Works › The Book on the Sacrament of the Eucharist
Volume 38 · pp. 271–274
Chapter VIII. On the Unitability of This Food to the One Fed Which It Has from Connaturality, nos. 1-through the beginning of 5.
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Marginal label (printed p. 272): Vita munda.
Marginal label (printed p. 273): Dilectio ad Deum sincera et pulchra.
Marginal label (printed p. 274): Illustratio contemplativa.
Caput VIII. De cibi hujus ad cibatum unibilitate quam habet ex connaturalitate.
1. Sequitur ut dicamus hic de hujus cibi ad cibatum unibilitate, quam habet ex connaturalitate ad eos quos cibat. In naturali enim cibo nihil unitur ei qui cibatur, nisi quod connaturale est illi: et si non sit connaturale et infundatur membris, pro certo putrescet in membris, et generabit apostemata et tumores vel alias corruptiones. Si autem connaturale est membris, unitur eis, et confortantur et proficiunt omnia membra per ipsum in virtutibus et operationibus suis, sicut ante diximus. Quia in digestione et assimilatione cibi et subtilitate omnia haec fieri habent in nobis: eo quod cibus ille purissimus et subtilissimus et suavissimus sit quantum ad se, sed nos non semper cibo secundum quod oportet, utimur.
Ita dicimus hic, quod in cibo nos oportet virtute istius cibi uniri cibo potius quam cibus uniatur nobis: quia si uniretur nobis defectibilibus, et cibus periret, et nos non proficeremus. Cum autem nos cibo unimur qui incorruptibilis est, tunc proficimus in omni virtute. Talem autem habemus ad cibum unionem, ut Christo Domino et cibo nostro connaturales efficiamur, ita quod nihil in nobis sit a natura Christi et divina generatione alienum. Iste enim panis filiorum est, qui non mittitur canibus ad manducandum.1
2. Et ideo notandum est hic, quod quinque sunt quae faciunt nos Christo connaturales et unibiles. Quorum unum et primum est generatio divina. Secundum autem est munda vita. Tertium autem, dilectio ad Deum et sincera et pulchra. Quartum autem, illustratio contemplativa. Et quintum est unio devota. Primum horum facit nos Christo connaturales. Secundum autem facit nos in virtute similes. Tertium facit nos concordes. Quartum facit nos in cognitione conformes. Quintum autem et ultimum facit nos ab ipso indistantes. Haec enim quinque cibus habet ad cibatum, quando unitur ei: quia tunc primo ad naturam nutriti cibus generatur. Secundo, in virtute membro et operatione assimilatur. Tertio, calore ejus vivifico in membro cibato afficitur et vivificatur. Quarto, luce vivifica membris et calore venustatur. Et quinto, ad plenum unitum animali potentia membri vivificatur et animae unitur.
De primo horum dicitur, I Joannis, v, 18: Scimus quia omnis qui natus est ex Deo, non peccat: sed generatio Dei conservat eum, et malignus non tangit eum. Est autem spiritualis quaedam et optima generatio divina, qua homo in corpus et membrum Christi generatur. Si enim cibus olerum bonum suum cognoscere posset, quando ad corpus et ad membrum hominis per generationem quamdam mutatur; multas gratias ageret, et omnem modum quo mutatur et conteritur, cum gaudio sustineret, ubi sciret quod a suo esse ignobili et vili in tam nobilem vitam et tam nobile corpus mutaretur. Quantas ergo gratiarum actiones debemus Christo, qui suo corpore vivifico nos in se transmutat, ut corpus ejus efficiamur sanctum et mundum et divinum. Joan. i, 12: Quotquot autem receperunt eum, dedit eis potestatem filios Dei fieri. Quia qui eum receperunt in sacramento spirituali manducatione, concorporales filii sui efficiuntur, et sic filii Dei sunt et dicuntur. Joan. i, 13: Qui non ex sanguinibus, neque ex voluntate carnis, neque ex voluntati viri, sed ex Deo nati sunt. Non enim caro et sanguis et concupiscentia carnis et sanguinis aliquid possunt in illa generatione, sicut dicitur ibi, I ad Corinth. xv, 50: Caro et sanguis regnum Dei possidere non possunt: neque corruptio incorruptelam possidebit. Et ideo neque ex voluntate foemineae carnis, neque ex improba et libidinosi viri voluntate, nihil penitus est in illa sancta generatione qua homo ex Deo nascitur, quando participando sacramento in corpus Dominicum et membrum generatur.
Marginal label (printed p. 272): Clean life.
Marginal label (printed p. 273): Sincere and beautiful love toward God.
Marginal label (printed p. 274): Contemplative illumination.
Chapter VIII. On the Unitability of This Food to the One Fed Which It Has from Connaturality.
1. It follows that we should speak here about the unitability of this food to the one fed, which it has from connaturality to those whom it feeds. For in natural food nothing is united to the one who is fed except what is connatural to him; and if it is not connatural and is poured into the members, certainly it will putrefy in the members and will generate abscesses and swellings or other corruptions. But if it is connatural to the members, it is united to them, and all the members are strengthened and advance through it in their virtues and operations, as we said before. For in the digestion and assimilation and subtlety of food all these things must happen in us, because that food is, as far as concerns itself, most pure and most subtle and most sweet; but we do not always use the food according as we ought.
Thus we say here that in the case of the food we must, by the virtue of this food, be united to the food rather than the food be united to us, because if it were united to us who are defectible, both the food would perish and we would not advance. But when we are united to the food which is incorruptible, then we advance in every virtue. Moreover we have such a union to the food that we are made connatural to Christ the Lord and our food, so that nothing in us is alien from the nature of Christ and divine generation. For this is the bread of children, which is not sent to dogs to eat.1
2. And therefore it must be noted here that there are five things which make us connatural and unitable to Christ. One and the first of these is divine generation. The second is clean life. The third is love toward God, both sincere and beautiful. The fourth is contemplative illumination. And the fifth is devout union. The first of these makes us connatural to Christ. The second makes us like in virtue. The third makes us concordant. The fourth makes us conformable in knowledge. But the fifth and last makes us not distant from him. For food has these five things toward the one fed when it is united to him, because then first the food is generated to the nature of the one nourished. Second, it is assimilated to the member in virtue and operation. Third, by its life-giving heat it is affected and vivified in the member fed. Fourth, by life-giving light and heat it is beautified in the members. And fifth, fully united, it is vivified by the animal power of the member and united to the soul.
Concerning the first of these it is said in 1 John 5:18: We know that everyone who is born from God does not sin; but the generation of God preserves him, and the malignant one does not touch him. But there is a certain spiritual and best divine generation by which man is generated into the body and member of Christ. For if the food of vegetables could know its own good when it is changed by a certain generation into the body and member of man, it would give many thanks and would sustain with joy every mode by which it is changed and ground, when it knew that from its ignoble and vile being it was being changed into so noble a life and so noble a body. Therefore how many thanksgivings do we owe Christ, who by his life-giving body transmutates us into himself, so that we may be made his holy and clean and divine body. John 1:12: But as many as received him, he gave them power to become sons of God. Because those who received him in the sacrament by spiritual eating are made sons sharing the same body with him, and thus they are and are called sons of God. John 1:13: Who were born not from bloods, nor from the will of the flesh, nor from the will of man, but from God. For flesh and blood and the concupiscence of flesh and blood can do nothing in that generation, as is said there, 1 Corinthians 15:50: Flesh and blood cannot possess the kingdom of God; nor will corruption possess incorruption. And therefore neither from the will of female flesh, nor from the improper will of a lustful man, is there anything at all in that holy generation by which man is born from God, when by participating in the sacrament he is generated into the Lord's body and member.
In hac enim generatione corpus Dominicum quasi semen est, quod sua virtute hominem ad se trahit et in se transformat. I Joannis, iii, 9: Omnis qui natus est ex Deo, peccatum non facit, quoniam semen ipsius in eo manet, et non potest peccare, quoniam ex Deo natus est. Sic igitur mutamur in sanguinem et carnem ipsius spiritualiter, et efficimur sibi connaturaliter uniti et genus suum, de natura sua nos sic ad se mutante. Act. xvii, 28: Ipsius et genus sumus.
Hoc est igitur primum in quo sic unimur Christo per sacramentum.
3. Est autem secunda unio in vita in similitudine virtutis et operationis. Quia etiam in naturali cibo perfecte membris unitum non est quod non habet membri vel membrorum virtutem et operationem, sicut dicitur, Isa. lix, 2: Iniquitates vestrae diviserunt inter vos et Deum vestrum: et peccata vestra absconderunt faciem ejus a vobis, ne exaudiret. Ac si dicat: Si dissimilitudo in vita non esset, sed essetis virtute vita et operatione similes, tunc Deo nostro uniti essetis, ita quod inter Deum et vos nihil distaret nec distare faceret. Et hoc est quod dicitur, Act. xvii, 27 et 28: Non longe est ab unoquoque nostrum. In ipso enim vivimus, et movemur, et sumus. Per virtutem enim suam nobis influxam efficitur non longe: quia ipse suam non deserit virtutem, et in sua virtute nobis communicata et influxa ipse influit nobis seipsum et communicat. Et sic in ipso vivimus sua virtute, et in ipso movemur sui nutrimenti perfectione, et in ipso sumus stantes consummati in sua perfectione. Sic enim, sicut dicitur ad Ephesios, iv, 13: Occurramus omnes in virum perfectum, in mensuram aetatis plenitudinis Christi. Sic enim verum est quod dicitur, I Joannis, ii, 29: Scitote quoniam omnis qui facit justitiam, ex Deo natus est, translatus jam in virtute et operatione in benedictum corpus et membrum Christi. Sic enim dicitur, Isa. xxvi, 12: Domine, dabis pacem nobis, omnia enim opera nostra operatus es nobis. Quia sibi conjuncti in virtute sua operamur, et ipse operatur in nobis. Sic ipse dicit, Joan. xiv, 12: Qui credit in me, opera quae ego facio et ipse faciet, et majora horum faciet, quia ego ad Patrem vado. Ipse enim nos sibi uniens, in nobis magna facit, et nos sibi unitos ad Patris majestatem exaltans, facit majora, et quotidie innovat maxima. Quae omnia in nobis facit, quotidie virtutem et opera confortando. Magna enim facit in operibus gratiae: majora facit in operibus donorum sancti Spiritus: maxima autem facit in operibus supererogationum et beatitudinum. Sic unitus Christo loquitur Apostolus, II ad Corinth. xiii, 3: An experimentum quaeritis ejus, qui in me loquitur Christus, qui in vobis non infirmatur, sed potens est in vobis? In nobis enim loquitur, quando vita, virtute et operatione juncti sumus ei, et quasi connaturales effecti. Potentia autem est in nobis, et non infirmatur, quando virtuti suae nihil contrarium invenit in nobis, sicut dicit Psalmista, Psal. xvii, 2 et 3: Diligam te, Domine, fortitudo vel virtus mea. Dominus firmamentum meum, et refugium meum, et liberator meus.
For in this generation the Lord's body is as seed, which by its virtue draws man to itself and transforms him into itself. 1 John 3:9: Everyone who is born from God does not commit sin, because his seed remains in him, and he cannot sin, because he has been born from God. Thus therefore we are changed spiritually into his blood and flesh, and we are made connaturally united to him and his race, as his nature thus changes us to himself. Acts 17:28: We are also of his race.
This therefore is the first thing in which we are thus united to Christ through the sacrament.
3. But the second union is in life in the likeness of virtue and operation. Because even in natural food that which does not have the virtue and operation of the member or members is not perfectly united to the members, as is said in Isaiah 59:2: Your iniquities have divided between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, lest he hear. As if he were saying: If there were not unlikeness in life, but you were like in virtue, life, and operation, then you would be united to our God, so that nothing would be distant or make distance between God and you. And this is what is said in Acts 17:27 and 28: He is not far from each of us. For in him we live, and move, and are. For through his virtue poured into us he becomes not far away, because he does not desert his virtue, and in his virtue communicated and poured into us he himself flows into us and communicates himself. And thus in him we live by his virtue, and in him we are moved by the perfection of his nourishment, and in him we are, standing consummated in his perfection. For thus, as is said to the Ephesians 4:13: Let us all meet into a perfect man, into the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ. For thus it is true what is said in 1 John 2:29: Know that everyone who does justice is born from God, already transferred in virtue and operation into the blessed body and member of Christ. For thus it is said in Isaiah 26:12: Lord, you will give peace to us, for you have worked all our works for us. Because, joined to him in his virtue, we work, and he works in us. Thus he himself says, John 14:12: He who believes in me, the works which I do he also will do, and greater than these he will do, because I go to the Father. For he himself, uniting us to himself, does great things in us, and exalting us united to himself to the majesty of the Father, he does greater things, and daily renews the greatest things. All these things he does in us by daily strengthening virtue and works. For he does great things in the works of grace; he does greater things in the works of the gifts of the Holy Spirit; but he does the greatest things in the works of supererogations and beatitudes. Thus the Apostle, united to Christ, speaks in 2 Corinthians 13:3: Do you seek a proof of him, Christ, who speaks in me, who is not weak in you, but is powerful in you? For he speaks in us when we are joined to him by life, virtue, and operation, and made as though connatural. But power is in us and is not weakened when he finds nothing contrary to his virtue in us, as the Psalmist says, Psalm 17:2 and 3: I shall love you, Lord, my strength or virtue. The Lord is my firmament, and my refuge, and my liberator.
4. Tertium autem nos uniens Christo, et ad quasi concorporales et connaturales sibi efficiens, est dilectio ad ipsum pulchra et sincera. Quia etiam cibus corporalis postquam ad substantiam membri quod nutrit, mutatus et generatus est, et postquam virtutem et operationem et vitam illius membri assumpsit, statim ordine naturae calore vivifico illius membri et spiritu penetratur et afficitur, et sic perfectius quam primo unitus fuit, unitur. Et hoc est quod dicit Augustinus, quod fides in compositione corporis Christi mystici membra jungit, spes autem nectit, et charitas unit. Quia fidei generatio membro attribuitur, de quo diximus primo. Spei autem nexus in virtute et operatione attribuitur, spei de qua diximus secundo. Charitati autem attribuitur unio de qua hic dicere habemus: et hoc est quod dicit Apostolus, ad Ephes. iv, 15 et 16: Crescamus in illo per omnia qui est caput Christus: ex quo totum corpus compactum, et connexum per omnem juncturam subministrationis, etc. Sed per operationem uniuscujusque membri augmentum corpus facit in aedificationem sui in charitate. Hinc est quod dicit, Joan. xv, 9 et 10: Manete in dilectione mea. Si praecepta mea servaveritis, manebitis in dilectione mea, sicut et ego Patris mei praecepta servavi, et maneo in ejus dilectione. Qui autem in dilectione Christi manet, manet in ejus calore vivifico, per quem unitur sibi et afficitur, ut spiritui vitali ejus conjungatur et uniatur. Hoc enim modo corpus totum in membris omnibus efficitur unum. Ad Ephes. iv, 4: Unum corpus, et unus spiritus, sicut vocati estis in una spe vocationis vestrae. Unum enim corpus est juncturis et unionibus membrorum ad unum cor, quod calorem vitae immittit omnibus, et unus spiritus est, qui vitam et dilectionem ad invicem omnibus inspirat et pulsat in omnibus membris: et in hac spe vocationis vocamur ad Christum, ut sic connaturaliter et concorporaliter sibi sicuti capiti nostro et cordi simus uniti, quod nobis influit et sensum cognitionis et motum virtutis et tegimen suae providentissimae gubernationis, sicut dicitur, Cantic. v, 6: Anima mea liquefacta est, ut dilectus locutus est. Dilectus enim verba dilectionis loquitur ad affectum cordis: et ideo anima ista beata dilecto unita, statim calore dilectionis resoluta, et tota in devotione liquefacta, penetravit ad ipsum, et sibi unita concorporalis effecta est. Haec enim est unitas spiritus Christi charitatis totum corpus uniens, de quo dicitur, ad Ephes. iv, 3: Solliciti servare unitatem spiritus in vinculo pacis. In hoc calore charitatis quasi sub quodam pallio concorporales et junctos nos sibi facit Dominus. Ruth, iii, 9: Expande pallium tuum super famulam tuam, quia propinquus es. Sic enim dicit Apostolus, quod omnes concorporales efficimur, ad Ephes. iii, 3 et 6: Nunc revelatum est sanctis apostolis et prophetis in Spiritu, gentes esse cohaeredes, et concorporales, et comparticipes promissionis ejus in Christo Jesu.
Sic igitur unio fit per dilectionem sinceram et pulchram. Sincera autem vocatur charitas, quae nihil corruptibile admittit. Pulchra autem, quia nil foedum cogitat adversus dilectum. Quaedam enim charitas adeo debilis est corruptibilia concupiscendo, quod statim corrumpitur: et tunc vita et calor vivificus in tali membro intercipitur. Unde, I ad Timoth. i, 5, dicit Apostolus: Finis praecepti est charitas de corde puro, et conscientia bona, et fide non ficta, hoc est, fidelitate ad amatum non fictili vel fragili, sed fortissima: quia sic dilectus clamat ad nos, Cantic. viii, 6: Pone me ut signaculum super cor tuum, ut signaculum super brachium tuum, quia fortis est ut mors dilectio. Signaculum enim super cor ponitur, quando figura amati sicut figura sigilli in cera, ita in corde molli imprimitur et profundatur. Super brachium ponitur signaculum, quando tota virtus nostra et vires et fortitudo et robur ad ipsum refertur. De pulchra autem dilectione est, quod nihil foedum admittit, quod ex scatebra fuliginosae concupiscentiae procedat. Eccli. xxiv, 24: Ego mater pulchrae dilectionis, quae scilicet nihil foedum diligere potest.
4. But the third thing uniting us to Christ and making us as though sharing one body and connatural with him is beautiful and sincere love toward him. Because even bodily food, after it has been changed and generated into the substance of the member which it nourishes, and after it has assumed the virtue and operation and life of that member, immediately by the order of nature it is penetrated and affected by the life-giving heat and spirit of that member, and thus it is united more perfectly than it was first united. And this is what Augustine says: that in the composition of the mystical body of Christ faith joins the members, hope binds them, and charity unites them. Because generation of faith is attributed to the member, concerning which we spoke first. But the bond of hope is attributed in virtue and operation, of hope concerning which we spoke second. But union is attributed to charity, concerning which we must speak here; and this is what the Apostle says in Ephesians 4:15 and 16: Let us grow in him through all things, who is the head, Christ; from whom the whole body, compacted and connected through every joint of supply, and so forth. But through the operation of each member the body makes increase for the building up of itself in charity. Hence he says, John 15:9 and 10: Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I also have kept the commandments of my Father and remain in his love. But he who remains in the love of Christ remains in his life-giving heat, through which he is united to him and affected, so that he may be joined and united to his vital spirit. For in this way the whole body is made one in all the members. Ephesians 4:4: One body and one spirit, as you have been called in one hope of your calling. For there is one body by the joints and unions of the members to one heart, which sends the heat of life into all; and there is one spirit, which breathes life and love mutually into all and pulses in all the members. And in this hope of calling we are called to Christ, so that thus connaturally and as sharing one body we may be united to him as to our head and heart, which pours into us both the sense of knowledge and the movement of virtue and the covering of his most provident governance, as is said in Canticles 5:6: My soul melted when the beloved spoke. For the beloved speaks words of love to the affection of the heart; and therefore that blessed soul, united to the beloved, immediately dissolved by the heat of love and wholly melted in devotion, penetrated to him, and united to him was made sharing one body. For this is the unity of the spirit of Christ's charity uniting the whole body, of which it is said in Ephesians 4:3: Careful to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. In this heat of charity, as though under a certain cloak, the Lord makes us share one body and be joined to himself. Ruth 3:9: Spread your cloak over your handmaid, because you are near of kin. For thus the Apostle says that we are all made to share one body, Ephesians 3:3 and 6: Now it has been revealed to the holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit that the nations are coheirs and share one body and are coparticipants of his promise in Christ Jesus.
Thus, therefore, union occurs through sincere and beautiful love. But charity is called sincere when it admits nothing corruptible. And it is beautiful because it thinks nothing foul against the beloved. For a certain charity is so weak by desiring corruptible things that it is immediately corrupted, and then life and life-giving heat are cut off in such a member. Hence in 1 Timothy 1:5 the Apostle says: The end of the precept is charity from a pure heart, and a good conscience, and unfeigned faith, that is, fidelity toward the beloved, not made of clay or fragile, but most strong, because thus the beloved cries out to us, Canticles 8:6: Put me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, because love is strong as death. For a seal is placed upon the heart when the figure of the beloved, like the figure of a seal in wax, is impressed and deepened in the soft heart. A seal is placed upon the arm when our whole virtue and powers and strength and vigor are referred to him. But it belongs to beautiful love that it admits nothing foul which proceeds from the bubbling up of sooty concupiscence. Ecclesiasticus 24:24: I am the mother of beautiful love, namely love which can love nothing foul.
Sic igitur connaturaliter et concorporaliter uniti, spiritum et calorem vivificum accipimus a capite totius corporis mystici per nutrimentum spirituale.
5. Quarto loco, sicut oculata fide quisque sapiens videre potest, postea quam cibus adgeneratus membro, et virtutibus ejus unitus, et calore membri vivifico est affectus, et spiritu membri penetratus, statim paulatim incipit assumere calorem illi membro proprium, et venustatem: quod, sicut diximus, fit per illustrationem contemplationis aeternae veritatis in faciem Domini nostri Jesu Christi, sicut expresse dicit Apostolus, II ad Corinth. iv, 6: Quoniam Deus, qui dixit de tenebris lumen splendescere, ipse illuxit in cordibus nostris, ad illuminationem scientiae claritatis Dei, in facie Christi Jesu. Omnino enim innaturale esset, quod tenebrosum et obscurum membrum esset tam lucidi et pulcherrimi corporis. Et ideo oportet ut assumat Christi naturalem lucem et pulchritudinem, sicut, Exod. xxxiv, 29 et seq., splendida facta est facies Moysi ex consortio sermonis Domini, ita ut non possent filii Israel intendere in faciem ejus, propter gloriam vultus ejus. Ita et multo magis assumit membrum incorporatum Christo gloriam et lucem et pulchritudinem Christi in fulgore mentis illustratae per veritatis contemplationem. Unde, II ad Corinth. iii, 18: Nos vero omnes revelata facie gloriam Domini speculantes, in eamdem imaginem transformamur, a claritate in claritatem, tamquam a Domini Spiritu. Sic enim dicitur animae sic Christo unitae in Psalmo xliv, 5: Specie tua et pulchritudine tua intende, prospere procede, et regna. Specie enim veritatis figurata et pulchritudine sapientiae decorata, prospere sine impedimento intendit per intellectum, et procedit per affectum, et regnat in rege, cujus et membrum ejus pulchritudinem assumpsit. Melior enim color quem habere potest membrum corpori bene unitum et vivificatum, est color substantialis sanguinis per candorem pellis et carnis emicantis: et iste est color Christi, sicut dicitur, Cantic. v, 10: Dilectus meus candidus et rubicundus: electus ex millibus. Candet enim liliosa candidatione in omni castitatis munditia, et rubet roseo et purpureo vernanti rubore in suo benedicto quem dedit nobis et pro nobis sanguine. Et hanc pulchritudinem assumit sponsa, et quilibet membrum ejus effectus, quando munditia Christi candet corde et corpore, et ruborem tam gratiosi sanguinis quotidie prae oculis habet in corde. Hoc est, quod de pulcherrima vidua Judith, Judith, x, 4, legitur: Cui etiam Dominus contulit splendorem, quoniam omnis ista compositio, non ex libidine, sed ex virtute pendebat. Hoc est quod de beata Agnete dicit Ambrosius: "Jam corpus ejus corpori
Thus therefore, united connaturally and as sharing one body, we receive the spirit and life-giving heat from the head of the whole mystical body through spiritual nourishment.
5. In the fourth place, as every wise person can see by clear-sighted faith, after food generated into the member, and united to its virtues, and affected by the life-giving heat of the member, and penetrated by the spirit of the member, immediately little by little begins to assume the heat proper to that member and its beauty; and this, as we have said, occurs through the illumination of the contemplation of eternal truth in the face of our Lord Jesus Christ, as the Apostle expressly says in 2 Corinthians 4:6: Because God, who said that light should shine out of darkness, himself has shone in our hearts for the illumination of the knowledge of the brightness of God in the face of Christ Jesus. For it would be altogether unnatural that a dark and obscure member should belong to so luminous and most beautiful a body. And therefore it must assume the natural light and beauty of Christ, just as in Exodus 34:29 and following the face of Moses was made shining from fellowship with the Lord's speech, so that the children of Israel could not look upon his face because of the glory of his countenance. So also, and much more, the member incorporated into Christ assumes the glory and light and beauty of Christ in the radiance of a mind illuminated through contemplation of truth. Hence 2 Corinthians 3:18: But we all, beholding the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, are transformed into the same image, from brightness into brightness, as by the Spirit of the Lord. For thus it is said to the soul thus united to Christ in Psalm 44:5: In your comeliness and your beauty, attend, proceed prosperously, and reign. For figured with the comeliness of truth and adorned with the beauty of wisdom, it prosperously and without impediment attends through intellect, and proceeds through affection, and reigns in the king, whose member also has assumed his beauty. For the better color which a member well united and vivified can have in the body is the substantial color of blood shining through the brightness of skin and flesh; and this is the color of Christ, as is said in Canticles 5:10: My beloved is white and ruddy, chosen from thousands. For he is white with lily-like whitening in all cleanness of chastity, and he is red with rose and purple springing redness in his blessed blood, which he gave to us and for us. And the bride, and anyone made his member, assumes this beauty when the cleanness of Christ shines white in heart and body, and daily has before the eyes in the heart the redness of so gracious a blood. This is what is read concerning the most beautiful widow Judith, Judith 10:4: To whom also the Lord gave splendor, because all that adornment depended not on lust but on virtue. This is what Ambrose says concerning blessed Agnes: "Now his body to the body
Notes
- In the prose of the solemnity of Corpus Christi: Behold the bread of angels, Made the food of wayfarers: Truly the bread of children, Not to be sent to dogs. (In Prosa solemnitatis Corporis Christi: Ecce panis Angelorum, Factus cibus viatorum: Vere panis filiorum, Non mittendus canibus.) ↩
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