04/06/2026
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The immeasurable benefits that God's goodness has given to Christian people have also granted them a priceless dignity. "For what great nation is there that has a god so near to them as the Lord our God is to us?" Deut. 4:7. The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us "sharers of the divine nature," 2 Pet. 1:4, took on our human nature, becoming a man Himself so that He might make men divine. And everything of ours that He took, He used for our salvation. On the altar of the cross, He offered His body to God the Father as a sacrifice to reconcile us; He shed His blood as the price to rescue us from misery and slavery, and as the washing to cleanse us from all sin. To leave a noble and lasting memorial of this great work of His goodness, He left His faithful followers His very body for food and His very blood for drink, to be consumed under the appearance of bread and wine.
How precious, marvelous, health-giving, and completely satisfying, then, is the Lord's Supper! Can anything be more precious than His Supper? In it, we are given for food not the flesh of bulls and goats as in ancient times, but Christ Himself, our true God. Can anything be more marvelous than this sacrament? In it, bread and wine are no longer bread and wine; instead, there is the body and blood of Christ. That is to say, Christ Himself, perfect God and perfect man, is present under the appearance of a little bread and wine. His faithful followers eat Him, but He is not divided; in fact, when this sacrament is broken, Christ Himself remains wholeโperfect God and perfect manโin each broken piece. Everything that the senses can perceive in this sacrament (look, taste, feel, smell, and the like) remains that of bread and wine, but the actual substance is not bread and wine. This leaves room for faith; Christ, who has a visible form, is taken and received here not only invisibly, but appearing to be bread and wine, while the senses, which judge by normal appearance, are protected from error.
Can anything be more health-giving than this sacrament? Through it, sins are wiped away, strength is renewed, and the soul is nourished by the abundance of spiritual gifts. This Supper is offered in the Church for both the living and the dead; it was created for the spiritual health of all, and everyone benefits from it. Can anything be more full of delights than this sacrament? Its glorious sweetness is truly beyond anyone's ability to fully describe. In it, spiritual comfort is drawn directly from its source. In it, a memorial is made of the extraordinarily great love that Christ showed during His suffering. It was to drive the boundless goodness of His great love deep into the hearts of His faithful followers that, after He had celebrated the Passover with His disciples and the Last Supper was finished, "Jesus, knowing that His hour had come to depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, loved them to the end," John 13:1, and established this sacrament. This sacrament is the everlasting proclamation of His death until He comes again, 1 Cor. 11:26; this sacrament is the physical fulfillment of all the ancient symbols and representations; this sacrament is the greatest miracle He ever performed, and the one powerful joy for those who now grieve, until He comes again and their hearts rejoice, and no one can take their joy away from them. John 16:22.
From the Sermons of St. Thomas Aquinas
17th or 57th of his Opuscula, or Lesser Works
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Deus, qui nobis sub Sacramento mirabili passionis tuae memoriam reliquisti: tribue, quaesumus, ita nos Corporis, et Sanguinis tui sacra mysteria venerari; ut redemptionis tuae fructum in nobis iugiter sentiamus.
O God, under a marvelous sacrament you have left us the memorial of thy Passion; grant us, we beseech thee, so to venerate the sacred mysteries of thy Body and Blood, that we may ever perceive within us the fruit of thy Redemption.
