Thursday, June 23, 2011

St. Thomas Aquinas on those "who never take the sacrament, and yet receive its effect on account of the devotion they have to [it], which [sacrament] they have in wish or desire."

"Fault in the recipient can be an obstacle to the effect of the sacrament, for instance, if he receives the sacrament for outward show without his heart being prepared:  he receives the sacrament, but not its effect, that is, the grace of the Holy Spirit, for 'the Holy Spirit of instruction shuns all pretense' (Wis 1:5).  Conversely, there are others who never take the sacrament and yet receive its effect from their devotion or desire."

Or, more literally, "on account of the devotion that they have to the sacrament, which [sacrament] they have in wish or desire [(propter devotionem quam habent ad sacramentum, quod habent in voto, sive desiderio)]":

"Impeditur etiam effectus sacramenti per culpam recipientis, puta, si fictus accedat, et non corde parato ad suscipiendum sacramentum. Talis enim licet sacramentum suscipiat, effectum tamen sacramenti, idest gratiam spiritus sancti, non recipit, quia, ut dicitur Sap. I, 5: spiritus sanctus disciplinae effugiet fictum. E contrario autem sunt alii qui nunquam recipiunt sacramentum, qui tamen effectum sacramenti suscipiunt propter devotionem quam habent ad sacramentum, quod habent in voto, sive desiderio."

Saint Thomas Aquinas, De articulis fidei 2, as trans. in Saint Thomas Aquinas:  theological texts, ed. Thomas Gilby (Oxford:  Oxford University Press, 1982), 351, via Adoration: eucharistic texts and prayers throughout church history, ed. Daniel P. Guernsey (San Francisco, CA:  Ignatius Press, 1999), 64.  The Latin is from vol. 1 of the Opuscula theologica ed. Verardo & Spiazzi (Turin:  Marietti, 1954) by way of Corpus Thomisticum.

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