You know that you were
ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable
things such as silver or gold, but with the Precious Blood of Christ, like that
of a lamb without blemish or spot. - I Peter 1:18-19
Salvation! What music is
there in that word, music that never tires but is always new, that always
rouses yet always rests us! It holds in itself all that our hearts would say.
It is sweet vigor to us in the morning, and in the evening it is contented
peace. It is a song that is always singing itself deep down in the delighted
soul. Angelic ears are ravished by it up in heaven; and our Eternal Father
Himself listens to it with adorable complacency. It is sweet even to Him out of
whose mind is the music of a thousand worlds. To be saved! What is it to be
saved? Who can tell? Eye has not seen, nor ear heard. It is a rescue, and from
such a shipwreck. It is a rest, and in such an unimaginable home. It is to lie
down for ever in the Bosom of God in an endless rapture of insatiable
contentment. "Thou shalt call His Name Jesus; for He shall save His people
from their sins." Who else but Jesus can do this, and what else even from
Him do we require but this; for in this lie all things which we can desire? Of
all miseries the bondage of sin is the most miserable. It is worse than sorrow,
worse than pain. It is such a ruin that no other ruin is like unto it. It troubles
all the peace of life. It turns sunshine into darkness. It embitters all
pleasant fountains, and poisons the very blessings of God which should have
been for our healing. It doubles the burdens of life, which are heavy enough
already. It makes death a terror and a torture, and the eternity beyond the grave
an infinite and intolerable blackness. Alas! we have felt the weightiness of
sin, and know that there is nothing like it. Life has brought many sorrows to
us, and many fears- Our hearts have ached a thousand times. Tears have flowed.
Sleep has fled,. Food has been nauseous to us, even when our weakness craved
for it. But never have we felt anything like the dead weight of a mortal sin.
What then must a life of such sins be? What must be a death in sin? What the
irrevocable eternity of unretracted sin? From all this horror whither shall we
look for deliverance? Not to ourselves; for we know the practical infinity of
our weakness, and the incorrigible vitality of our corruption. Not to any
earthly power; for it has no jurisdiction here. Not to philosophy, literature,
or science; for in this case they are but sorry and unhelpful matters. Not to
any saint however holy, nor to any angel, however mighty; for the least sin is
a bigger mountain than they have faculties to move. Not to the crowned queen of
God's creation, the glorious and the sinless Mary; for even her holiness cannot
satisfy for sin, nor the whiteness of her purity take out its deadly stain.
Neither may we look for deliverance direct from the patience and compassion of
God Himself; for in the abysses of His wisdom it has been decreed, that with
out shedding of blood there shall be no remission of sin.
It
is from the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ alone that our salvation comes.
Glory be to Jesus,
Who in bitter pains
Poured for me the
Life-Blood
From His sacred veins!
Grace and life eternal
In that Blood I find;
Blest be His compassion,
Infinitely kind!
Blest through endless
ages
Be the precious Stream
Which from endless
torments
Did the world redeem!
Abel's blood for
vengeance
Pleaded to the skies;
But the Blood of Jesus
For our pardon cries.
Oft as earth exulting
Wafts its praise on high,
Angel hosts rejoicing
Make their glad reply.
Lift we, then, our
voices,
Swell the mighty flood,
Louder still and louder
Praise the Precious
Blood!
"Worthy art thou to
take the scroll and to open its seals, for thou wast slain and by thy Blood
didst ransom men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and
hast made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on earth."
Holy Mother Church has a
profound love for the Most Precious Blood of her Divine Spouse, since It is the
Price of our salvation!
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Hail, saving Victim, offered on the gibbet of the
cross for me and for the whole human race. Hail, precious blood, flowing from
the wounds of our crucified Lord Jesus Christ and washing away the sins of the
whole world. Remember, O Lord, Thy creature that Thou hast redeemed by Thy
precious blood.
Without the shedding of
the Blood of the Lamb of God, we could not be redeemed.
Without His cleansing and
vivifying Blood coursing through the Church, there would be no Mystical Body of
Christ.
Without His glorious
Blood, the Sacraments would have no effect.
Without His redeeming
Blood, Mary would never have been conceived without sin, and there would be no
saints whatsoever.
The Most Precious Blood
of Christ is an aspect of His Sacred Humanity.
It is therefore hypostatically united to His Deity, and so can receive
our worship, adoration, and love. When
we pray to the Precious Blood we are praying to the Person of Jesus Christ, our
Savior, present in His Blood.
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