265. How Christ is “here” in the Eucharist
265. HOW CHRIST IS “HERE” IN THE EUCHARIST
(1) When the priest moves the consecrated Host from his hand to our tongue, or to our hand, Christ’s Body is moved from one place to the other. For a hand and a tongue are places, and different places, and Christ’s Body is moved from the priest’s hand to our tongue or hand. That follows logically.
(2) But no place can contain Christ’s Body, for it is present simultaneously and fully in many different places. It is larger, not smaller, than any place, even the entire universe.
Therefore, since both of these statements are true, Christ’s Body must be in the Eucharist in a very different way than we usually think of when we say one body is “in” another, or in a place. How does that work?
Whether Christ’s Body is in this Sacrament as in a place?
The place and the object placed must be equal (in size), as is clear from the Philosopher. But the place where this sacrament is is much less than the Body of Christ. Therefore Christ’s Body is not in this sacrament as in a place . . . because then it would be only on the particular altar where this sacrament is performed; whereas it is in heaven under its own species and on many other altars under the sacramental species (III,76,5).
St. Thomas does not answer this question by “spiritualizing” Christ’s Body or His real Eucharistic Presence. He is really there in this physical place in a way He is not present in other physical places. For instance, He is not in the pews of the church with His Real Presence as He is in the consecrated Host, and we do not adore Him there. If He were really in the pews, it would be sacrilege to sit down.
This sounds as if His sacred Body, since it is really present in some places but not others, must be smaller than the sum of all places, or the universe. Yet this is not so. The very opposite is so: the Body of Christ is larger than the universe. When you swallow the Eucharist, you are swallowing more than the entire created universe. You are swallowing the Creator. When we physically encompass Him in our bodies, He ontologically encompasses us in His Body.
When the Lady Julian of Norwich was given the vision of a tiny hazel nut held in the hand of God, she asked what it was and God answered: “It is all that is made.” The universe is much smaller than its Creator. Christ is the Creator of everything, the “Pantocrator” (“all-creator”) typically found in Eastern Orthodox icons, and therefore infinitely larger than all that is created. But He is “larger” not in physical size but in being. The Eucharist is not physically larger than the universe, but it is ontologically larger, somewhat as the soul is larger than the body, not physically (since souls, like God, are not physical chunks of matter) but ontologically, in being.
“But I cannot comprehend this.” Quite right. If we could, it would fit into the categories of nature and natural reason. Its incomprehensibility is exactly what we should expect if it is the true supernatural miracle as claimed by the Church that teaches it in His name and with His authority (“he who hears you, hears Me”—Lk 10:16).