Newsletter for Sunday 9 July 2023

7 Jul

Saved by the Precious Blood of JESUS

As June was the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of JESUS, so July is dedicated to His Precious Blood. JESUS gave His life for us, and this is symbolised by the shedding of His Precious Blood. So the Precious Blood of JESUS is the price of the world.

On Calvary Our Lord’s side was pierced by a lance and out flowed blood and water (John 19:34) which represents Baptism and the other Sacraments which bring life. St Augustine (354-430) says that Christ’s flesh was the veil around the tabernacle of His Heart, and when on the Cross that veil was torn in two, the tabernacle was opened, and out came Baptism and Holy Communion. Also the waters of the flood in the Old Testament washed the earth and cleansed it (Genesis 7), so now the Blood of Christ covers the earth and sanctifies it and makes it holy. In the time of Noah, those who went inside the ark were saved. And we now go mystically into the side of Christ pierced by the lance, where we find His Sacred Heart and the Church, and thus we are saved. Noah and those in the ark were saved by the wood of the ark, but we are saved by the wood of the Cross. There is a rich symbolism here. So every time we see a crucifix, a tabernacle, the colour red or water, we are reminded of these events which really happened and which are all connected. Such is the richness and the depth of our faith.

But why is the Blood of Christ able to save us? It saves us because Christ is God. He is fully God and fully man. Therefore every act of JESUS, the God man is of an infinite value because of whose Body, whose Blood and whose human Soul it is. We read in the Letter to the Hebrews, “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (9:22). And “it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). Yes, the Blood of Christ is human blood, but it is also the Blood of God, and so the tiniest drop of His Blood, being of an infinite value, would have been enough to atone for every sin ever committed, and to redeem an infinite number of people and an infinite number of universes, so precious is the Blood of Christ.

Both during Mass and outside of Mass we can offer the Precious Blood of JESUS to the Father. The Blood of JESUS is so powerful that we can obtain many graces by doing so. In a vision, St Mary Magdalene de Pazzi (1566-1607) saw many saints before the Throne of God, interceding for sinners, but their petitions remained unanswered. Then the Guardian Angels of these poor sinners approached and their petitions were not heard either. Next came the multitudes of the blessed and they made intercession for these souls, but at the same time they offered to God the Father the Precious Blood, and their petitions were granted. So it is a good practice to offer to God the Father the Precious Blood of JESUS many times throughout the day. Our Lord taught St Gertrude (1256-1302) to say the following prayer:

“Eternal Father, I offer Thee the most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, JESUS, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal Church, those in my own home and within my family.”

Precious Blood of JESUS, price of our salvation, save us!

Fr Paul Gillham, IC

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