Tags
Blessed Virgin Mary, Catholic Church, God, Holy Eucharist, Holy Spirit, Lord, Mary, Mother of God, Mystical City of God, veneration
This is part VII of XIII posts. This whole series presents the entirety of Chapter XI sections 469 to 492 from Sister Mother Mary of Agreda’s ‘The Mystical City of God’ Book II of the Transfixion.
The Chapter’s title is:
Christ Our Savior Celebrates The Sacramental Supper, Consecrating His True And Sacred Body And Blood In The Holy Eucharist; His Prayers And Petitions; The Communion Of His Blessed Mother And Other Mysteries Of This Occasion.
Part VII:
482. The heavenly Queen understood also by a special vision how the most sacred body of Christ is hidden beneath the accidents of bread and wine without change in them or alteration of the sacred humanity; for neither can the Body be the subject of the accidents, nor can the accidents be the form of the body.
The accidents retain the same extension and qualities as before, and each of their parts retain the same position after the host has been consecrated; and the sacred body is present in an invisible form, also retaining the same size without intermingling of parts. It remains in the whole host, and all of it in every particle of the host, without being strained by the host, or the host by the body.
For neither is the extension of His body correlative with the accidental species, nor do they depend upon the sacred body for their existence.
They therefore have a totally different mode of existence and the body interpenetrates the accidents without hindrance.
Although naturally the head would demand a different place than the hands, or these a different one from the breast or any other part of the body; yet by the divine power the consecrated body places itself unimpaired in its extent in one and the same place, because it bears no relation to the space which it would naturally occupy, having thrown aside all these relations though still remaining a quantitative body.
Moreover it need not necessarily remain in one determined place only, or in only one host, but at the same time it can be present in many innumerable consecrated hosts.
__________
483. She understood likewise, that the sacred body, although not naturally depending upon the accidents as above declared, yet does not continue to exist sacramentally in these accidents after the corruption of the species of the bread and wine; and this for no other reason than because it was so willed by Christ the Author of these wonders.
The co-existence of the sacred body and blood of our Lord with the uncorrupted species of bread and wine therefore rests upon the arbitrary and voluntary disposition of the Creator of this Sacrament.
As soon as they deteriorate and disappear on account of the natural process destructive of these species (for instance, as happens in Holy Communion with the sacramental host, which is changed and corrupted by the heat of the stomach, or when this is effected by other causes) then God, in the last instant, when the species are ready for their last transformation, again creates another substance.
This new substance, being now devoid of the Divinity, nourishes the human body and finally coalesces with the human form of existence, which is the soul.
This wonderful creation of a new substance for the assumption of the changed and corrupted species is consequent upon the will of the Lord, Who wishes not to continue the existence of His body in the corrupted accidents, and this process is demanded also by the laws of nature; for the substance of man cannot grow except by some other substance, which, being newly added, prevents the accidents from continuing to exist .
__________
484. All these and other wonders the right hand of the Almighty perpetuated in this most august Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.
All of them the Mistress of Heaven and Earth understood and comprehended profoundly.
In like manner saint John, the Fathers of the ancient Law, and the Apostles who were present, perceived these mysteries each in their degree.
Aware of the great blessing contained therein for all men, Mary foresaw also the ingratitude of mortals in regard to this ineffable Sacrament, established for their benefit, and She resolved to atone, with all the powers of Her being, for our shameless and ungrateful behavior.
She took upon Herself the duty of rendering thanks to the Eternal Father and to His divine Son for this extraordinary and wonderful benefit to the human race. This earnest desire dwelled in Her soul during Her whole life and many times did She shed tears of blood welling forth from Her purest heart in order to satisfy for our shameful and torpid forgetfulness.
This series is continued in ‘Part VIII’ in which we will learn the manner in which Jesus Christ partook of the Holy Eucharist and the reverence He showed in the handling and reception of this most exalted and sublime Sacrament.
Related articles
- Eucharist, our Thanksgiving (padrerichard.wordpress.com)
- Establishment of the Holy Eucharist Part 1 of 13 (credointhecommunionofsaints.wordpress.com)
- Establishment of the Holy Eucharist Part 4 of 13 (credointhecommunionofsaints.wordpress.com)
- Establishment of the Holy Eucharist Part 5 of 13 (credointhecommunionofsaints.wordpress.com)