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128 CITY OF GOD
to describe in words the effects of this participation of
the holy Eucharist in this most exalted of creatures. She
was entirely transformed and elevated, completely ab
sorbed in this divine conflagration of the love of her most
holy Son, whom She had now received bodily. She re
mained in a trance, elevated from the floor ;
but the holy
angels shielded Her somewhat from view according to
her own wish, in order that the attention of those pres
ent might not be unduly attracted by the divine effects
apparent in Her. The disciples continued to distribute
holy Communion, first to the disciples and then to the
others who had been believers before the Ascension.
But of the five thousand newly baptized only one thou
sand received Communion on that day; because not all
were entirely prepared or furnished with the insight and
attention required for receiving the Lord in this great
sacrament and mystery of the Altar. With regard to the
manner of Communion in that day, the Apostles ob
served the distinction of giving to the most holy Mother
and the one hundred and twenty, upon whom the Holy
Ghost had come, both species, of bread and of wine; but
the recently baptized partook only of the species of
bread. But this difference was not made because the
new faithful were less worthy of the one species than of
the other; but because the Apostles knew, that in either
one of the species they received the same Object in its en
tirety, namely the sacramental God and that there was
;
no precept, and likewise no necessity that each one re
ceive both species. They considered, that there would
be great danger of irreverence and other very grave in
conveniences to permit the multitude to partake of the
species of the blood, while this was not to be feared in
the Communion of the few, who then partook of them at
that time. I have been made to understand, that, for all
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