m: "Will ye also go
away? And Simon Peter answered Him: Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of eternal life."(372) You, my dear reader, must also take your
choice. Will you reply with the Jews, or with the disciples of little
faith, or with Peter? Ah! let some say with the unbelieving Jews: "How can
this man give us His flesh to eat?" Let others say with the unfaithful
disciples: "This is a hard saying. Who can hear it?" But do you say with
Peter: "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life."

So far I have dwelt on the words of the Promise. I shall now proceed to
the words of the Institution, which are given in almost the same
expressions by St. Matthew, St. Mark and St. Luke. In the Gospel according
to St. Matthew we read the following narrative: "And while they were at
supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed and broke and gave to His disciples
and said: Take ye and eat. This is My body. And taking the chalice, He
gave thanks and gave to them, saying: Drink ye all of this; for this is My
blood of the New Testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of
sins."(373)

I beg you to recall to mind the former text relative to the Promise and to
compare it with this. How admirably they fit together, like two links in a
chain! How faithfully has Jesus fulfilled the Promise which He made! Could
any idea be expressed in clearer terms than these: This is My body; this
is My blood?

Why is the Catholic interpretation of these words rejected by Protestants?
Is it because the text is in itself obscure and ambiguous? By no means;
but simply because they do not comprehend how God could perform so
stupendous a miracle as to give His body and blood for our spiritual
nourishment.

Is, then, the power or the mercy of God to be measured by the narrow rule
of the human understanding? Is the Almighty not permitted to do anything
except what we can sanction by our reason? Is a thing to be declared
impossible because we cannot see its possibility?

Has not God created the heavens and the earth _out of nothing_ by the fiat
of His word? What a mystery is this! Does He not hold this world in the
midst of space? Does He not transform the tiny blade into nutritious
grain? Did He not feed upwards of five thousand persons with five loaves
and two fishes? What a mystery! Did He not rain down manna from heaven for
forty years to feed the children of Israel in the desert? Did He not
change rivers into blood in