Chapter IX.
On the integrity of the Eucharist.
Concerning the Sacrament of the Eucharist, this must be held: that in this Sacrament the true body and true blood of Christ is not only signified, but also truly contained under a twofold species, namely of bread and wine, as under one, not under a twofold Sacrament: and this is after the priestly consecration, which takes place in the utterance of the vocal form instituted by the Lord; over the bread, namely: This is my body; and over the wine: This is the chalice of my blood. When these words are uttered by a priest with the intention of confecting, each element is transubstantiated according to substance into the body and blood of Jesus Christ; the sensible species remaining, in each of which is contained totally, not circumscriptively, but sacramentally, the whole Christ.
In which species he is also set before us as food, which whoever receives worthily, not only sacramentally, but also eating spiritually through faith and charity, is more fully incorporated into the mystical body of Christ and is in himself refreshed and purified; but whoever approaches unworthily eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the most holy body of Christ.
Now the reason for understanding the aforesaid is this: because our restorative principle, namely the incarnate Word, is both most sufficient in power and most wise in understanding; therefore it has conferred Sacraments upon us in the way that its wisdom and sufficiency require.
And because it is most sufficient, therefore in bestowing the remedies of diseases and the charisms of graces it instituted not only the Sacrament which would generate us in the being of grace, as baptism, and which would augment and strengthen those generated, as confirmation, but also that which would nourish those generated and augmented, as the Sacrament of the Eucharist; on account of which these three Sacraments are given to all who come to the faith. Since therefore our nourishment with regard to the gratuitous being is attended to in each one of the faithful through the preservation of devotion to God, love toward neighbor, and delight within oneself; and devotion to God is exercised through the offering of sacrifice, love toward neighbor through the communion of one Sacrament, and delight within oneself through the refreshment of viaticum: hence it is that our restorative principle gave this Sacrament of the Eucharist as a sacrifice of offering and a Sacrament of communion and a viaticum of refreshment.
But because our restorative principle is not only most sufficient, but also most wise, whose nature it is to do all things in an ordered manner: therefore it so gave and disposed that sacrifice, Sacrament, and viaticum should be exhibited to us, according as befits the time of revealed grace, the state of the wayfarer, and our capacity.
First, therefore, since the time of revealed grace requires that there no longer be offered any offering whatsoever, but one that is pure, pleasing, and complete ; and no other offering is such except that which was offered on the cross, namely the body and blood of Christ: hence it is that this Sacrament must necessarily contain the body of Christ not merely figuratively, but also truly, as the offering owed to this time.
Similarly, because it accords with the time of grace that the Sacrament of communion and love should not merely signify communion and love, but also inflame unto the same, so that "it may effect what it figures"; and because that which most inflames us to mutual love and most unites the members is the unity of the Head, from whom through the diffusive, unitive, and transformative power of love mutual love flows into us: hence it is that in this Sacrament is contained the true body of Christ and immaculate flesh, as diffusing itself to us and uniting us to one another and transforming us into itself through the most ardent charity, by which he gave himself to us and offered himself for us and restored himself to us and remains with us even unto the end of the world.
In this manner also, the nourishment befitting the state of grace is a nourishment that is spiritual, common, and salutary. Now the nourishment of the spirit is the word of life, and accordingly the spiritual nourishment of the spirit in the flesh is the Word incarnate, or the flesh of the Word, which is a food that is common and salutary, because, although it is one, all are nevertheless saved through it. Since therefore there is no other food that is spiritual, common, and salvific except the true body of Christ itself: hence it is that it must necessarily be truly contained in this Sacrament, this being required by the perfection of the propitiatory sacrifice, the unitive Sacrament, and the restorative viaticum, which ought to exist in the time of the new testament and of revealed grace and of the truth of Christ.
Again, because it does not befit the state of wayfaring to see Christ openly, on account of the veil of enigma and on account of the merit of faith; nor is it fitting to handle Christ's flesh with the teeth, both on account of the horror of rawness and the immortality of his body: therefore it was necessary that the body and blood of Christ be given veiled under most sacred symbols and fitting and expressive likenesses. And since nothing is more suited to nourishment than the food of bread and the drink of wine; nothing also is more suited to signifying the unity of the true and mystical body of Christ than bread made from the purest grains and wine pressed from the purest grapes gathered into one: therefore under these species rather than under others ought this Sacrament to be administered. And because Christ was to be present under those species not according to a change made in himself, but rather in them: therefore upon the utterance of the twofold word aforesaid, in which the existence of Christ under those species is intimated, a conversion of each substance into the body and blood takes place, with only the accidents remaining as signs both containing and expressing his body.
But because the blessed and glorious body of Christ cannot be divided into its parts nor separated from the soul nor from the supreme Divinity; therefore under each species there is one Christ, whole and undivided, namely body and soul and God: and thereby in both there is one and most simple Sacrament containing the whole Christ. And since any part of the species signifies the body of Christ: hence it is that the whole is so present in the whole species that it is in any part of it, whether it be intact or divided: and thereby it is not there as circumscribed, as occupying a place, as having position, as perceptible by any bodily and human sense, but hidden from every sense, so that faith may have its place and merit. For which reason also, lest it be detected, those accidents have every operation which they had before, although they exist without a subject, so long as they contain within themselves the body of Christ: which indeed is the case so long as they endure in their natural properties and are fit for nourishing.
Lastly, since our capacity to receive Christ efficaciously is not in the flesh, but in the spirit, not in the belly, but in the mind: and the mind does not attain Christ except through knowledge and love, through faith and charity, such that faith illuminates unto meditation, and charity enkindles unto devotion: therefore, in order that one may approach worthily, it is necessary that one eat spiritually , so that through the meditation of faith one may chew, and through the devotion of love one may receive: through which one does not transform Christ into oneself, but rather one is transferred into His mystical body. - On account of which it is manifestly gathered that he who approaches tepidly, without devotion, and without consideration eats and drinks judgment to himself , because he does insult to so great a Sacrament. And therefore the counsel is for those who feel themselves less clean in mind or in flesh, or even without devotion, that they defer until, prepared for the eating of the true Lamb, they approach clean, devout, and circumspect.
On account of which also this Sacrament is commanded to be celebrated with the greatest solemnity, both as regards place and also as regards time and as regards words and prayers and as regards vestments in the celebration of Masses; so that both the priests themselves who confect and also those who receive may perceive the gift of grace, through which they may be purged, illuminated, perfected, restored, vivified, and most ardently transferred into Christ Himself through ecstatic love.