The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology - Saint Mary ...

fishes to His disciples for the multitude (Matt. xiv. 19; xv. 36). 6. He had
said, "Take, eat," and had assigned as the reason why this solemn
preparation had taken place, and this command was now given: "This is
My body." If "this" means "this bread," it means not that bread which was
before the six acts, but this bread, which is eaten after the six acts; and if it
be called the body of Christ now, it is not because it is a symbol of the
body, for this it was then, but because it is now what St. Paul expressly
calls it, "the communion," or medium of the communication of Christ's
body. Conceived in this way the word bread would mean the complex
result of the sacramental union, the sacramental bread in its supernatural
conjunction with the sacramental body. This bread, this complex, is not
symbol but reality. It is literally Christ's true body, as it is literally true
bread. As the words, "This man is God," applied to Christ, means, This
man is literally God personally, (in virtue of the personal union), yet is
literally man naturally, Christ is true man and true God; so the words, This
bread is Christ's body, mean, This bread is literally Christ's body
sacramentally, (in virtue of the sacramental union,) yet is literally bread
naturally. The Eucharist is true bread and true body. Before the miraculous
blessing of the five loaves and the fishes it was true, That food is not food
for thousands; after the blessing, it was true, This food is food for
thousands: before the blessing that bread was not the body of Christ; after
the blessing, This bread is His body.
The Ancient Church.
Hence the Ancient Church and the Lutheran Church, holding the
same faith, have not hesitated at all to use the expression, "This bread, or
the sacramental bread, is Christ's body," while both would repudiate as
error the idea that bread, as bread, can be called Christ's body. The fathers
are very explicit in affirming that it is not bread, as bread, of which they
affirm that it is Christ's body, but that bread whose character is
conditioned by the six sacramental acts of our Lord. Thus Jerome 386 : "The
bread which our Lord brake and gave to His disciples is His body."
Gaudentius 387 : "When our Lord reached the consecrated bread and wine
to His disciples,
386 Epist. ad Hedebiam.
387 In Exod. Tract 2.