Works › The Book on the Sacrament of the Eucharist
Volume 38 · pp. 228–229
Chapters II-III. On the Suitable and Persevering Gift.
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Caput II. Donum hoc est conveniens et proportionatum suscipienti.
Secundum autem quod in dono consideratur, est ut sit ei cui donatur conveniens et proportionatum. Non enim idem est dandum militi et rustico, non enim idem nobili et ignobili, non idem puero et seni. Dicit enim Philosophus, quod sphaera et lecythus pulcherrima et magnificentia sunt puerilis doni, quae tamen seni exhibita potius irrisio quam dona viderentur. Hoc significatur, Matth. xxv, 15, ubi sic dicitur: Unicuique dedit secundum propriam virtutem, hoc est, secundum propriae virtutis proportionem. Hoc ergo donum tantae est existimationis, quod unicuique dat a se consideratam gratiam et delectationem. Sapient. xvi, 21: Deserviens uniuscujusque voluntati, ad quod quisque volebat convertebatur. Et parum ante, v. 20, dixit: Angelorum esca nutrivisti populum tuum, et paratum panem de caelo praestitisti eis sine labore, omne delectamentum in se habentem, et omnis saporis suavitatem. Ad Philip. iv, 18: Habeo autem omnia, et abundo. Unde, Act. iv, 34, de Apostolis et discipulis dicitur, quod nullus erat egens inter illos, qui ex gratia communionis quam hoc sacramentum signat, omni indigentia replebantur: eo quod ipsum donum omnibus esset proportionatum, ut eo quilibet quam quaerit inveniat, et non deficiat. Luc. xxii, 35 et 36: Quando misi vos sine sacculo, et pera, et calceamentis, numquid aliquid defuit vobis? At illi dixerunt: Nihil. Communicatio enim quam habebant ad invicem quae in hoc sacramento et exhibetur et significatur, omnes omnium replevit indigentias.
Caput III. Donum debet perseverare et permanere cum eo qui accepit.
Chapter II. This gift is suitable and proportioned to the one receiving it.
But the second thing considered in a gift is that it be suitable and proportioned to him to whom it is given. For the same thing is not to be given to a soldier and to a farmer; the same thing is not suitable for a noble and an ignoble person, nor the same for a boy and an old man. For the Philosopher says that a ball and an oil-flask are very beautiful and magnificent as a boyish gift, yet if they were offered to an old man they would seem mockery rather than gifts. This is signified in Matthew 25:15, where it is said thus: He gave to each according to his own virtue, that is, according to the proportion of his own virtue. Therefore this gift is of so great a valuation that it gives to each one grace and delight considered from itself. Wisdom 16:21: Serving the will of each one, it was turned to what each one wished. And a little before, verse 20, he said: You nourished your people with the food of angels, and you furnished them prepared bread from heaven without labor, having every delight in itself and the sweetness of every taste. Philippians 4:18: But I have all things and abound. Hence in Acts 4:34 it is said of the Apostles and disciples that there was no one needy among them, who from the grace of communion which this sacrament signifies were filled in every need, because the gift itself was proportioned to all, so that by it each one might find what he seeks and might not fail. Luke 22:35 and 36: When I sent you without purse and bag and shoes, did anything lack to you? But they said: Nothing. For the communication which they had with one another, which in this sacrament is both offered and signified, filled all the needs of all.
Chapter III. The gift ought to persevere and remain with him who has received it.
Tertium in dono bono considerandum est, ut sit perseverans cum eo qui accepit et in vita et in morte, nec sit evanescens sicut dona ludentium in mundi vanitate. Unde, Eccli. xi, 17, dicitur: Datio Dei permanet justis, et profectus illius successus habebit in aeternum. Haec est enim vera datio quae in transitu manet in viaticum, et in vita in refectionem, et in judicio in redemptionem, et in patria in aeternae beatitudinis significationem. Tales enim successus donum istud habet in aeternum. Hoc modo novit Pater coelestis bona data dare filiis suis1. Proverb. xxxi, 12: Reddet enim bonum, et non malum, omnibus diebus vitae suae. Quia omnibus diebus vitae nostrae et in gratia et in gloria donum istud perseverabit, vel in re gratiae contenta, vel in re gloriae significata. Tob. xi, 3: Bonis omnibus per eum repleti sumus. Joan. x, 29, de hoc dono dicit: Pater meus, quod dedit mihi, majus omnibus est. Hoc enim maximum fuit quod perseverans nobis donum donavit: per hoc enim semper et omnia sumus et erimus sufficientes. Unde, Psal. cx, 4 et 5, dicit: Memoriam fecit mirabilium suorum, misericors et miserator Dominus. Escam dedit timentibus se.
Hoc enim omnibus mirabilibus est mirabilius, quod se nobis donat, et in se consistens permanet, quod sumitur in cibum, et integer perseverat, quod perseverat in nobis in omnem sufficientiam corporis et animae et vitae et mortis et gratiae et gloriae, nihilominus est donator et donum omnium illorum. Unde, Isa. xxx, 16: Panis ei datus est, aquae ejus fideles sunt: quia non deficiunt sicut panis mendacii mundi et carnalis deceptionis, etc.
The third thing to be considered in a good gift is that it be persevering with him who has received it, both in life and in death, and not be vanishing like the gifts of those playing in the vanity of the world. Hence Ecclesiasticus 11:17 says: The giving of God remains for the just, and its progress will have success forever. For this is true giving, which in passage remains as viaticum, and in life for refreshment, and in judgment for redemption, and in the fatherland for the signification of eternal blessedness. For that gift has such successes forever. In this way the heavenly Father knows how to give good things to his sons1. Proverbs 31:12: For she will render good and not evil all the days of her life. Because through all the days of our life, both in grace and in glory, that gift will persevere, either in the contained reality of grace or in the signified reality of glory. Tobit 11:3: Through him we have been filled with all good things. John 10:29 says concerning this gift: My Father, what he has given me, is greater than all things. For this was the greatest thing, that he gave to us a persevering gift; for through this we are and will be sufficient always and in all things. Hence Psalm 110:4 and 5 says: The merciful and compassionate Lord has made a memorial of his wonderful works. He has given food to those who fear him.
For this is more wonderful than all wonderful things: that he gives himself to us and, remaining established in himself, abides; that he is taken as food and remains whole; that he perseveres in us unto every sufficiency of body and soul, of life and death, and of grace and glory, and nevertheless is the giver and gift of all those things. Hence Isaiah 30:16: Bread has been given to him; his waters are faithful, because they do not fail like the bread of the falsehood of the world and of carnal deception, and so forth.
Notes
- Compare Luke 11:13. (Cf. Luc. xi, 13.) ↩
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