His Blood Be Upon Us
There is, then, no one who
has not a special reason to venerate the Precious Blood and to make some
atonement for his coldness and indifference towards this gift more precious
than all the gold and silver in the world. Knowing that you were not redeemed
with corruptible things as gold or silver, but with the precious blood of
Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled. Alas! outside of the true fold, how many so called churches there are
where this Precious Blood does not flow, where people come to meet, but not to
worship, where they hear little or nothing about the Price of their Redemption,
and where it is never applied to their souls. In our day, the very Divinity of
Christ, and therefore the efficacy of His Divine Blood, is openly and publicly
denied in books and from sectarian pulpits. Again, when we remember the
indifference of men towards their salvation, which Christ purchased so dearly,
when we see how vice and crime are on the increase and, like the blood of Abel,
crying to heaven for vengeance, we might also hear our Lord complaining through
the mouth of the prophet: Quae utilitas in sanguine meo? Of what use is my
Blood?
Father, whither art thou going without thy son? O holy Pontiff,
whither art thou hastening without thy deacon? Never didst thou offer the holy
sacrifice but I stood at thy side. Father, did I perhaps offend thee or has my
zeal diminished? Try me now, whether thou hast chosen me as an unworthy servant
to minister the Sacred Blood. Canst thou refuse me, who have drunk the Precious
Blood with thee at the altar, to shed my blood with thee? Such is the language
of the great deacon, St. Lawrence, to Pope Sixtus II, who was being led to
martyrdom on the Appian way.
Whenever we are about to
make the Way of the Cross and our eyes meet our Saviour, our Holy Pontiff,
going to die for us, these sentiments of St. Lawrence will help us to make the
stations in a spirit of atonement for our lack of filial attachment to our
Divine Lord. As often as we attend the holy sacrifice of the Mass, let us commend
to the mercy of God, revealed to us by the shedding of His Blood more than
through anything else, our own coldness and indifference towards Jesus, our
Leader, in the holy Eucharist. On one occasion, our Divine Saviour presented
Himself to Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque as He was when Pilate showed Him to
the people, to excite their compassion, saying to them, Behold the Man! He
appeared all torn with stripes and covered with wounds; His Blood flowed from
every part ; He bore upon His shoulders a heavy cross, and said with a sad and
mournful voice, Will no one have pity on Me and com passionate My grief? Behold
the miserable state to which sinners reduce me now! said the servant of God, He
presented Himself to me covered with wounds, His Body bleeding and His Heart
torn with sorrow, He seemed as if intensely weary. I prostrated myself at His
feet with great fear which was imprinted in me, not daring to speak to Him. He
said to me: Behold the state to which I am reduced by My chosen people, that
should have appeased My justice, and that instead persecute Me. If they amend
not, I will chastise them severely. I will withdraw the just and the innocent,
and immolate the rest in My just anger, inflamed against them by their sins.
Here, then, is a labor of
love for devotees of the Precious Blood daily communion and the Holy Hour as an
act of Reparation. I looked for one that would grieve together with me, but
there was none: and for one that would comfort me, and I found none. Could you
not watch one hour with me? With a feeling of compunction we can prostrate
ourselves before the tabernacle and kiss the floor in spirit while we think of
our Divine Saviour in the Garden of Olives lying on His sacred countenance, His
bloody sweat mingling with the dust of this accursed earth, which He does not
reject but embraces with tender mercy. In spirit let us then join the
Procession of the Precious Blood to Calvary. With Simon of Cyrene let us help carry
the Cross of Jesus. Like Veronica, we can offer ourselves to wipe the Blood
from the holy countenance of our dear Lord, in prayer and meditation,
supplicating Him to give us also His picture in His Blood, as imprinted on the
veil of Veronica, by impressing deeply upon our minds the memory of His Sacred
Passion. With Mary Magdalen let us embrace the Cross and kiss the blood-stained
feet of our Saviour and weep over our sins. With the penitent thief let us be
zealous in defending the honor and glory of God, making amends for those who
blaspheme Him, and in acknowledging Him as our King in whose kingdom we wish to
reign forever. Beside the Sorrowful Mother let us stand beneath the Cross and
offer the Blood of Jesus to His Heavenly Father for ourselves and for the whole
world. With the Centurion let us strike our breast and proclaim the Divinity of
the Precious Blood and claim it as the Price of our Redemption. Let us vow that
our whole life as well as our death shall be an oblation to Jesus, our God, in
honor of His Sacred Heart and His Precious Blood. O yes, the Sacred Heart and
the Precious Blood, our love and our grace! We can awaken in us, as an act of
Reparation, a lively faith in the Lamb that was slain living in the Blessed
Sacrament with His five wounds that shine like five roseate suns in the hands
and feet and heart of Jesus, suns whose exuberant radiance is causing unsetting
day this hour in the farthest extremities of heaven. I beheld, and I heard the
voice of many angels round about the throne, and the living creatures, and the
ancients; and the number of them was thousands of thousands, saying with a loud
voice: The Lamb that was slain is worthy to receive power, and divinity, and
wisdom, and strength and honor, and glory, and
benediction (Apoc. V, 11-12).
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