Tenets of the catholic idea -
The bread and wine of the communion, as well as other objects, have a) substance and b) accidence. The latter refers to the superficial physical characteristics of a thing, such as...it refers to the part of a thing which appeals to our five senses. The former refers to the "true" nature of a thing, which, in the case of the Eucharist, is real, honest-to-Bog Jesus incorporated into the bread. Substance.
Amazonian and African cannibals are more sane and level-headed than these catholics!
Actually accidents do not refer necessarily to what tickles the senses as much as that which can be predicated of a subject. They are the secondary categories (location, action, quantity, etc.). The primayr category is substance which is what can be predicated by the accidental categories, and not something that lays behind that which we see. In that formal sense, a same tree can have many accidents, all of which are subject to change in a temporal horizon. Yet it is still that same tree in as much as it maintains itself in being as a tree . The other categories really on that of substance. Substance then, is the to reality what nouns are to grammar.
ReplyDeleteThe official doctrine of the church is that the accidents of the bread remain whilst the substance becomes the body of Christ.
"This is my body" effectively operates this grammatically. Which is all we need considering it's a ritual based on a mythological text.