“The reality of the sacrament can be had through the very desire of receiving the sacrament. Before actual reception of this sacrament, a man can obtain salvation through the desire of receiving it, just as he can before Baptism through the desire of Baptism… Spiritual food changes man into itself, according to that saying of Augustine (Confess. vii), that he heard the voice of Christ as it were saying to him: ‘Nor shalt thou change Me into thyself, as food of thy flesh, but thou shalt be changed into Me.’ But one can be changed into Christ, and be incorporated in Him by mental desire, even without receiving this sacrament.” -St. Thomas Aquinas
