260. Three meanings of the Eucharist
260. THREE MEANINGS OF THE EUCHARIST
All the sacraments are sacred signs. Of what is the Eucharist a sign?
This sacrament has a threefold significance: one with regard to the past, inasmuch as it is commemorative of our Lord’s Passion, which was a true sacrifice . . . and in this respect it is called a Sacrifice.
With regard to the present it has another meaning, namely that of ecclesiastical unity . . . and in this respect it is called Communion. For Damascene says that it is called Communion because we communicate with Christ through it . . . and are united to one another through it.
With regard to the future it has a third meaning, inasmuch as this sacrament foreshadows the divine fruition which shall come to pass in heaven; and according to this it is called Viaticum because it supplies the way of winning thither. And in this respect it is also called the Eucharist, that is, good grace, because the grace of God is life everlasting (Rom 6:23) (III,73,4).
As Christ is the eternal Word of God made temporal, so the Eucharist, the sacrament which is the eternal Christ Himself, branches out into all three dimensions of time like a single white light passing through a prism into different colors. Thus St. Thomas mentions three meanings, or significances, to this sacred sign: one past, one present, and one future. Once again, we see his both / and rather than either / or mind. Modern theologians often argue about whether the Eucharist is primarily a sacrifice (of Christ on the Cross in the past for our salvation) or a communion (with Christ and each other in the present). St. Thomas’ answer is that it is both, and more.
The three meanings are dependent on each other. If we separate them from each other in our own minds, we pervert each one, making the past meaning (sacrifice) a “salvation pill”, the present one (“communion”) a piece of self-serving ecclesiastical celebratory auto—eroticism, or the future one (“viaticum”) an eternal fire insurance policy. But if we remember their oneness, we will see the past meaning, the sacrifice, as a means to our spiritual marriage to Christ which must begin in this life and be consummated in Heaven; we will see the present meaning, the communion, as union with the divine, not just the human Christ, and thus as union with the Christ of the Cross and the Christ of Heaven; and we will see the future meaning, the viaticum, as the fulfillment of the same relationship that began on the Cross and is presently being lived and grown in the Church and her sacraments, which pour out on us the grace already won on the Cross, the grace which alone can win Heaven for us in our future.
Therefore, when we receive the Eucharist, we are with Christ on the Cross and in Heaven. We are bilocating, not just in space but in time. The Eucharistic Christ is like a time machine. It brings us back to Calvary, into the present Christ, and forward to Heaven, because it makes us to be together with Christ, Who is in all three places and times. Remembering all three of these things vastly enriches our understanding and appreciation and gratitude for what we are doing each time we receive Him in the Eucharist.