Eucharist Is Necessary for Salvation?

Objection 1: It seems that this sacrament is necessary for salvation.
For our Lord said (John 6:54): "Except you eat the flesh of the Son
of Man, and drink His blood, you shall not have life in you." But
Christ's flesh is eaten and His blood drunk in this sacrament.
Therefore, without this sacrament man cannot have the health of
spiritual life.

Obj. 2: Further, this sacrament is a kind of spiritual food. But
bodily food is requisite for bodily health. Therefore, also is this
sacrament, for spiritual health.

Obj. 3: Further, as Baptism is the sacrament of our Lord's Passion,
without which there is no salvation, so also is the Eucharist. For
the Apostle says (1 Cor. 11:26): "For as often as you shall eat this
bread, and drink the chalice, you shall show the death of the Lord,
until He come." Consequently, as Baptism is necessary for salvation,
so also is this sacrament.

_On the contrary,_ Augustine writes (Ad Bonifac. contra Pelag. I):
"Nor are you to suppose that children cannot possess life, who are
deprived of the body and blood of Christ."

_I answer that,_ Two things have to be considered in this sacrament,
namely, the sacrament itself, and what is contained in it. Now it was
stated above (A. 1, Obj. 2) that the reality of the sacrament is the
unity of the mystical body, without which there can be no salvation;
for there is no entering into salvation outside the Church, just as
in the time of the deluge there was none outside the Ark, which
denotes the Church, according to 1 Pet. 3:20, 21. And it has been
said above (Q. 68, A. 2), that before receiving a sacrament, the
reality of the sacrament can be had through the very desire of
receiving the sacrament. Accordingly, 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, as
stated above (Q. 68, A. 2). Yet there is a difference in two
respects. First of all, because Baptism is the beginning of the
spiritual life, and the door of the sacraments; whereas the Eucharist
is, as it were, the consummation of the spiritual life, and the end
of all the sacraments, as was observed above (Q. 63, A. 6): for by
the hallowings of all the sacraments preparation is made for
receiving or consecrating the Eucharist. Consequently, the reception
of Baptism is necessary for starting the spiritual life, while the
receiving of the