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Question

Dear Father Angelo,

a priest told me that by receiving the Eucharist we participate in the very life of God and that St. Thomas often says that through Communion we somehow become like Jesus.

I would like to ask you where St. Thomas says these things and in what sense they can be interpreted, because it seems an exaggeration to me .

I look forward to your  response and thank you for the opportunity.

Thank you

Stefano

The priest’s answer

Dear Stefano,

1. St. Thomas does not say that with Holy Communion we become like Jesus. It would be too good to be true.

Instead, he says that “the proper effect of the Eucharist is the transformation of man into God”.

He says that in the fourth book of the Sentences. His precise words in Latin are: “Effectus proprius eucharistiae est transformatio hominis in Deum” (St. Thomas, IV Sent., 12, 12, 1, ad 1).

Again in the Sentences he says that “by virtue of this sacrament a certain transformation of man into Christ takes place through charity: and this is the proper effect of the sacrament” (IV Sent., 12, 12, 2).

2. And since the immolated Christ is present in the Eucharist (the Mass actually makes the Passion and death of the Lord present on our altars), the aim  of the Eucharist is to transform our life into a living offering to God through the donation to our neighbour.

This concept is also recalled in the third Eucharistic prayer of the Mass with the following words: “May he make us a perennial sacrifice pleasing to you”.

3. I like to remind you that this concept is not new to the doctrine of the Church.

Saint Augustine had already expressed it, after having  heard these precise words as an inner locution: “It is not you who change me into you (as you do with the foods in your flesh), but you will change into me” (“Nec tu Me in te mutabis sicut cibum carnis tuae, sed tu mutaberis in Me ”(St. Augustine, Confessions, 7, 10, 16).

And Pope Saint Leo the Great also said: “The participation in the body and blood of Christ does nothing but change us into what we take”.

These words of St. Leo the Great were taken up by the Second Vatican Council in Lumen gentium, n. 26.

4. J. Ratzinger explains this when he says: “The normal means of nutrition are less strong than man, they serve him: they are taken so that they are assimilated into the human body and build it up.

 On the other hand , this particular food – the Eucharist – is insteads  above man, it is stronger than him, and thus the process towards which everything tends is reversed:  whoever consumes this bread is assimilated into it,  is assumed by it, is melted in this same bread and becomes bread like Christ himself ”(Look at the Crucifix, p. 78).

5. If this transformation does not happen,  as unfortunately it seems to be  the case,perhaps most of the time, it is not because of the food, but because we live this extraordinary moment of our Christian life in a superficial way.

The objective of the Eucharist though remains precisely that of making us become like Jesus.

The least we can say is that the fault is not in the food, but in the recipient.

6. What can be done for this food to produce its effect and transform us into Christ?

Mass should be lived more profoundly.

It is best lived when one prepares and prolongs the time of  Communion, allowing Christ to transform our thoughts and feelings, conforming them to His.

But this last point (extending Communion) is unfortunately a painful issue, because hardly anyone feels the desire to do so.

At the end of the Mass it seems that it is time  to turn the page in a hurry and think about something else.

With the hope  it is not the same for you   but that you rather consider the encounter with the Lord as the most beautiful and the most sanctifying moment of your day and of your life, I assure you of my prayers and I bless you.

Father Angelo