XIV About the three miracles in receiving the Body of our Lord
XIV
About the three miracles in receiving the Body of our Lord
C. Here we have to consider the last miracles worked about the Blessed Sacrament, that is, the three miracles in the reception of our Lord’s Body.
(1) The first miracle is this, that the Body of our Lord when eaten is not lessened. This is against the heretics, who say that if our Lord’s Body had been greater than a mountain it would have been long ago consumed. For this miracle, that is, the inconsumptibility of the Body of Jesus, there is a threefold reason.
1. The first reason is the power of consecrating daily. Every day, wherever the faithful are, and under as many Hosts as are needed for them, we can consecrate the true and only Body of Christ according to His command. When, therefore, we feed on that, we cannot consume it; we cannot even lessen it. For as in us the cause of salvation always abides as a desire for Communion, so also abide in us the power and effect of consecrating. Thus when we eat that which is consecrated we cannot in any way lessen our Lord’s Body. Lest that which always remains truly whole in itself might fail sacramentally in the Church, we preserve it by always consecrating in the form of bread, that is, as it were, by nourishing and renewing the Holy Sacrament. This is beautifully typified in the shew-bread, which was to be set always on the table in the Tabernacle of Israel, that it might be ever in the sight of the Lord. The golden rings and the golden crowns, the gold being the purest that could be got, teach us the cleanness of heart with which we should approach the Altar, and the crowns which God has in store for those that love Him. So too the fire that had always to burn on the Altar tells us of the fire of the love of God which should burn ceaselessly on the altar of our hearts. Now we see that the fire shall never fail from the Altar, and we see also that the table of Israel with the shew-bread and their Altar with the fire have passed away. What then? Is God a liar? God forbid. The shadow fails in the Synagogue; but the truth abides in the Church, and cannot fail. Our priests always nourish the Sacrament of the Altar by consecration, and the Body of Christ, which is in it, always the same, never fails by the eating of the faithful.
2. The second reason is the true incorruptibility of this Body of Jesus, which rose from the dead, glorified, deathless, changeless, impassible, and incapable of corruption. Hence when we eat this food it is not corrupted like other food, nor is it changed into our body; but, without corruption itself, it flows into us as our spiritual nourishment. This is typified in that miracle of Elias, where the pot of meal did not waste nor the cruse of oil fail in the house of the widow, for many days, that there might be food for all the family. St. Augustin says, ‘He who eateth Me, saith our Lord, shall live by Me: for when this Bread is eaten, life is eaten. He is not slain when He is eaten, nor does He slay us, but He gives life to the dead. He lives when eaten, because He rose from the dead when slain.’
3. The third reason for this is the infinite cause of feeding. They who come to Him find food enough. Hence He is the true fountain and the true light. He waters the whole earth, that is, He puts good thoughts into the heart. As a fountain pours forth its waters, making fruitful the grass and trees, so Jesus feeds His Church. As the sun fails not, though he gives light to the whole world, so our Lord does not fail, though He gives food to His whole Church. Thus, then, our Lord feeds us with Himself, and is not lessened.
(2) The second miraculous sign in receiving our Lord’s Body is this, that if He be not eaten He is in a certain sense lessened. But to understand so wonderful a thing, we must remember that there are two mystical bodies in the world, namely, the mystical Body of Christ and the mystical body of the devil or Antichrist, to one of which all men in the world belong.
1. The mystical Body of Christ is the Holy Church, His Spouse, pure and faithful. He is the head of this Church, and all the faithful without mortal sin are His members. But His members, as St. Paul tells us, are all who receive His Body worthily.
2. On the other hand, the body of the devil is the whole assembly of the wicked men, who are, as it were, his adulterous nurse. He is their head, and all the wicked are his members. St. Gregory says, ‘The body of the devil is all wicked men; and because they are hard in obstinacy, and frail in their lives, Job compares them to molten shields.’
N. Jesus, by His own work, and by the work of His servants, is always seeking to cut men off from the body of the devil, and incorporate them in His own. So the devil by his own work, and by the work of his servants, is always seeking to draw away the members of Christ, and join them to the vile members of his harlot. St. Augustin, says, ‘They cannot at the same time be members of Christ and members of a harlot; nor can they be said to eat the Body of Christ spiritually, though they eat it sacramentally.’ But by not eating the Body of Christ spiritually, and by living badly, they take the members of Christ and make them members of the devil, and so, as far as they can, they lessen our Lord’s Body. For the soul that is gained by the devil is lost to Christ; and in this way His mystical Body decreases.
(3) The third miraculous sign in receiving our Lord’s Body is this, that when it is eaten by the faithful it is increased. This is proved in two ways, namely, by reason and likeness.
1. First, it is proved by reason. When the Body of Jesus is eaten, it is not changed, like other food, into the eater; but, on the contrary, he who truly eats it is changed into it spiritually. If any one feed upon Him, Jesus makes him a member of His mystical Body, and, incorporating him into that Body which He took of the Blessed Virgin, makes him also, in a certain sense, one thing with Himself. St. Augustin says, ‘In this Sacrament Christ has given us His Body and His Blood, which He has also made us, for we have been made His Body.’ Our flesh united to His Body, and incorporated into it, is made one thing with Him; for Osee says that the faithful live by wheat, that is, by this most Holy Sacrament. It is called our Lord’s Shadow; for He gives Himself there, not in His own Light, but under a veil, in order that the eaters may be converted, because they will be changed into His Body. This, then, is clear: if many of the faithful eat the Body of Christ and are changed into it, being made His members, then His Body is increased while eaten.
2. Next, it is proved by a likeness of human knowledge; for the more that a man communicates his knowledge to others, the more it increases. So it was with the talents of which Jesus speaks. Boetius says, ‘Knowledge is a noble possession of the mind, and it scorneth the greedy owner. If it be not made known, it glides away; but spread abroad, it is increased.’ Thus the Incarnate Wisdom of God, being given to many for food, makes them wise, and in a sense changes them into itself; and so being eaten is not lessened but increased. When God is said to have created wisdom in the Holy Ghost, it means that the Word, the Wisdom of God, was incarnate. In this the Wisdom of God increases, while He makes many increase in wisdom. Let us try to grow in all goodness, by faith, hope, and charity, that in deed and in truth we may be the mystical Body of our Lord, and know more and more of His wisdom and His love.
The Voice of the Holy Ghost
(1) About His Body when eaten not being lessened; 1. Daily consecration; Thou shalt make a table also of setim-wood … and thou shalt overlay it with the purest gold; and thou shalt make to it a golden ledge round about; and to the ledge itself a polished crown.… Thou shalt prepare also four golden rings.… Thou shalt set upon the table loaves of proposition in My sight always. Ex. 25:23–26, 30.
Thou shalt take also fine flour, and shalt bake twelve loaves thereof.… And thou shalt set them six and six, one against another, upon the most clean table before the Lord: and thou shalt put upon them the clearest frankincense, that the bread may be for a memorial of the oblation of the Lord. Lev. 24:5–7.
The fire on the Altar shall always burn, and the priest shall feed it, putting wood on it every day in the morning; and laying on the holocaust shall burn thereupon the fat of the peace-offerings. This is the perpetual fire which shall never go out on the Altar. Lev. 6:12, 13.
2. His Body incorruptible; Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell, nor wilt Thou give Thy Holy One to see corruption. Ps. 15:10.
The word of the Lord came to him (Elias), saying, Arise, and go to Sarephta of the Sidonians and dwell there: for I have commanded a widow woman there to feed thee. He arose and went to Sarephta: and when he was come to the gate of the city, he saw the widow woman gathering sticks; and he called her, and said to her, Give me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. And when she was going to fetch it he called after her, saying, Bring me also, I beseech thee, a morsel of bread in thy hand. And she answered, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have no bread, but only a handful of meal in a pot and a little oil in a cruse; and behold I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die. And Elias said to her, Fear not, but go and do as thou hast said. But first make for me of the same meal a little hearth-cake and bring it to me; and after make for thyself and thy son. For thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, The pot of meal shall not waste, nor the cruse of oil be lessened, until the day wherein the Lord will give rain upon the face of the earth. She went and did according to the word of Elias; and he ate, and she and her house: and from that day the pot of meal did not waste, and the cruse of oil was not lessened, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke in the hand of Elias. 3 Kings 17:8–16.
He set him upon a high land, that he might eat the fruits of the fields, that he might suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the hardest stone. Deut. 32:13.
They drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. 1 Cor. 10:4.
3. The cause of feeding; a. The fountain; A spring rose out of the earth, watering all the surface of the earth; … and a river went out of the place of pleasure to water Paradise. Gen. 2:6, 10.
My people have done two evils. They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and have digged to themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. Jerem. 2:13.
b. The light; That was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But to as many as received Him He gave power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in His name: who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. St. John 1:8–12.
The Lord is faithful in all His words and holy in all His works. The Lord lifteth up all that fall, and setteth up all that are cast down. The eyes of all hope in Thee, O Lord; and Thou givest them meat in due season. Thou openest Thy hand, and fillest every living creature with blessing. The Lord is just in all His ways, and holy in all His works. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him; to all that call upon Him in truth. He will do the will of them that fear Him; and He will hear their prayer and will save them. The Lord keepeth all them that love Him, but the wicked He will destroy. My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord; and let all flesh bless His holy name for ever, yea, for ever and ever. Ps. 144:13–21.
Thou in the beginning, O Lord, didst found the earth, and the heavens are the works of Thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure; and they all shall grow old as a garment, and as a vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall be changed; but Thou art the self-same, and Thy years shall not fail. Heb. 1:10–12.
(2) His Body lessened if not eaten; 1. The Body of Christ; You are the Body of Christ and members of member. 1 Cor. 12:27.
As the body is one and has many members; and all the members of the body, whereas they are many, yet are one body; so also is Christ. 1 Cor. 12:12.
We being many are one bread, one body; all that partake of one bread. 1 Cor. 10:17.
2. The body of the devil; His body is like molten shields, shut close up, with scales pressing upon one another. Job 41:6.
N. Be sober and watch, because your adversary the devil, like a roaring lion, goeth about, seeking whom he may devour; whom resist ye strong in faith. 1 St. Pet. 5:8, 9.
When they have eaten, and are full and fat, they will turn away after strange gods and will serve them; and will despise Me and make void My covenant. Deut. 31:20.
Know you not that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of a harlot? God forbid. 1 Cor. 6:15.
(3) His Body increased if eaten; 1. Not like earthly food; We being many are one bread, one body; all that partake of one bread. 1 Cor. 10:17.
They shall be converted that sit under His shadow; they shall live upon wheat. Osee 14:8.
2. Human knowledge; There is one most high Creator, Almighty; … He created her (Wisdom) in the Holy Ghost.… He poured her out upon all His works, and upon all flesh according to His gift; and hath given her to them that love Him. Ecclus. 1:8–10.
He that had received the five talents, coming, brought other five talents, saying, Lord, Thou didst deliver to me five talents; behold I have gained other five over and above. St. Matt. 25:20.
Growth in Christ; Doing the truth in charity, we may in all things grow up in Him who is the head, even Christ; from whom the whole body, being compacted and fitly joined together, by what every joint supplieth, according to the operation in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in charity. Eph. 4:15, 16.
Prayer
Eternal Father, look upon Thy child whom Thou hast made, and help me to draw near to the Altar and receive the Body and Blood of my Jesus, as worthily as I can. O Father, whom I love, I am weak with a great weakness; give me strength and victory.
Eternal Son, look upon Thy brother whom Thou hast redeemed. Help me to receive Thee as worthily as I can in Thy Holy Sacrament. O Brother and Friend, whom I love, I am blind with a great blindness; give me wisdom and light.
Eternal Spirit, look upon Thy temple which Thou hast hallowed for Thyself, and on the sanctuary which Thy right hand hath made. O, help me to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus, as worthily as I can. O dear Spirit, Spirit of grace and supplication, whom I love, I am cold with a great coldness, and dark with a great darkness; give me fervour; give me more love.
O Ever-blessed Trinity, Three Persons and One God, help me as I go to the Altar of Jesus.
Thanksgiving
Eternal Father, I thank Thee for the gift that Thou hast given me. It is Thy beloved Son, in whom Thou art well pleased. In Him and by Him give me strength to keep all my good resolutions.
Eternal Son, I thank Thee for the gift that Thou hast given me. It is Thyself who didst die for me. Make me, dear Jesus, wiser with Thy heavenly wisdom, and show me clearly all the things I should do for God.
Eternal Spirit, I thank Thee for the gift that Thou hast given me. It is Jesus, whose Soul Thou didst sanctify with Thy holiest treasures. Make me, dear Spirit, more loving, that I may cling more closely to God.
O Ever-blessed Trinity, Three Persons and One God, help me to live according to this gift of gifts which I have received at the Altar of Jesus.