July 1 is the Solemnity of the "Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
The entire month of July is dedicated to The Precious Blood of Jesus.
The Blood that coursed through the veins of Christ was a part of that Sacred Humanity made possible by the maternity of Mary, whose parents, St. Joachim and St. Anne are honored this month. (July 26). Our Lord's blood poured out on the Cross purchased our salvation, washed clean the robes of the martyrs, and gave birth to the Church as it flowed from his wounded side. The Precious Blood of Christ — now pulsing through his Mystical Body — continues its salvific work, preserving and purifying, repairing and providing nourishment for regeneration and renewal of its members.
The Blood of Christ is precious because it is Christ's own great ransom paid for the redemption of mankind. As there was to be no remission of sin without the shedding of blood, the Incarnate Word not only offered His life for the salvation of the world, but he offered to give up His life by a bloody death, and to hang bloodless, soulless and dead upon the Cross for the salvation of men. There, upon the Cross, He atoned for every form of human sin. "God was indeed Christ, reconciling the world to Himself." He shed His Precious Blood for all - for Jew and Gentile, for heathen and Christian, for Turk and heretic, for the infidel and all unbelievers. In that Blood of Jesus our sins have shed, which is at the same time the price of our redemption.
The feast of the Precious Blood is a call to repentance and reparation. It was shed that sinners might be forgiven, that they might live and not die; that they might live unto Him "in Whom we have redemption through His Blood, the remission of sins."
I found this passage in the oldest document, outside of sacred scripture, from the first century of the Christian era – to be exact, from Pope St. Clement I, dated about 96 A.D. Says Pope Clement: "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."
To understand the meaning of the Precious Blood we must get some comprehension of the gravity of sin, of the awfulness of offending God, because it required the Blood of the Son of God to forgive that sin. We are living in an age in which to sin has become fashionable.
This veneration of the Precious Blood, which is the first element in our devotion to the Precious Blood means that we have a deep sensitivity to the awfulness of sin. Sin must be terrible. It must be awful. It must be the most dreadful thing in the universe. Why? Because it cost the living God in human form the shedding of His Blood.
Lord Jesus, You became Man in order by your Passion and Death and the draining of your Blood on the Cross, might prove to us how much You, our God, love us. Protect us, dear Jesus, from ever running away from the sight of blood. Strengthen our weak human wills so that we will not only not run away from the cross, but welcome every opportunity to shed our blood in spirit in union with your Precious Blood, so that, dying to ourselves in time we might live with You in Eternity. Amen
Excerpted from The Precious Blood of Christ, Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.
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