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| Gold chalice that Catherine commissioned as part of a communion set in 1791 |
THE CHALICE OF BENEDICTION
Participation in His Blood,
more active on our part, is what our Lord desires. This yearning we hear expressed
in the words in which our Savior offered His Blood to His disciples, and it can
be read from His sacred countenance as He inclines His head on the Cross to the
open wound in His Heart. It can be gleaned from the admonition of the Apostle:
The chalice of benediction, which we bless, is it not the communication of the
blood of Christ? The Mass you attend every Sunday is the representation of the
Cross with a something else, namely, your presence, your share and part in the
act of infinite religion. Jesus, your Priest and your Victim, is there acting
divinely through His human minister; but Jesus should not be alone, offering
and offered up on the Eucharistic altar. On the Cross He was alone; it was the
original sacrifice giving birth to the Church. On the Eucharistic altar, the
Church must be with Him, offering and offered up.
We Catholics are, in the
words of St. John, purchased from among men, the first-fruits to God and to the
Lamb, but as such we have the grave responsibility of being channels of grace
to the rest of the world, for if the first-fruit be holy. The Precious Blood
has been given to us as the treasure of the Church, as St. Catherine calls it,
which we may offer again and again all day long both for ourselves and for
others.
Before the
elevation at Mass, let us present our own bodies as a living sacrifice by
slaying our vices and dying to this world, but with hearts alive with faith and
love offering all that we have to Him Who delivered Himself up for us. After
elevation let us go forth to the Victim on Calvary that he might sanctify the
people by his own blood, by him therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise
always to God. The second duty we owe to God, and to satisfy which we should
offer the Precious Blood, is to make expiation and reparation for sins
committed. For this purpose the Precious Blood was spilt on the Cross and is
consecrated in the Mass, which shall be shed for you and for many, to the
remission of sins. Then, again, we must make oblation of this Blood in
gratitude for the numberless gifts and favors we receive at the hand of God and
as the mightiest petition for further benefits. There is no more efficacious
means at our disposal to touch the heart of God and to obtain His grace and
mercy than the oblation of the Precious Blood. This Blood of the Atonement
appeased the wrath of the Father, opened Heaven to us and made us children of
God. Ah, how great, then, must be its power of intercession!
How many millions of sins
are committed daily whereby the love and goodness of God is outraged! By
offering up daily the Precious Blood of Jesus, consecrated on many hundred
thousand altars, to save the sorely tempted from falling into sin, what untold
honor and glory we should give to the majesty and holiness of God! If we truly
loved God our zeal would prompt us to raise the chalice by making these
oblations as a barrier to the perversity of the human will and to draw down the
grace of God for the enlightenment of the sinner that he might not heap insults
upon his Lord and Creator by his reckless sinning. This act of love and zeal
would be, at the same time, a means of atonement for our own sins. What joy,
what happiness, what merits in heaven we should prepare for ourselves by this
simple but soul-saving practice.
The practice of offering the Blood of Christ for this purpose should
occupy your mind a few moments every morning at Mass after elevation. He must know that he who causeth
a sinner to be converted from the error of his way, shall save his soul from
death, and shall cover a multitude of sins. More precious, however,
than His own Blood is to us, are souls in the eyes of the Lord. - St. Bernard.
Chalice Image
The most magnificent piece is a gold chalice that Catherine II of Russia commissioned as part of a communion set in 1791. It was made in St. Petersburg by Iver Windfeldt Buch of gold, diamonds, chalcedony, bloodstone, nephrite, carnelian, and cast glass. - Hillwood estate museum 
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