The Last Supper - Institution of the Holy Eucharist

LISTEN  Volume III Book II Chapter XI  - CHRIST OUR SAVIOR CELEBRATES THE SACRAMENTAL SUPPER, INSTITUTION OF THE HOLY SACRAMENTS, 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

 Christ had partaken of the prescribed supper with His disciples reclining on the floor around a table, which was elevated from it little more than the distance of six or seven fingers; for such was the custom of the Jews. But after the washing of the feet He ordered another, higher table to be prepared, such as we now use for our meals. By this arrangement He wished to put an end to the legal suppers and to the lower and figurative law and establish the new Supper of the law of grace. 

From that time on He wished the sacred mysteries to be performed on the tables or altars, which are in use in the Catholic Church. The table was covered with a very rich cloth and upon it was placed a plate or salver and a large cup in the form of a chalice, capacious enough to hold the wine. All this was done in pursuance of the will of Christ our Savior, who by His divine power and wisdom directed all these particulars. 

The master of the house was inspired to offer these rich vessels, which were made of what seemed a precious stone like emerald. The Apostles often used it afterwards in consecrating, whenever the occasion permitted it. The Lord seated Himself at this table with the Apostles and some of the other disciples, and then ordered some unleavened bread to be placed on the table and some wine to be brought, of which He took sufficient to prepare the chalice. 

Then the Master of life spoke words of most endearing love to His Apostles, and, though His sayings were wont to penetrate to the inmost heart at all times, yet on this occasion they were like the flames of a great fire of charity, which consumed the souls of His hearers. 

He manifested to them anew the most exalted mysteries of His Divinity, humanity and of the works of the Redemption. He enjoined upon them peace and charity, of which He was now to leave a pledge in the mysteries about to be celebrated. He reminded them, that in loving one another, they would be loved by the Eternal Father with the same love in which He was beloved. He gave them an understanding of the fulfillment of this promise in having chosen them to found the new Church and the law of grace. He renewed in them the light concerning the supreme dignity, excellence and prerogatives of His most pure Virgin Mother. 

Among all the Apostles, saint John was most deeply enlightened in these mysteries on account of the office imposed upon him. The great Lady, from her retreat, beheld in divine contemplation all these doings of her Son in the Cenacle; and in her profound intelligence She entered more deeply into their meaning than the Apostles and the angels, who also were present in bodily forms, adoring their true Lord, Creator and King. 

By the hands of these angels Enoch and Elias were brought to the Cenacle from their place of abode; for the Lord wished that these Fathers of the natural and of the written Laws should be present at the establishment of the law of the Gospel, and that they should participate in its mysteries. 

All these being present, awaiting full of wonder what the Author of life intended to do, there appeared also in the hall the person of the Eternal Father and of the Holy Ghost as they had appeared at the baptism of Christ at the Jordan and at the Transfiguration on mount Tabor. 

Although all the Apostles and disciples felt this Divine presence, yet only some of them really were favored with a vision of it; among these was especially Saint John the evangelist, who was always gifted with eagle sight into the Divine mysteries.

The entire heaven was transplanted to the Cenacle of Jerusalem; for of such great importance was the magnificence of this work, by which the new Church was founded, the law of grace established and eternal salvation made secure.

For a better understanding of the doings of the Incarnate Word, I must remind the reader, that He possessed two natures in one Person, the Divine and the human nature united in one Divine Person of the Word; hence the proper activities of both natures are rightly attributed to one and the same Person, just as the same Person is called both God and man. Consequently, when I say that the Incarnate Work spoke and prayed to the Eternal Father, it must not be interpreted as meaning, that He prayed or spoke in as far as He was Divine, since in Divinity He was equal to the Father; but in as far as He was human, inferior and composed of body and soul as we ourselves are. In this sense therefore Christ confessed and extolled the immensity and infinitude of the Eternal Father, praying for the whole human race. 

"My Father and Eternal God, I confess, praise and exalt thy infinite essence and incomprehensible Deity, in which I am one with Thee and the Holy Ghost, engendered from all eternity by Thy intellect, as the figure of Thy substance and the image of Thy individual nature (John 10, 30; Ps. 119, 3; Heb. 1, 3). In the same nature, which I have assumed in the virginal womb of my Mother, I wish to accomplish the Redemption of the human race with which Thou hast charged Me. I wish to restore to this human nature the highest perfection and the plenitude of Thy Divine complaisance; and then I wish to pass from this world to Thy right hand, bearing with Me all those whom Thou hast given Me without losing a single one of them for want of willingness on our part to help them (John 17, 12). My delight is to be with the children of men(Prov. 8, 31) and as, in My absence, they will be left orphans, if I do not give them assistance, I wish, My Father, to furnish them with a sure and unfailing token of My inextinguishable love and a pledge of the eternal rewards, which Thou holds in reserve for them. I desire that they find in My merits an easy and powerful remedy for the effects of sin, to which they are subject on account of the disobedience of the first man, and I wish to restore copiously their right to the eternal happiness for which they are created."

"But since there will be few who will preserve themselves in this justice, they will need other assistance, so that they may reinstate themselves and strengthen themselves in the way of justification and sanctification by being continually furnished with new and exalted gifts and favors of Thy clemency in their dangerous pilgrimage through life. It was our eternal decree, that they should have created existence and participate in Our Divine perfections and happiness for all eternity; and Thy love, which caused Me to assume a nature able to suffer and welcome the humiliation of the cross (Philip 2, 8), would not rest satisfied, until it invented new means of communicating Itself to men according to their capacity and our wisdom and power. These means shall consist in visible and sensible signs adapted to their condition as sentient beings and causing invisible effects in the spiritual and immaterial part of their natures." 

"To advance these high ends for Thy exaltation and glory, Eternal Lord and Father, in My name and in that of all the poor and afflicted children of Adam, I ask the fiat of Thy eternal will. If their sins call out for Thy justice, their neediness and misery appeal to Thy infinite mercy. At the same time I, on My part, interpose all the works of My humanity, which is indissolubly bound to My Divinity. I offer My obedience in accepting suffering unto death; My humility, in subjecting Myself to the depraved judgment of men; the poverty and labors of My life, the insults of My Passion and Death, and the love, which urges Me to undergo all this for the advance of Thy glory and for the spreading of Thy knowledge and adoration among all creatures capable of Thy grace and happiness. Thou, O Eternal Lord and My Father, hast made Me the Brother and the Chief of men, and hast destined them to partake eternally of the joys of Our Divinity (Colos. 1, 18)." 

"As Thy children, they are to be heirs with Me of Thy everlasting blessings (Rom. 8, 17), and as members of My body, they are to participate in the effects of My brotherly love (I Cor. 6,15). Therefore, as far as depends upon Me, I desire to draw them on toward My friendship and to see them share in the goods of the Divinity, to which they were destined in their origin from their natural head, the first man."

"Impelled by this boundless love, Lord and Father, I ordain, that from now on men may re-enter into Your full friendship and grace through the Sacrament of Baptism, and that they may do so as soon as they shall be born to daylight; and their desire of renascence into grace, which they cannot in their infancy manifest on their own account, shall, with Your permission, be manifested for them by their elders." 

"Let them become immediate heirs of Your glory; let them be interiorly and indelibly marked as children of My Church; let them be freed from the stain of original sin; let them receive the gifts of faith, hope and charity, by which they may perform the works of Your children: knowing You, trusting in You, and loving You for Your own self. Let them also receive the virtues by which they restrain and govern disorderly inclinations and be able to distinguish, without fail, the good from the evil. Let this Sacrament be the portal of My Church, and the one which makes men capable of receiving all the other favors and disposes them to new gifts and blessings of grace." 

"I ordain also, that besides this Sacrament, they may receive another, in which they shall be confirmed and rooted in the holy faith they have accepted, and become courageous in its defense as soon as they shall arrive at the use of reason. 

And because human frailty easily falls away from the observance of My law and since My charity will not permit Me to leave them without an easy and opportune remedy, I wish to provide the Sacrament of Penance. Through it men, by acknowledging their faults and confessing them with sorrow, may be reinstated in justice and in the merits of glory promised to them. Thus shall Lucifer and his followers be prevented from boasting of having so soon deprived them of advantages of Baptism."

"By the justification of these Sacraments men shall become fit to share in the highest token of My love in the exile of this their mortal life; namely, to receive Me sacramentally under the species of bread and wine in an extra ordinary spiritual manner. Under the species of bread, I shall leave My Body, and under the species of wine, My Blood. In each one of them I shall be present really and truly; and I institute this mysterious sacrament of the Eucharist as a heavenly nourishment proportioned to their condition as wayfaring men; for their sake shall I work these miracles and remain with them until the end of the coming ages."

"For the strengthening and defense of those, who approach the end of their lives, I moreover appoint the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, which shall at the same time be a certain pledge of the bodily resurrection of those thus anointed. In order that all may contribute proportionately to the sanctification of the members of the mystical body of the Church, in which by the most harmonious and orderly co-operation all must have their proper position; 

I institute the Sacrament of Ordination to distinguish and mark some of its members by a special degree of holiness and place them above the other faithful as fit ministers of the Sacraments and as my chosen priests. Although they derive all their powers from Me, I nevertheless wish that it should flow from Me through one of their number, who shall be My vicar and the Chief, representing My Person and act as My high priest."

"Into his keeping I deposit the keys of heaven and him all upon earth shall obey. For the further perfection of My Church, I also establish the last of the Sacraments, Matrimony, to sanctify the natural union of man and wife for the propagation of the human race. Thus shall all the grades of My Church be enriched and adorned by My infinite merits. This, eternal Father, is My last will, whereby I make all the mortals inheritors of My merits in the great storehouse of grace, My new Church."

Still greater was my admiration when Jesus our God, having raised the most holy Sacrament, as I said before, for their adoration, divided it by His own sacred hands, first partook of it Himself as being the First and Chief of all the priests. 

Recognizing Himself, as man, inferior to the Divinity, which He was now to receive in this His own consecrated body and blood. He humiliated and, as it were, with a trembling of the inferior part of His being, shrank within Himself before that Divinity, thereby not only teaching us the reverence with which holy Communion is to be received; but also showing us what was His sorrow at the temerity and presumption of many men during the reception and handling of this exalted and sublime Sacrament. 

The effects of holy Communion in the body of Christ were altogether miraculous and divine; for during a short space of time the gifts of glory flowed over in His body just as on mount Tabor, though the effects of this transfiguration were manifest only to His blessed Mother, and partly also to saint John, Enoch and Elias. 

This was the last consolation He permitted His humanity to enjoy as to its inferior part during His earthly life, and from that moment until his Death He rejected all such alleviation. 

The Virgin Mother, by a special vision, also understood how Christ her divine Son received Himself in the blessed Sacrament and what was the manner of its presence in his Divine Heart. All this caused inestimable affection in our Queen and Lady. 

While receiving His own body and blood Christ our Lord composed a canticle of praise to the eternal Father and offered Himself in the blessed Sacrament as a sacrifice for the salvation of man. 

He took another particle of the consecrated bread and handed it to the archangel Gabriel who brought and communicated it to the most holy Mary.  By having such a privilege conferred on one of their number, the holy angels considered themselves sufficiently recompensed for being excluded from the sacerdotal dignity and for yielding it to man. The privilege of merely having even one of their number hold the sacramental body of their Lord and true God filled them with a new and immense joy. 

In abundant tears of consolation the great Queen awaited holy Communion. When saint Gabriel with innumerable other angels approached, She received It, the first after her Son, imitating His self-abasement, reverence and holy fear. 

The most blessed Sacrament was deposited in the breast and above the heart of the most holy Virgin Mother, as in the most legitimate shrine and tabernacle of the Most High.  There the ineffable sacrament of the holy Eucharist remained deposited from that hour until after the Resurrection, when saint Peter said the first Mass and consecrated anew, as I shall relate in its place. 

The Almighty wished to have it so for the consolation of the great Queen and in order to fulfill His promise, that He would remain with the children of men until the consummation of the ages (Matth. 28, 20); for after His death his most holy humanity could not remain in His Church any other way than by His consecrated body and blood. 

This true manna was then deposited in the most pure Mary as in the living ark together with the whole evangelical law, just as formerly its prophetic figures were deposited in the ark of Moses (Heb. 9, 4).  The sacramental species were not consumed or altered in the heart of the Lady and Queen of heaven until the next consecration. 

Having received holy Communion, the blessed Mother gave thanks to the eternal Father and to her Divine Son in new canticles similar to the ones the incarnate Word had rendered to His Father. 

After having thus favored the heavenly Princess, our Savior distributed the sacramental bread to the Apostles (Luke 22, 17), commanding them to divide it among themselves and partake of it. By this commandment He conferred upon them the sacerdotal dignity and they began to exercise it by giving Communion each to Himself. 

This they did with the greatest reverence, shedding copious tears and adoring the body and blood of our Lord, whom they were receiving. They were established in the power of the priesthood, as being founders of the holy Church and enjoying the distinction of priority over all others (Ephes. 2, 20). 

Then saint Peter, at the command of Christ the Lord, administered two of the particles of holy Communion to the two patriarchs, Enoch and Elias. This holy Communion so rejoiced these two holy men, that they were encouraged anew in their hope of the beatific vision, which for them was to be deferred for so many ages, and they were strengthened to live on in this hope until the end of the world. 

Having given most fervent and humble thanks to the Almighty for this blessing, they were brought back to their abiding place by the hands of the holy angels. 

The Lord desired to work this miracle in order to pledge Himself to include the ancient natural and written laws in the benefits of the Incarnation, Redemption and general resurrection; since all these mysteries were contained in the most Holy Eucharist. 

By thus communicating Himself to the two holy men, Enoch and Elias, who were still in their mortal flesh, these blessings were extended over the human race such as it existed under the natural and the written laws, while all the succeeding generations were to be included in the new law of grace, the Apostles at the head. This was all well understood by Enoch and Elias, and, returning to the midst of their contemporaries, they gave thanks to their and our Redeemer for this mysterious blessing.

Read: Volume III Book II Chapter XI