Missionaries of the Blessed Sacrament

"The Sacrament of the Body of the Lord puts the demons to flight, defends us against the incentives to vice and to concupiscence, cleanses the soul from sin, quiets the anger of God, enlightens the understanding to know God, inflames the will and the affections with the love of God, fills the memory with spiritual sweetness, confirms the entire man in good, frees us from eternal death, multiplies the merits of a good life, leads us to our everlasting home, and re-animates the body to eternal life,"

- St. Thomas Aquinas

"[It is appropriate that the Body and Blood of Christ be truly present in this Sacrament] because of the perfection of the New Covenant. The sacrifices of the Old Covenant contained the true sacrifice of Christ's Passion only in symbol.

...Therefore it was necessary that the sacrifice of the New Covenant, instituted by Christ, have something more, namely, that it contain Christ Himself who has suffered and contain Him not only in symbol but in reality."

- St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

"The Eucharist is the Sacrament of Love; It signifies Love, it produces Love,"

- St. Thomas Aquinas

"The Eucharist is the consummation of the whole spiritual life,"

- St. Thomas Aquinas

"The Bread of angels has
become the Bread of mankind;
This heavenly Bread puts an
end to all images;
O wonderful reality!
The poor, the slave, and the
humble can eat the Lord."
- St. Thomas Aquinas, Panis Angelicus

"Here 'neath veils, my Saviour darkly I behold;
To my thirsting spirit all thy light unfold;
Face to face in heaven let me come to thee,
And the blessed vision of thy glory see."
- "Adoro Te Devote", St. Thomas Aquinas

"Jesus Lord, kind Pelican,
Cleanse my filth with Thy blood,
One drop of which can save
The whole world from all its sin,"
- St. Thomas Aquinas

"Godhead here in hiding, whom I adore
Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more,
See, Lord, at thy service low lies here a heart
Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art,"

- from Adoro te devote, by St. Thomas Aquinas; tr. Gerard Manley Hopkins

"Being born he have himself as our Companion,
Eating with us he gave himself as Food,
Dying He became our Ransom,
Reigning he gives himself as our Reward"

- St. Thomas Aquinas, Verbum Supernum

"O how unspeakable is this Sacrament which sets our affections ablaze
with charity. ... It is the fulfillment of Christ's Mystical Body." (St.Thomas Aquinas)

Thus Angels' Bread is made
the Bread of man today:
the Living Bread from heaven
with figures dost away:
O wondrous gift indeed!
the poor and lowly may
upon their Lord and Master feed.

Thee, therefore, we implore,
O Godhead, One in Three,
so may Thou visit us
as we now worship Thee;
and lead us on Thy way,
That we at last may see
the light wherein Thou dwellest aye.

(Panis Angelicus, St. Thomas Aquinas)

"Almighty and Eternal God, behold I come to the Sacrament of Your
only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. As one sick, I come to the Physician of
life; unclean, to the Fountain of mercy; blind, to the Light of eternal
splendor; poor and needy, to the Lord of heaven and earth. Therefore, I beg of
You, through Your infinite mercy and generosity, heal my weakness, wash my
uncleanness, give light to my blindness, enrich my poverty, and clothe
my nakedness. May I thus receive the Bread of Angels, the King of Kings,
the Lord of Lords, with such reverence and humility, contrition and
devotion, purity and faith, purpose and intention, as shall aid my soul's
salvation ..." (St. Thomas Aquinas).