Cornerstone Curriculum, Official Certification Edition - Mentor's Guide

1 4 4 / C O R N E R S T O N E C U R R I C U L U M M E N T O R ’ S G U I D E

It has been held that the substance of bread and wine remain in this sacrament after consecration. But this position cannot be maintained, for in the first place it destroys the reality of this sacrament, which demands that in the sacrament there should be the true body of Christ, which was not there before consecration. . . .And this is done in the sacrament by the power of God, for the whole substance of bread is converted into the whole substance of Christ’s body. Hence the conversion is properly called transubstantiation. It is obvious to our sense that after consecration all the accidents of bread and wine remain. And, by divine providence, there is good reason for this. First, because it is not normal for people to eat human flesh and to drink human blood, in fact, they are revolted by this idea. Therefore Christ’s flesh and blood are set before us to be taken under the appearances of those things which are of frequent use, namely bread and wine. Secondly, if we ate our Lord under his proper appearance, this sacrament would be ridiculed by unbelievers. Thirdly, in order that, while we take the Lord’s body and blood invisibly, this fact may avail toward the merit of Faith. What is true concerning Christ is also true concerning the sacrament. In order for the divinity to dwell in a human body, it is not necessary for the human nature to be transubstantiated and the divinity contained under the accidents of the human nature. Both natures are simply there in their entirety and it is true to say: ‘This man is God; this God is man. . . .’ In the same way it is not necessary in the sacrament that the bread and wine be transubstantiated and that Christ be contained under their accidents in order that a real body and real blood may be present. But both remain there at the same time, and it is truly said, ‘This bread is my body; this wine is my blood,’ and vice versa. ~ Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologiae (1265).

& 17 page 279 Outline Point IV-E-1

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C h r i s t i a n M i n i s t r y

& 18 page 280 Outline Point IV-E-2

~ Martin Luther. The Babylonian Captivity of the Church (1520).