Here Begins the Discourse on the Preparation Which the Excellence and Dignity of the Divine Sacrament Requires

HIS Divine Sacrament has this superiority over all the rest, that there is in it really and truly Jesus Christ Himself, true God and true man; and for this reason it is the most excellent of the sacraments and that which works the greatest effects of grace in our souls. In other sacraments we partake of the grace that is communicated to us there, but in this we partake of the very fountain of grace. In other sacraments we drink, as it were, from a stream flowing from the fountain, but in this we drink of the fountain itself, since we receive Christ Himself, true God and true man. And so this Sacrament is called Fucharistia, which signifies Good grace, because every good gift of grace, and the source of it all, is there; as also because therein is given to us the Son of God Himself, Who truly is called a Grace and a Gift given to the human race in the mystery of the Incarnation. It is also called Communion, in accordance with what St. Luke says of the faithful, that they were persevering in the communion of the breaking of bread (Acts ii. 42) ; for in receiving this Most Holy Sacrament we partake of the highest and greatest good that there is, which is God, and with Him of all spiritual good gifts and graces. In giving us His flesh and blood He makes us partakers of all those treasures which He has earned for us by that sacred flesh and blood. Another reason why it is called Communion is because it unites the faithful one with another, all sitting at the same table and receiving the same food. Thus we communicate and share together, and are conjoined so as to make one reality, at least in faith and religion, and we are all one body, as St. Paul says: We are all one bread, one body, we who partake of one and the same bread (I Cor. x. 17). And so St. Augustine says that Christ instituted this Sacrament under the species of bread and wine to signify that, as bread is made of many grains of wheat, united together, and wine of many grains of grapes, so of many faithful who communicate and partake of this Sacrament there is made one mystical body.

St. John Damascene likens this Most Holy Sacrament to that fiery coal wherewith one of the seraphim purified the lips of the Prophet Isaias and took away all his imperfections. So, he says, this heavenly food, by being united with the divinity, which is a consuming fire (Deut. iv. 24), consumes and cleanses away all our imperfections and ailments and fills us with spiritual gifts and good things. Lastly, this is that banquet spoken of in the Gospel, in which God bids the guests to be told: I have prepared my banquet, my beeves and fatlings are killed, and all things are ready (Matt. xxii. 4). In saying that all things are ready and prepared, He gives us to understand that here-in this sacred banquet we have all things that could be desired. So the Prophet David said of this food: Thou hast prepared, O God, in thy sweetness for the poor (Psalm Ixvii. 11). He does not say what it is that He has prepared, because the good that is herein contained is so great that no words can express it.

With good reason, then, does the Church exclaim: “O sacred banquet, in which we receive God’”—O sacrum convivium, in quo Christus sumitur. That very name of banquet tells of the joy and satisfaction and abundance and plenty that there is in it. “O sacred banquet, in which the memory of the Passion is renewed,” the memory of that excess of love wherewith God has loved us, giving Himself up for us unto death, even the death of the Cross! O sacred banquet, wherein our soul is sated and made full of grace! O sacred banquet, wherein there is given us a pledge of glory!—and such a pledge as to be nowise distinct from that which is to be given us hereafter, as is the usual case of pledges given on earth; but one and the same God, Who is to be our recompense and reward, gives Himself for pledge in this sovereign banquet, save only that here they serve Him up to us in a covered dish, whereas in that banquet and supper of heavenly glory they will serve Him to us in a dish uncovered.

But the excellence of so high a Sacrament, and the great majesty of the Lord Whom we are to receive, require that the disposition and preparation for it be very great. The Royal Prophet, speaking of the building of the Temple of Jerusalem, says: It is a great work, for we are not about building a dwelling place for man, but for God (I Chron. xxix. 1). And when he had got together a great quantity of gold, silver, vessels, and precious stones, it all seemed to him nothing. What, then, should be the preparation of the temple and dwelling in which we are to receive God Himself in person, Who must be greater by as much as the typified exceeds the type, and the living the painted figure!

Apart from what is due to the majesty of so great a Lord, it likewise very much concerns ourselves to come well prepared to receive this Most Holy Sacrament; for according to the preparation and disposition that we bring will be the grace that we receive, as he who draws water from a spring draws more the larger the vessel that he brings. And for the better understanding of what we wish to say on this point, theologians here observe that not only will there be greater grace received for the greater merit of acts and good works which one brings to the reception of this Sacrament, which is called in the language of the Council of Trent grace ex opere operantis, but also, apart from that, the grace which the Sacrament gives of itself by divine privilege and institution, which they call grace ex opere operato, will be greater in proportion to the better disposition wherewith we approach the Sacrament. For God works in the order of grace as He does in the order of nature. In the natural order we see that all things work according to the dispositions they find in the subject matter they work upon. Thus fire is quickly kindled of dry wood; but if the wood is not dry, it will light more slowly, and so according to the degrees of dryness will be the working of the fire. So it is also in this Divine Sacrament, and thus in every way it concerns us much to come to it well prepared.