Martin Luther, quoted from Bible Studies on Mercy – The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod:
There your heart must go out in love and devotion and learn that this sacrament is a sacrament of love, and that love and service are given you and you again must render love and service to Christ and His needy ones. You must feel with sorrow all the dishonor done to Christ in His holy Word, all the misery of Christendom, all the unjust suffering of the innocent, with which the world is everywhere filled to overflowing: You must fight, work, pray and, if you cannot do more, have heartfelt sympathy. That is bearing in your turn the misfortune and adversity of Christ and His saints. . . .
He said “This is my body …” As though he said: I am the head, I will first give myself for you, will make your suffering and misfortune Mine own and bear it for you, that you in your turn may do the same for Me and for one another, have all things in common in Me and with Me and let this sacrament be unto you a sure token of this all, that you may not forget Me, but daily call to mind and admonish one another by what I have done for you and still am doing, that you may be strengthened thereby and also bear with one another.
Martin Luther, “The Blessed Sacrament of the Holy and True Body of Christ, against the Brotherhoods,” Luther’s Works Vol.35, p. 54.
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