The Thomistic Institute 3 - Transubstantiation Part 2 | Fr. Thomas Joseph White, OP
Apr 21, 2024
Fr. Thomas Joseph White, a Dominican priest, discusses transubstantiation, delving into philosophical terms like substance and accidents. He compares this transformation in the Eucharist to natural transmutation and creation, highlighting the uniqueness of this process.
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Substance Versus Accidents Explained
- Aquinas frames substance as the unified individual being and accidents as measurable properties like quantity, quality, relations, actions, passions, location, time, and position.
- He uses concrete examples (height, skills, gallbladder) to show how accidents differentiate individual humans from shared human nature.
Funny Illustration Of Being One Instantiation
- Fr. White jokes about thinking he's so perfect an instantiation of humanity that if he died humanity would disappear to illustrate individual instantiation of nature.
- The humorous self-deprecating line elicits laughter and clarifies Plato vs Aristotle on forms and individuals.
Accidents Remain While Substance Changes
- In the Eucharist the bread and wine's accidents remain while their substance becomes Christ's body and blood, so we perceive bread but should affirm the real presence.
- Fr. White stresses pointing to the host: sensibly bread properties persist though the underlying substance is Christ.