Chapter V Conclusion; Chapter VI. This Sacrament Contains Every Grace.

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Sic ergo influendo se nobis spiritualiter et sacramentaliter, nobis suam dat claritatem, quam sibi Pater dedit in mundo perficiendam: et sic unum sumus cum ipso corpus, dicente Apostolo, I ad Corinth. xii, 27: Vos estis corpus Christi, et membra de membro. Hoc enim modo Pater per consubstantialem Filio deitatem suam est clarens in Christo homine secundum suam humanitatem. Et sic claret Filius in Patre secundum unam et eamdem substantiam deitatis clarissimam. Et si hoc igitur modo Christus claret in nobis, sic sumus in unum Patris et Filii in claritate consummati in gratia quae signum est aeternae claritatis in gloria, qua clarebimus per influxum in nos deitatis Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus sancti. Joan. xiv, 23: Ad eum veniemus, et mansionem apud eum faciemus. Apud nos enim manet, quia in nobis sibi claram constituit mansionem. Sic complebitur quod dicit Apostolus, I ad Corinth. xv, 28: Ut sit Deus omnia in omnibus. Et hoc est quod dicit Job, xvii, 17: Non adaequabitur ei aurum vel vitrum. Aurum enim et quidquid splendet corporaliter, aeterno splendori adaequari non potest. Vitrum enim omne et quidquid pervium in lapidibus pretiosis, transparet, quia id quod intus est, vel in parvo, vel in magno abscondunt, quod non adeo relucet quando nudum exhibetur, non potest adaequari illi caelesti gloriae, quae erit in nobis quando tam clarae erunt mentes nostrae et corpora nostra, quod quidquid in nobis est de Deo et Dei puritate, in nullo penitus per corpulentiam nostram abscondatur. Et hoc intendit Gregorius dicere, ibidem in Glossa dicens, quod in beatitudine uniuscujusque mentem ab alterius oculis corpulentia non abscondet. Et haec divina, ut dicit Dionysius, signat Eucharistia, quae cum Deus sacramentaliter in nos hic fluit, et a nobis sic percipitur ut sibi incorporemur, designat in nos futurum influxum suae clarissimae deitatis, quae undique gloriose fulgens in nobis, non abscondetur, sed sua claritate omnino clari efficiemur. Haec est enim de qua, Sapient. viii, 29 et 30, dicitur: Est enim haec speciosior sole, et super omnem dispositionem stellarum: luci comparata, invenitur prior. Illi enim succedit nox: sapientiam autem non vincit malitia. Hac claritate incorporati nobis solis fiet sermo qui scriptus est, Matth. xiii, 43: Tunc justi fulgebunt sicut sol in regno Patris eorum. Nec mirum: sicut enim Christo incorporati, in quibus nulla peccati est obscuritas, sunt incorporati ei, de quo dicitur, Sapient. vii, 26, quod candor est lucis aeternae, et speculum sine macula Dei majestatis, et imago bonitatis illius. Et in hoc est advertere quantum est videre Deum in tot beatis, sicut videtur lumen in pluribus lucernis diversimode participantibus ipsum secundum diversam uniuscujusque dignitatem. Et haec est significatio quam modo in Eucharistia praesentamus: propter quod Eucharistia vocatur.

Caput VI. Hoc sacramentum est omnis gratiae contentivum.

1. Sextam autem causam hujus nominis esse diximus, quia omnis gratiae est contentivum: continet enim eum qui vas est omnis gratiae plenissimum: propter quod etiam a pluribus dicitur sacramentum sacramentorum.

Quod autem omnia sacramenta significant et continent divisim et particulariter, istud simul complectitur, continendo vas et auctorem gratiarum. Et hoc signatur, Eccli. l, 10: Quasi vas auri solidum, ornatum omni lapide pretioso. Corpus enim Christi vas est auri pretiosi deitatis. Ad Coloss. ii, 3: In ipso sunt omnes thesauri sapientiae et scientiae, scilicet Dei, absconditi. Quod esse non posset, nisi in se perfecte totum contineret splendorem deitatis.

Thus, therefore, by flowing into us spiritually and sacramentally, he gives us his brightness, which the Father gave to him to be perfected in the world; and thus we are one body with him, as the Apostle says in 1 Corinthians 12:27: You are the body of Christ, and members from a member. For in this way the Father, through his deity consubstantial with the Son, is shining in Christ the man according to his humanity. And thus the Son shines in the Father according to one and the same most bright substance of deity. And if Christ thus shines in us in this way, so we are consummated into the one of the Father and the Son in brightness, in grace which is a sign of eternal brightness in glory, by which we shall shine through the inflowing into us of the deity of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. John 14:23: We shall come to him and make our dwelling with him. For he remains with us because he establishes in us a bright dwelling for himself. Thus what the Apostle says in 1 Corinthians 15:28 will be fulfilled: That God may be all things in all. And this is what Job 17:17 says: Gold or glass will not be equaled to it. For gold and whatever shines bodily cannot be equaled to eternal splendor. For every glass and whatever is transparent in precious stones shines through, because they hide, either in small part or in great, that which is within, which does not shine so much when it is shown naked; it cannot be equaled to that heavenly glory which will be in us when our minds and bodies will be so bright that whatever in us is of God and of the purity of God will in no way at all be hidden by our corporeity. And Gregory intends to say this in the same place in the Gloss, saying that in beatitude corporeity will not hide the mind of each from the eyes of another. And the Eucharist signifies these divine things, as Dionysius says: since God here flows sacramentally into us and is received by us so that we are incorporated into him, it designates the future inflowing into us of his most bright deity, which, shining gloriously everywhere in us, will not be hidden, but by its brightness we shall be made altogether bright. For this is that concerning which Wisdom 8:29 and 30 says: She is more beautiful than the sun and above every arrangement of the stars; compared with light, she is found prior. For night succeeds that light, but malice does not overcome wisdom. Incorporated by this brightness, the saying written in Matthew 13:43 will be made for us alone: Then the just will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Nor is it marvelous, because incorporated into Christ, in whom there is no darkness of sin, they are incorporated into him of whom Wisdom 7:26 says that he is the brightness of eternal light, the spotless mirror of God's majesty, and the image of his goodness. And in this one should consider how great it is to see God in so many blessed ones, as light is seen in many lamps participating in it in diverse ways according to the diverse dignity of each one. And this is the signification which we now present in the Eucharist; for this reason it is called Eucharist.

Chapter VI. This sacrament contains every grace.

1. We said that the sixth cause of this name is that it contains every grace; for it contains him who is the most full vessel of every grace, on account of which it is also called by many the sacrament of sacraments.

But what all the sacraments signify and contain dividedly and particularly, this one embraces all at once, by containing the vessel and author of graces. And this is signified in Ecclesiasticus 50:10: Like a solid vessel of gold adorned with every precious stone. For the body of Christ is the vessel of the precious gold of deity. Colossians 2:3: In him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, namely of God, hidden. This could not be unless he perfectly contained in himself the whole splendor of deity.

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Totus enim omnis sanctorum splendor in ipso ab aeterno resplenduit, totus in ipso contentus mansit, totus in agro suae humanitatis germinavit, totus ab ipso processit, totus in ipso existens particulariter a sanctis accipitur, totus in ipso esse cognoscitur et ostenditur in admirationem.

2. Et de primo quidem horum, quod scilicet splendor omnis sanctitatis ab aeterno effulsit in ipso, dicitur in Psalmo cix, 3: Tecum principium in die virtutis tuae, in splendoribus sanctorum: ex utero ante luciferum genui te, hoc est, ex foecunda mea deitate, Fili, te genui radiantem in omni splendore sanctitatis, antequam lux creata oriretur in caelis vel in terris. Hic autem Filius Dei in omnibus splendoribus in sacramento Eucharistiae continetur: et ideo de ipso potest dici quod dicitur, Eccli. xliii, 24: Medicina omnium in festinatione nebulae. Quoad litteram, hostia de qua corpus Domini consecratur, nebula vocatur: quae festinat in nostram medicinam, quia panis qui sub nebula est, festinanter absque mora temporis in corpus Christi transsubstantiatur, in quo omnis medicina est: quia in ipso ab aeterno est omnis decor sanctitatis quo quisque sanatur. Sic etiam potest exponi quod dicitur, III Regum, viii, 12: Dominus dixit ut habitaret in nebula. Glossa, id est, opere monstravit. In hac enim nebula statuit habitare ad nostram salutem: et quia sic omnium sanctorum splendor est in ipso, non est mirum si in eadem imagine resplendent illi qui digne ipsum percipiunt. II ad Corinth. iii, 18: Nos omnes revelata facie gloriam Domini speculantes, in eamdem imaginem transformamur, a claritate in claritatem, tamquam a Domini Spiritu. Continet igitur hoc sacramentum Christum in omni splendore sanctitatis.

Continet recte Christum in omnis sanctitatis plenitudine. Unde ipse Filius sapientia Patris dicit, Eccli. xxiv, 16: In plenitudine sanctorum detentio mea. In Christo enim corporaliter plenitudo est sanctitatis. Et ideo Filius Dei etiam secundum divinitatem per unionem detinetur in ipso homine, qui in hoc sacramento continetur et confitetur. Unde etiam ille homo sic assumptus specialiter debet esse beatus. Unde, Psal. lxiv, 5: Beatus quem elegisti et assumpsisti: inhabitabit in atriis tuis. Quasi diceret: Ille specialissima et privilegiata beatitudine factus est, cujus tu Deus assumpsisti naturam, et quem ad hanc sanctitatis plenitudinem elegisti: hic enim tibi unitus habitabit in atriis tuis in eminentia omnium bonorum tuorum quibus ipse prae omnibus perfruitur in omni plenitudine tuam communicans sanctitatem. Et ideo de Christo secundum perfectam rationem dicitur, quod et secundum perfectam participationem scriptum est de primo Angelo, Ezechiel. xxviii, 12 et 13: Tu signaculum similitudinis, plenus sapientia, et perfectus decore: in deliciis paradisi Dei fuisti. Prae omnibus enim est signaculum similitudinis, quae est ipsa in nullo differens imago Patris, Patrem in toto coaequans in omni plenitudine deitatis et sanctitatis.

Hunc autem in plenitudine copiae et affluentiae istud continet sacramentum. Plenitudine, inquam, copiae: quia numquam deficiet, dicente Domino, Matth. xxviii, 20: Ecce ego vobiscum sum omnibus diebus, usque ad consummationem saeculi. Est autem nobiscum in sacramento. Plenitudine autem supereffluentiae dico: quia ipse totus inde effluit in omne et totum corpus mysticum, ut, sicut dicitur, ad Ephes. iii, 19, impleamur in omnem plenitudinem Dei. Et iterum, ad Ephes. iv, 12 et 13, dicit: In aedificationem corporis Christi, donec occurramus omnes in unitatem fidei, et agnitionis Filii Dei, in virum perfectum, in mensuram aetatis plenitudinis Christi. Hoc est dicere, omnia quae fecit Christus in mysteriis Ecclesiae, ad hoc fecit ut aedificatio mystici corporis perficiatur, et impleatur proportionabiliter ad plenitudinem sanctitatis veri corporis, donec sic omnes qui sic sumus membra ejus, occurramus Christo Deo nostro in unitatem fidei suae et agnitae in nobis sanctitatis Christi, in virum illum perfectum Christum in toto suo corpore, et participemus mensuram aetatis in gratia et sanctitate plenitudinis Christi, ita quod in gratia et sanctitate perfecta habeamus quantitatem, nec de caetero simus parvuli et imperfecti. Sic ergo in plenitudine copiae et effluentiae sanctitatis Christus in hoc sacramento continetur: et ideo bona gratia vocatur.

For the whole splendor of all the saints shone in him from eternity, the whole remained contained in him, the whole germinated in the field of his humanity, the whole proceeded from him, the whole existing in him is received particularly by the saints, the whole is known to be in him and is shown for wonder.

2. And concerning the first of these, namely that the splendor of every holiness shone forth in him from eternity, it is said in Psalm 109:3: With you is the beginning in the day of your power, in the splendors of the saints; from the womb before the morning star I begot you. That is: from my fruitful deity, Son, I begot you radiant in every splendor of holiness before created light arose in heaven or on earth. This Son of God is contained in the sacrament of the Eucharist in all splendors; and therefore of him can be said what is said in Ecclesiasticus 43:24: The medicine of all things in the hastening of a cloud. According to the letter, the host from which the body of the Lord is consecrated is called a cloud; it hastens for our medicine, because the bread which is beneath the cloud is hastily, without delay of time, transubstantiated into the body of Christ, in which every medicine is, because in him from eternity is every beauty of holiness by which each one is healed. Thus also what is said in 3 Kings 8:12 can be explained: The Lord said that he would dwell in a cloud. The Gloss says, that is, he showed it in work. For in this cloud he determined to dwell for our salvation; and because the splendor of all the saints is thus in him, it is no wonder if those who receive him worthily shine back in the same image. 2 Corinthians 3:18: But we all, beholding the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, are transformed into the same image, from brightness to brightness, as by the Spirit of the Lord. Therefore this sacrament contains Christ in every splendor of holiness.

It rightly contains Christ in the fullness of every holiness. Hence the Son himself, the wisdom of the Father, says in Ecclesiasticus 24:16: In the fullness of the saints is my detention. For in Christ the fullness of holiness is bodily. And therefore the Son of God even according to divinity is detained through union in that man who is contained and confessed in this sacrament. Hence that man thus assumed ought also specially to be blessed. Hence Psalm 64:5: Blessed is he whom you have chosen and assumed; he shall dwell in your courts. As if he were saying: He has been made blessed with a most special and privileged beatitude, whose nature you, O God, have assumed, and whom you have chosen for this fullness of holiness; for this man, united to you, will dwell in your courts in the eminence of all your goods, by which he before all others enjoys fully, communicating your holiness in every fullness. And therefore concerning Christ according to perfect reason is said what according to perfect participation was written of the first angel in Ezekiel 28:12 and 13: You are the seal of likeness, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty; you were in the delights of the paradise of God. For before all he is the seal of likeness, which is the very image of the Father differing in nothing, coequaling the Father wholly in every fullness of deity and holiness.

This sacrament contains him in the fullness of abundance and affluence. In the fullness of abundance, I say, because he will never fail, as the Lord says in Matthew 28:20: Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the age. But he is with us in the sacrament. I say also in the fullness of super-effluence, because he as a whole flows thence into every and the whole mystical body, so that, as is said in Ephesians 3:19, we may be filled unto all the fullness of God. And again in Ephesians 4:12 and 13 he says: Unto the building up of the body of Christ, until we all meet in the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ. This is to say that all the things which Christ did in the mysteries of the Church he did so that the building of the mystical body might be perfected and proportionally filled unto the fullness of the holiness of the true body, until all of us who are thus his members may meet Christ our God in the unity of his faith and of the holiness of Christ recognized in us, unto that perfect man, Christ in his whole body, and may participate in the measure of age in the grace and holiness of the fullness of Christ, so that in perfect grace and holiness we may have our quantity and no longer be little children and imperfect. Thus therefore Christ is contained in this sacrament in the fullness of abundance and outflow of holiness; and therefore it is called good grace.

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4. Adhuc autem, totum quod est sanctitatis et gratiae, in agro suae humanitatis nobis germinavit: quem sanctitatis odorem percipiens patriarcha magnus admirans dixit, Genes. xxvii, 27: Ecce odor filii mei sicut odor agri pleni, cui benedixit Dominus. Et subjungit de incremento mystici corporis ad plenitudinem veri, dicens, v. 28: Det tibi Deus de rore caeli, et de pinguedine terrae, abundantiam frumenti et vini. Ac si dicat: Faciat te crescere in membris sicut crevisti in teipso. Et hoc facies: quia deitate tua dabis eis de rore caeli qui gratiam signat, et de pinguedine terrae, et hoc est, tui terreni corporis, quod omni sanctitate impinguatum est, abundantiam. Haec abundantia roris et pinguedinis quae germinavit in agro corporis Christi, nobis de plenitudine hujus ministratur sacramenti: et ideo plenitudo gratiae et bona gratia vocatur. Hoc est quod dixit Psalmista, Psal. lxxxiv, 13: Dominus dabit benignitatem, scilicet roris et pinguedinis de corpore suo in sacramento: et terra nostra membris omnibus dabit fructum suum, ad modum fructus qui crevit in agro Dominici corporis, hoc modo sicut dicitur, Isa. xlv, 8: Aperiatur terra, suscipiens rorem gratiae et pinguedinem devotionis, et germinet Salvatorem. Quae enim melior terra esse potest, quam corpori Christi conjuncta, et sanguine suo impinguata? Pro certo nulla: quia ad litteram secundum terrae naturam nulla pinguedo adeo terram foecundat, sicut rigatio humani sanguinis. Multo autem et in infinitum magis foecundat sanguis Salvatoris. Unde, Job, xvi, 19 et 20: Terra, ne operias sanguinem meum, neque inveniat in te locum latendi clamor meus: ecce enim in caelo testis meus, et conscius meus in excelsis. Vult enim, quod sanguis in terram fusus a fructu vacuus non lateat, et clamor quem offerendo seipsum in holocaustum pro nobis, non lateat, sed cum effectu exauditionis veniat ad aures Patris, qui testis est et conscius omnium eorum quae gessit: quae omnia fecit ex Patris obedientia. Haec autem omnia in sacramento Eucharistiae in singulis missis repraesentantur, et omnia nobis de agro Dominici corporis succreverunt.

5. Totum etiam hoc quod nostrae salutis est, ab ipso processit. Unde, Joan. i, 16, dicitur: De plenitudine ejus nos omnes accepimus, et gratiam pro gratia. Nec ab ipso acciperemus, nisi esset ab ipso: nec aliquo modo etiam de hoc quod in ipso est, accipere possemus, nisi sibi communicaremus. Non autem vere communicamus, nisi in communicationis sacramento: totus enim ibi percipitur et emanat de ipso in omnes. Propter quod etiam ipse Dominus cum omnia sua communicare vellet suis, et nihil abscondere

4. Furthermore, the whole of what is of holiness and grace germinated for us in the field of his humanity. Perceiving this odor of holiness, the great patriarch, wondering, said in Genesis 27:27: Behold, the odor of my son is like the odor of a full field, which the Lord has blessed. And he adds concerning the increase of the mystical body unto the fullness of the true body, saying in verse 28: May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth, abundance of grain and wine. As if he were saying: May he make you grow in members as you have grown in yourself. And you will do this, because by your deity you will give them from the dew of heaven, which signifies grace, and from the fatness of the earth, and this is of your earthly body, which has been fattened with every holiness, abundance. This abundance of dew and fatness, which germinated in the field of Christ's body, is administered to us from the fullness of this sacrament; and therefore it is called the fullness of grace and good grace. This is what the Psalmist said in Psalm 84:13: The Lord will give kindliness, namely of dew and fatness from his body in the sacrament; and our earth, in all members, will give its fruit, according to the mode of the fruit which grew in the field of the Lord's body, in the way in which Isaiah 45:8 says: Let the earth be opened, receiving the dew of grace and the fatness of devotion, and let it germinate the Savior. For what earth can be better than one joined to the body of Christ and fattened by his blood? Certainly none, because according to the nature of earth literally no fatness makes earth so fruitful as watering by human blood. But much more and infinitely more does the blood of the Savior make fruitful. Hence Job 16:19 and 20: Earth, do not cover my blood, nor let my cry find a hiding place in you; for behold my witness is in heaven, and my confidant is on high. For he wills that the blood poured into the earth not lie hidden empty of fruit, and that the cry by which, offering himself as a holocaust for us, he should not lie hidden, but with the effect of being heard should come to the ears of the Father, who is witness and conscious of all the things which he did; all these he did from obedience to the Father. All these things, however, are represented in the sacrament of the Eucharist in each Mass, and all things have grown up for us from the field of the Lord's body.

5. The whole also of what belongs to our salvation proceeded from him. Hence in John 1:16 it is said: From his fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. Nor would we receive from him unless it were from him; nor in any way could we receive even of what is in him unless we communicated with him. But we do not truly communicate except in the sacrament of communication; for he is received there wholly and flows from himself into all. Therefore also the Lord himself, when he wished to communicate all his things to his own and to hide nothing,