This is a revised reflection that is offered to the readers of this site today, the Feast of the Most Precious Blood Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The Most Precious Blood of Jesus is our laver of redemption, as our own sins, each and every single one of them, caused It to be shed during the events of Holy Thursday and Good Friday.
It was the thought of coming into contact with the horror of our sins, the very antithesis of His Sacred Divinity, that caused Our Lord to sweat droplets of His Most Precious Blood in His Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane.
It was our sins that caused the Most Precious Blood of Jesus to be shed so terribly during His cruel scourging at the Pillar.
It was our sins that caused the Most Precious Blood of Jesus to be shed as He was crowned with thorns to mock His Sacred Kingship over men and their nations.
It was our sins that caused the Most Precious Blood of Jesus to continue to be shed from the scourging and the crowning as He walked up the steps to be judged by the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate. Droplets of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus are still venerated by pilgrims as proceed on their knees up the Sancta Scala in Rome right across from the Basilica di San Giovanni Laterano.
It was our sins that caused the Most Precious Blood to be shed as Our Lord’s hands and knees were crucified. It was our sins that caused the Most Precious Blood of Jesus to be shed unto Its last drop as He hung on the gibbet of the Holy Holy Cross for three hours, flowing in a torrent as Our Lord’s wounded side was pierced with the lance of Saint Longinus.
What is It that is poured out onto our souls when they are Absolved by a true priest in the Sacred Tribunal of Penance?
The Most Precious Blood of Jesus.
The Most Precious Blood of Jesus strengthens us when we receive It worthily in Holy Communion.
It was the shedding of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus on the wood of the Holy Cross that ratified the New and Eternal Covenant He inaugurated at the Last Supper, thereby obliterating forever the old sacrifices of the blood of bulls and goats and lambs in Temple worship, thus superseding he Old Covenant of the Jews.
We must celebrate this great Feast of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, which was pumped through Our Divine Redeemer’s Sacred Body by His Most Sacred Heart, the very font of Mercy, with gratitude that we, sinners who caused It to be shed in torrents under the most unspeakably cruel conditions, are bathed unto our redemption by Its merits.
May we never take the Most Precious Blood of Jesus for granted.
The next original article, which deals with issues related to the retirement of United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony McLeod Kennedy, is almost ready for publication. I am sorry for the delay in getting the next commentary completed.
A blessed Feast of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ to you all!
Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.
Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.
Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.