A church in the West of Munich.
The following essay is from the February 1919 issue of the Hungarian Catholic periodical “Örökimádás” (“Eternal Adoration”), was written by St. Thomas Aquinas and translated by János Eőri. “Örökimádás” ran from 1900 until 1944, and the issues can be downloaded in PDF format from the page of the Péter Pázmány Electronic Library.
The writings of St. Thomas Aquinas on the Eucharist.
The threefold motive for instituting the Eucharist.
“Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed.” (Prov 9:5). With these words, the Lord invites us to the banquet of salvation. He awaits us with precious food: His body and blood. […] The Eucharist is a mystery, a holy mystery; unbelievers need not know about it, but believers must. Remember this: there are three reasons for the institution of the Eucharist: to be a memorial of the Savior, a sacrifice of the altar, and food for man. For these three reasons, divine wisdom instituted this sacrament against the three ancient evils: forgetfulness of God, robbery of others, and corruption caused by the death-bringing fruit. For when our first parents were deceived by the devil hidden in the serpent, they brought these three evils upon themselves, and through them their descendants were also corrupted. Of the first, Scripture says: “The beginning of man’s pride is to depart from the Lord; his heart has forsaken his Maker.” (Sir 10:12). He forgot God because he occupied himself with disastrous speech with the serpent; this still often happens to many foolish people. And of the second, this: “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate.” (Genesis 3:6), and thus they both committed robbery. Similarly, those who do not keep the measure of justice in the use of created things commit robbery. And of the third, this: “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.” (Gen 2:17), and the good gift of your immortality will be spoiled. “They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds” (Ps 13:1) Likewise, all those who take in the poison of sin, murder and corrupt the soul. Therefore, this sacrament is ordained against these three original evils. “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” (Lk 22:19) “Do this,” he said, “in remembrance of me.” Behold, the first reason: let there be a remembrance of the Savior against forgetfulness. “Given for you,” that is, that he might be sacrificed as the Lamb of God. Here is the second reason: that there should be a sacrifice on the altar against robbery. “Take and eat.” Here is the third reason: that it might be our strengthening food against decay.
I. The first reason, then, is that against this forgetfulness of God, this Sacrament should be a memorial of the Saviour, to warn us to direct our whole soul and all our talents wholly to God, which we have turned away from God when we have allowed them to wander and to be occupied with sinful thoughts and feelings. That is why He says, “Do this in remembrance of me.” Concerning this, Eusebius says: “Since the Lord was about to take His incarnated body from our sight and ascend into heaven, He had to ordain the sacrament of His body and blood for us at the Last Supper, so that what was once sacrificed as a ransom might be mysteriously sacrificed forever and live in our memory as an eternal sacrifice, and always be present with His graces.” Three proofs of His love inspire us to keep the Savior always in our memory: the forgiveness of sins, the redemption of the Gentiles, and the continuity of His charity. Isaiah says of the first: “I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” (43:25). Of the second, Jesus, son of Sirach, says: “Do not forget all the kindness of your surety” (29:15), and because of this, love Him for this and repay your debt to Him with prayers and good deeds. “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one; for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.” (Song 5:2). Open up, that is, receive Me into your soul, your memory, and your love, because My head, that is, My divinity, is covered with dew, that is, full of mercy, so that I may forgive sins; My hair—My humanity—is covered with drops of the night, that is, traces of blood-shedding, My tears, the drops of blood of My agony, so that I may redeem your lost inheritance at the price of atonement for sins. The third is described in Scripture as follows: “Take heed lest you forget the LORD your God, by not keeping his commandments and his ordinances and his statutes… when you have eaten and are full,… and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God…” (Deut. 8:11-14). Just as there is not a single moment in which man does not enjoy God’s goodness, so must He always be present in his memory.
II. The second reason for the establishment of this Sacrament is that it may be a sacrifice of the altar against the robbery that we commit by our daily sins, so that just as the Lord’s Body was once sacrificed on the cross for original sin, so too may He be constantly sacrificed on the altar for our daily sins, and that the Holy Mother Church may have a sacrifice of atonement to God, precious and pleasing, one that surpasses all the sacrifices of the Old Testament, “Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD” (Mal 3:4), those of the king and his soldiers, those of Christ and the Holy Mother Church. Pope Alexander says: “None of the sacraments of the Holy Mother Church can be greater than the body and blood of Christ. There can be no greater sacrifice than this; it surpasses all others: it must be offered to God with a clear conscience and received with a pure soul. And since it is greater than the others, it must also be given the greatest honor.”
There are three reasons explanations for changing the old sacrifice and establishing this new sacrifice. The first is the power of the author of this sacrifice, Christ, who could and had to change the old sacrifice into a more perfect one, not only because He is the Lord and King of the whole world, but also because the right to offer the supreme sacrifice has passed to Him. “The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.’” (Ps 109:4). It does not say “after the order of Aaron” or “after the law of the Levites”, who sacrificed the blood of goats and bulls, but according to the order of Melchizedek, who sacrificed bread and wine. That is why another priest had to arise according to the order of Melchizedek and not according to the order of Aaron. For if the priesthood changes, the law must also change.
Secondly, the old victim had to change because of our sins. The sin of our first parents was so great in view of the magnitude of the theft of God’s glory, the ingratitude of the thief, and the majesty of the offended Creator, that not only the sacrifices of the Old Testament, but the whole world together with all its creatures would have been incapable of making amends for it. When Christ came into this world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings thou hast not desired, but a body hast thou prepared for me” (Heb 10:5). In other words, You did not want animal sacrifices or other gifts; these were not pleasing to You; therefore, You gave me a body, which, because of its spotlessness, is worth more than any sacrifice; this body is capable of living and thus becoming a universal sacrificial offering. […] I paid when I offered my sacrifice on the cross for the sins of all people, which was sufficient to wipe them away.
The third reason for the abolition of Old Testament sacrifices is the inadequacy of the old law. Those sacrifices were not pleasing to God because they had no power to wipe away sins and bring about mercy. “Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to me”, says Jeremiah (6:20). “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice” (Hosea 6:6). “Burnt offering and sin offering thou hast not required.” (Ps 39:6). […] “For no human being will be justified in his sight by works of the law”. (Romans 3:20) “For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.” (Hebrew 10,4) “Moreover I gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not have life”. (Ezek 20:25) I gave them commandments that were not good, that is, that were less good; I also gave them sacrifices, that is, ceremonial worship, which, however, did not bring life, because they could not bring about sanctifying grace. The old law of sacrifice ceased to exist because it was weak and useless; it was barren because it could not give grace.
III. The third purpose of instituting the Eucharist is to be food for man, to be a strengthening medicine against the corruption caused by the deadly fruit, which was so wickedly brought into the human race through the first parents that it can only be cured by the best possible medicine that God’s wisdom could conceive and prepare. “The Lord created medicines from the earth [that is, from the body of the Virgin Mother], and a sensible man will not despise them.” (Sir 38:4). According to St. Ambrose, the body of Christ is a spiritual medicine that purifies those who receive it with reverence and trust. As to the necessity of the remedy of the body of Christ, we must know that the accursed serpent in paradise infused threefold corruption into man with the poisonous drink of forbidden food: dark ignorance into the soul, the disease of sinful desires into the body, and death into both. The medicine of Christ’s body was ordained to dispel this darkness, to cure this disease of sinful desires, and to destroy our death. From these three perspectives, the Eucharist can be compared to three sweet and healing foods: honey, figs, and grapes. “My son, eat honey, for it is good” (Prov 24:13). Honey symbolizes the sweet body of Christ. It is good because it enlightens the dark mind. “[S]ee how my eyes have become bright, because I tasted a little of this honey.” (1 Kings 14:29). “He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.” (Isaiah 7:15). “The LORD is my light and my salvation”. (Psalm 26:1) The Scriptures speak of figs in this way: “Figs, the good figs very good”. (Jer 24:3). The repeated word indicates the sweet body of Christ, the Son of God. This is twofold good, because it heals both the body and the soul from the sickness of sinful desires. “And Isaiah said, ‘Bring a cake of figs. And let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover.’” (4 Kings 20:7). The king’s boil signifies the desires of the body, and the bundle of figs signifies the body of Christ, which is full of all kinds of sweetness, so that it may be a remedy for evil desires. The analogy of the grape cluster is found in Scripture: “[B]lessed is the fruit of your womb”. (Luke 1:42), namely, the body of Christ, which is the fruit that gives life, quenches damnation, and grants eternal life. “She [wisdom] is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her” (Prov 3:18). That is why the prophet Hosea says, “O Death, where are your plagues?” (13:14). And St. John the Evangelist: “I am the bread of life… he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life…”. (6.) According to St. Hilary: “When we eat the body of the Lord and drink His blood, what happens is that we abide in Him, and He abides in us.” The Eucharist will therefore be the cause of our eternal life in such a way that Christ, who is life itself, will dwell in us through the mediation of His body and through our own bodies, and we will live through Him just as He lives through the Father, who is in Him.