indulges no curious enquiry.—You believe that Christ, the Son of God, for you was born in the flesh. Then why do you search into what is inscrutable? Doing this you prove your curiosity, not your faith. Believe then, and with a firm faith receive the body and blood of our Lord.—Abraham placed earthly food before the celestial spirits,(Gen.xviii.) of which they ate. This was wonderful. But what Christ has done for us greatly exceeds this, and transcends all speech, and all conception. To us, that are in the flesh, he has given to eat his body and blood. Myself incapable of comprehending the mysteries of God, I dare not proceed; and should I attempt it, I should only shew my own rashness.” De Nat. Dei, minime scrutanda. T. iii. p. 423-4.
St. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM, G.C.[1] -In his instructions addressed to those who had been newly baptized, he says : “ The bread and wine, which, before the invocation of the adorable Trinity, were nothing but bread and wine, become, after this invocation, the body and blood of Christ." Catech. Mystag. 1. n. vii. p. 308. -“The Eucharistic bread, after the invocation of the Holy Spirit, is no longer common bread, but the body of Christ.” Ibid. Catech. 111. n.iii. p.316.— The doctrine of the blessed Paul alone is sufficient to give certain proofs of the truth of the divine mysteries; and you being deemed worthy of them, are become one body and one blood with Christ. For this great Apostle says : That our Lord, in the same night wherein he was
- ↑ Of his twenty-three Catechetical Discourses, eighteen were addressed to the uninitiated, or catechumens, and five to the initiated, or newly baptized. I here quote from the latter.
