CHAP. XCVI. On the Holy Eucharist: its Definition, Matter, and Form.

THE Holy Eucharist comes third among the sacraments, but by far exceeds them all in dignity. For, while the other sacraments contain grace, this sacrament contains Jesus Christ Himself, the Author of grace. Again, the other sacraments look to this sacrament as their end; baptism, confirmation, and penance more or less directly prepare for its reception; extreme unction removes whatever may impede its action in the soul of the dying; matrimony signifies its special grace of union between Christ and His Church; holy orders confer the power by which it is made. Other sacraments exist only during the act of administration, when the matter and form are being applied; this sacrament exists from the time of the consecration of the matter, and continues so long as the matter remains incorrupt. In other sacraments the substance of the matter is the same after consecration as before, but in this sacrament it is changed. In the other sacraments it is questionable whether they physically or only morally convey grace to the soul; i.e. whether they directly confer grace themselves through the power given them by God, or whether they are conditions which infallibly induce God to give grace, in virtue of His institution and promise; but this sacrament certainly conveys grace physically of itself; for the flesh of Christ is of its own nature life-giving, by reason of the hypostatic union.

The Holy Eucharist has different names. It is called the Holy Eucharist, because, at its institution, our Lord gave thanks to His Father, and because it is our chief act of thanksgiving to God; it is called Holy Communion, because by it we are joined together in communion with Christ and one another: "We, being many, are one bread and one body, all that partake of one bread" (1 Cor. x. 17); it is called the most Holy Sacrament, because of its great dignity; the Holy Host, because it contains Jesus Christ, who is the Victim for our salvation; it is called Viaticum, because it supports us in our way, at the end of our journey through this life.

The Holy Eucharist is a sacrifice as well as a sacrament; as a sacrifice it refers primarily to the worship of God, as a sacrament to the sanctification of our souls. It shall be first treated of under the latter aspect, as a

sacrament.

It is defined in the Catechism to be "the true body and blood of Jesus Christ, under the appearances of bread and wine."

"As

It consists of two symbols; the body of Christ under the appearance of bread, and the blood of Christ under the appearance of wine, and yet the sacrament is one; for the two symbols have one meaning, viz. the perfect nourishment and refreshment of the soul; just as bread and wine, meat and drink, signify the perfect refreshment of the body. This spiritual nourishment is the grace which the Holy Eucharist as a Sacrament signifies and effects; but, besides this, it has other meanings: with respect to the past, it represents the Passion and death of Christ; it is the body broken and the blood shed set before us: often," says St. Paul, "as ye shall eat this bread and drink the chalice, ye shall show the death of the Lord till He come" (1 Cor. xi. 26); with respect to the present, it denotes the Church's unity (1 Cor. x. 17): "The bread,' says the catechism of Trent, "made up of many grains, the wine pressed out from many clusters of grapes, declare that we, though many, are most closely bound together by the bond of this divine mystery, and made, as it were, one body;" further, it promises and prefigures the union with God in the beatific vision.

Wheaten bread, and wine made from the grape, are alone the proper matter of the sacrament. The words of consecration, "This is My body," and "This is My blood," or, "This is the chalice of My blood," are the forms. Such is abundantly evident from the account of the institution given by the three Evangelists St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke, as well as by St. Paul. The latter says, "I delivered unto you that which I also received of the Lord; that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks He brake it, and said, "Take, eat, this is My body which

is broken for you; this do for the commemoration of Me.' And after the same manner also He took the chalice when He had supped, saying, 'This chalice is the New Testament in My blood; this do ye as oft as ye shall drink for the commemoration of Me"" (1 Cor. xi. 23-25). The Church teaches us that our Lord, in pronouncing the words, "This is My body," and "This chalice is the New Testament in My blood," over the bread and wine, changed them respectively into His body and blood; and further, that by the words, "This do for the commemoration of Me," He gave His Apostles and their successors to the end of time, power to perform the same miracle. Thus we have the precise matter and form of the Holy Eucharist determined by our Lord, together with the manner of consecration, which is literally observed by the priest in the Mass. We should notice, also, that the Church prescribes the admixture of a little water with the wine, (1) to represent the water and blood which flowed from the side of our Lord; (2) to represent the effect of the Sacrament,-the union of the faithful with Christ,-for water, in the figurative language of Holy Scripture, signifies people; (3) to signify the divine and human natures of our Lord. The writings of the earliest Fathers and the Liturgies testify to the antiquity of this practice. Although of strict obligation it is not to be regarded as necessary to the validity of the sacrament, or of divine precept.

CHAP. XCVII. The Doctrine of the Church upon the Holy Eucharist. THE doctrine of the Church on the Blessed Eucharist as a sacrament, may be summed up in three dogmas laid down by the Council of Trent, and proposed to our belief in the Creed of Pope Pius IV.

1. The dogma of the Real Presence. We are required to believe that in this Sacrament there is contained, after the consecration, the body and blood of Christ truly, really, and substantially, and not only as in a sign or figure, or virtually.

The words "after consecration" are directed against the ubiquitists, or those who hold that the body of Christ is every where, as sharing in the omnipresence of the Divinity, and therefore is in the bread before consecration;against the Lutherans, and those who hold that Christ is only present during the act of communion, and not in the elements immediately after consecration (Coun. of Trent, sess. xiii. c. 4). Truly, as excluding any mere figurative presence; really, i.e. not merely in the soul of the communicant, or as apprehended by faith; substantially, in themselves, not merely in effect or power.

2. The dogma of transubstantiation. We are required to believe that the whole substance of the bread is changed into the whole substance of the body of Christ, and the whole substance of the wine into the whole substance of His blood.

The substance of a thing is that which underlies its sensible appearance; hence we do not know its existence by the senses, but by the reason. All we see, feel, taste, smell, hear, belong to the thing, but are not the thing itself; they are called its accidents, because they may or may not be in the thing, without its ceasing to be. Thus bread has a certain form, taste, colour, and yet those qualities do not make up our idea of bread. They might be changed, and yet the bread might remain. Now the miracle of the Holy Eucharist is just the reverse of this. The bread itself is changed, but the appearance of bread still remains; and the same is the case with the wine. This is what we mean when we say that the substance of those things is changed, but the accidents re

main.

3. We are required to believe that under each of the species separately, Christ is taken whole and entire, and a true sacrament.

"Christ whole and entire;" that is, the Person of Christ, His body, blood, soul, and divinity. Hence, under the species of bread is received not merely the body of Christ, but His blood, soul, and divinity; and under the species of wine, not merely the blood of Christ, but His body, soul, and divinity. It is a part of the doc

trine of the Incarnation that the hypostatic union is indissoluble, and extends to every part of the Sacred Humanity; and where any part of that Manhood is, there must of necessity be the Person of the Word. Again, Christ's body is a living body: "Christ being risen from the dead, dieth no more" (Romans vi. 9). It cannot be disconnected with the soul or the blood; His glorified human nature does not admit of mutilation or separation of its parts; so that the body, and blood, and soul of Christ must go together. The words of consecration, then, which cause the presence in each kind respectively of the body and blood of Christ, involve His presence as a whole in both kinds separately.

The addition of the clause "and a true Sacrament," is very important, as directed against those who maintain that the Catholic Church mutilates the Sacrament by denying the cup to the laity. This discipline is, however, only a consequence of the doctrine just laid down, "that Christ is present whole and entire under either kind." The Holy Eucharist, as was said, in its character as a Sacrament, signifies and imparts spiritual nourishment; but this it does under either kind, for either kind signifies spiritual nourishment, and through either kind that grace is conveyed by union with Christ. The words "except ye eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, ye have no life in you," form no objection; for the Council of Trent well remarks, "He that said 'except ye eat,' &c., said also 'He that eateth of this bread shall live for ever;' and He who said 'He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood hath eternal life,' said, at the same time, 'The bread which I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."" Neither can any objection be taken from our Lord's words at the institution, "this do," for it must be conceded that Christ did not command all to do whatever He then did, otherwise laics and women ought to consecrate; nor from the words, "drink ye all of it," for "all" evidently relates to the Apostles. The practice of communicating under one species arose probably from a desire to avoid irreverence, and the risk attending the administration of the chalice to a large assemblage. It was insisted upon so