And he said unto them,
This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many.
Read Chapter 14
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
Jesus himself speaks of his blood. Before the consecration it is mentioned as something else; after the consecration it is called blood. And you say “Amen,” that is, “It is true.” Let the mind within confess what the mouth speaks. Let the heart feel what the words utter.
He blessed wine, saying: “Take, drink, this is my blood.” He used the “blood of the vine” as a figure of the Word who “was shed for us for the remission of sins,” a stream of gladness.
Which shall be shed. With words so explicit, with the unanimous agreement of the Eastern and Western Churches, how can any Dissenters bring themselves to believe that there is nothing more designed, or given, than a memorial of Christ's passion and death? Catholics, who believe in the real presence, do certainly renew in themselves the remembrance of our Saviour's death and passion, with more lively sentiments of devotion than they who believe it to be mere bread and wine. The outward forms of bread and wine, which remain in the Eucharist, are chiefly designed to signify or represent to us three things; viz. 1. The passion of Christ, of which they are the remembrance; 2. the body and blood of Christ, really, though sacramentally present, of which they are the veil; and 3. everlasting life, of which they are the pledge.
N. B. In speaking of the real presence in the Eucharist, Catholics hold that Christ is corporally and substantially present, but not carnally; i.e. not in that gross, n...
