Sunday, June 7, 2015

"The Godhead or the soul of Christ is in this sacrament"

"...the Godhead or the soul of Christ is in this sacrament not by the power of the sacrament, but from real concomitance. For since the Godhead never set aside the assumed body, wherever the body of Christ is, there, of necessity, must the Godhead be; and therefore it is necessary for the Godhead to be in this sacrament concomitantly with His body. Hence we read in the profession of faith at Ephesus (P. I., chap. xxvi): "We are made partakers of the body and blood of Christ, not as taking common flesh, nor as of a holy man united to the Word in dignity, but the truly life-giving flesh of the Word Himself."

~St. Thomas Aquinas: S.T. III, Q. 76, A. 1, ad. 1.

Gradual 2 for San Michele a Murano (Folio 78),
by Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci. 
Tempera and gold on parchment, c. 1395;
The Morgan Library and Museum, New York.

Share This