Explication de ces paroles : Faites ceci en mémoire de moi
The Meaning of Remembrance
The command to 'do this in memory of me' does not exclude the real presence of Christ, but rather presupposes it.
After explaining the Church's teaching on the words, "This is my body," we must address what she holds regarding the words Jesus Christ added: "Do this in memory of me" (Luke 22.1 19.) . It's clear that the Son of God's intention is to bind us through these words to remember the death he endured for our salvation; and Saint Paul concludes from these same words that we proclaim the Lord's death (12 Cor. 11. 24.) 26.)✦ in this mystery.
Commemoration and Real Presence
The Eucharist is a powerful, tender remembrance because it involves the actual reception of Christ's flesh and blood.
We shouldn't convince ourselves that this remembrance of our Lord's death rules out the real presence of his body. On the contrary, if we consider what we've just explained, we'll see clearly that this commemoration is founded on the real presence. Just as the Jews, when they ate the peace offerings, remembered that those victims had been sacrificed for them, so when we eat the flesh of Jesus Christ our victim, we must remember that he died for us.3 It is therefore this same flesh, eaten by the faithful, that not only awakens in us the memory of his immolation, but also confirms for us the truth of it. Far from being able to say that this solemn commemoration, which Jesus Christ commands us to make, rules out the presence of his flesh, we see on the contrary that this tender remembrance of him as sacrificed for us—which he wants us to have at the holy Table—is founded on the fact that this same flesh must truly be received there. It's impossible for us to forget that it was for us that he gave his body in sacrifice, when we see that he still gives us this victim every day to eat. Should Christians, under the guise of celebrating the memory of our Savior's passion in the Lord's Supper, strip this devout commemoration of its most powerful and tender elements?✦4 Shouldn't they consider that Jesus Christ does not simply command that we remember him, but that we remember him by eating his flesh and his blood?✦ Let's pay careful attention to what follows and to the weight of5 his words.6 He does not simply say, as the gentlemen of the so-called Reformed religion seem to take it, that the bread and wine of the Eucharist are for us a memorial of his body and his blood; rather, he warns us that in doing what he prescribes for us—that is, in receiving his body and his blood—we are to remember him.✦7 Indeed, what is more powerful for making us remember him? And if children remember their father and his kindnesses so tenderly when they draw near the tomb where his body lies, how much more should our remembrance and our love be stirred when, under these sacred veils and this mystical tomb, we hold the very flesh of our Savior offered up for us—this living and life-giving flesh—and this blood still warm with his love, and full of spirit and of grace?✦ But if our adversaries keep telling us that the one who commands us to remember him does not give us his own substance, we will finally have to ask them to be consistent with themselves.✦
Faith and the Nature of Presence
The real presence is not a presence to the senses, but a truth known by faith that produces spiritual life.
They claim they don't deny the real communication of the Son of God's own substance in the Eucharist.8 If their words are serious, if their doctrine is not an illusion, they must necessarily say with us that remembrance does not exclude every kind of presence, but only the kind that strikes the senses.9 Their answer will be the same as ours, since by saying that Jesus Christ is present, we acknowledge at the same time that he isn't present in a way the senses can perceive. And if we are asked why, believing as we do that there is nothing for the senses in this holy mystery, we do not believe it is enough that Jesus Christ should be present there by faith, it is easy to answer and to clear up this ambiguity. It's one thing to say the Son of God is present to us by faith, and another to say we know by faith that he is present.10 The first way of speaking implies only a moral presence; the second signifies a very real one, because faith is entirely true; and this real presence, known by faith, is enough to produce in the just person, who lives by faith (Hab.✦11 n.✦ 4), all the effects I have noted.12
Read the original Latin
Après avoir proposé les sentiments de l'Église touchant ces paroles, Ceci est mon corps, il faut dire ce qu'elle pense de celles que Jésus-Christ y ajouta: Faites ceci en mémoire de moi (Luc. xxu. 19.) . Il est clair que l'intention du Fils de Dieu est de nous obliger par ces paroles à nous souvenir de la mort qu'y a endurée pour notre salut; et saint Paul conclut de Ces mêmes paroles, que nous annonçons la mort du Seigneur (I. Cor. xi. 24.
26.) dans ce mystère. Or il ne faut pas se persuader que ce souvenir de la mort de notre Seigneur exclue la présence réelle de son corps: au contraire, si on considère ce que nous venons d'expliquer, on entendra clairement que cette commémoration est fondée sur la présence réelle, Car de même que les Juifs, en mangeant les victimes pacifiques, se souvenaient qu'elles avaient été immolées pour eux; ainsi, en mangeant la chair de Jésus-Christ notre victime, nous devons nous souvenir qu'il est mort pour nous. C'est donc cette même chair mangée par les fidèles, qui non-seulement réveille en nous la mémoire de son immolation, mais encore qui nous en confirme la vérité. Et loin de pouvoir dire que cette commémoration solennelle, que Jésus-Christ nous ordonne de faire, exclue la présence de sa chair, on voit au contraire que ce tendre souvenir qu'il veut que nous ayons à la sainte Table de lui, comme immolé pour nous, est fondé sur ce que cette même chair y doit être prise réellement; puisqu'en effet il ne nous est pas possible d'oublier que c'est pour nous qu'il a donné son corps en sacrifice, quand nous voyons qu'il nous donne encore tous les jours cette victime à manger.
Faut-il que des chrétiens, sous prétexte de célébrer daus la Cène la mémoire de la passion de notre Sauveur, ôtent à cette pieuse commémoration ce qu'elle a de plus efficace et de plus tendre? Ne doivent-ils pas considérer que JésusChrist ne commande pas simplement qu'on se souvienne de lui, mais qu'on s'en souvienne en mangeant sa chair et son sang? Qu'on prenne garde à la suite, et à la force de. ses paroles. Il ne dit pas simplement, comme Messieurs de la religion prétendue réformée semblent l'entendre, que le pain et le vin de l'Eucharistie nous soient un mémorial de son corps et de son sang; mais il nous avertit qu'en faisant ce qu'il nous prescrit, c'est-à-dire, en prenant son corps et son sang, nous nous souvenions de lui. Qu'y a-t-il en effet de plus puissant pour nous en faire souvenir? Et si les enfants se souviennent si tendrement de leur père et de ses bontés, lorsqu'ils s'approchent du tombeau où son corps est enfermé, combien notre souvenir et notre amour doivent-ils être excités, lorsque nous tenons sous ces enveloppes sacrées, sous ce tombeau mystique, la propre chair de notre Sauveur immolé pour nous, cette chair vivante et vivifiante; et ce sang encore tout chaud par son amour, et tout plein d'esprit et de grâce? Que si nos adversaires continuent de nous dire, que celui qui nous commande de nous souvenir de lui ne nous donne pas sa propre substance, il faudra enfin les prier de s'accorder avec eux-mêmes.
Us protestent qu'ils ne nient pas dans l'Eucharistie la communication réelle de la propre substance du Fils de Dieu. Si leurs paroles sont sérieuses, si leur doctrine n'est pas une illusion, il faut nécessairement qu'ils disent avec nous, que le souvenir n'exclut pas toute sorte de présence, niais seulement celle qui frappe les sens. Leur réponse sera la nôtre, puisqu'en disant que Jésus-Christ est présent, nous reconnaissons en même temps qu'il ne l'est pas d'une manière sensible.
Et si l'on nous demande, d'où vient que croyant, comme nous faisons, qu'il n'y a rien pour les sens dans ce saint mystère, nous ne croyons pas qu'il suffise que Jésus-Christ y soit présent par la foi, il est aisé de répondre et de démêler cette équivoque. Autre chose est de dire que le Fils de Dieu nous soit présent par la foi; et autre chose de dire que nous sachions par la foi qu'il est présent. La première façon de parler n'emporte qu'une présence morale; la seconde nous en signifie une très-réelle, parce que la foi est très-véritable; et cette présence réelle, connue par la foi, suffit pour opérer dans le juste, qui vit de foi (Habac. n. 4.) , tous les effets que j'ai- remarqués.
Scripture echoes
- ↩1Cor.11.26 — For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
- ↩Luke.22.19;1Cor.11.24-1Cor.11.26 — And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' 1Cor.11.24 — and having given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' 1Cor.11.25 — In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." 1Cor.11.26 — For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
- ↩John.6.53-John.6.56;1Cor.11.24-1Cor.11.25 — So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves." John.6.54 — The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. John.6.55 — For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. John.6.56 — The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 1Cor.11.24 — and having given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' 1Cor.11.25 — In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."
- ↩Luke.22.19-Luke.22.20;1Cor.11.24-1Cor.11.25 — And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' Luke.22.20 — In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you." 1Cor.11.24 — and having given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' 1Cor.11.25 — In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."
- ↩John.6.51-John.6.58 — I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. John.6.52 — The Jews therefore argued among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" John.6.53 — So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves." John.6.54 — The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. John.6.55 — For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. John.6.56 — The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. John.6.57 — Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will live because of me. John.6.58 — This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as the fathers ate and died; the one who eats this bread will live forever.
- ↩Luke.22.19;1Cor.11.24-1Cor.11.25 — And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' 1Cor.11.24 — and having given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' 1Cor.11.25 — In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."
- ↩Hab.2.4 — Behold, his soul is puffed up—it is not upright within him; but the righteous one shall live by his faithfulness.
- ↩Hab.2.4 — Behold, his soul is puffed up—it is not upright within him; but the righteous one shall live by his faithfulness.
Notes
- 1 ↩Source reads 'xxu.', almost certainly a corruption of Roman 'xxii.' (22), completing the Lucan citation for 'Do this in memory of me'.
- 2 ↩Source has 'la mort qu'y a endurée'; read as 'la mort qu'il a endurée' ('the death he endured'), the only grammatically and contextually coherent sense.
- 3 ↩victimes pacifiques rendered as “peace offerings,” the standard English for the Levitical peace/communion sacrifices (victimae pacificae).
- 4 ↩Source reading "daus" is treated as a typo for "dans" ("in").
- 5 ↩Sentence is incomplete in the source segmentation; it continues in s4 with "ses paroles."
- 6 ↩Completes s3: "Qu'on prenne garde à la suite, et à la force de ses paroles."
- 7 ↩"religion prétendue réformée" is the period Catholic polemic label for Protestantism; rendered as "so-called Reformed religion" to keep the speaker's stance without archaic stiffness.
- 8 ↩Source opens with 'Us protestent'; context and French orthography make 'Ils protestent' ('They protest') the only plausible reading, treated as OCR corruption.
- 9 ↩Source has 'niais' before 'seulement'; sense and parallel construction require 'mais' ('but'), treated as OCR corruption (n/m).
- 10 ↩The contrast is between presence constituted by faith alone (présent par la foi) and real presence known through faith (sachions par la foi qu'il est présent).
- 11 ↩présence morale is kept as "moral presence," the technical opposite of real (substantial) presence in this controversy.
- 12 ↩Source has 'j'ai- remarqués' with a hyphenated split; rendered as ordinary 'I have noted.'
Exposition de la doctrine de l'Église catholique sur les matières de controverse companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit