THE OCTAVE
| Invitatory Antiphon | |
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Contra, Christum regem regum adoremus dominum, de sancto Andrea (not followed)
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| Antiphon for the Benedictus | |
| Contra, Pax aeterna, de Dedicatione. Not found. |
| Antiphon for the Magnificat | |
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| Caetera omnia fiant sicut in die. | All else is done as on the day itself. |
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| READINGS FOR MATINS | |
| The readings of Day 1 and the first reading of Day 2, if not by St. Thomas, are from a source I have not determined. Day 2, Reading 2 to Day 3, Reading 1 are from Augustine. The rest is not by St. Thomas, but from some other sources. | |
| DAY 1, FRIDAY | |
| Reading 1 | |
| De totius mundi operibus legisti quia ipse dixit et facta sunt, ipse mandavit et creata sunt. Sermo igitur qui potuit ex nihilo facere quod non erat, non potuit ea quae sunt in id mutare quod non erant? Non est enim minus dare, quam mutare novas naturas rebus. Sed quid? Cuius argumentis utimur, suis utamur exemplis, incarnationisque struamus mysterii veritatem. Numquid naturae usus persensit, cum dominus Iesus ex Maria nasceretur? Si ordinem quaerimus, viro mixta femina generare consuevit. Liquet igitur quod praeter naturae ordinem virgo generavit. Et hoc quod conficimus, corpus ex virgine est. Quid hic quaeris naturae ordinem in Christi corpore, cum praeter naturam sit ipse dominus Iesus partus ex virgine? Vera utique caro Christi quae crucifixa, quae sepulta est. Vere ergo illius carnis sacramentum est. Ipse clamat dominus noster Iesus: hoc est corpus meum. Ante benedictionem verborum caelestium, alia species nominatur; post consecrationem, corpus significatur. Ipse dicit sanguinem suum. Ante consecrationem aliud dicitur; post consecrationem sanguis Christi nuncupatur. Tu dicis: amen: hoc verum est. Quod sermo sonat, affectus sentiat. | Regarding God's works in the whole world, you have read that "He spoke, and they were made," "He commanded and they were created." Therefore could not the Word, which could make something from nothing, also change what exists into something else? Nothing less can be conceded than to admit that he can change things into new natures. What, then? If we use his arguments, let us use his examples, and consider the truth of the Incarnation. Was the Lord Jesus not aware of the natural process when he was to be born of Mary? If we go by the order of nature, a woman has a child by intercourse with a man. So it is clear that the Virgin had her child outside the order of nature. And what we effect [in the Mass] is the body that came from the Virgin. Why should you look for the order of nature in [the presence of] Christ's body, when the same Lord Jesus was born of the Virgin apart from the order of nature? Yes, it is the true flesh of Christ which was crucified and was buried. Therefore it is really the sacrament of his body. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself cries out: "This is my body." Before the heavenly words of blessing it was a different thing. After the consecration it is designated his body. He said [the same] with regard to his blood. Before the consecration it was called one thing; after the consecration is is designated his body. You say "Amen. This is true." What you speak, may you also feel in your heart. |
| Reading 2 | |
| Panis est in altari usitatus ante verba sacramentorum. Ubi accessit consecratio, de pane fit caro Christi. Quomodo autem potest quod panis est esse corpus Christi? Consecratio igitur quibus verbis et cuius sermonibus est? Domini Iesu. Nam per reliqua omnia quae dicuntur, laus Deo offertur, oratione petitur pro populo, pro regibus, pro ceteris. Ubi autem sacramentum conficitur, iam non suis sermonibus sacerdos, sed utitur sermonibus Christi. Ergo sermo Christi hoc conficit sacramentum. Quis sermo Christi? Hic nempe quo facta sunt omnia: caelum, terra, maria. Vides ergo quam operarius sit sermo Christi. Si ergo tanta vis est in sermone domini Iesu Christi, ut inciperet esse quod non erat, quanto magis operarius est ut sint quae erant et in aliud convertantur? Et sic quod erat panis ante consecrationem iam corpus Christi post consecrationem est, quia sermo Christi creaturam mutat, et sic ex pane fit corpus Christi. Et vinum cum aqua in calice mixtum, fit sanguis consecratione verbi caelestis. Sed forte dicis: speciem sanguinis non video, sed habet similitudinem. Sicut enim mortis similitudinem assumpsisti, ita etiam Christi similitudinem sanguinis bibis, ut nullus horror cruoris sit, et pretium tamen operetur redemptionis. Didicisti quia corpus accipis Christi. Vis scire quia verbis caelestibus consecratur? Accipe quae sunt verba. Dicit sacerdos: fac nobis, inquit, hanc oblationem adscriptam, rationabilem, acceptabilem, quod est figura corporis et sanguinis domini nostri Iesu Christi qui pridie quam pateretur, in sanctis manibus suis accepit panem, respexit ad caelum, ad te, sancte pater, omnipotens aeterne Deus, gratias agens benedixit, fregit, fractumque Apostolis suis, et discipulis suis tradidit, dicens: accipite, et edite ex hoc omnes; hoc enim est corpus meum, quod pro multis confringetur. Similiter et calicem postquam coenatum est, pridie, quam pateretur, accepit, respexit ad caelum, ad te, sancte pater, omnipotens aeterne Deus, gratias agens benedixit, Apostolis et discipulis suis tradidit, dicens: accipite et bibite ex eo omnes. Hic est enim sanguis meus. Inde, omnia illa Evangelistae sunt usque ad Accipite, sive corpus, sive sanguinem. Inde verba Christi sunt: accipite et bibite ex hoc omnes. Hic est enim sanguis meus. Vide singula. Qui pridie quam pateretur accepit, inquit, in sanctis manibus panem. Antequam consecretur panis est. Ubi autem verba Christi accesserint, corpus Christi est. Deinde audi dicentem: accipite et edite ex hoc omnes: hoc est enim corpus meum. Et ante verba Christi, calix est vino et aqua plenus. Ubi autem verba Christi operata fuerint, ibi sanguis efficitur, qui plebem redemit. Ergo vide quam potens est sermo Christi universa convertere. Deinde ipse Iesus testificatur, quod corpus suum et sanguinem suum accipiamus, de cuius fide et testificatione dubitare non debemus. | Bread was handled on the altar before the sacramental words. At the consecration, from bread there became the flesh of Christ. But how could it belong to bread to be the body of Christ? The consecration happens, therefore, by which words and whose pronouncement?-Those of the Lord Jesus. All the rest that is said [in Mass] is praise offered to God, or petitions made for the people, for kings, and for others. But when the sacrament is effected, the priest does not use his own words, but the words of Christ. Therefore the pronouncement of Christ effects this sacrament. What is the pronouncement of Christ?-That by which everything was made: heaven, earth, the seas. So you see how efficacious is the pronouncement of Christ. Therefore, if there is so much power in the pronouncement of Christ, that something could come to exist from nothing, how much more efficacious is it in converting something that previously existed into something else? And so, what was bread before the consecration is right away the body of Christ after the consecration, because the pronouncement of Christ changes a creature, and thus from bread there becomes the body of Christ. And the wine mixed with water in the chalice becomes by the consecration the blood of the heavenly Word. But you may object: "I do not see the appearance of blood, but only something like it." Just as you took on the likeness of his death, so you drink the blood of Christ in its likeness, so that there would be no revulsion at the blood, while the price of redemption is at work. You have learned that you receive the body of Christ. Do you want to know by which heavenly words it is consecrated? Here are the words. The priest says, "Let this offering for us be certified, reasonable, acceptable-which is a figure of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ-who, before he suffered, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to his Apostles and his disciples, saying: 'Take this, all of you, and eat from it. This is my body, which will be broken for many.' When supper was ended, likewise he took the chalice, looked up to heaven, to you, holy Father, almighty and eternal God, and giving thanks blessed it and gave it to his disciples saying: 'Take this and drink from it, all of you. For this is my blood.'" All the preceding are the words of the Evangelist, up to "Take this body" or "this blood". So it is Christ who says: "Take and drink from it, all of you. For this is my blood." Observe the details. It is said, "Before he suffered, he took bread in his sacred hands." Before it was consecrated it was bread. And before the words of Christ, the chalice was full of wine and water. But when the words of Christ took effect, then it became the blood which redeems the people. Therefore see how powerful is the pronouncment of Christ to convert it wholly. Then Jesus himself testifies that we receive his body and his blood, and we have no right to doubt his trustworthiness and testimony. |
| Reading 3 | |
| Christus panis est de quo ipsemet dixit: et panis quem ego dabo caro mea est pro mundi vita. Determinat quomodo sit panis, non solum secundum verbum quo vivunt omnia, sed secundum carnem assumptam pro mundi vita. Humana enim caro quae erat peccato mortua, carni mundae unita, incorporata, unum cum illa effecta, vivit de spiritu eius, sicut vivit corpus de suo spiritu. Qui vero non est de corpore Christi, non vivit de spiritu Christi. Corpus et sanguinem Christi dicimus illud quod ex fructibus terrae acceptum et prece mystica consecratum recte sumimus ad salutem spiritualem, in memoriam dominicae passionis. Quod, cum per manus hominis ad illam visibilem speciem perducatur, non sanctificatur ut sit tam magnum sacramentum, nisi operante invisibiliter spiritu sancto, cum haec omnia quae per corporales motus in illo opere fiunt, Deus operetur. Hoc est sacramentum pietatis et est signum unitatis et vinculum caritatis. Qui vult vivere accedat et credat, incorporetur. Hunc cibum et potum societatem vult intelligi corporis et membrorum suorum quod est ecclesiae in praedestinatis. Hoc est quod dicimus, quod omnibus modis approbare contendimus, sacrificium ecclesiae duobus confici, duobus constare: visibili elementorum specie, et invisibili domini nostri Iesu Christi carne et sanguine, et sacramento et re sacramenti, id est, corpore Christi, sicut Christi persona constat et conficitur ex Deo et homine, cum ipse Christus verus sit Deus et verus homo, quia omnis res illarum rerum naturam et veritatem in se continet ex quibus conficitur. Conficitur autem sacrificium ecclesiae duobus, sacramento et re sacramenti, id est, corpore Christi. Est igitur sacramentum et res sacramenti, id est, corpus Christi. Caro eius est quam forma panis opertam in sacramento accipimus, et sanguis eius quem sub vini specie et sapore potamus. Caro videlicet est carnis, et sanguis est sacramentum sanguinis. Carne et sanguine utroque invisibili intelligibili spirituali significatur visibile corpus domini nostri Iesu Christi et palpabile, plenum gratia omnium virtutum et divina maiestate. Sicut ergo caelestis panis qui vere Christi caro est, suo modo vocatur corpus Christi, cum revera sit sacramentum corporis Christi, illius videlicet quod visibile, quod palpabile mortale in cruce est positum, vocaturque ipsa carnis immolatio, quae sacerdotis manibus fit, Christi passio mors crucifixio, non rei veritate sed significanti [=significati] mysterio: sic sacramentum fidei, quod baptismus intelligitur, fides est. | What we say, and what we try to ratify in every way, is that the sacrifice of the Church is made of and consists of two things: the visible appearance of the elements, and the invisible presence of the flesh and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is the sacrament, and there is the reality of the sacrament, which is the body of Christ. This can be likened to the way the person of Christ consists and is made up of God and man, since Christ is true God and true man, since everything really contains withing itself the nature and reality of what it is made of. The sacrifice of the Church is made of two things, the sacrament and the reality of the sacrament, which is the body of Christ. It is therefore a sacrament and the reality of the sacrament, namely, the body of Christ. It is his flesh covered in the form of bread that we receive in the sacrament, and his blood which we drink under the appearance and taste of wine. "Flesh" is the sacrament of his flesh, and "blood" the sacrament of his blood [by direct signification]. By the flesh and blood-both invisible and spiritually intelligible-there is signified [by concomitance] the visible and palpable body of our Lord Jesus Christ, full of divine majesty and the grace of every virtue. Therefore, just as the heavenly bread which is truly the flesh of Christ is called in its own way the body of Christ, since it is really the sacrament of the body of Christ, that is, his body which was visibly, palpably and mortally placed on the cross, it is also called the very immolation of his flesh-which happens by the hands of the priest-as well as the suffering, death and crucifixion of Christ, not in its real actualization, but in the mystery of what is signified. In the same [dual] way the sacrament of faith, by which we mean baptism, is to be believed. |
| DAY 2, SATURDAY | |
| Reading 1 | |
| Iteratur cotidie haec oblatio, licet Christus semel passus in carne, per unam eamdemque mortis passionem semel salvaverit mundum, ex qua morte idem resurgens ad vitam, mors ei ultra non dominabitur. Quod profecto sapientia Dei patris necessarium pro multis causis providit. Primo quidem quia cotidie peccamus, saltem in peccatis sine quibus mortalis infirmitas vivere non potest, quia, licet omnia peccata donata sint in baptismo, infirmitas tamen peccati adhuc manet in carne. Unde psalmista: benedic anima mea domino, qui propitiatur omnibus iniquitatibus tuis, qui sanat omnes infirmitates tuas. Et ideo, quia cotidie labimur, cotidie Christus pro nobis mystice immolatur, et passio Christi in mysterio traditur, ut qui semel moriendo mortem vicerat, cotidie recidiva delictorum per haec sacramenta corporis et sanguinis peccata relaxet. Unde oramus: dimitte nobis debita nostra; quia si dixerimus quod peccatum non habemus, ipsi nos seducimus et veritas in nobis non est. Iteratur etiam hoc mysterium et ob commemorationem passionis Christi, sicut ipse ait: hoc quotiescumque agitis, in meam commemorationem facite. Quotiescumque ergo hunc panem sumitis, et bibitis hunc calicem, mortem domini annunciabitis donec veniat. Non utique sic accipiendum est: donec Christi mors veniat, quia iam ultra non morietur, sed: donec ipse dominus ad iudicium veniat. Interdum autem semper mors est Christi pro saeculi vita posteris nuntianda, ut discant qua caritate dilexit suos, qui pro suis mori dignatus est, cui omnes vicem debemus impendere caritatis, quia ad hoc nos prior dilexit cum essemus gehennae filii, ut diligeremus eum a morte iam liberati. Quia morte domini iam liberati sumus, huius rei memores in edendo carnem et potando sanguinem eius, quae pro nobis oblata sunt significamus. | This offering is repeated every day, even though Christ suffered only once in the flesh, and by one and the same deadly suffering saved the world, and after rising from death to life was no longer subject to death. This God the Father provided for in his wisdom, since it was needed for many reasons. First, because we sin every day, at least by committing those sins without which, in our mortal infirmity, we cannot live; for, although all sins are forgiven by baptism, the weakness of sin still remains in the flesh. Thus the Psalmist says: "Bless the Lord, my soul, who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your infirmities." Therefore, because we fall every day, everyday Christ is mystically immolated for us, and the passion of Christ is handed on in mystery. In this way, he who overcame death once and for all, relieves us of our recurring sins through these sacraments of his body and blood. Thus we pray: "Forgive us our trespasses," because if we said that we do not have any sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. This mystery is also repeated to commemorate the suffering of Christ, as he said: "As often as you do this, you do it in my memory. Therefore, as often as you take this bread and drink this chalice, you announce the death of the Lord until he comes. In the meantime, the death of Christ for the life if the world must be constantly proclaimed, so that they may learn by what love he loved his own, who was willing to die for them. We all owe it to him to love him in return, because he loved us first when we were hell's children, so that we might love him once we are freed from death. |
| Reading 2 | |
| The following numbered paragraphs (CCL) are from Augustine's Tractatus in Iohannem. [Some of it repeats lessons of the Third Nocturn of the Feast] | |
| [26:15@5-18] Quomodo quidem detur, et quisnam modus sit manducandi istum panem, ignoratis. Verumtamen nisi manducaveritis carnem filii hominis, et biberitis eius sanguinem, non habebitis vitam in vobis. Haec utique non cadaveribus sed viventibus loquebatur. Unde ne istam vitam intelligentes, et de hac re litigarent, secutus adiunxit: qui manducat meam carnem et bibit meum sanguinem habet vitam aeternam. Hanc ergo non habet, qui istum panem non manducat, nec istum sanguinem bibit. Nam temporalem vitam sine illo utcumque homines in hoc saeculo, qui non sunt in corpore eius per fidem, habere possunt: aeternam autem nunquam, quae sanctis promittitur. [26:16] Ne autem putarent sic in isto cibo et potu eius, qui carnaliter sumunt et spiritualiter non intelligunt in fide, promitti vitam aeternam, ut qui eam sumerent iam nec corpore morerentur, huic cogitationi est dignatus occurrere. Nam cum dixisset: qui manducat meam carnem, et bibit meum sanguinem, habet vitam aeternam, continuo subiecit et dixit: et ego resuscitabo eum in novissimo die, ut habeat interim secundum spiritum aeternam requiem, quae sanctorum spiritus recipit. Quod autem ad corpus attinet, nec eius vita aeterna fraudabitur in resurrectione mortuorum in novissimo die. [26:17] Caro, inquit, mea vere est cibus et sanguis meus vere est potus. Cum enim cibo et potu id appetant homines ut non esuriant neque sitiant, hoc vere non praestat nisi iste cibus et potus, qui eos a quibus sumitur immortales et incorruptibiles facit, id est societas ipsorum sanctorum, ubi pax erit et unitas plena atque perfecta. Propterea quippe sicut etiam ante nos intellexerunt homines Dei, dominus noster Iesus Christus corpus et sanguinem suum in eis rebus commendavit, quae ad unum aliquid rediguntur. Ex multis namque granis unus panis conficitur et ex multis racemis vinum confluit. [26:18] Denique iam exponit quomodo id fiat quod loquitur, et quid sit manducare corpus eius et sanguinem bibere. Et qui manducat meam carnem et bibit meum sanguinem in me manet et ego in eo. Hoc est ergo manducare illam escam et illum bibere potum, in Christo manere et illum manentem in se habere. Ac per hoc qui non manet in Christo et in quo non manet Christus, proculdubio non manducat spiritualiter eius carnem, licet carnaliter et visibiliter premat dentibus sacramenta corporis et sanguinis Christi; sed magis tantae rei sacramentum ad iudicium sibi manducat et bibit qui immundus praesumpsit ad Christi accedere sacramenta qui alius non digne sumit nisi qui mundus est de quibus dicitur: beati mundo corde quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt. | How it is given, and by what manner that bread is eaten, you do not know. Nevertheless, "unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you do not have life in you." Yes, he was not speaking to corpses, but to living people. Then, to prevent them from misunderstanding and arguing about this life, he added: "He who eads my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life." Therefore whoever does not eat that bread or drink that blood does not have eternal life. It is true that people who live in this world, who do not belong to his body by faith, can have temporal life, but eternal life, which is promised to the saints, never. Those who receive this food and drink of his carnally, without spiritual understanding in faith, might think that by receiving it they will never suffer bodily death. To correct this misunderstanding, after saying "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life," he added right away: "And I will raise him up on the last day," so that such a person in the meantime may have in spirit that eternal rest which receives he spirits of the saints. And as for the body, he will not be cheated of his eternal life in the resurrection of he dead on the last day. "My flesh," he says, "is really food, and my blood is really drink." Since people expect food and drink to relieve them of hunger and thirst, the only food and drink that offer this are those that make their consumers immortal and incorruptible. And that is the company of the saints, where there will be perfect peace and full and perfect unity. Therefore, as men of God before us understood, our Lord Jesus Christ presented his body and blood in things that are assembled in a unity. For bread is made from many grains, and wine is made from many clusters of grapes. Finally he explains how what he had spoken about happens, and what it is to eat his body and drink his blood. "He who eads my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Therefore to eat that food and drink that blood is to dwell in Christ and to have him dwell in us. And thus he who does not dwell in Christ and does not have Christ dwelling in him certainly does not eat his flesh spiritually, even though carnally and visibly he bites with his teeth the sacramens of the body and blood of Christ. Rather, he eats and drinks to his own judgment the sacrament of so great a reality, who presumes to approach Christ's sacraments unclean, which no one worthily receives unles he is clean. Of such it is said: "Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God." |
| Reading 3 | |
| [26:19] Sicut me misit, inquit, vivens pater, et ego vivo propter patrem, et qui manducat me, et ipse vivet propter me. Non enim filius participatione patris fit melior, qui est natus aequalis, sicut participatione filii per unitatem corporis et sanguinis quam illa manducatio potatioque significat efficit nos meliores. Vivimus ergo nos propter ipsum, manducantes eum, idest, ipsum accipientes vitam aeternam quam non habemus ex nobis. Vivit autem ipse propter pater, missus ab eo, quia semetipsum exinanivit, factus obediens usque ad signum crucis. Sicut misit me vivens pater, et ego vivo propter patrem; et qui manducat me, et ipse vivet propter me. Ac si diceret: et ego vivo propter patrem; id est, ut ad illum tamquam ad maiorem referam vitam meam, exinanitio mea fecit in qua me misit. Ut autem quisque vivat propter me participatio facit qui manducat me. Ego itaque humiliatus vivo propter patrem, ille rectus vivit propter me... [Variant text: Non de ea natura dixit qua semper est aequalis patri, sed ea in qua minor factus est patre, de qua etiam superius dixit: sicut pater habet vitam in semetipso, sic dedit et filio vitam habere in semetipso, id est genuit filium habentem vitam in semetipso.] [26:20] Hic est panis qui de caelo descendit, ut illum manducando vivamus, quia aeternam vitam ex nihilo habere non possumus. Non sicut manducaverunt, inquit, patres vestri manna et mortui sunt. Qui manducat hunc panem vivet in aeternum. Quod ergo illi mortui sunt, ita vult intelligi, ut non vivant in aeternum. Nam temporaliter profecto et hic morientur qui Christum manducant, sed vivunt in aeternum, quia Christus est aeternae vitae signum. [27:1 abridged] Qui manducat et bibit, hoc est si manet et manetur, si habitat et habitatur. Hoc ergo nos docuit et admonuit mysticis verbis ut simus in eius corpore sub ipso capite in membris eius, edentes carnem eius, non relinquentes unitatem eius. Sed qui aderant plures non intelligendo scandalizati sunt. Non enim cogitabant haec audiendo nisi carnem quod ipsi erant. Apostolus autem dicit et verum dicit: sapere secundum carnem, mors est. Carnem suam dicit nobis dominus manducare et sapere. Sapere secundum carnem mors est, cum de carne sua dicat quia ibi est vita aeterna. Ergo nec carnem debemus sapere secundum carnem, sicut in hiis verbis: [27:2] Multi itaque audientes, non ex inimicis sed ex dicipulis eius, dixerunt: durus est hic sermo. Quis potest eum audire? Si discipuli durum habuerunt istum sermonem, quid inimici? Et tamen sic oportebat ut diceretur quod non ab hominibus intelligeretur. Secretum Dei intentos debet facere, non adversos... | "As the living Father sent me," he said, "and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me." For the Son who is born equal does not become better by participating in the Father, in the way that we become better by participating in him as children through our unity with his body and blood, which that eating and drinking signify. Therefore we live by him when we eat him, that is, when we receive him, te eternal life which we do not have of ourselves. Being sent by the Father, he lives because of him, since he emptied himself, made obedient unto the sign of the cross. "As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. Regarding his words, "And I live because of the Father," he might ask us, "Why can I refer my life to him as someone greater? -Because of the state of emptiness in which he sent me. And why can someone live because of me? -Because he shares my life by eating me. Therefore in my state of humilitation I live because of the Father, and the righteous person lives because of me." He is not talking about that nature by which he is always equal to the Father, but about that in which he was made less than the Father. Of this he said above: "As the Father has life in himself, so he gave the Son [the prerogative of] having life in himself," that is, he begot a son having live in himself. The is the bread which came down from heaven, for us to eat and live, because we cannot have eternal life from nothing. He says, "Not as your fathers ate and are dead. He hwo eats this bread will live forever." In saying that they are dead, he means that they do not live forever. For even those who eat Christ certainly will undergo temporal death, but they will live forever, because Christ is the sign of eternal life. "He who eats and drinks"-that is, if he dwells in and is indwelled in, if he occupies and is occupied. He taught and admonished us by mystical words that we should be in his body and members under him as head, eating his flesh and not abandoning his unity. But many who were present did not understand and were scandalized. When the heard this they only thought of flesh, and that is what they were. But the Apostle says the truth: Being of a carnal mind is death. But the Lords told us to eat and attune our minds to his flesh. Attuning one's mind to the flesh is death, but in his flesh he says there is eternal life. Therefore we need not understand flesh according to the flesh, as he says in these words: "Many, when they heard this,-and he is not talking about enemies, but of disciples-said: 'This is a hard saying. Who can listen to it?" If disciples considered that discourse hard, what about enemies? And yet it had to be said in a way that people would not understand. The secret of God should make people attentive, not hostile. |
| DAY 3, SUNDAY | |
| Reading 1 | |
| Spiritus est qui vivificat, caro non prodest quicquam. [27:6] Diximus enim hoc dominum commendasse in manducatione carnis suae et potatione sanguinis sui, ut in illo commaneamus et ipse in nobis. Manemus autem in illo, cum sumus membra eius. Manet autem ipse in nobis, cum sumus templum eius. Ut autem simus membra eius, unitas nos compaginat. Unitas autem ex caritate est. Caritas ex spiritu. Ergo est spiritus qui vivificat. Spiritus enim facit viva membra. Nec viva membra spiritus facit, nisi quae in corpore quod vegetat ipse spiritus invenerit. Nam spiritus qui est in te, o homo, quo constas ut homo sis, quomodo vivificat membrum quod separatum invenerit a carne tua? Spiritum tuum dico animam tuam. Anima tua non vivificat nisi membra quae sunt in carne tua. Unum si tollas, iam ex anima tua non vivificatur, quia unitate corporis tui non copulatur. Haec dicuntur ut amemus unitatem et timeamus separationem. Nihil enim sic debet timere christianus quam separari a corpore Christi. Si enim separatur a corpore Christi, non est membrum eius. Si non est membrum eius, non vegetatur spiritu eius. Quisquis, inquit apostolus, spiritum Christi non habet, hic non est eius. Spiritus est ergo qui vivificat, caro non prodest quicquam. Verba quae ego locutus sum vobis spiritus et vita sunt: spiritualiter intelligenda sunt. Intellexistis spiritualiter? Spiritus et vita sunt. Sed tibi non sunt, o homo qui spiritualiter ea non intelligis, nec fide ea venerari nosti. [27:7 abridged] Sunt enim quidam in vobis qui non credunt, et ideo non intelligunt quia non credunt. Propheta enim dixit: nisi credideritis, non intelligetis. Per fidem copulamur, per intellectum vivificamur. Prius habeamus per fidem ut sic post vivificemur per intellectum... [27:8 abridged] Ex hoc multi discipulorum eius abierunt retro et iam non cum illo ambulaverunt. Abierunt retro non post Christum sed post Satanam. Isti autem sic abierunt retro quomodo praecisi a corpore Christi, nec ultra redeuntes ad eum, quia fixi fideliter in corpore eius non fuerunt, et hii non pauci sed multi. [27:9 abridged] Audiamus ergo quid ad paucos dixit qui remanserunt. Dixit ergo Iesus ad duodecim: numquid et vos vultis abire? Non discessit nec Iudas, sed quare manebat domino iam apparebat; postea manifestatus est. Respondit Petrus pro omnibus, unus pro multis, unitas pro universis. Respondit ergo ei Simon Petrus: domine ad quem ibimus? Verba vitae aeternae habes. Videte quemadmodum Petrus, dante domino, recreante spiritu sancto, intellexit. Unde nisi quia credidit verba vitae aeternae? Vitam enim aeternam habes in ministratione corporis et sanguinis tui. Et nos credidimus et cognovimus. Credidimus enim ut cognosceremus. Nam si prius cognoscere et deinde credere vellemus, nec cognoscere nec credere valeremus. Quid credidimus et quid cognovimus? Quia tu es Christus filius Dei vivi, id est, quia ipsa vita aeterna tu es, et non das in carne et sanguine tuo nisi quod es. | "It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh is of no use." We have said that the Lord disposed, when we eat his flesh and drink his blood, that we should dwell in him and he in us. We dwell in him, since we are his members. He dwells in us, since we are his temple. We are his members because we are bound in unity with him. But unity is from love, and love is from the Spirit. It is the Spirit that gives life, because it makes living members. But the Spirit makes only those members living which it finds in a body that the Spirit himself animates. As for the spirit that is in you, man, by which you realize that you are a man, how can it give life to a member that it finds separated from your flesh? By this spirit, I mean your soul. Your soul gives life only to the members which are in your flesh. Take one of them away, it will not be animated by your soul, because it is not joined to the unity of your body. This was said so that we may love unity and fear separation. For a Christian should not fear anything except to be separated from the body of Christ. For if he is separated from the body of Christ, he is not his member. If he is not his member, he is not animated by his Spirit. "Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ," says the Apostle, "does not belong to him." So "the Spirit gives life; the flesh is of no use. The words I spoke to you are spirit and life" -All this is to be spiritually understood. Do you understand it spiritually? The Spirit and life exist, but they are not yours if you do not understand them spiritually and do not know how to venerate them with faith. "There are some of you who do not believe." Therefore they do notunderstand, because they do not believe. For the Prophet [Isaiah 7:9] said, "Unless you believe, you will not understand. By faith we are joined to him, by understanding we are given life. Let us have him first by faith, so that afterwards we may have life through understanding. "After this many of his disciples went back and no longer walked with him." They went back not after Christ, but after Satan. They went back cut off from the body of Christ, and they did not return to him, because they were not faithfully fixed in his body. Such people are not few, but many. Let us listen what he said to the few who remained. Jesus said to the twelve: "Do you also wish to go away?" Judas did not go away, but why he remained will appear later, when he is discovered. Peter answered for all of them, one for many, unity for universality. "Simon Peter said to him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life'." See how Peter, by the Lord's gift put in him by the Spirit, understood. How else, but because he believed in the words of eternal life? You have eternal life in the ministry of your body and blood. We believe and we know. We believed so that we might know. For if we wanted to know first and then believe, we could neither know nor believe. What do we believe and whatdo we know?-That "you are the Christ, the Son of the living God," that is, because you are eternal life, and in your flesh and blood you only give what you are. |
| Reading 2 | |
| Utrum sub figura an sub veritate hoc mysticum calicis sacramentum fiat, veritas ait: caro mea vere est cibus et sanguis meus vere est potus. Alioquin, quomodo magnum erit: panis quem ego dabo caro mea est pro mundi vita, nisi vera sit caro? Sed quia Christum fas vorari dentibus non est, voluit hunc panem et vinum in ministerio vere carnem suam et sanguinem suum consecratione spiritus sancti potentialiter creari, et cotidie pro mundi vita mystice immolari, ut sicut de virgine per spiritum sanctum vera caro sine coitu creatur, ita per eumdem ex substantia panis et vini mystice idem corpus Christi consecretur. Corpus Christi et veritas et figura est. Veritas, dum corpus Christi et sanguis, in virtute spiritus sancti et in virtute ipsius, ex panis vinique substantia efficitur. Figura vero est id quod exterius sentitur. Intra catholicam ecclesiam in ministerio corporis Christi, nihil bono maius, nihil a malo minus perficitur sacerdote, quia non in merito consecrantis, sed in verbo efficitur creatoris et in virtute spiritus sancti. Si enim in merito esset sacerdotis, nequaquam ad Christum pertineret. Nunc autem, sicut ipse est qui baptizat, ita ipse est qui per spiritum sanctum hanc suam efficit carnem et transit vinum in sanguinem. Unde et sacerdos: iube haec, inquit, offerri per manus Angeli tui sancti in sublime altare tuum in conspectu divinae maiestatis tuae. Ut quid deferenda in lucem deposcit, nisi ut intelligatur, quod ista fiant in eo sacerdotio? Hanc ergo oblationem benedictam per quam benedicimur, adscriptam per quam homines in caelo adscribuntur, ratam per quam visceribus Christi esse censeamur, rationabilem per quam a bestiali sensu exuamur, acceptabilem ut qui nobis ipsis displicemus, per hanc acceptabiles eius unico filio simus. Nihil rationabilius, ut quia nos iam similitudinem mortis eius in baptismo accepimus, similitudinem quoque carnis et sanguinis sumamus, ita ut veritas non desit in sacramento et ridiculum nullum fiat a paganis, quod cruorem occisi hominis bibamus. Credendum est quod in verbis Christi sacramenta conficiantur. Cuius enim potentia creantur prius, eius utique verbo ad melius procreantur. Reliqua omnia quae sacerdos dicit aut clerus chori canit, nihil aliud quam laudes et gratiarum actiones sunt aut certe obsecrationes, et fidelium petitiones. | Is it figuratively or really that this mystical sacrament of the chalice takes place? The Truth said: "My flesh is really food, and my blood is really drink." Otherwise, what is so great about this?-"The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of he world"-unless it is really flesh? But because it is not right to chew Christ with your teeth, he decided that this bread and wine, by [priestly] ministry should be really and in power created into his flesh and blood by the consecration of the Holy Spirit, and to be mystically sacrificed every day for the life of the world. In this way, just as the Holy Spirit created flesh from the Virgin without intercourse, so by the same Spirit, from the substance of bread and wine mystically the same body of Christ is consecrated. The body of Chriwst is both reality and figure. The figure is what is outwardly sensed. Within the Catholic Church, nothing so surpassing in goodness, nothing so remote from evil is enacted by the priest than in the ministry of the body of Christ, because this is done not by the merit of the priest consecrating, but it is enacted by the word of the Creator and by the power of the Holy Spirit. For if it were done by the merit of the priest, it would in no way belong to Christ. But now, just as Chris is the one who baptizes, so it is he who through the Holy Spirit turns [the bread] into flesh, and the wine becomes blood. So the priest says: "Command this to be offered by the hands of your holy angel to your sublime altar in the presence of your divine majessty." Why does he ask it to be brought into the light, if not show that this is donw by that priesthood [of Christ]. "Therefore that offering so blest", by which we are blessed, "registered", by which people are registered in heaven, "ratified", through which we are inscribed in the innards of Christ, "reasonable", by which we are stripped of bestial attitudes, "acceptable", by which, though we are displeasing to ourselves, we become acceptable to his only Son. There is nothing more reasonable, because, having taken on the likeness of his death in baptism, here we also take on the likeness of his flesh and blood. In that way the real [body and blood] is not diminished in the sacrament, and the pagans have no opportunity to ridicule us for drinking the blood of a murdered man. We must believe that the sacraments are effected by the words of Christ. As the elements were first created by his power, so also by his word they are transformed into something better. All the rest that the priest says or the choir cleric sings is nothing more than praise, thanksgiving and petitions, along with the prayers of the faithful. |
| Reading 3 | |
| Omnia quaecumque dominus voluit fecit in caelo et in terra, et quia voluit sic factum est. Ita licet figura panis et vini videatur, nihil tamen aliud quam caro Christi et sanguis post consecrationem credenda sunt. Unde ipsa veritas ad discipulos: haec, inquit, caro mea est pro mundi vita. Et, ut mirabilius loquar, non alia plane quam quae nata est de Maria, et passa in cruce, et resurrexit de sepulchro. Haec, inquam, ipsa est, et ideo Christi est caro quae pro mundi vita adhuc hodie offertur, et cum digne percipitur, vita utique aeterna in nobis reparatur. Panem quidem istum, quem sumimus in mysterio, illum utique intelligo panem, qui manu sancti spiritus formatus est in utero virginis, et igne passionis decoctus in ara crucis. Panis enim Angelorum factus est hominum cibus. Unde ipse ait: ego sum panis vivus qui de caelo descendi, et iterum: panis quem ego dabo caro mea est pro mundi vita. Cotidie eucharistiae communionem accipere nec laudo nec vitupero. Omnibus tamen dominicis diebus communicandum hortor. Si tamen mens in affectu peccandi est, gravari magis dico eucharistiae perceptione quam purificari. Et ideo, quamvis quis peccato mordeatur, peccandi tamen de cetero non habeat voluntatem, et communicaturus satisfaciat lacrimis et orationibus, et confidens in domini miseratione, accedat ad eucharistiam intrepidus et securus. Sed hoc de illo dico, quem mortalia peccata non gravant. Item dixerit quispiam non cotidie accipiendam eucharistiam, alius affirmat cotidie. Faciat unusquisque quod secundum fidem suam pie credit esse faciendum. Neque enim litigarunt inter se aut quisquam eorum se alteri praeposuit Zachaeus et ille centurio, cum alter eorum gaudenter in domo sua susceperit dominum, alter dixerit domino: domine non sum dignus ut intres sub tectum meum, ambo salvatorem honorificantes, quamvis non uno modo, ambo peccatis miseri, ambo misericordiam consecuti. Ad hoc valet quod manna secundum propriam voluntatem in ore cuiusque sapiebat. Si quotiescumque effunditur sanguis Christi, in remissionem peccatorum funditur, debeo illum semper accipere, ut semper mihi peccata dimittantur. Qui semper pecco, semper debeo habere medicinam. | The Lord did everything he wanted in heaven and on earth, and because he decided, it was made. So, although the figure of bread and wine are seen, it is to be believed as nothing other than the flesh and blood of Christ. So Truth itself said to the disciples: "This is my flesh forthe life of the world." And, to speak with greater wonder, it is none other than was was born of Mary, suffered on the cross and rose from the tomb. It is the very same flesh, and therefore it is Christ's flesh wich is offered to this day for the life of the world, and when it is worthily received, eternal life is procured. The bread the we receive in mystery means that bread which is was formed by the hand of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin, and was cooked by the fire of the passion on the altar of the cross. For the bread of angels has become the food of men. So he said: "I am the living bread which came down from heaven," and again: "The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." Daily communion I neither praise nor blame, but I exhort all to receive every Sunday. But if the mind is set on sin, it will be dragged down by receiving the Eucharist rather than purified. Therefore, although someone is remorseful for sin, if his will is turned away from sin, and he satisfies for it by tears and prayers, trusting in the Lord's mercy, he may approach the Eucharist with confidence and security. But I am speaking of someone who is not guilty of mortal sins. Some say that you should not receive the Eucharist every day, others say you should. Let everyone do what he piously believes should be done. Zachaeus and the Centurion had no quarrel and neither claimed to be better, when Zachaeus joyfully welcomed the Lord into his house, while the Centurion said: "Lord I am not worthy that you come under my roof." Both were honoring the Savior, although not in the same way. Both were miserable sinners; both received mercy. In this regard it is true that in each person's mouth the manna tastes different according to the state of his will. If every time Christ's blood is shed it is shed for the remission of sins, then I mus always receive it, so that my sins may always be forgiven. Because I always sin I always must have the medicine. |
| Reading 4 | |
| Qui scelerate vivunt in ecclesia, et communicare non desinunt, putantes se tali communione mundari, discant nihil ad emundationem proficere sibi, dicente propheta: quid est quod dilectus meus fecit in domo mea scelera multa? Numquid carnes sanctae auferunt a te malitias tuas? Et apostolus: probet, inquit, se homo, et sic de pane illo edat et de calice bibat. Non iste panis est qui vadit in corpus, sed panis vitae aeternae, qui animae nostrae substantiam fulcit. Iste panis cotidianus est. Accipe cotidie quod cotidie tibi prosit. Sic vive ut cotidie merearis accipere. Sancta malis possunt obesse. Bonis sunt ad salutem, malis ad iudicium. Unde apostolus: qui manducat et bibit indigne, iudicium sibi manducat et bibit. Non quia illa res mala est, sed quia malus male accipit quod bonum est. Non enim mala erat buccella quae Iudae data est a domino. Salutem medicus dedit, sed quia ille qui indignus erat accepit, ad perniciem suam accepit. Non prohibeat dispensator pingues terrae mensam domini manducare, sed exactorem moneat timere. Sicut Iudas, cum buccellam tradidit dominus, non malum accipiendo, sed bonum male accipiendo, locum praebuit diabolo, sic indigne quisquis sumens corpus Christi non efficit ut, quia malus est, malum sit, aut quia ad salutem non accipit, nihil accipit. Corpus enim et sanguis domini nihilominus erat in illis, quibus dicebat apostolus: qui manducat et bibit indigne, iudicium sibi manducat et bibit. Sed quomodo manducandus est Christus? Quomodo ipse dicit: qui enim manducat carnem meam et bibit sanguinem meum digne, in me manet et ego in eo. Et si indigne accipit sacramentum, acquirit magnum tormentum. | Those who live disolutely in the Church and do not refrain from receiving Communion, thinking that the are cleansed by such a communion, should learn that it contributes nothing to their purification, as the prophet [Jeremiah 11:15] said: "What is my beloved doing in my house with her many crimes? Can sacred flesh take your evil away?" And the Apostle said: "Let each man prove himself, and then eat of that bread and drink of that chalice." It is not a bread that enters the body, but it is the bread of etrnal life, which supports the substance of the soul. It is a "daily bread". Receive every day what does you good every day. And live in a way to merit receiving it every day. Holy things can be bad for the evil. They bring salvation to the good, but condemnation to the evil. So the Apostle said: "He who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks to his own condemnation." It is not that the thing is bad, but because an evil person evilly receiveswhat is good. For the morsel that the lord gave Judas was not bad. The doctor gave medicine, but because an unworthy person received it, he received it to his own doom. Let the dispensor [of the Eucharist] not forbid those "who prosper on earth" [Ps 22:29 (Vulgate)] from eating, but warn officials to fear. When the Lord gave the morsel to Judas, it was not by receiving a bad thing, but a good thing evilly, that he opened himself to the devel. So anyone receiving the body of Christ unworthily, it does not mean that this body isbad because he is bad, or that he receives nothing because he he does not receive it for his salvation. For the body and blood of the Lord are nonetheless in those of whom the Apostle said, "Who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks to his own condemnation." But how should Christ be eaten? -In the way that he said: "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood" worthily "dwells in me and I in him." Ajnd if he receives the sacrament unworthily, he earns a great torment. |
| Reading 5 | |
| Quia corpus assumptum ablaturus erat dominus ab oculis et illaturus sideribus, necessarium erat, ut in die cenae sacramentum nobis corporis et sanguinis consecraret, ut coleretur iugiter per mysterium quod semel offerebatur in pretium, ut quia cotidiana et indefessa currebat pro hominum salute redemptio, perpetua esset etiam redemptionis oblatio, et perennis victima illa viveret in memoria, et semper praesens esset in gratia, vere unica et perfecta hostia, fide existimanda non specie, neque exteriori censenda visu, sed interiori affectu. Unde merito caelestis confirmat auctoritas, quia: caro mea vere est cibus et sanguis meus vere est potus. Recedat ergo omne infidelitatis ambiguum, quoniam quidem qui auctor est muneris, ipse est et testis veritatis. Nam et invisibilis sacerdos visibiles creaturas in substantiam corporis sui et sanguinis verbo suo secreta potestate convertit, ita dicens: accipite et comedite: hoc est corpus meum. Et sanctificatione repetita: accipite et bibite: hic est sanguis meus. Ergo sicut ad nutum praecipientis domini repente ex nihilo substiterunt excelsa caelorum, profunda fluctuum, vasta terrarum; ita, pari potestate in spiritualibus sacramentis, ubi praecipit virtus, servit effectus. | Because the Lord was about to take from their sight the body he had assumed and take it to heaven, it was necessary that he should consecreate for us the sacrament of his body and blood on the day of the Lord's Supper, so that he might be always worshipd through the mystery that was once offered to redeem us. Because this redemption goes on every day uninterrupted for our salvation, there had also to be a perpetual sacrifice of redemption. That perpetual victim had to live in our memory and always be present in grace, the truely unique and perfect offering, recognized by faith, not by its outward visible characteristics, but by interior affection. So heavenly authority rightly confirms it, since: "My flesh is real food and amy blood is real drink." So let all unbelieving doubt go away, because the author of the gift is himself the witness of its reality. For the invisible priest converts visible creatures into the substance of his body and blood by the secret power of his word when he said: "Take and eat. This is my body." And in the second blessing: "Take and drink. This is my blood." Therefore, just as at the Lord's command suddenly from nothing came the heights of the heavens, the depths of the oceans, the vastness of the earth, so he acts with like power in the sacraments, where power commands and results obediently follow. |
| Reading 8 [sic] | |
| Quanta itaque et quam celebranda beneficia vis divinae benedictionis operetur, et quomodo tibi novum et impossibile esse non debeat, quod in Christi substantiam terrena et mortalia convertuntur, te ipsum qui in Christo es regeneratus interroga. Dudum alienus a vita, peregrinus a misericordia et a salutis via, intrinsecus mortuus exsulabas. Subito initiatus Christi legibus et salutaribus ministeriis innovatus in corpus ecclesiae non videndo sed credendo transilisti, et de filio perditionis adoptivus Dei filius fieri occulta puritate meruisti; in mensura visibili permanens, maior factus es te ipso invisibiliter, sine quantitatis augmento. Cum idem atque ipse esses, multo alter fidei processibus exstitisti. In exteriori nihil additum est, et totum in interiori mutatum est. Ac sic homo Christi filius effectus, et Christus hominis in mente formatus est. Sicut ergo sine corporali sensu, vilitate praeterita deposita, subito novam indutus es dignitatem; et sicut hoc quod Deus in te laesa curavit, infecta diluit, maculata detersit, non oculis sed sensibus tuis sunt credita: et cum reverendum ad altare cibis spiritualibus satiandus ascendis, sacrum Dei tui corpus et sanguinem fide respice, honora et mirare, mente continge, cordis manu suscipe, et maxime mente totum haustu interioris hominis assume. | You, who are reborn in Christ, ask yourself how many benefits worthy of celebration the power of God's blessing produces, and how you should not think it new and impossible that earthly and mortal things are converted into the substance of Christ. Before you were alien to life, gone far from mercy and the way of salvation, inwardly dead and in exile. Then, when you were initiated into Christ's laws and made new by saving ministry, you jumped into the body of the Church not by seeing but by believing. From a son of perdition, you merited by a hidden purity to be an adoptive son of God. Visibly you stayed the same, but you became greater than yourself invisibly, without any growth in quantity. Although you were one and the same person, you became very much another person by the processes of faith. Outwardly nothing was added, but inwardly everything was changed. Thus man becomes a son of Christ, and Christ is formed in the mind of man. Therefore, without bodily sensation, your past filth was put aside, and suddenly you put on a new dignity. God cured in you what was wounded, drained what was infected, washed what was stained. All that happened to you you could not see, but you could feel. In the same way, when you go up to the reverend altar to be satisfied with spiritual food, look at the sacred body and blood of your God, honor and admire it, put your mind on it, receive it with your heart's hand, and most of all receive it totally in your mind, as your inner man drinks it in. |
| Reading 9 | |
| In Christo semel oblata est hostia ad salutem sempiternam potens. Quid ergo nos dicimus? Nonne per singulos dies offerimus? Sed ad recordationem mortis eius; et una est hostia, non multae. Quomodo una et non multae? Quia semel oblatus est Christus. Hoc autem sacrificium exemplum est illius, idipsum et semper idipsum. Proinde hoc idem est sacrificium unum solum. Alioquin diceretur, quoniam in multis locis offertur: multi sunt Christi. Nequaquam, sed unus ubique Christus, et hic plenus existens et illic plenus. Sicut enim quod ubique offertur unum est corpus, et non multa corpora, ita et unum sacrificium. Pontifex autem est ille, qui hostiam obtulit nos mundantem. Ipsam offerimus etiam nunc, quae tunc oblata consumi non potest. Quod nos facimus, in commemorationem fit eius quod factum est: hoc enim facite, ait, in meam commemorationem. |
In Christ an oblation was once offered which work eternal salvation. What do we say, then? Don't we offer it every day? But that is in memory of his death, and it is one offering, not many. How can it be one and not many? -Because Christ was offered once. This [Eucharistic] sacrifice is an example, the very same and always the very same as that. Therefore it is a single sacrifice. Otherwise it would be said, since it is offered in many places, that there are many Christs. -No way, but there is one Christ everywherre, fully existing here and fully there. Just as what is offered everywhere is one body, and not many bodies, so there is one sacrifice. The high-priest is he who offered an oblaction that cleans us. We offer even now the original oblation, which cannot be terminated. What we do is in commemoration of what was done. "Do this," he said, "in memory of me." |
| DAY 4, MONDAY | |
| Reading 1 | |
| In sacramentorum oblationibus, quae inter missarum solemnia offeruntur, panis tantum et vinum aqua permixtum in sacrificium offerantur. Non enim debet in calice domini aut vinum solum, aut aqua sola offerri, sed utrumque permixtum, quia utrumque ex latere eius in passione sua profluxisse legitur. Calix etiam dominicus vino et aqua permixtus debet offerri, quia videmus in aqua populum intelligi, in vino vero ostendi sanguinem Christi. Ergo cum in calice vinum aqua miscetur, Christo populus adunatur, et credentium plebs ei in quem credit copulatur et iungitur; quae copulatio et coniunctio aquae et vini sic miscetur in calice domini, ut mixtio illa non possit separari. Nam si vinum tantum quis offerat, sanguis Christi incipit esse sine nobis. Si vero aqua sit sola, plebs incipit esse sine Christo. Ergo quando botrus solus offertur, in quo vini efficientia tantum designatur, salutis nostrae sacramentum negligitur quod aqua significatur. | In the sacramental offerings which are made during the solemn celebration of the Mass, only bread and wine mixed with water are presented in sacrifice. Wine alone should not be offered in the chalice of the Lord, nor water alone, but both mixed, because both are stated to have flowed from his side in his passion. The chalice of the Lord must be offered containing a mixture of wine and water, because the water stands for the people, and the wine for the blood of Christ. So when wine is mixed with water in the chalice, the people are united with Christ, and the faithful congregation is copulated and joined to the one in whom they blief. This copulation and joining of water and wine occurs in the chalice of the Lord in such a way that the mixture cannot be reversed. If only wine were offered, the blood of Christ would come to be without us. If it were water only, the people would come to be without Christ. Therefore, when grapes alone are offered, wherein the efficacy of wine alone is signified, the sacrament of our salvation, which is signified by the water, is neglected. |
| Reading 2 | |
| Huius sacramenti ritum Melchisedech ostendit ubi panem et vinum Abrahae obtulit. Sed tu mihi dicis: quomodo ergo Melchisedech vinum et panem tantum obtulit? Quid sibi vult admixtio aquae? Rationem accipe. Primo omnium figura fuit quae ante praecessit tempore Moysi. Quia cum sitiret populus Iudaeorum et murmuraret quod aquam inveniri non posset, iussit dominus Moysi ut tangeret petram cum virga. Tetigit petram et petra undam maximam fudit, sicut apostolus dicit: bibebant autem de consequenti petra, petra autem erat Christus. Non immobilis petra, quae populum sequebatur. Et tu bibe ut te Christus sequatur. Vide mysterium: Moyses, hic est propheta; virga, hoc est verbum Dei. Sacerdos verbo Dei tangit petram et fluit aqua et bibit populus Dei. Tangit ergo sacerdos calicem, redundat aqua in calice, et salit in vitam aeternam, et bibit populus Dei, qui Dei gratiam consecutus est. | Melchisedech demonstrated the rite of this sacrament when he offered bread and wine to Abraham. You you may object: How di Melchisedech offer wine and bread alone? What about mixing the wine with water? -Here is the reason. The very first figure occurred in the time of Moses. When the Jewish people were thirsty and murmured that they could not find water, the Lord commanded Moses to touch the rock with his staff. He did so, and the rock disgorged a flood of water. The Apostle comments: "They were drinking from the rock tat was to follow, and that rock was Christ." He is not an immobile rock, but one which followed the people. You too drink, so that Christ may follow you. Here is the mystery: Moses is the prophet; the staff is the word of God. The priest touches the rock with the word of God, water flows and the people of God drink. Therefore the priest touches the chalice, water flows in the chalice, and springs up to eternal life, and the people of God, who have received his grace, drink. |
| Reading 3 | |
| Didicisti hoc. Ergo accipe et aliud. In tempore dominicae passionis, cum sabbatum magnum instaret, quia diu in cruce vivebat dominus noster Iesus Christus et latrones, missi sunt qui percuterent eos. Qui venientes invenerunt defunctum dominum nostrum Iesum Christum. Tunc unus de militibus lancea tetigit latus, et de latere eius aqua fluxit et sanguis, aqua autem ut mundaret, sanguis ut redimeret. Quare de latere? Quia unde culpa, inde gratia. Culpa per feminam, gratia per dominum nostrum Iesum Christum. Sic vero calix domini non est aqua sola et vinum solum, nisi utrumque misceatur, quomodo nec corpus domini potest esse farina sola, nisi utrumque adunatum fuerit et copulatum et unius compage solidatum. In sacramento corporis et sanguinis domini nihil amplius offeratur quam quod ipse dominus tradidit, hoc est panis et vinum aqua mixtum, nec amplius in sacrificiis offeratur, quam de uvis et frumento. Haec tria unum sunt in Christo Iesu. Haec hostia et oblatio Dei in odorem suavitatis. |
You learned this. So here is another lesson. At the time of the Lord's passion, when te great Sabbath was imminent and our Lord Jesus Christ and the thiefs were living long on the cross, soldiers were sent to strike them. When they came, they found our Lord Jesus Christ dead. Then one of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance, and from his side water and blood flowed: water to purify, blood to redeem. Why from his side? -Because where there was sin, there grace should come. Sin came through a woman, grace through our Lord Jesus Christ. So the chalice of the Lord does not contain water or wine alone, but the two mixed, just as the body of the Lord cannot be wheat alone, unless both [which?] are united, joined and solidified by one bond. In the sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord, nothing more is offered than what the Lord himself handed down; that is bread and wine mixed with water. So nothing more is presented in the sacrifices but what comes from grapes and grain. These three are one in Jesus Christ. This is the offering and oblation of God in an odor of sweetness. |
| DAY 5, TUESDAY | |
| Reading 1 | |
| In Christo pater et Christus in nobis unum in hiis esse nos faciunt. Si vere carnem corporis nostri Christus assumpsit, et vere homo ille Christus est, nos quoque vere sub mysterio carnem corporis sui sumimus, et per hoc unum erimus, quia pater in eo est, et ille in nobis. Quomodo voluntatis unitas asseritur, cum naturalis per sacramentum proprietas perfectum sacramentum sit unitatis? Non est humano aut saeculi sensu de hiis rebus loquendum, neque per violentiam atque imprudentem praedicationem dictorum caelestium sanitati alienae atque impiae intelligentiae perversitas extorquenda est. De naturali enim in nobis Christi veritate vel unitate quae dicimus, nisi quae dixerimus ab eo didicimus, stulte atque impie dicimus. Ipse enim ait: caro mea vere est esca et sanguis meus vere est potus. Qui edit carnem meam et bibit sanguinem meum, in me manet, et ego in eo. | The Father in Christ, and Christ in us make us one with them. If Christ truly assumed the flesh of our body, and Christ is truly a man, we also truly receive the flesh of his body under a mystery, and in this way we become one with him, because the Father is in him and he in us. How is the unity of will asserted, when its natural property through the sacrament is a perfect sacrament of unity? -These things cannot be discussed with a worldly way of understanding, nor should a perverse meaning that is alien and impious be extorted from the heavenly words in violent and imprudent preaching. When we say anything about the natural reality of Christ in us and this unity but what we have said and learned from him, we are talking stupidly and impiously. |
| Reading 2 | |
| De veritate carnis et sanguinis non relictus est ambigendi locus. Nunc enim et ipsius domini professione et fide nostra, vere caro est et vere sanguis est; et haec accepta atque hausta efficiunt, ut et nos in Christo et Christus in nobis sit. Est ergo ipse in nobis per carnem. Quod autem in eo per sacramentum communicatae carnis et sanguinis simus, ipse testatur dicens: vos autem me videbitis, quia ego vivo et vos vivetis, quia ego in patre meo, et vos in me, et ego in vobis. Si voluntatis tantum intelligi unitatem vellet, ut heretici asserunt, cur gradum quemdam atque ordinem consummandae unitatis exposuit, nisi ut ille in patre per naturam divinitatis, nos contra in eo per corporalem eius nativitatem, et ille rursus in nobis per sacramentorum inesse mysterium crederetur; ac sic perfecta mediatorem unitas doceret, cum nobis in se permanentibus, ipse maneret in patre, et in patre manens, maneret in nobis; et ita ad unitatem proficisceremus, cum qui in eo naturaliter secundum nativitatem inest, nos quoque in eo naturaliter inessemus, ipso in nobis naturaliter permanente? | No room has been left for ambiguity about the reality of the flesh and blood. For by the Lord himself's declaration and our faith, it is really flesh and really blood. And when these are eaten and drunk they cause us to be in Christ and Christ in us. He himself therefore is in us through his flesh. That we are in him through the sacrament of communion in his flesh and blood, he himself bears witness, saying: "You will see me, because I live and you will life, because I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you." If he had meant only a union of wills, as heretics assert, why did he describe this ultimate unity in terms of certain steps and order? -It was because he is in the Father by nature of his divinity, but we are in him through his bodily birth, and he is in us through the mystery of the sacraments. This perfect unity shows how he is a mediator, since we dwell in him, while he dwells in the Father. And while dwelling in the Father, he dwells in us. And thus we progress to unity, because while he is in us naturally according to his [human] birth, we also are naturally in him, as he is naturally always in us. |
| Reading 3 | |
| Quod autem haec in nobis naturaliter unitas sit, ipse testatus est: qui edit carnem meam et bibit sanguinem meum in me manet et ego in eo. Non enim in eo erit, nisi in quo ipse fuerit, eius tamen in se assumptam hominis carnem, qui suam sumpserat. Sicut misit me, inquit, pater vivens, et ego vivo per patrem, qui manducaverit carnem meam, ipse vivet per me. Quomodo per patrem vivit, eodem modo nos per carnem eius vivemus. Haec ergo vitae nostrae causa est, quod in nobis manere per carnem Christum habemus victuri per eum ea conditione qua vivit ille per patrem. Si ergo nos naturaliter secundum carnem per eum vivimus, id est naturam carnis suae adepti, quomodo non naturaliter secundum spiritum in se patrem habeat, cum vivat ipse per patrem? Corpus Christi quod sumitur de altari figura est, dum panis et vinum extra videtur; veritas autem, dum corpus Christi et sanguis in veritate interius creditur. |
That this unity is naturally in us, he bears witness: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. No one can be in him unless he is in that person-as he has assumed the human nature of the one who receives him. "As the living Father has sent me," he says, "and I live through the Father, so he who eats my flesh will live through me." The very way that he lives through the Father, we live through his flesh. His flesh, then, is the cause of our life. The fact that we have Christ dwelling in us through his flesh means that we will live through him in the same way that he lives through the Father. If, then, we naturally live through him on the level of the flesh, that is, by having the nature of his flesh, does he not also have the Father in him on the level of the spirit, since he lives through the Father? The body of Christ which is received from the altar is a figure, in so far as bread and wine are seen outwardly; but it is a reality, inwardly believed as the real body and blood of Christ. |
| DAY 6, WEDNESDAY | |
| Reading 1 | |
| Haec salutaris victima illam nobis mortem unigeniti per mysterium reparat, qui, licet surgens a mortuis iam non moritur, mors illi ultra non dominabitur, tamen in seipso immortaliter et incorruptibiliter vivens, iterum in hoc ministerio moritur. Eius quoque ibique corpus sumitur, eius caro in populi salutem partitur, eius sanguis non iam in manus infidelium sed in ora fidelium funditur. Hinc ergo pensemus, quale sit hoc sacrificium quod pro nostra absolutione passionem unigeniti filii semper imitatur. Quis enim fidelium habere dubium possit in ipsa immolationis hora ad sacerdotis vocem caelos aperiri, et in illo Iesu Christi mysterio choros Angelorum adesse, summa et ima sociari, unum quid ex invisibilibus atque visibilibus fieri. Idem. Uno, inquit, eodemque tempore ac momento, et in caelo rapitur ministerio Angelorum consociandum corpori Christi, et ante oculos sacerdotis in altari videtur. | This saving victim presents us with the death of the Only-begotten in mystery. Although, having risen from the dead he is no longer subject to death, nevertheless, while having immortal and incorruptible life in himself, he dies again in this ministry. His body is also received, his flesh is divided for the salvation of the people, and his blood is poured no longer into the hands of unbelievers, but into the mouths of the faithful. Let us then ponder what kind of sacrifice this is which always imitates the passion of the only-begotten Son for our forgiveness. Which believer could doubt that at the very time of immolation, at the priest's voice the heavens are opened, and choirs of angels are present in that mystery of Jesus Christ. The highest and lowest are brought together, and the visible and invisible worlds are brought together as one. Furthermore, at one and the same time, [the sacrament] containing the body of Christ is carried to heaven by the ministry of angels and it is seen on the altar before the eyes of the priest. |
| Reading 2 | |
| Tanta est unitas ecclesiae in Christo, ut unus ubique sit panis corporis Christi, et unus sit calix sanguinis eius. Calix enim quem sacerdos catholicus sacrificat non est alius nisi ipse quem dominus apostolis tradidit, quia sicut divinitas verbi Dei una est quae totum implet mundum, ita licet multis locis et innumerabilibus diebus illud corpus consecretur, non sunt tamen multa corpora Christi, neque multi calices, sed unum corpus Christi et unus sanguis cum illo, quod sumpsit in utero virginis et quod dedit apostolis. Divinitas enim verbi replet illud quod ubique est, et coniungit ac facit ut sicut ipsa una est, ita et unum corpus eius sit in veritate. Unde animadvertendum est, quia sive plus sive minus quis inde percipiat, omnes aequaliter corpus Christi integerrime sumunt, et generaliter omnes, et specialiter unusquisque. | The unity of the Church in Christ is so great that the bread of the body of Christ is one everywhere, and the chalice of his blood is one. For the chalice which the Catholic priest sacrifices is none other than the very one that the Lord handed to the Apostles. Just as the divinity of the Word of God is one and fills the whole world, so also, although that body is consecrated in many places on innumerable days, there are not many bodies of Christ nor many chalices, but one body of Christ and one chalice with it, which he took in the womb of the Virgin and gave to the Apostles. For the divinity of the Word fills that [sacrament] which is everywhere, joins it together and makes it one as the divinity is one. And so his body is really one. So we must note that whether someone receives a large or a small piece, all and each equally receive the body of Christ in its entirety. |
| Reading 3 | |
| Mysterium fidei dicitur, quia credere debes, quod ibi salus nostra consistat. Providens enim nobis dominus dedit hoc sacramentum salutis, ut quia nos cotidie peccamus, et ille iam mori non potest, per istud sacramentum remissionem consequamur. Cotidie enim ipse comeditur et bibitur in veritate, sed integer et vivus atque immaculatus permanet. Et ideo magnum et pavendum mysterium est, quia aliud videtur et aliud intelligitur. Sed cum mysterium sit, unde unum corpus et sanguis dicitur? Figuram panis et vini habet, faciente domino, quia non habemus in usum carnem crudam comedere et bibere sanguinem. Sicut verus est filius Dei dominus noster Iesus Christus, non quemadmodum homines per gratiam, sed quasi filius ex substantia patris, ita vera est Christi caro, sicut ipse dixit, quam accipimus, et verus sanguis est potus. Ego sum, inquit, panis vivus qui de caelo descendi. Sed caro non descendit de caelo. Quomodo ergo descendit de caelo panis vivus? Quia idem dominus noster Iesus consors est divinitatis et corporis. Et tu qui accipis carnem, divinae eius substantiae in illo participas alimento. |
It is called the "mystery of faith" because you must believe that it contains our salvation. The Lord gave us this sacrament of salvation to provide for us. Because we sin every day, and he can no longer die, by this sacrament we obtain forgiveness. For every day it is really eaten and drunk, but it always remains integral, alive and immaculate. Therefore it is a great and awesome mystery, becfause one thing is seen and another thing is understood. But if it is a mystery, you may ask why it is called body and blood. -The Lord has caused that it has the figure of bread and wine, because we do not eat raw flesh and drink blood. Just as our Lord Jesus Christ is the true Son of God, not like ourselves through grace, but a Son from the substance of the Father, so also it is the true flesh of Christ, as he said, which we receive, and his true blood is our drink. He said, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven." But you may object that flesh does not descend from heaven; how then can living bread come down from heaven? -Because the same Lord Jesus is endowed with both divinity and corporeity. When you receive his flesh, you are participating in the food of his divine substance. |
| DAY 7, THURSDAY, OCTAVE | |
| Reading 1 | |
| Quia passus est pro nobis dominus, commendavit nobis in isto sacramento sanguinem suum et corpus, quod etiam fecit nosmetipsos. Nam et nos corpus ipsius facti sumus, et per misericordiam ipsius, quod accipimus nos sumus. Recordamini. Et vos non fuistis, et creati estis, et ad aream dominicam comportati estis, laboribus boum, id est annuntiantium evangelium, triturati estis. Quando catechumeni deferebamini, in horreo servabamini. Nomina vestra dedistis, moli coepistis ieiuniis, exorcismis. Postea ad aquam venistis, et conspersi estis, et panis dominicus facti estis. Ecce quod accepistis. Quomodo ergo unum videtis esse quod factum est, sic unum estote vos, diligentes vos, scilicet tenendo unam fidem, unam spem, individuam caritatem. Heretici, quando hoc accipiunt sacramentum, testimonium contra se accipiunt, quia illi quaerunt divisionem, cum panis iste indicet unitatem. Sic et vinum in multis racemis fuit, et modo unum est. Vinum est in sua nativitate, calix est post pressuram torcularis. Et vos, post illa ieiunia, post labores, post humilitatem et contritionem, iam in nomine domini, tamquam ad calicem Christi venistis, et ibi vos estis in mensa, et in calice nobiscum vos estis. Simul enim hoc sumimus, simul bibimus, quia simul vivimus. | Because the Lord suffered for us, he left us his blood and body in this sacrament, in which he also included ourselves. For we have become his body, and by his mercy we become what we receive. Remember that you did not exist and you were then created and carried to the Lord's threshing floor and were threshed by the work of the oxen, that is those who proclaim the Gospel. When you were brought as catechumens, you were kept in the barn. You gave your names, and underwent grinding by fasting and exorcisms. Then you came to the water, were sprinkled and became the Lord's bread. See what you have received, and how one you have become. So all of you be one, loving one another by holding onto one faith, one hope and an undivided love. When heretics receive this sacrament, they receive evidence against themselves, because they pursue division, while that bread indicates unity. So wine started out in many clusters before it became one. It was wine in its initial stage, but became a chalice drink after going through the wine press. Likewise, after those fasts, labors, humility and contrition, you came in the name of the Lord to the chalice of Christ. There you are at table, and are with us in the chalice. For we receive this together, we drink it together, because we live together. |
| Reading 2 | |
| Ita dominus noster Iesus Christus nos significavit, nos ad se pertinere voluit, mysterium pacis et unitatis nostrae in mensa consecravit. Qui accipit mysterium unitatis et non tenet vinculum pacis, non mysterium accipit pro se, sed testimonium contra se. Nulli est aliquatenus ambigendum unumquemque fidelium corporis et sanguinis dominici tunc esse participem, quando in baptismate efficitur membrum Christi, nec alienari ab illius panis calicisque consortio, etiam si antequam panem illum comedat calicemque bibat, de hoc saeculo migraverit, in unitate corporis constitutus. Sacramenti quippe illius participatione ac beneficio non privatur, quando in se hoc quod illud sacramentum significat invenitur. Qui manducant et bibunt Christum, vitam manducant et bibunt. Illud manducare est refici, illud bibere est vivere. Quod in sacramento visibiliter sumitur, in ipsa veritate spiritualiter manducatur et bibitur. | So our Lord Jesus Christ marked us out, he wanted us to belong to him, and he consecrated the mystery of our peace and unity at the table. Anyone who receives the mystery of unity and does not observe the bond of peace is not receiving the mystery for himself, but is receiving evidence against himself. None of the faithful should have any doubt that he becomes a partaker of the Lord's body and blood when he becomes a member of Christ by baptism. Nor can he be excluded from the society of that bread and chalice, even if before he can eat that bread and drink from that chalice he leaves this world. That is because he is established in the unity of Christ's body. He is not deprived of his share in the benefit of that sacrament when he has in himself what that sacrament signifies. Those who eat and drink Christ, eat and drink life. To eat it is to be restored, to drink it is to live. What is visibly received in the sacrament is really spiritually eaten and drunk. |
| Reading 3 | |
| Manducatur Christus, vivit manducatus quia surrexit occisus. Nec, quando manducamus, partes de illo facimus. Et quidem in sacramento sic fit. Et norunt fideles: quando manducant carnem Christi, unusquisque accipit partem suam. Per partes manducatur in sacramento, et manet integer totus in caelo. Per partes manducatur in sacramento, et manet integer totus in corde tuo. Totus enim erat apud patrem, quando venit in virginem, implevit illam nec recessit ab illo. Veniebat in carnem ut homines eum manducarent et manebat integer apud patrem ut Angelos pasceret. Invitat dominus servos, et praeparat eis cibum seipsum. Quis audeat dominum suum manducare? Et tamen ait: qui manducat me vivit propter me. Quando manducatur, vita manducatur, nec occiditur ut manducetur, sed mortuos vivificat. Quando manducatur, reficit sed non deficit. Non ergo timeamus, fratres, manducare istum panem ne forte finiamus illum, et postea quod manducemus non inveniamus. Quod videtur, calix est et panis, quod etiam oculi renuntiant. Quod autem fides postulat instruenda: panis est corpus Christi, et calix est sanguis. Ista ideo dicuntur sacramenta, quia in eis aliud videtur, aliud intelligitur. Quod videtur speciem habet corporalem, quod intelligitur fructum habet spiritalem. | Christ is eaten, and when eaten he lives, because he rose after being killed. When we eat him, we do not divide him into parts, although the sacrament is divided. The faithful know that when they eat the flesh of Christ, each has his own portion. Christ is eaten in portions in the sacrament, but remains totally integral in heaven. He is eaten in portions in the sacrament, and he remains totally integral in your heart. for he was toally with the Father when he came into the Virgin. He filled her without leaving the Father. He came into flesh so that we could eat him, but he will ever remain integral with the Father where he feeds the angels. The Lord invited his servants and prepared himself as their food. Who would dare eat his lord? And yet he said: "He who eats me lives because of me." When he is eaten, life is eaten. He is not killed to be eaten, but he gives life to the dead. When he is eaten, he restores, but he suffers no loss. So, brothers, let us not be afraid that by eating that bread we may finish it and afterwards not find what to eat. What is seen is the chalice and the bread, which our eyes inform us of. But the demand of informed faith is that the bread is the body of Christ, and the chalis is his blood. These are called sacraments because in them one thing is seen, another understood. What is seen has a bodily appearance, what is understood has spiritual fruit. |
| Reading 4 | |
| Nihil in sacrificiis maius potest esse quam corpus et sanguis Christi, nec ulla oblatio hac potior est, sed haec omnes praecellit, quae pura conscientia domino offerenda est, et pura mente sumenda, atque ab omnibus veneranda. Et sicuti potior est ceteris, ita potius excoli et venerari debet. Triforme est corpus domini: pars oblatae in calicem missa, corpus Christi quod iam resurrexit monstrat; pars comesta, ambulans adhuc super terram; pars in altari usque ad finem missae remanens, corpus in sepulchro, quia usque in finem saeculi corpora sanctorum in sepulcris erunt. Dum frangitur hostia, dum sanguis de calice in ora fidelium funditur, quid aliud quam dominici corporis in cruce immolatio eiusque sanguinis de latere effusio designatur? Panis et calix non qualibet sed certa consecratione mysticus nobis fit, non nascitur. Proinde quod ita fit nobis, quamvis sit panis et calix, alimentum est resurrectionis. Ante benedictionem alia species nominatur, post benedictionem Christi corpus significatur. In illo sacramento Christus est. Qui manducat hoc corpus, fiat ei remissio peccatorum. | No sacrifice can be greater than the body and blood of Christ, and no oblation can have greater value, but this one exceeds them all. It is to be offered to the Lord with a pure conscience, received with a pure mind, and venerated by all. And because it is of greater value, it should be given greater worship and reverence. The body of the Lord has a triple destination: A portion of the offering is dropped into the chalice, designating the body of Christ which is risen, a portion eaten, representing him still walking on earth, and a portion remaining on the altar until the end of the Mass, designating the body in the tomb, because the bodies of the saints will be in tombs until the end of the world. When the host is broken, and the blood is poured from the chalice into the mouths of the faithful, this signifies the slaughtering of the Lord's body on the cross and the shedding of blood from his side. The bread and the chalice becomes a mystic [sacrament] for us not by nature nor by any sort of blessing, but by a definite formula. Christ is in that sacrament. Whoever eats this body receives forgiveness of sins. |
| Reading 5 | |
| In illa mystica distributione spiritualis alimoniae, hoc impertitur, hoc sumitur, ut accipientes virtutem caelestis cibi in carnem ipsius qui caro nostra factus est transeamus. Et cibus refectionis est cibus sanguinis. Sicut enim caro Christi vere est cibus, ita sanguis eius vere est potus. Idem est corpus de quo dictum est: caro mea vere est cibus et sanguis meus vere est potus. Circa hoc corpus aquilae sunt, quae alis circumvolant spiritualibus. Unde et idem corpus Christi edimus, ut vitae aeternae possimus esse participes. Nos autem in specie panis et vini quam videmus, res invisibiles, id est carnem et sanguinem, honoramus. Nec similiter comprehendimus has duas species quemadmodum ante consecrationem comprehendebamus, cum fideliter fateamur, ante consecrationem panem esse et vinum quod natura formavit, post consecrationem vere esse carnem et sanguinem Christi quod benedictio consecravit. | In that mystical distribution of spiritual nourishment, what is asked for and what is received is that we who partake of the powerful heavenly food may pass into his flesh, who became flesh like us. The nourishment of his blood is also a refreshing nourishment. For as the flesh of Christ is really food, so is his blood really drink. About the same body it was said: "My flesh is really food, and my blood is really drink." Eagles surround this body, flying with spiritual wings. Se we eat the same body of Christ, so that we can become partakers of eternal life. In the appearances of bread and wine, which we see, we honor invisible things, that is, his flesh and blood. We do not regard these two species the same as we did before the consecration, since with faith we acknowledge that before the consecration they were bread and wine which nature formed, but after consecration they are really the flesh and blood of Christ which the blessing has consecrated. |
| Reading 6 | |
| Forte dicas: quomodo vera caro, quomodo verus sanguis, quia similitudinem non video carnis, non video sanguinis veritatem? Primo omnium dixi tibi de sermone Christi, qui operatur ut possit mutare et convertere genera et instituta naturae. Deinde, ubi non tulerunt sermonem Christi discipuli eius, sed audientes quod carnem suam daret manducare et sanguinem suum ad bibendum, recedebant. Solus tamen Petrus dixit: verba vitae aeternae habes, et ego a te quomodo recedam? Ne igitur plures hoc dicerent et ne veluti quidam esset horror cruoris, sed maneret gratia redemptoris, ideo in similitudine quidem accipis sacramentum, sed vere naturae gloriam virtutemque consequeris: ego sum, inquit, panis vivus qui de caelo descendi. Sub alia autem specie tribus de causis carnem et sanguinem tradidit Christus, et deinceps sumendum instituit, ut scilicet fides haberet meritum, quae est de his quae non videntur, quia fides non habet meritum cui humana ratio praebet experimentum. Et ideo ne abhorreret animus quod cerneret oculus, quia non habemus usum carnem crudam et sanguinem comedere, quia ergo Christum vorari dentibus fas non est, in mysterio carnem et sanguinem nobis commendavit. Et etiam ideo ne ab incredulis religioni christianae insultaretur. | Maybe you will say: "How can they be real flesh and real blood, when I see no resemblance to flesh and blood? -First of all I spoke to you about the pronouncement of Christ, which acts with power to change and convert the identity and characteristics of nature. Then, when the disciples would not accept Christ's words and, upon hearing that he was going to give them his flesh to eat and his blood to drink, went away, only Peter spoke up: "You have the words of eternal life, and how can I go away from you?" To prevent more from talking like the other disciples and to remove the horror of drinking blood while maintaining the Redemer's grace, he offered you this sacrament under a [different] likeness, but you really the glory and power of his nature, as he said: "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. Christ gave his body and blood to be consumed under a different appearance for three reasons: First that we may have the merit of faith, which is about things that are not seen, because faith has no merit where human reason offers evidence. Secondly, Christ left us his flesh and blood in a mystery so that the soul may not be horrified at what it sees, because we do not eat raw flesh or drink blood, much less chew Christ with our teeth. Thirdly this was to prevent the Christian religion from being ridiculed by unbelievers. |
| Reading 7 | |
| Nihil rationabilius quam ut sanguinis similitudinem sumamus, ut ita et veritas non desit et ridiculum nullum fiat a paganis quod cruorem occisi bibamus. Sed quare sub duplici specie sumitur, cum substantialiter unum totus sit Christus? Ut ostenderetur totam humanam naturam assumpsisse, ut totam redimeret. Panis enim ad carnem refertur, vinum ad animam; quia vinum operatur sanguinem, in quo sedes animae a physicis esse dicitur. Ideo ergo in duabus speciebus celebratur, ut animae et carnis susceptio in Christo et utriusque liberatio in nobis significetur. Valet enim ad tuitionem corporis et animae quod percipimus, quia caro Christi pro salute corporis, sanguis vero pro anima nostra offertur, sicut praesignavit Moyses: caro, inquit, pro corpore vestro offertur, sanguis vero pro anima; sed tamen sub utraque specie sumitur quod ad utrumque valet, quia sub utraque specie sumitur totus Christus. | There is nothing more reasonable than to receive a likeness of his blood, so that the reality may not be absent, and that pagans may not deride us for drinking the blood of a killed man. But why is Christ received under two species, when he is a single total substantance? -This is to show that he took on a complete human nature, so that he may redeem it completely. Bread points to the flesh, and wine to the soul, because wine activates the blood, where physicians say is the seat of the soul. The sacrament is celebrated under two species to show us that Christ took on both a soul and flesh and that he liberated both. What we receive is good for the protection of body and soul, because the flesh of Christ is for the salvation of the body, while his blood is offered for our soul. This Moses indicated long ago, when he said: "The flesh is offered for your body, the blood for your soul." But what is useful for both is received under each species, because under each species the whole Christ is received. |
| Reading 8 | |
| Porro illa species visibilis sacramentum est geminae rei, quia utramque rem significat et utriusque rei similitudinem gerit expressam. Nam sicut panis prae ceteris cibis corpus reficit et sustentat, et vinum hominem laetificat atque inebriat, sic caro Christi interiorem hominem plus ceteris gratiis spiritualiter reficit et saginat. Unde excellenter eucharistia dicitur, id est bona gratia, quia in hoc sacramento non modo est augmentum virtutis et gratiae, sed ille totus sumitur, qui est fons et origo totius gratiae. Habet etiam similitudinem cum re mystica quae est unitas fidelium, quia sicut ex multis granis conficitur unus panis, et ex multis acinis vinum in unum confluit, sic ex multis fidelium personis unitas ecclesiastica constat. Unde apostolus: unus panis et unum corpus multi sumus. Unus panis et unum corpus ecclesia dicitur, pro eo quod sicut unus panis ex multis granis et unum corpus ex multis membris componitur, sic ecclesia ex multis fidelibus caritate copulante connectitur. | Moreover, the visible species is a sacrament of a double thing, because it signifies and bears an express likeness of each thing. For just as bread restores and sustains the body more than other food, and wine gladdens and inebriates man, so the flesh of Christ spiritually restores and permeates the inner man more than other graces. So this sacrament is very well called "Eucharist", that is, "good grace", because in this sacrament there is not only a growth of virtue and grace, but he is wholly received who is the fount and origin of all grace. This sacrament also bears the likeness of the mystical reality which is the unity of the faithful, because as bread is made from many grains and wine from many grapes flows together, so Church unity is made up of many believing persons. So the Apostle says: "We, though many, are one loaf and one body." The Church is called one loaf and one body because, as one loaf is composed of many grains, and one body from many members, so the Church is made up of many believers brought together by the bond of love. |
| Reading 9 | |
| Credere in Iesum Christum, hoc est manducare panem et vinum. Qui credit, manducat. Invisibiliter saginatur, quia invisibiliter renascitur. Et qui manducat carnem Christi et bibit sanguinem illius vitam habet aeternam. Participatione enim filii, quod est per unitatem corporis et sanguinis eius, homo manducans vivit, non sumens tantum in sacramento, quod et mali faciunt, sed usque ad spiritus participationem, ut in corpore domini tamquam membrum maneat et eius spiritu vegetetur, quod est, dum eius mandatum servat. Ad altare Dei invisibile, quo non accedit iniustus, ille pervenit, qui ad hoc praesens iustificatus accedit. Invenit illic vitam qui hic discernit causam suam. Singuli autem accipiunt Christum dominum, et in singulis portionibus totus est, nec per singulos minuitur, sed integrum se praebet in singulis. Ubi pars est corporis, est et totum. Eadem ratio est in corpore domini, quae in manna, quod in eius figura praecessit, de quo dicitur: qui plus collegerat non habuit amplius, neque qui minus paraverat habuit minus. Illud datum fuit antiquis post transitum maris Rubri, ubi submersis Aegyptiis liberati sunt Hebraei. Ita hoc caeleste manna non nisi regeneratis praestari debet. Corporalis panis ille populum antiquum ad terram promissionis per desertum eduxit, hic caelestis fideles huius saeculi desertum transeuntes in caelum subvehit. Unde recte viaticum appellatur, quia in via nos reficiens usque ad patriam deducit. | To believe in Jesus Christ is to consume bread and wine. He who believes eats. He is invisibly penetrated, because he is invisibly reborn. And the one who eats the flesh of Christ and drinks his blood has eternal life. For by participating in the Son by unity with his body and blood, the man who eats lives. He does not receive him only by way of sacrament, which even the evil do, but by participating in his spirit, so that he dwells in the body of the Lord as a member and is nourished by his spirit, as he keeps his commandment. The unjust person cannot approach the invisible altar of God, but only he who comes to it justified. Only the one who here discerns his conscience as right will find life there. Every individual receives Christ the Lord, and Christ is totally in each portion. He is not diminished by being given to many people, but he offers himself whole to each one. Wherever there is a part of the body, the whole is there. The same holds for the body of the Lord as does for the manna, which prefigured it. Of the manna it is said: "Anyone who collected a lot did not have more, and anyone who collected a little did not have less." That was given to the ancient fathers after crossing the Red Sea, where the Egyptians were drowned and the Hebrews liberated. So also this heavenly manna can only be given to those who have bee reborn. That bodily bread led the ancient people through the desert to the promised land. This heavenly manna lifts the faithful who are going through the desert of this world to heaven. So it is rightly called "viaticum", because it restores us on the way (via) and leads us to our fatherland. |