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81. Our Lord's Use of the Holy Eucharist

1. Christ instituted the sacrament of Holy Eucharist atthe Last Supper, the night before he died. He gave this sacramentto his apostles in Holy Communion. And he received this sacramenthimself.

2. Some have thought that Christ did not give HolyCommunion to Judas. But it seems that Judas received our Lord withthe other apostles.

3. When our Lord instituted the Holy Eucharist, and gavehimself to his apostles under the species of bread and wine, he hadnot yet endured his Passion, except in intention. His bodywas not yet glorified, as it was to be glorified in theResurrection, but was a passible body, that is, a bodythat could endure pain and death. What Christ gave to his apostlesin the Holy Eucharist was his body as it was then, thatis, at the time of the Last Supper. And yet, that body, passible initself, was not passible in the Holy Eucharist because pas-sibilitydepends on external extension, and even the passible body of Christwas unextended in the Eucharist, as this was given at the LastSupper. After the Resurrection of our Lord, his body in the HolyEucharist is the glorified and impassible body.

4. If the Blessed Sacrament had been reserved in atabernacle or had been consecrated by an apostle at the time ofChrist's Crucifixion, our Lord would have died in the BlessedSacrament as he died on the cross. For Christ is one and the samesubstantial being in his concrete bodily existence and in the HolyEucharist.

"God gives us some things, as the beginning of faith, even when we do not pray. Other things, such as perseverance, he has only provided for those who pray."
St Augustine

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"God has no need of men."
St Philip Neri

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"What good does it do to speak learnedly about the Trinity if, lacking humility, you displease the Trinity? Indeed it is not learning that makes a man holy and just, but a virtuous life makes him pleasing to God. "
Thomas á Kempis

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