Aquinas, Grapes, Wine, and Unity
Erie and the Eucharist
Lake Erie Wine Country spans 50 shoreline miles with over 30,000 vineyard acres. This abundance of vineyards creates the largest grape-growing region found east of the Rocky Mountains. The 50-mile stretch is from Silver Creek, NY, to Harborcreek, PA.
The smell of grapes in North East and Harborcreek in autumn is amazing. The view from the vineyard vistas is also breathtaking. Aquinas thought that the beauty of grapes and wine had a meaning worth considering.
For instance, Aquinas saw the bread and wine utilized in the Eucharist as signifying spiritual eating. Water is used in Baptism to signify spiritual cleansing and rebirth.
It is estimated that 600-800 grapes are needed to make a bottle of wine. Think of the countless bottles of wine found at the many wineries in the Erie area, and try to visualize the thousands upon thousands of grapes needed to make all that wine.
Aquinas thought this multitude of grapes coming together to form a bottle of wine signified how many believers form one Church. The same can be applied to bread, for it takes a multitude of grains. For Aquinas, grapes and grain help to signify the coming together into a unity which St. Paul had written of: “We, though many, are one body (1 Cor. 10:17).”
Lake Erie provides an astounding environment for growing grapes. In the spring, the cold lake holds off the grapevines from budding too early with the likelihood of frosts. In the fall, the warm lake lengthens the growing season. The lake water has a positive impact on the production of wine. For Aquinas, the addition of water with the wine to be consecrated at the altar is significant because, at Jesus's crucifixion, both water and blood poured forth from His side (John 19:34).
For Aquinas, these multi-meanings signified in grapes, wine, grain, and water help us spiritually enter deeper into the mystery of the Eucharist. May the thought of Aquinas help us see what is signified in the appearances of bread and wine so that we can enter deeper into the reality of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, which brings us into greater unity.
Fr. Luke Daghir
