Many regard the stunning view of an Erie sunset as one of the best in the country.
However, sunsets are not exactly as they appear to our senses.
For instance, there is about a 2-minute delay for sunset, during which we see what appears to be the sun over the horizon, but the light is bending. This phenomenon is known as atmospheric refraction, which occurs when light bends as it enters the earth’s atmosphere due to tiny water droplets and particles that change the direction of sunlight.
An example of this phenomenon is when we are standing in water, and our legs appear shorter and bent. Our legs are not shorter and bent; it is just that the light is bending.
Aquinas has much to say about the challenges of the appearances of wine and bread in the Eucharist.
Aquinas has sympathy for the difficulty of the senses in seeing beyond the appearances of the Eucharist. Aquinas wrote, “(a) difficulty lies in the things which we perceive by our senses in this sacrament. For, clearly, in this sacrament, we sense, even after the consecration, all the (appearances) of bread and wine: color, taste, odor…”
Regarding the difficulty of the senses, Aquinas’ beautiful hymn Pange Lingua, often sung at benediction during adoration in the Tantum Ergo, provides advice worth knowing.
Aquinas wrote, “Faith will tell us Christ is present when our human senses fail.”
The reality of the Eucharist is that the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus. However, the appearance of bread and wine remains. Similar to the sunset, in which our senses fail to see beyond, our senses also fail in the Mass.
Aquinas’ advice is to lean on faith and trust in Jesus. In the Letter to the Hebrews, we are told that “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and the conviction of things not seen (Heb 11:1).” There are some things that we are simply not going to see with a 20/20 vision on our own.
“Faith will tell us Christ is present, when our human senses fail.”
+ Fr. Luke Daghir