DAY 7, THURSDAY, OCTAVE
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Reading 1
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Canon 36 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.
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Reading 2
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Canon 36:1 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.
Canon 58 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.
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Reading 3
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Canon 70/75 ...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.
Augustine, Sermon 132 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.
Augustine, Sermon 132 Non ergo timeamus, fratres, manducare istum panem ne forte finiamus illum, et postea quod manducemus non inveniamus.
Augustine, Sermon 272 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.
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Reading 4
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Canon 8 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.
Canon 22 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.
Canon 37 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?
Canon 39 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...
Canon 40 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.
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Reading 5
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Canon 38 ...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. 38:1 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. 38:2 Unde et idem corpus Christi edimus, ut vitae aeternae possimus esse participes.
Canon 41 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.
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Reading 6
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Canon 43 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.
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Reading 7
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Petrus Lombardus, Sententiae, lib. 4, dist. 11, cap. 3/5 = Paschasius, De corpore et sanguine Domini, cap. 13:1 Nihil rationabilius quam ut sanguinis similitudinem sumamus, ut ita et veritas non desit et ridiculum nullum fiat a paganis quod cruorem occisi bibamus.
Petrus Lombardus, Sententiae, lib. 4, dist. 11, cap. 4/6 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.
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Reading 8
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Petrus Lombardus, Sententiae, lib. 4, dist. 8, cap. 7/4 ...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.
Petrus Lombardus, Sententiae, lib. 4, dist. 8, cap. 1 ...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.
Petrus Lombardus, Sententiae, lib. 4, dist. 8, cap. 7/4 ...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.
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Reading 9
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Canon 59 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.
Canon 77 Singuli autem accipiunt Christum dominum, et in singulis portionibus totus est, nec per singulos minuitur, sed integrum se praebet in singulis.
Canon 78 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.
Petrus Lombardus, Sententiae, lib. 4, dist. 8, cap. 2/1 ...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.
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