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July 2003

Reflections on the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ

”It was by His Blood shed on the Cross that God’s anger was averted and that all the heavenly gifts, especially the spiritual graces of the New and Eternal Testament, could then flow from the fountains of our Savior for the salvation of men, of the faithful above all; it was on the tree of the Cross, finally, that He entered into possession of His Church, that is, of all the members of His mystical body. . . It was likewise through His Blood that the Church was enriched with the fullest communication of the Holy Spirit, through which, from the time when the Son of man was lifted up and glorified on the Cross by His sufferings, she is divinely illumined” (Encyclical of Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis).

“We hold in our hands a great treasure, a precious pearl, the inexhaustible riches of the Blood of Jesus Christ; let us use them even to prodigality, so that, by the complete sacrifice of ourselves offered with Christ to the Eternal Father, we may become, in truth, mediators of justice, in the things which appertain to God, and that we may deserve to have our prayers accepted and obtain a superabundance of graces which may refresh and make more fruitful the Church and the souls of all men” (Encyclical of Pope Pius XII, Menti Nostrae.

Sermon of St. John Chrysostom:

Do you wish to hear of the power of the blood of Christ? Let us return to the figure thereof, let us recall the fonner type, and relate the ancient Scripture. In Egypt, at midnight, God threatened the Egyptians with the tenth plague, by which their first-born should perish, because they kept in captivity his first-born people. But, lest the beloved Jews should share their danger, because they were all in the same place, he found, in his wisdom, a remedy. Behold then a wonderful figure, that you may learn his power in truth. The anger of the divine indignation was expected, and the angel of death circled over every home. What, therefore, did Moses do? Kill, says he, a yearling lamb, and sprinide the doors with its blood. What do you say, 0 Moses? Is the blood of a sheep likely to deliver a reasoning man? Certainly, says he; not by what that blood is in itself, but because, by it, there is displayed a figure of the blood of the Lord. .. . And then that destroying Angel, when he saw the sprinkled door-posts and thresholds, passed over and did not dare to enter. Now, therefore, if the enemy see, not the typifying blood sprinkled on the lintels, but the reality itself, that is the blood of Christ shining on the lips of the faithful, made, holy as the gates of a temple, much more so does he withdraw himself. For it the Angel stopped before the type, how much more shall the enemy tremble if he should perceive the reality itself? Do you wish to search further into the might of the blood? I do want you to observe from where it takes its source, and from what fountain it flows. First, it comes forth from the cross itself; its source was the side of the Lord. The soldier opened his side, and laid open the wall of that holy temple; and I have found that most noble treasure, and I rejoice to discover the glittering riches.

And so was it done concerning that lamb: the Jews killed a sheep, and I have learned the value of the sacrament. Fmm the side flowed blood and water. I would not, 0 hearer, that you should pass over the hidden meaning of such great mysteries; for I have yet a mystic and mysterious discourse to deliver. I have said that the water and blood showed forth symbolically baptism and the sacraments. For from these, holy Church was founded by the layer of regeneration and the renovation of the Holy Ghost. Through baptism, I say, and through the sacraments, which seem to have issued from his side. Therefore, from his side Christ built the Church, just as, from Adam’s side, Eve, his wife, was brought forth. For this reason Paul also testifies, saying: We are members of his body and of his bones; meaning thereby, doubtless, his side. For, as God caused the woman to be created from the side of Adam, so also Christ from his own side gave uswater and blood, from which he formed his Church.

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