Payment for our Salvation
I am going forward through life amidst rainbows and storms, but with my head held high with pride, for I am a royal child. I feel that the blood of Jesus is circulating in my veins, and I have put my trust in the great mercy of the Lord”. (Diary 992)
In June we worshiped the Divine Heart of Jesus, in July we worship His Precious Blood. Accident? Rather faith and ... logic. The heart pumps blood to every tissue. One does not work without the other.
In 1960, Pope John XXIII published the apostolic letter "Inde a Primis" about the expansion to the whole world of the devotion in honor of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. In this way, the Holy Father encouraged the faithful to make the Blood of Christ the subject of their meditation.
"Let them consider the extremely abundant and limitless value of this truly dearest Blood," he wrote and reminded us of the seven moments when Jesus shed his blood. July is a good time to consider those moments when Jesus shed his blood by reading passages of the Holy Bible regarding the Passion of the Lord and praying the Litany to the Precious Blood of Christ the Lord.
In our faith we need to appeal to both the Heart of Jesus and His Blood. Blood was the clamp that held Christ's whole life together. He shed it immediately after birth (during circumcision) and especially abundantly before his death. Bleeding had already begun inGethsemane, then there was scourging, crowning with thorns, a painful way of the cross and even more terrible crucifixion and piercing of the heart. The wounds from the nails remained even after the resurrection. How symbolic is the scene in Mel Gibson's "Passion" when the Mother of God wiped with the white cloth the floor of the room where her son has been scourged. How profound are the words of Isaiah, who prophetically wrote about the Messiah: " Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured " (cf. Isaiah 53:4). How amazing it was that Jesus first healed a woman suffering from bleeding for several years. And when he was bleeding profusely,
He didn't regret a single drop. Everything for our salvation.
One drop would have been enoughSt. Sr Faustina wrote in the Diary: O Jesus, be mindful of Your own bitter Passion and do not permit the loss of souls redeemed at so dear a price of Your most precious Blood. O Jesus, when I consider the great price of Your Blood, I rejoice at its immensity, for one drop alone would have been enough for the salvation of all sinners. Although sin is an abyss of wickedness and ingratitude, the price paid for us can never be equaled. (Diary 72)
Today the Lord said to me: “Daughter, when you go to confession, to this fountain of My mercy, the Blood and Water which came forth from My Heart always flows down upon your soul and ennobles it. Every time you go to confession, immerse yourself entirely in My mercy, with great trust, so that I may pour the bounty of My grace upon your soul. (Diary 1602)
When Jesus explained to Sr. Faustina the symbolism of the image that she had to paint, Jesus emphasized: The two rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls (Diary 299)
Today, the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood takes care of the devotion to the Blood of Jesus. Missionaries run a sanctuary in Częstochowa and keep there authentic relics of the Blood of Christ, which have a very long and intricate history. It all began with the Roman soldier Longinus who pierced Jesus' side. Legends say he had trouble seeing. Blood gushing from Jesus' heart flooded his face. Longinus’s eyes were healed, and he was converted. He gratefully collected some soil soaked in the blood of Jesus, took a sponge on which he was given vinegar, and hid both relics in Mantua, Italy. It is known that he buried them in the ground, but soon he himself died a martyr's death. The relics were not found until 804. 120 years later they were hidden again and were found in 1048. Saint Andrew helped in searching for relics. He would come to his faithful followers in a dream, prompting where to look for the precious treasure.
Only a small part of the relics of the Blood of Christ has survived to our times. The sponge has disappeared, and it is still unknown where it can be found. Part of these unusual relics came to Częstochowa in 1998. Missionaries received them from the Congregation of the Sisters of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ.
One look is enoughDevotion to the Blood of Christ was close to many saints. Saint Gaspare del Bufalo, founder of the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, wrote: "whatever I think, I see His Blood. Wounds to the feet and arms, head crowned with thorns, God's open heart. All this drives us to love Him. The Eucharistic Blood that Jesus offers on the altar every day is also the Blood that flows from the Cross, flows in the Mystical Body of Christ, bringing souls His purifying and sanctifying power. Oh, that the whole world would be cleansed of the sin. This is what the worship of God's Blood inclines us to do, when we constantly offer the Holy Mass, in which we receive the sacraments. It is the Price of Salvation and a testimony of God's love for man. "
In one of his letters he wrote: "One look at the Divine Blood is enough and it will shake us to act with inexhaustible zeal and we will act with the true Spirit of God."
The power of Christ's loveSt. John Paul II in the encyclical "Evangelium Vitae" reminds us that. “The blood of every other human being who has been killed since Abel is also a voice raised to the Lord. In an absolutely singular way, as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us, the voice of the blood of Christ, of whom Abel in his innocence is a prophetic figure, cries out to God: " you have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God... to the mediator of a new covenant, and the sprinkled blood that speaks more eloquently than that of Abel. " (Heb 12:22, 24).
“This blood, which flows from the pierced side of Christ on the Cross (cf. Jn 19:34), "speaks more graciously" than the blood of Abel; indeed, it expresses and requires a more radical "justice", and above all it implores mercy, it makes intercession for the brethren before the Father (cf. Heb 7:25), and it is the source of perfect redemption and the gift of new life.” (EV 25)
Elsewhere, Saint John Paul II instructed: "Humanity, so often hurt by hatred and violence, now more than ever needs the effective action of the Blood of the Savior. In his Blood lies the great power of Christ's love, hope and the path of reconciliation. "
In addition to meditating on the Scriptures, we can also praise the Blood of Christ in a special way by reciting the Litany to the Precious Blood of Christ the Lord approved by Saint John XXIII in 1960.
Blood of Christ, only Son of the Father, be our salvation
Until Tomorrow
fr. george