In the midst of Ordinary Time, immediately following the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Precious Blood of Our Lord is offered as Julyโs special devotion and adoration focus. Reminding us of the price Jesus paid for our sin, we realize how much He loves us and how valuable each of our souls are.
Confirming this value, this Julyโs Papal Prayer Intention is for respect for human life:
Let us pray for the respect and protection of human life in all its stages, recognizing it as a gift from God.
By joining these prayers of devotion to the Precious Blood and for respect for the gift of human life, we enter the Paschal Mystery in a way appropriate to Ordinary Time which sees the whole of Salvation History as present here and now for the salvation of each soul.
As early as the first century, Pope St. Clement urged the faithful to devotion to the Precious Blood:
Let us fix our gaze on the Blood of Christ and realize how truly precious It is, seeing that it was poured out for our salvation and brought the grace of conversion to the whole world.
By fixing our gaze, we cannot help but feel the weight of Jesusโ sacrifice and desire to respond to each human life we encounter with reverence and hope. In a time when many are not very hopeful about the human condition or the state of the world, we who fix our gazes can see and respond differently, trusting that such a gift as the Precious Blood will not be for naught, despite much evidence to the contrary.
In his Sunday Angelus on July 5, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI spoke to this connection between the Precious Blood and the dignity of human life:
โฆit is written in Genesis that the blood of Abel, killed by his brother Caine, cries to God from the earth (cf. 4:10). And, unfortunately, today as in the past, this cry never ceases, as human blood continues to be shed because of violence, injustice and hatred. When will human beings learn that life is sacred and belongs to God alone? When will they understand that we are all brothers and sisters? To the cry which rises from so many parts of the earth for the blood that is spilled, God responds with the Blood of his Son, who gave his life for us. Christ did not respond to evil with evil but with goodness, with his infinite love.The Blood of Christ is the pledge of God’s faithful love for humanity. Every human being, even in conditions of extreme moral wretchedness can say, fixing his eyes on the wounds of the Crucified One: “God has not abandoned me, he loves me, he has given his life for me”, and thus rediscover hope.
The cry of human blood never ceases, and yet God never ceases to respond with the Blood of His Son. Jesus responds to our failure to protect human life in all its stages by giving His own life and Blood for us. Our hope lies secure, both for ourselves and for humanity, in this supreme gift. Our lives can be lived with great love for all human life when we fix our gaze on Jesusโ Precious Blood.
His royal blood draws distant rivals near,
And unifies them, quenching thirst severe.
His blood flows over walls of separation,
Securing by torrential inundation
The earthโs and heavenโs reconciliation.
(excerpted from โThe Precious Bloodโ by Margaret Coats)
The Culture of Life clashes with the Culture of Death in every which way. There can be no reconciliation between ideologies that promote opposite ends. But Jesus, by His Precious Blood, can overcome this chasm drawing distant rivals near.
โฆhe entered once for all into the sanctuaryโฆwith his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption...the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God. (Heb. 9:12,14)
We obediently stemmed the tide of human sin with the blood of animals until Jesus came and made our insufficient offerings unnecessary. We could not, and cannot, save ourselves from our sin so the Father sent the Son to shed His Precious Blood to cover those sins and reconcile us to Him and open the gates to heaven. What could possibly offer more cause for devotion and adoration?
Foreshadowing Jesusโ words to St. Faustina by seven centuries, St. Catherine of Siena called the Precious Blood an โOcean of Divine Mercy.โ What an apt metaphor for a devotion we attend to in summer when many of us have the opportunity to be near large bodies of water and pray. Whether it as brief an invocation as, โPrecious Blood of Jesus, save us and the whole world!โ or a formal and approved litany, spending devotional time in July pondering the Precious Blood of Our Lord is offered by the Church for ailing humanityโs greatest needs: restoration of our human dignity lost to sin and the consequent loss of dignity of the human person in society as a whole.
When the Church offers us feasts, seasons, and designated times for special prayers, there are graces that flow from her authority which we would be wise to avail ourselves of. Let us consider doing so this month of July, making the most of the fullness of the Salvation Story inherent in Ordinary Time.
Jesus, you shed your Blood for us for the forgiveness of our sins and the healing of our world. Please help us to grow in love for you through devotion to your Precious Blood, especially as the Church prescribes for the month of July. May your Blood cover the entire world for the healing and restoration of the dignity of all human life, from conception to natural death, and at every sacred moment in between.
Image from Wikimedia Commons
