris, si trunco inseratur, etiam silvestri, quod ipsa naturali quidem virtute praevalens, illius amaritudinem in suam dulcedinem et nobilitatem convertit, et similem sibi fructum bonum proferre facit. Sic corpus Christi nobis insitum defectus nostros evacuat, et in suam nos bonitatem trahit: et quales ipse frondes, flores et fructus justitiae facit: tales et nos per eum faciamus. Hinc Spiritus sanctus dicit per Ezech. xvii, 22 et 23: Sumam de medulla cedri sublimis, et ponam: de vertice ramorum ejus tenerum distringam, et plantabo super montem excelsum, et erumpet in germen, et faciet fructum. Cedrus sublimis est Deus Pater: rami eminentes, antiqui patres: vertex ramorum, Beata Virgo: medulla cedri, aeterna sapientia Dei: pars de ramorum vertice, caro Christi sumpta de Virgine. Spiritus ergo sanctus medullam cedri, et partem de summo ramo sumpsit: quia Christi incarnationem fecit, et hunc quasi surculum nobilissimum plantat in montem excelsum, cum fidelibus a terrenis desideriis ad coelestia elevatis, Dominici corporis tribuit sacramentum. Hinc fructus erumpit: quia cor fidele virtute corporis Domini, propria amaritudine relicta vitiorum, similes Christo spirituales frondes, flores, et fructus virtutum, et bonorum operum facit. Hinc dictum est Augustino: "Cibus sum grandium: cresce, et manducabis me: nec tu me mutabis in te, sicut cibum carnis tuae: sed tu mutaberis in me." Cant. i, 3: Trahe me post te, me scilicet mutando in te violentia meae delectationis, magnitudine tuae dulcedinis, virtute firmae insertionis: ut non maneat in me radix amaritudinis, sed praevaleat in me operando virtus, et dulcedo tuae bonitatis. Ad Gal. ii, 20: Vivo, jam non ego: vivit vero in me Christus. Quasi diceret: Nunc, ut vixi male, non vivo, sed ut Christus bene cogito, loquor, operor et vivo, donec ad ipsum pervenio. Amen.
2. The second likeness for the same thing is taken from the power of the greater thing. For if a great vessel of wine is poured onto a drop of water, by the power of the multitude of wine the water is wholly changed into it. But the power of the Lord's body is of ineffable magnitude, and we are very small in comparison with it. Psalm 144:3: Great is the Lord and exceedingly praiseworthy, and there is no end of his greatness. The same, 38:6: My substance is as nothing before you. Isaiah 40:15: Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket. Therefore the greatness of the power and sweetness of Christ, poured into our small and humble heart, conquers it and makes it fail from itself and converts it into that sweetness, so that now we may be like not worldly men, not ourselves, but Christ himself in will, speech, and good conduct. Psalm 118:81: My soul has fainted for your salvation.
3. The third likeness for the same thing is taken from the power of the branch of a tree. This is the property of the shoot of a good tree, if it is inserted into a trunk, even a wild one: that by its own natural power prevailing, it converts the bitterness of that trunk into its own sweetness and nobility, and makes it bring forth good fruit like itself. Thus the body of Christ, implanted in us, empties out our defects and draws us into its own goodness, and whatever spiritual leaves, flowers, and fruits of justice it makes, such let us also make through it. Hence the Holy Spirit says through Ezekiel 17:22 and 23: I will take from the marrow of the lofty cedar and place it; from the top of its branches I will pluck a tender shoot and plant it upon a high mountain, and it will break forth into a sprout and make fruit. The lofty cedar is God the Father; the eminent branches are the ancient fathers; the top of the branches is the Blessed Virgin; the marrow of the cedar is the eternal wisdom of God; a part from the top of the branches is the flesh of Christ taken from the Virgin. Therefore the Holy Spirit took the marrow of the cedar and a part from the highest branch, because he made the incarnation of Christ; and he plants this as the most noble shoot on a high mountain when he gives the sacrament of the Lord's body to the faithful, lifted from earthly desires to heavenly things. Hence fruit breaks forth, because the faithful heart, by the power of the Lord's body, with the proper bitterness of vices left behind, makes spiritual leaves, flowers, and fruits of virtues and good works like Christ. Hence it was said to Augustine: "I am food of the grown; grow, and you will eat me. Nor will you change me into yourself as food of your flesh, but you will be changed into me." Song of Songs 1:3: Draw me after you, namely by changing me into you by the violence of my delight, by the magnitude of your sweetness, by the power of firm insertion, so that the root of bitterness may not remain in me, but the power and sweetness of your goodness may prevail by working in me. Galatians 2:20: I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me. As if he were saying: Now, as I lived badly, I do not live, but as Christ I think well, speak, work, and live, until I come to him. Amen.
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