Question One: On the Effects Themselves of the Sacrament

S. Th. III, q. 79; in IV Sent., d. 12, q. 2, a. 1 and 2.

261. Principle I. The proper and primary effect of the Eucharist is grace making one pleasing, insofar as it is the adunion of man to Christ and transformation into Christ through charity.¹ - It is certain from the Council of Florence, decree for the Armenians, and it is announced by Christ, John VI, 48-59.

¹ On this whole question there can be consulted the articles which we wrote in Revue Eccl. de Liege, 1906-1909: Les Fruits de la S. Communion.

For if the character, which is a participation in the priesthood of Christ, demands grace from God, so also does the representation of the passion of Christ, and especially, much more, the presence of the very author of grace. Yet this grace of the Eucharist differs from that which is given in the other sacraments:

1. Grace and charity are given or increased through all the sacraments, but as it were on account of something else and unto a peculiar end distinct from charity: thus in Confirmation, for resisting external assaults upon faith by confessing faith itself; but the Eucharist is ordered per se, first and directly, to nourishing charity as to its proper end, or on account of the sole perfection of charity, which consists in union with God: "unto this, that man may exist perfect in himself through conjunction with God," says St. Thomas, a. 1, ad 1.

2. Hence sacramental grace directly fosters charity; whence it gives man special help against disordered love of self: for nothing is more directly opposed to the charity of God and neighbor than egoism, by which one refers all things to his own person as to an end.

3. Not only is charity given as to habit, but it is also excited as to act: the Scholastics call the exercise of charity its fervor (ad 2 and a. 4).

It is proved: 1. From the words of Christ, John VI, 57: He who eats My flesh... abides in Me and I in him. But to abide in another and to have another abiding in oneself is a manner of speaking which signifies perfect love, by which the lover according to affection is united to the beloved and transformed into him, according to that word I John IV, 16: He who abides in charity abides in God and God in him. Therefore.

2. From Tradition, which is established from the Fathers and from the Councils Florence, l.c., and Trent, sess. 13, c. 2.

The Fathers "describe sacramental union with Christ as the cause of union with the head Himself and among ourselves mutually; - they describe life derived from the flesh of Christ, which is the flesh of the Word, and therefore the flesh of life and itself life-giving; - they describe gifts of graces derived from the body and blood of Christ, by which this life consists, and they declare it as a kind of transmutation of us into Christ Himself."²

² Thus Franzelin, o.c., th. XVII; the texts of the Fathers are referred to there in th. VIII.

3. By reason: The proper effect of each sacrament must be taken from the likeness with the corporeal effect of the sacramental sign. But the effect of bread and wine is bodily refreshment through physical assimilation. Therefore the proper effect of the Eucharist is the refreshment of the soul through spiritual union with Christ; but this union is through charity. But food not only refreshes habitually, but also restores actually. Therefore the Eucharist nourishes charity both in habit and in act.

There is, however, a difference, because bodily food is converted and transformed into our substance, but spiritual food is not converted into the one eating, but converts him to itself. Whence the proper effect of this sacrament is the conversion and transformation of man into Christ, so that he may say with the Apostle: I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me.

Transformation is made through charity. Love affectively unites lovers. The beloved abides in the lover, insofar as he is impressed in the mind through thought and in the affection through complacency, whence the lover has him as one with himself and another self, and wills and acts for the beloved as for himself. In turn the lover abides in the beloved, insofar as he adheres to him as one with him, and reckons his goods and evils as his own, and his will as his own, and thinks, wills, desires, and acts as he does, being made as it were the same as the beloved. Whence he is transformed into the beloved.³

³ This was explained in the treatise on Charity.

Thus in Eucharistic communion, through charity, we are united to Christ. Christ abides in us insofar as we will good to Him and act on account of Christ as, indeed more than, on account of ourselves; we abide in Christ because we reckon His will as our own and will and act as He does, being made as it were another Christ: thus we are transformed into Him.

262. Principle II. The Eucharist in a general way has as secondary effects, with respect to spiritual life, all the things which material food and drink do with respect to bodily life, namely, it sustains, increases, repairs, and delights spiritual life. - It is certain from the Council of Florence and Trent, l.c.

The proper and primary effect of the sacrament is that which is first signified and immediately produced by the sacramental sign; secondary effects are those which are derived from the primary effect. For the sacraments effect what they figure; but they directly signify only one effect, namely, the proper and primary one; therefore all other things which they produce are derived from this primary effect. Thus the Eucharist figures nothing except spiritual refreshment, which is made through the union of charity. Therefore all the other effects which it produces are derived from the primary effect, which is the union of charity.

It is proved: The Eucharist is spiritual food, and therefore with respect to spiritual life it produces all the effects which bodily food produces with respect to bodily life. But bodily food is first united to our bodily substance and is assimilated by it, and therefore consequently sustains, increases, repairs, and delights our bodily life. Therefore the Eucharist unites us and transforms us into spiritual food, Christ, and therefore sustains, increases, repairs, and delights our spiritual life.

1. It sustains, i.e., gives grace for persevering and preserves from future sins. It does this by exciting the fervor of charity, and by diminishing self-love, which is the cause of all sins, and by bestowing actual graces for persevering (John VI, 50-54).

2. It increases: for since the life of grace cannot be diminished, hence the Eucharist, which nourishes it, necessarily increases it per se.

3. It repairs: just as food restores powers lost daily through the action of natural heat, so the Eucharist restores powers lost from the heat of concupiscence through venial sins.

4. It delights: for joy is the natural effect of an act of charity, which delights both in the perfection of Christ Himself, beloved, and in His presence in us, both through the sacrament and through grace. "Through this sacrament, as far as is from its own power, not only is the habit of grace and virtue conferred, but it is also excited into act, according to that word II Cor. V, 14: The charity of Christ urges us. And thence it is that by the power of this sacrament the soul is spiritually refreshed, through this, that the soul is spiritually delighted, and in a certain way made drunk with the sweetness of divine goodness, according to that word Cant. V, 1: Eat, friends, and drink, and be inebriated, dearly beloved" (a. 1, ad 2). Whence the Church sings: You have given them bread from heaven, having in itself every delight.

263. Principle III. Especially with respect to sins, the Eucharist per se does not remit mortal sins, but does remit venial sins; nevertheless it preserves from mortal sins, and diminishes concupiscence inclining to sin. Whence the Council of Trent says, sess. 13, c. 2: an antidote by which we may be freed from daily faults and preserved from mortal sins.

1. The Eucharist per se does not remit mortal sins, as is established from the universal practice of the Church of denying the Sacrament and not admitting public sinners before reconciliation; and from the common doctrine of the Fathers and Theologians, and of the Council of Trent, sess. 13, c. 2, can. 5, and from the doctrine of the Apostle and the precept of confessing before communion (I Cor. XI, 27-28; Council of Trent, c. 7, can. 11). Moreover food by its nature does not give life but increases it.

Per accidens, however, it produces first grace, if a sinner, thinking in good faith that he is in the state of grace, approaches and elicits imperfect contrition at least before the consumption of the species.

2. The Eucharist directly remits venial sins to which man does not adhere in affection. For they are directly opposed to the primary effect of the sacrament, namely, the fervor of charity. Whence it remits them insofar as it excites to such acts of charity as at least implicitly and virtually include displeasure with venial sins.

3. It preserves from future sins, both mortal and venial which dispose to mortal sin: a) directly, because it sustains, increases, and strengthens spiritual life; b) indirectly, because it diminishes the causes of sin: exterior causes, for this sacrament is the sign of the passion of Christ, and therefore repels the assaults of the devil (a. 6); interior causes, because although it does not directly, still indirectly it diminishes the tinder of concupiscence "from a certain consequence insofar as it increases charity" (ad 3), by which man delights more in heavenly things than in worldly things (Zach. IX, 17).

264. Principle IV. With respect to heavenly glory, the Eucharist in a special way causes the attainment of glory and is the pledge of the heavenly inheritance and of glorious resurrection. - Thus John VI, 50, 52, 55 and 59; and the Council of Trent, sess. 13, c. 2.

For the Eucharist 1) with respect to the soul a) gives special helps for persevering; b) specially perfects the union of charity, which union by perfecting prepares for perfect union in heaven.

Also 2) with respect to the body, because from the soul the effect of grace overflows to the body: on account of our union with Christ through charity, He considers us as Himself, and therefore our flesh as His own, to be conformed in the resurrection. Therefore the Eucharist gives incorruption and glory to the body. Whence Christ says: He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day (John VI, 55).

Hence by the Fathers it is called the seed of glory and the medicine of immortality.

265. How are the fruits of the sacrament impeded? - The increase of habitual grace is not impeded by a defect of devotion or by affection for venial sins, but by adherence to mortal sin alone: for this being absent there is no obstacle to grace, whence the Council of Trent, sess. 13, c. 7, requires no other disposition for avoiding sacrilege, although to communicate without any fruit would certainly be a grave sin. - Past venial sins and those remaining only in habit in no way impede the effect of the sacrament, because through it they are taken away; venial sins still virtually pleasing or actually exercised, and defect of devotion and of mental recollection, even involuntary, impede the fervor of charity and spiritual sweetness, because they are opposed to these, and they diminish the increase of habitual grace, so that he who was altogether tepid would receive the least increase (a. 8).

266. Corollaries. - 1. Union with Christ is twofold: a) material union through reception of the sacrament: this is not the fruit, but only the application of the sacrament made to man, or communion itself, which can be had in a sinner. Besides this no other physical union can be conceived, since the body of Christ cannot be converted into our substance (n. 257), nor can His blood be diffused through our whole body outside the species, nor do the species themselves go through the whole body before corruption. - b) Spiritual union through charity, which is the primary fruit of communion. John c. VI treats of this alone, for v. 57 is parallel with vv. 55, 58, and 59, whence it treats of a union which of itself endures forever, as all admit; but material union with Christ is only momentary.

2. The same is the reason of union with Christ and with His members. Therefore since the Eucharist perfectly unites to Christ through love, by that very fact it perfectly unites to others united to Christ, according to I Cor. X, 17: For we, being many, are one bread, one body, all who partake of the one bread.

3. Certain theologians hold that Christ, on account of the very physical contact of our body with His own, wills to conform it to His own; whence He extinguishes venereal concupiscence in us as much as He can, and there is for us a special title to rising in a glorious body. - But a) these effects are only secondary, whence they do not come to us immediately from the physical contact itself, but by means of the primary effect, charity; b) the concupiscence which is immediately diminished through the sacraments is only that which is opposed to their end, whence in the Eucharist it is self-love alone; but venereal concupiscence, like any other, it diminishes mediately, and with this standing it remains true that the frequent use of the Eucharist is an excellent remedy against lust and fosters virginity; c) Christ wills to conform our flesh to His own in the resurrection, because through charity He is made the firstborn among brothers; whence the Eucharist produces this effect by means of charity; moreover it does not leave in us a special title exigitive of glory, because the reality and sacrament is not in the man receiving, but in the species of bread and wine.

267. Observations. - 1. The sacrament of the Eucharist does not directly remit temporal punishments: for the sacrament by its own power and directly takes away only that which is opposed to its end; but the Eucharist was not instituted for satisfying but for nourishing charity; and the debt of temporal punishment is opposed neither to charity nor to its fervor. Nevertheless it remits concomitantly, by exciting to acts of charity, which can be satisfactory according to the measure of the devotion of the one operating.

Although the Eucharist as a sacrament does not directly remit punishments, as a sacrifice it nevertheless has satisfactory power (a. 5).

2. The Eucharist, as a sacrament, from the work worked does not profit others than those receiving, because food does not profit except the one receiving. And nevertheless it is rightly received: 1. for the souls of purgatory, because an indulgence applicable to them can be attached to communion; indeed 2. for them and for the living: a) for communion is an excellent act of religion, whence it can be satisfactory before God from the work of the one operating and can profit others by way of suffrage; b) it excites charity, and thus renders us more apt for obtaining for others (a. 7).

Yet it profits others who do not receive by way of sacrifice, insofar as it is offered for their salvation.