Sermon from the Office — The Boundless Favors of Divine Generosity

Sermon of Thomas Aquinas Extracted from the Matins Readings in the Office of Corpus Christi

The boundless favors of divine generosity, shown to the Christian people, bestow an inestimable dignity on them. There neither is nor ever was so great a nation having gods so near to itself as our God is to us. The only-begotten Son of God, desiring that we be participants in his divinity, took on our nature, so that, having become man, he might make men gods. Whatever he assumed of our nature he made instrumental in the work of our salvation. He offered to God the Father his own body as sacrifice for our reconciliation on the altar of the cross, shed his own blood for our ransom and rebirth, so that, having been redeemed from wretched servitude, we might be washed clean of all sins. And, so that a memory of such great kindnesses might remain always in us, he left behind his Body as food and his Blood as drink, to be consumed by the faithful in the form of bread and wine. O most precious and wondrous banquet, full of health and filled with every delicacy! What can be more precious than this banquet, in which not the flesh of goats and calves, as once was the rule, but Christ the true God, is given to us as nourishment? What is more wondrous than this sacrament? For in it, bread and wine are changed substantially into the Body and Blood of Christ. Indeed Christ, the perfect God and man, is contained under the appearance of a little bread.

He is consumed entirely by the faithful, but he is in no way broken up, but rather, even though the sacramental sign is divided, he remains entire in each particle of division. For the accidents exist in it without material form in order that faith may have its place, when the visible is invisibly consumed, hidden in the form of another thing, and our senses, which judge events that happen to them, are restored safely from deception. For no sacrament is more salubrious than this, through which sins are purged, virtues are increased, and the soul is filled with an abundance of every spiritual gift. It is offered in the Church for the living and the dead, so that what was instituted for the salvation of all may benefit all.

No one suffices to express the delicacy of this kind of sacrament, through which spiritual sweetness is tasted in its source, and the memory of the most excellent charity, which Christ showed in his Passion, is recalled. Whereby, so that the immensity of this kind of charity might be impressed more profoundly on the hearts of the faithful, at the Last Supper, when, having celebrated the Passover with his disciples, he was about to leave this world and return to the Father, he instituted this sacrament as an eternal remembrance of his Passion, the fulfillment of ancient precursors, the greatest of the miracles performed by him, and sole solace to those saddened by his absence.

It is fitting therefore for the devotion of the faithful, solemnly to honor again the institution of such a salubrious and miraculous sacrament, so that we may venerate the ineffable mode of the divine presence in a visible sacrament, and so that the power of God may be praised, which, in the same sacrament, works so many miracles, and indeed so that the thanks owed to God for such a salubrious and sweet kindness may be discharged. But, although on the day of the Last Supper, when the aforesaid sacrament is known to have been instituted, special mention is made of its institution within the solemnities of the Mass, nevertheless all the remaining worship of this same day is concerned with Christ’s suffering, around whose veneration the Church at that time is occupied.

Hence, so that the faithful may solemnly honor again the institution of such a great sacrament by a complete office of celebration, the Roman Pope Urban IV, influenced by the devotion of this sacrament, piously decreed commemoration of the aforementioned institution on feria five after the octave of Pentecost, to be celebrated by all the faithful, so that we, who use this sacrament throughout the year for salvation, may honor again, at that time especially, its institution, by which the Holy Spirit taught the hearts of the disciples to understand fully the mysteries of this sacrament. For at the same time this sacrament began to be frequented by the faithful. It is indeed read in the Acts of the Apostles that they were persevering in the apostolic doctrine by sharing in the breaking of bread, and by prayers, immediately after the departure of the Holy Spirit.

So that, on the aforesaid feria five and the following octave, remembrance of this same saving institution may be performed more honorably and its ceremony have greater participation, in place of the distributions of material goods that are bestowed in cathedral churches, during current established times, night as well as day, the aforesaid Roman Pope grants to those who, during its times, personally take part in this ceremony at church spiritual stipends through apostolic generosity, so that by them the faithful more eagerly and more numerously may come together for the celebration of so great a feast.

Hence, to all the truly penitent and to those having confessed, who are present at the office of Matins of this feast in person in the church where it is celebrated, one hundred [days’ indulgence]. To those who attend Mass, the same number. To those who take part in First Vespers of the feast, similarly one hundred. The same number to those in Second Vespers. To those who attend the offices of Prime, Terce, Sext, None, and Compline, forty for any of those hours. To those who personally appear through the octave of this feast at Matins, Vespers, Mass, and the aforesaid office hours, for each of the days of the octave he mercifully allots one hundred days in perpetuity.