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9)  WHAT IS "THE REALITY" OF THE SACRAMENT OF THE HOLY EUCHARIST?

The Three Elements
92.  St. Thomas Aquinas teaches, "We can consider three things in this sacrament: namely, that which is sacrament only, and this is the bread and wine; that which is both reality and sacrament, to wit, Christ's true body; and lastly that which is reality only, namely, the effect of this sacrament."  (Summa Th., III, Q. 73, Art. 6).
93.  Now, what is "the effect of this sacrament," the reality of the Holy Eucharist?  "Now . . . the reality of the sacrament is the unity of the mystical body, without which there can be no salvation."  (Summa Th., III, Q. 73, Art. 3).

94.  The key idea in what is to follow is the unique relationship between the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist and the Mystical Body.  Let us reiterate this idea, using the words of Abbé Anger: "In the Eucharist the sign is the consecrated species; the 'reality and the sign' is the true Body of Christ; and the 'reality' is the Mystical Body or the grace uniting the soul with Christ and with the members of Christ."  (Anger-Burke, "The Doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ, According to the Principles of the Theology of St. Thomas," by Abbé Anger, and translated from the French by Rev. John J. Burke, C.S.P., S.T.D., p. 107).


Examples To Illustrate "The Reality" of The Eucharist
95.  We read in John (6,24): "Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you."  But, since we believe that infants who have been baptized and who die before receiving the Eucharist are saved, how do we explain Christ's words: "Except you eat . . . you shall not have life in you."?
96.  This is answered as follows.  By Baptism a person "is ordained to the Eucharist, and therefore from the fact of children being baptized, they are destined by the Church to the Eucharist; and just as they believe through the Church's faith, so they desire the Eucharist through the Church's intention, and, as a result, receive its reality."  (Summa Th., III, Q. 73, Art. 3, emphasis added).

97.  Therefore infants, though they do not receive the sacrament of the Eucharist, nevertheless receive the reality of the sacrament, namely, union with the Mystical Body.

98.  Similarly, one who with the right disposition, though he be unable to receive Holy Communion, makes a "spiritual communion," thereby receives the reality of the sacrament, but not the sacrament itself.