Wednesday, July 10, 2019

"Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe": The sacrament, much more so than the resurrection and ascension, demands of us a parallel (and meritorious) faith in the humanity, too

"Thirdly, it [(the fact that the body of Christ is in this sacrament in very truth, and not merely as in a figure or sign)] belongs to the perfection of faith, which concerns His humanity just as it does His Godhead, according to John 14:1: 'You believe in God, believe also in Me.' And since faith is of things unseen, as Christ shows us His Godhead invisibly, so also in this sacrament He shows us His flesh in an invisible manner."

"Tertio, hoc competit perfectioni fidei, quae, sicut est de divinitate Christi, ita est de eius humanitate, secundum illud Ioan. XIV, creditis in Deum, et in me credite. Et quia fides est invisibilium, sicut divinitatem suam nobis exhibet Christus invisibiliter, ita et in hoc sacramento carnem suam nobis exhibet invisibili modo."

     St. Thomas Aquinas, ST III.75.1.Resp., trans. FEDP.  Latin from Corpus Thomisticum.

On the cross was veiled thy Godhead's splendor,
Here thy manhood lieth hidden, too;
Unto both alike my faith I render. . . .

In cruce latebat sola deitas,
     Sed hic latet simul et humanitas.

Ambo uere credens atque confitens. . . .


     St. Thomas Aquinas, "Adoro te deuote" ("Te deuote laudo").  That stuff about merit I've taken from a couple of online lectures by Fr. Thomas Joseph White, O.P., who does not there make the connection to the "Adoro te deuote" ("Te deuote laudo").

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