Feast of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ

(“Divine Intimacy” by Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, OCD)

In today’s liturgy, the majestic figure of Jesus stands before us
as that of a king who presents himself to his people robed in his
royal mantle. The first antiphon of Vespers says: “Who is this that
cometh. With dyed garments? This beautiful one in his robe.”
But the mantle Jesus wears is not beautiful by reason of fine linen
or purple, but rather because it is sprinkled with His Blood, which
was shed for our sins. “He was clothed in a robe sprinkled with
blood, and His Name is called the Word of God.” That blood
which the Word, when He became incarnate, took from our human
nature, He gave back to us—every drop of it—as the price of our
redemption. And He gave it back, not as if constrained by anyone,
but freely, because He willed to, because He loved us. “Christ . . .
hath loved us,” says St. John, “and washed us from our sins in His
own Blood.” All the mysteries of our redemption are mysteries of
love; and, therefore, all urge us to love. But the one on which we
meditate today is especially moving since it makes us consider the
redemption from its most terrible aspect: the shedding of the
Blood of Jesus, which, from Calvary, flowed forth to crimson the
whole world, to sprinkle all souls. Christ has redeemed us,
“neither by the blood of goats or of calves, but by His own Blood,”
St. Paul exclaims in the Epistle. This is a great truth which, if
really understood, would more than suffice to make us genuine
saints. We must have a “sense” of Christ’s Blood, that Blood
which He shed to the last drop for us, and which, through the
Sacraments, especially Penance, continually flows over our souls
to cleanse them, purify them and enrich them with the infinite
merits of the Redeemer. “Bathe in His Blood, immerse yourself in
His blood, clothe yourself in the Blood of Christ, “Was St.
Catherine of Siena’s continual cry.

In the Office of the day, St. Paul earnestly invites us to
correspond with Christ’s gift. “Jesus . . . that He might sanctify
the people by His own Blood, suffered outside the gate. Let us go
forth therefore to Him. . . Bearing His reproach.” If we want the
Blood of Christ to bear all its fruit in us, we must unite our own
blood with it. His alone is most precious, so precious that a single
drop is sufficient to save the whole world; nevertheless, Jesus, as
always, wants us to add our little share, our contribution of
suffering and sacrifice, “bearing His reproach.” If we are sincere
we will have to admit that we do all in our power to escape
Christ’s shame and disgrace. A lack of consideration, a slight
offense, a cutting word, are all that it takes to arouse our passions.
How can we say that we know how to share in Christ’s
humiliations? Behold our divine Master treated like a malefactor,
dragged amidst the coarse insults of the soldiers outside the gate of
Jerusalem and there crucified between two thieves! And we?
What part do we take in His Passion? How do we share in His
reproach?

To redeem us, “Jesus … endured the Cross despising the
shame…: and “you,” St. Paul reproaches us, “have not yet resisted
unto blood, striving against sin.” Can we say that we know how to
struggle “unto blood” to overcome our faults, our pride, our self-love?
Oh! How weak and cowardly we are in the struggle, how
self-indulgent and full of pity for ourselves, especially for our
pride! Jesus, Innocence itself, expiated our sins even unto a
bloody, ignominious death! We, the guilty ones, far from atoning
for our faults unto blood, cannot even sacrifice our self-love. The
blood which flows from sincere, total renunciation of self, from
humble, generous acceptance of everything that mortifies, breaks,
and destroys our pride: this is the blood which Jesus asks us to
unite with His!