[Sermones de eucharistiae sacramento]

the sins of the world." Gregory: The Lord gave us the sacrament of salvation so that, because we sin daily and He can no longer die for us, we might obtain remission through this sacrament. Regarding the second, Leviticus 17: "I have given you the blood, so that it may be upon the altar to make atonement for your souls, and the blood shall be for the propitiation of the soul." And therefore, the flesh and blood of Christ are rightly offered by the Church for the souls of the dead, so that they may be absolved from the penalty of purgatory to which they are bound for the residue of their penance. Augustine: By the prayers and alms of the Holy Church and the salutary sacrifice, there is no doubt that the souls of the dead are relieved, so that the Lord may deal with them more mercifully than their sins deserved in this world. Regarding the third, Leviticus 10: "You shall eat the breast, which was offered, in a most clean place, you and your sons and your daughters with you." The breast, which is namely the best and sweetest part of the animals, signifies the sweetness of Christ's body when it is eaten in a most clean place, that is, the mind. It delights the blessed in that they rejoice and congratulate themselves greatly in this sacrifice, for the memory of their redemption, for the sight of our salvation, and for the admiration of divine goodness. Or certainly, the breast is eaten in a most clean place, which signifies the reality of the Lord's body, which we are fed here in a veil by the sacrament; the blessed enjoy it by manifest vision in heaven. Apocalypse 2: "To him that overcometh, I will give the hidden manna," as it is said below. Gloss: Myself, who am the living bread that came down from heaven, which manna, even if it now remains hidden, will then be manifest, having the delight of every savor. Hence it is said: "Let the sacraments which we have taken, O Lord, perfect in us what they contain, so that what we now carry by hope, we may grasp by reality," that is, we may see or enjoy the body of Christ by manifest vision. "He who loves me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him," and in that vision of the Lord there will be for us the full enjoyment of every good. Psalm: "Thou shalt fill me with joy with thy countenance, and I shall be satisfied when thy glory shall appear." Amen.

On the third cause of the institution, that it may be the food of man by reason of divine liberality. Theme above. Sermon V.

"Come, eat my bread and original: "causam tuam"," etc., as in the first sermon. "My flesh is meat indeed," John 6, that is, the flesh of God, the Word incarnate, is truly the food of man. The third cause of the institution of the sacrament of the Lord's body is as food for man, so that we may not only have in this the memory of the Savior and the sacrifice of the altar, of which it has been spoken above, but also that it avails for the food of man in its entirety, namely for soul and body. Regarding this, that the Lord gives His body as food to man, a triple reason of the wisdom of God can be assigned, namely: the magnitude of divine liberality, the corruption of human nature, and the condition of that same nature. Regarding the first reason, it can be said here, and of the others in the following, the first reason of the wisdom of God is that He gives His body to man as food