He Himself also breaks the bread, which He gives to His disciples, to shew that the breaking of His Body was to take place, not against His Will, nor without His intervention; He also blessed it, because He with the Father and the Holy Spirit filled His human nature, which He took upon Him in order to suffer, with the grace of Divine power. He blessed bread and brake it, because He deigned to subject to death His manhood, which He had taken upon Him in such a way as to shew that there was within it the power of Divine immortality, and to teach them that therefore He would the more quickly raise it from the dead.
There follows: “And gave to them, and said, ‘Take, eat: This is My Body.’ “
Reproduced in full. Translation: Oxford 1841 (Newman), public domain (Public domain).