Blood of Christ, save us!
Plead the Blood of Jesus Christ!
The Church especially dedicates the month of July to the most Precious Blood of Jesus.
The Blessed Sacrament contains the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. Devotion to the Holy Eucharist is devotion to the Blood of Christ.
In Eucharistic adoration, we are adoring the Blood of Christ, which is also contained in the sacred host in the Monstrance.
Thus, parishes and Christian communities are encouraged to have exposition. Everyone is invited to adore the Precious Blood of Jesus in the most Blessed Sacrament from wherever you are!
“Draw strength from the sacramental grace of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. Visit the Lord in that heart to heart contact that is Eucharistic Adoration. Day after day, you will receive new energy to help you to bring comfort to the suffering and peace to the world.” St. John Paul II, 2002, World Youth Day Canada
“Veneration of the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ is a devotion as old as our Holy Faith… The Precious Blood is being daily consecrated and offered by priests in the Mass, and is at all times venerated by the faithful in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. In Holy Communion, all receive the Flesh and Blood of Jesus Christ as a pledge of life eternal. True Catholics must venerate the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ unto the End of the World.” (Devotion to the Precious Blood, Tan Books, pp. 1-2)
The Church dedicates the month of July to the Precious Blood. The early Fathers say that the Church was born from the pierced side of Christ, and that the sacraments were brought forth through His Blood. The feast of the Precious Blood of our Lord was instituted in 1849 by Pope Pius IX. It falls on July 1st in the traditional liturgical calendar.
“Then He took a cup, and when He had given thanks He handed it to them saying, ‘Drink from this, all of you, for this is My Blood, the Blood of the covenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Matthew 26: 27-28
“But one of the soldiers with a spear opened His side, and immediately there came out Blood and water.” John 19:34
On beholding those who are before the throne of God, St. John the Evangelist points out that “these are they who are come out of the great tribulation and have washed their robes and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Revelation 7:14
The oldest document, outside of sacred scripture, from the first century of the Christian era, by Pope St. Clement I, dated about 96 A.D. says: “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.” Conference on The Precious Blood of Christ by Fr. John A. Hardon SJ
“Such surpassing love suggests, nay demands, that everyone reborn in the torrents of that Blood adore it with grateful love.” Sanguis Christi, Pope St. John XXIII
“The Precious Blood which we worship is the Blood which the Saviour shed for us on Calvary and reassumed at His glorious Resurrection; it is the Blood which courses through the veins of His risen, glorified, living body at the right hand of God the Father in heaven; it is the Blood made present on our altars by the words of Consecration; it is the Blood which merited sanctifying grace for us and through it washes and beautifies our soul and inaugurates the beginning of eternal life in it.” The Church’s Year of Grace, by Fr. Pius Parsch
In the Old Testament, when Israel was oppressed by Egypt, God commanded the people to kill a lamb and to sprinkle the doorposts with its blood. The houses besprinkled were spared by the messenger of death. This blood on the doorposts prefigured the Blood of Christ. Can the blood of a lamb save a man? No, but as a figure of the Redeemer’s Blood it certainly does. For when the Destroyer sees the thresholds of a human heart marked with Christ’s sacred Blood, he must pass by. And another soul is saved. (Excerpted from The Church’s Year of Grace, Fr. Pius Parsch)
Contemplate that, between Jesus and Mary, there was an interflow of blood for nine months when He was a Child in her womb!
Other Great Venerators of the Precious Blood Include:
St. Peter: “You were not redeemed with corruptible things, as gold or silver… but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled.” 1 Peter 1:18-19)
St. Paul: “And through him to reconcile all things unto himself, making peace through the blood of his cross.” (Col 1:20)
St. Paul: “How much more will the Blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:14)
St. Augustine: “… save me through Thy Precious Blood.”
Our Lord to St. Mechtilde: “I show these bleeding wounds to My Father, to appease His wrath. He pardons when he see the Blood. Let sinners but look upon Me, and they will be moved to repentance, confidence and love.” “Through My Blood, I conquer My Father’s anger and reconcile man with his God.”
St. Catherine of Siena’s letters to bishops, cardinals and popes always began with the words: “I address you in the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ.”
Carmelite nun St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi “Every time a creature offers up this Blood by which he was redeemed, he offers a gift of infinite worth, which can be equaled by no other!” She was shown that the petitions of the Blessed, who while they implored God’s mercy at the same time offered to the Eternal Father the Precious Blood, were granted.
St. John Vianney said of asking Our Blessed Mother to offer the Precious Blood in our stead “My children, mark this well: whenever I obtained some grace, it was obtained in this manner which I never found to fail.”
Description: “Through St. Faustina, the Merciful Savior has given the aching world new channels for the outpouring of His grace. These new channels include the Image of The Divine Mercy, the Feast of Mercy (Divine Mercy Sunday), the Chaplet, the Novena to The Divine Mercy, and prayer at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, the Hour of Great Mercy.
“Although these means of receiving God’s mercy are new in form, they all proclaim the timeless message of God’s merciful love. They also draw us back to the great Sacrament of Mercy, the Holy Eucharist, where the living Lord, who suffered and died on the Cross and whose Heart was pierced with a lance, pours forth His mercy on all mankind, and grants pardon to all who draw near and honour Him.
“Jesus told St. Faustina: ‘My Heart overflows with great mercy for souls, and especially for poor sinners…[I]t is for them that the Blood and Water flowed from My Heart as from a fount overflowing with mercy. For them I dwell in the tabernacle as King of Mercy.’ (Diary of St. Faustina, 367)”
Source: Marian Helpers Congregation
The Chaplet of Mercy is recited using ordinary Rosary beads of five decades. The Chaplet is preceded by two opening prayers from the Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska and followed by a closing prayer.
1. Make the Sign of the Cross
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
2. Optional Opening Prayers
St. Faustina’s Prayer for Sinners
O Jesus, eternal Truth, our Life, I call upon You and I beg Your mercy for poor sinners. O sweetest Heart of my Lord, full of pity and unfathomable mercy, I plead with Thee for poor sinners. O Most Sacred Heart, Fount of Mercy from which gush forth rays of inconceivable graces upon the entire human race, I beg of Thee light for poor sinners. O Jesus, be mindful of Your own bitter Passion and do not permit the loss of souls redeemed at so dear a price of Thy most precious Blood. O Jesus, when I consider the great price of Thy Blood, I rejoice at its immensity, for one drop alone would have been enough for the salvation of all sinners. Although sin is an abyss of wickedness and ingratitude, the price paid for us can never be equalled. Therefore, let every soul trust in the Passion of the Lord, and place its hope in His mercy. God will not deny His mercy to anyone. Heaven and earth may change, but God’s mercy will never be exhausted. Oh, what immense joy burns in my heart when I contemplate Your incomprehensible goodness, O Jesus! I desire to bring all sinners to Your feet that they may glorify Your mercy throughout endless ages (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 72).
You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us.
(Repeat three times)
O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in Thee!
3. Our Father
Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, Amen.
4. Hail Mary
Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen.
5. The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; He descended into hell; on the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from there He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.
6. The Eternal Father
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Thy Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
7. On the 10 Small Beads of Each Decade
For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
8. Repeat for the remaining decades
Saying the “Eternal Father” (6) on the “Our Father” bead and then 10 “For the sake of His sorrowful Passion” (7) on the following “Hail Mary” beads.
9. Conclude with Holy God (Repeat three times)
Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
10. Optional Closing Prayers
Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion — inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself.
O Greatly Merciful God, Infinite Goodness, today all mankind calls out from the abyss of its misery to Thy mercy — to Your compassion, O God; and it is with its mighty voice of misery that it cries out. Gracious God, do not reject the prayer of this earth’s exiles! O Lord, Goodness beyond our understanding, Who are acquainted with our misery through and through, and know that by our own power we cannot ascend to Thee, we implore Thee: anticipate us with Thy grace and keep on increasing Thy mercy in us, that we may faithfully do They holy will all through our life and at death’s hour. Let the omnipotence of Thy mercy shield us from the darts of our salvation’s enemies, that we may with confidence, as Thy children, await Thy [Son’s] final coming — that day known to Thee alone. And we expect to obtain everything promised us by Jesus in spite of all our wretchedness. For Jesus is our Hope: through His merciful Heart, as through an open gate, we pass through to heaven (Diary, 1570).
Prayer from the Roman Missal
Almighty, and everlasting God, who hast appointed Thine only-begotten Son to be the Redeemer of the world, and hast been pleased to be reconciled unto us by His Blood, grant us, we beseech Thee, so to venerate with solemn worship the price of our salvation, that the power thereof may here on earth keep us from all things hurtful, and the fruit of the same may gladden us for ever hereafter in heaven. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
A Precious Offering through the Blessed Virgin Mary
(Devotion to the Precious Blood, Tan Books, page 47)
Description: St. John Vianney said of asking Our Blessed Mother to offer the Precious Blood in our stead “My children, mark this well: whenever I obtained some grace, it was obtained in this manner which I never found to fail.”
O Mary, Mother of Sorrows, I beseech thee, by the inexpressible tortures thou didst endure at the death of they Son, offer to the Eternal Father, in my place, they beloved Son all covered with Blood and wounds, for the grace of … Amen.
Offering of the Precious Blood Through Our Lady for the Souls in Purgatory
Description: St. Mary Magdalen de pazzi offered the Precious Blood 50 times a day, and it was revealed to her that many souls in purgatory were released by this.
Eternal Father, I offer Thee, through the Immaculate Virgin Mary, the Precious Blood of Thy Son for the relief of the suffering souls in Purgatory.
Offering of the Precious Blood
From the Raccolta
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the most Precious Blood of Jesus Christ in atonement for my sins, and in supplication for the holy souls in Purgatory and for the needs of Holy Church.
To Prevent One Mortal Sin
Description: Father Faber wrote – “If every evening, before we retire, we would ask the Blessed Virgin Mary to offer to God the Precious Blood of her Divine Son Jesus for the intention that thereby one mortal sin which might be committed somewhere that might be prevented, and if every morning this offering were renewed from day to day, we could prevent many mortal sins.”
O Holy and Immaculate Virgin Mary, offer to the Eternal Father the Precious Blood of thy Divine Son for the intention that one mortal sin may be prevented this day (or this night).
From the hymn Adoro Te Devote by St. Thomas Aquinas
O Jesu Lord, unclean I am, but cleanse me in Thy Blood, of which a single drop for sinners spilt, can purge the entire world from all its guilt.
Photo: Tamas Papp, Wikipedia
Below is a different chaplet:
Chaplet of the Precious Blood
Description:
Seven “effusions of the Blood of Christ”, implicitly or explicitly mentioned in the Gospels, are recalled in a series of biblical meditations and devotional prayers: the Blood of the Circumcision, the Blood of the Garden of Gethsemane, the Blood of the Flagellation, the Blood of the Crowning of Thorns, the Blood of the Ascent to Calvary, the Blood flowing from Christ’s side pierced by the lance. Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy
This Chaplet is divided into seven groups, containing thirty-three “Our Fathers” in honour of the thirty-three years during which the Precious Blood flowed in the veins of Jesus, before it was poured out on the Cross for our salvation. After each group, the “Glory be to the Father” is recited in thanksgiving to the Holy Trinity for this great gift of the Precious Blood. While reciting these prayers, you are asked to meditate on each of the seven blood sheddings of Jesus.
Prayer:
V. O God, come to my assistance. R. Lord, make haste to help me. V. Glory be to the Father, etc. R. As it was in the beginning, etc.
1st Mystery – Jesus shed His Blood in the Circumcision
Let us ask for chastity of soul and body. Pray the Our Father five times. Glory be to the Father, etc. We pray, You, Lord, help your people whom You have redeemed with Your Precious Blood.
2nd Mystery – Jesus shed His Blood while praying in the Garden of Olives.
Let us ask for the spirit of prayer. Pray the Our Father five times. Glory be to the Father, etc. We pray You, Lord, help your people whom You have redeemed with Your Precious Blood.
3rd Mystery – Jesus shed His Blood in the scourging
Let us ask for the grace of mortification. Pray the Our Father five times. Glory be to the Father, etc. We pray you, Lord, help Your people whom You have redeemed with Your Precious Blood
4th Mystery – Jesus shed His Blood in the crowning with thorns
Let us ask for contempt of worldly honours. Pray the Our Father five times. Glory be to the Father, etc. We pray you, Lord, help Your people whom You redeemed with Your Precious Blood.
5th Mystery – Jesus shed His Blood while carrying the Cross
Let us ask for patience. Pray the Our Father five times. Glory be to the Father, etc. We pray You, Lord, help Your people whom You redeemed with Your Precious Blood.
6th Mystery – Jesus shed His Blood in the Crucifixion
Let us ask for contrition for our sins. Pray the Our Father five times. Glory be to the Father, etc. We pray You, Lord, help your people whom You redeemed with Your Precious Blood.
7th Mystery – Jesus shed His Blood and water when His side was pierced.
Let us ask for the grace of perseverance. Pray the Our Father three times. Glory be to the Father, etc. We pray You, Lord, help Your people whom You redeemed with Your Precious Blood.
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ in atonement for my sins, in supplication for the holy souls in Purgatory and for the needs of Holy Church. Amen.
Offering in Reparation to the Most Precious Blood of Jesus
Description: This prayer was approved by Pope Pius VII on September 22, 1817.
Prayer:
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the merits of the Precious Blood of Jesus, Thy beloved Son, my Saviour and my God, for the spread and exaltation of my dear Mother, Thy holy Church, for the preservation and welfare of her visible Head, the sovereign Roman Pontiff, for the cardinals, bishops and pastors of souls, and for all the ministers of the sanctuary.
Glory be to the Father, etc. Blessed and praised for evermore be Jesus, who hath saved us with His Blood!
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the merits of the Precious Blood of Jesus, Thy beloved Son, my Saviour and my God, for peace and concord among Catholic kings and princes, for the humbling of the enemies of our holy faith and for the welfare of all Thy Christian people.
Glory be to the Father, etc. Blessed and praised, etc.
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the merits of the Precious Blood of Jesus, Thy Beloved Son, my Saviour and my God, for the conversion of unbelievers, the rooting-up of all heresies and the conversion of sinners.
Glory be to the Father,etc. Blessed and praised, etc.
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the merits of the Precious Blood of Jesus, Thy beloved Son, my Saviour and my God, for all my relations, friends and enemies, for those in need, in sickness and in tribulation, and for all those for whom Thou knowest that I am bound to pray, and willest that I should pray.
Glory be to the Father, etc. Blessed and praised, etc.
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the merits of the Precious Blood of Jesus, Thy beloved Son, my Saviour and my God, for all those who are to pass this day to the other life, that Thou wouldst deliver them from the pains of hell, and admit them with all speed to the possession of Thy glory.
Glory be to the Father, etc. Blessed and praised, etc.
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the merits of the Precious Blood of Jesus, Thy beloved Son, my Saviour and my God, for all men who are lovers of this great treasure and who are united with me in adoring and glorifying It and who labour to spread this devotion.
Glory be to the Father, etc. Blessed and praised, etc.
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the merits of the Precious Blood of Jesus, Thy beloved Son, my Saviour and my God, for all my needs, both temporal and spiritual, as an intercession for the holy souls in purgatory, and in an especial manner for those who were most devoted to this price of our redemption, and to the sorrows and sufferings of our dear Mother, Mary most holy.
Glory be to the Father, etc. Blessed and praised, etc.
Glory to the Blood of Jesus both now and for evermore and through the everlasting ages. Amen.
Prayer to Jesus
We therefore pray Thee, help Thy servants: whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy Precious Blood.
Prayer to the Eternal Father
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Jesus Christ in atonement for my sins, and in supplication for the holy souls in purgatory and for the needs of holy Church.
Petition
Lord Jesus Christ, who camest down from heaven to earth from the bosom of the Father, and didst shed Thy Precious Blood for the remission of our sins: we humbly beseech Thee, that in the day of judgment we may deserve to hear, standing at Thy right hand: “Come, ye blessed.” Who livest and reignest for ever and ever. Amen. — Roman Missal
Prayer Source: Raccolta, The — A Manual of Indulgences by Sacred Penitentiary Apostolic, Benziger Brothers, Inc., 1957
Novena to the Precious Blood
By the Voice of Your Blood, O Jesus, I would press You, solicit You, importune You. Though You seem to reject my supplications I will not leave Your bleeding feet until You hear me. Too many graces, too many mercies flow from Your Blood for me not to hope in its efficacy.
Then, O Jesus, by the Precious Blood seven times shed for the welfare of all, by each drop of that sacred price of our redemption, by the tears of Your immaculate mother, I implore You, hear my earnest prayer. (Here specify your request.) O Jesus, during all the days of Your mortal life You consoled so many sufferers, healed so many infirmities, raised so often a sinking courage, You will not fail to have pity on one who cries to You from the depths of anguish. Oh! No, it is impossible.
Another profound sigh from my heart, and from the wound in Your own there will flow to me upon a wave of Your merciful Blood the grace so ardently desired. O Jesus, Jesus, hasten the moment when You will change my tears into joy, my sighs into thanksgiving. Holy Mary, source of the divine Blood, I implore You not to lose this occasion of glorifying the Blood which made You immaculate.
Amen.
Memorare to Our Lady of the Precious Blood
REMEMBER, O Lady of the Precious Blood, the sorrowful Sheddings of the Blood of thy Jesus and the most bitter tears thou didst mingle with His Redeeming Blood. In the name of the Blood of the Victim of Reparation and of thy holy tears; in the name of the seven swords which pierced thy heart, by which thou didst become the Mediatrix of all graces for the human race and the Queen of Martyrs, have pity on my soul and on all its miseries; have pity on sinners and on the innocent souls they seek to pervert; have pity on the poor, the sick, the infirm, on all their sufferings, both physical and moral; have pity on the agonizing, especially upon those who, except for thine intercession, would leave this world without being purified in the Blood of the Lamb.
It is by the Blood of thy Dying Son, by His inexpressible Sufferings, by His last plea to His Father in favour of mankind, by His ignominious Death and by the perpetuation of His Sacrifice on Catholic Altars, that I beg thee not to reject my supplications, but graciously to hear them. Amen.
Litany of the Precious Blood
Description: The Litany of the Most Precious Blood pays tribute to the blood our Lord both shed for us in His Passion and offers us through the Eucharist. This Litany was approved for public use in 1960 by Pope St John XXIII, although devotion to the Precious Blood goes back centuries. In 1860, Fr. Faber wrote “the lives of the saints are replete with devotion to the precious blood.” The month of July is dedicated to the Precious Blood. When the Litany of the Most Precious Blood is prayed publicly, the congregation’s responses to a leader are given in italics below.
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God, the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us.
Blood of Christ, only-begotten Son
of the Eternal Father, save us. (Repeat “save us” after each line.)
Blood of Christ, Incarnate Word of God,
Blood of Christ, of the New and Eternal Testament,
Blood of Christ, falling upon the earth in the Agony,
Blood of Christ, shed profusely in the Scourging,
Blood of Christ, flowing forth in the Crowning with Thorns,
Blood of Christ, poured out on the Cross,
Blood of Christ, price of our salvation,
Blood of Christ, without which there is no forgiveness,
Blood of Christ, Eucharistic drink and refreshment of souls,
Blood of Christ, stream of mercy,
Blood of Christ, victor over demons,
Blood of Christ, courage of martyrs,
Blood of Christ, strength of confessors,
Blood of Christ, bringing forth virgins,
Blood of Christ, help of those in peril,
Blood of Christ, relief of the burdened,
Blood of Christ, solace in sorrow,
Blood of Christ, hope of the penitent,
Blood of Christ, consolation of the dying,
Blood of Christ, peace and tenderness of hearts,
Blood of Christ, pledge of Eternal Life,
Blood of Christ, freeing souls from purgatory,
Blood of Christ, most worthy of all glory and honour,
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us.
V. Thou hast redeemed us, O Lord, in Thy Blood.
R. And made us, for our God, a kingdom.
Let us pray:
Almighty and eternal God, Thou hast appointed Thine only-begotten Son the Redeemer of the world and willed to be appeased by His Blood. Grant, we beg of Thee, that we may worthily adore this price of our salvation and through its power be safeguarded from the evils of the present life so that we may rejoice in its fruits forever in heaven. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
Invocations of the Precious Blood
(Source: Devotion to the Precious Blood, Tan Books, pages 45-46)
Precious Blood of Jesus, shed in the Circumcision, make me chaste of mind, heart and body.
Precious Blood, oozing from every pore in the Agony of Jesus, grant me to love above all things the holy and Adorable Will of God.
Precious Blood, flowing abundantly in the Scourging at the Pillar, inspire me with a keen sorrow for my sins and a love of suffering.
Precious Blood, falling in profusion from the Crown of Thorns, grant me a love of humiliations.
Precious Blood, furrowing the way to Calvary, fill me with courage to walk unfalteringly in the bloody footsteps of Jesus.
Precious Blood, shed so profusely in the Crucifixion of my Jesus, make me die entirely to self-love.
Precious Blood, shed to the very last drop by the opening of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, give me that generous love that sacrifices all for God.
Precious Blood, sacred source from whence flow all graces, apply Thine infinite merits to my soul.
Precious Blood, Whose virtue animates and vivifies our actions, apply Thine infinite merits to all our works.
Life-Giving Fountain, in which the soul fully slakes its thirst, saturate me with pure love.
O Divine Blood of my Jesus, I adore Thee from the depths of my heart. Thee I fervently invoke, for Thou art my salvation, and by Thee I hope to obtain the joys of Paradise.
Eternal Father, be merciful, for the sake of the Blood of Thine only-begotten Son; we beseech Thee, show us Thy mercy.
Most Precious Blood of Jesus, cry to the Heavenly Father for mercy for us, and deliver us.
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Precious Blood in atonement for my sins and for the needs of Holy Church.
Prayer in Honour of the Scourging of Our Lord
“THEN Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him.”
O Jesus, my Bridegroom, Thou glory of Heaven, my heart is town with sorrow as I behold Thee delivered into the hands of infamous wretches!
O humiliation of my Redeemer, I see now Thou dost give power and permission to these criminals to bruise most unmercifully Thy pure, virginal Body, and to shed Thy Precious Blood!
Come, O ye Angels of Heaven, be present at this painful scene! And if it is not granted thee to deliver thy King from the cruel maltreatment of man, come at least to weep over Him!
Beloved Jesus, Thy garments are roughly torn from Thee. Bowing Thy head and blushing from shame, Thou dost await this frightful torture. Now the fiendish executioners pounce upon Thee, O innocent Lamb of God!
This one strikes Thy back, another Thy side, and another Thy limbs. Ah, already Thy Sacred Body is one wound; already Thy Precious Blood stains the scourges and the arms of the hangmen; already it besprinkles the pillar and ground.
Stroke after stroke, lash after lash, cuts and mangles Thine immaculate flesh, O innocent Jesus, and Thy sacred Blood flows in streams.
Now they turn Thee around and strike Thy breast, Thy whole sacred Body; yea, even Thine adorable head; Thy beautiful countenance is not spared from blows.
O Thou Joy of Angels, Thou Bliss of the Elect, who could treat Thee so inhumanly? Who has so cruelly lacerated Thee, O virginal flesh! Alas, it is I! Thou dost suffer the punishment due to my sins.
O Son of God, Thou great Lover of my soul, how is it possible that Thou, O Lord of Infinite Majesty, couldst so much love me, a despicable creature, that Thou wouldst for me submit to the agonizing tortures of the scourging?
God is scourged for me! In expiation for my sins, He is crushed and wounded, torn and mangled from head to foot, so that there remains no sound spot on His sacred Body!
O guiltless Jesus, never will I belong to those who look with indifference upon their God torn with scourges. I will compassionate Thy sufferings, my Saviour; I will reflect on the boundless love with which my most loving Redeemer endured these untold tortures for love of me.
Hail, loving Jesus! I venerate the cruel Wounds and Sacred Blood of Thy most painful scourging. To Thee be all praise, all thanksgiving, and all love, for evermore!
V. He was wounded for our iniquities.
R. He was bruised for our sins.
Let Us Pray
I adore Thee most profoundly, O insulted Saviour, suffering such great ignominy at the pillar of scourging. Pardon me and wash away my sins in Thy Blood. I detest them because by them I have scourged Thee and insulted Thine infinite goodness. Preserve me, I beseech Thee, from every sin against holy purity; sanctify my soul and body, that I may be a living temple of the Holy Spirit, Thou Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.
(Source: Devotion of the Precious Blood, Tan Books, pages 45-46)
DOCUMENTS, MEDITATIONS AND QUOTES ON THE PRECIOUS BLOOD
“Unlimited is the effectiveness of the God-Man’s Blood – just as unlimited as the love that impelled Him to pour it out for us, first at His circumcision eight days after birth, and more profusely later on in His agony in the garden, in His scourging and crowning with thorns, in His climb to Calvary and crucifixion, and finally from out that great wide wound in His side which symbolizes the divine Blood cascading down into all the Church’s sacraments. Such surpassing love suggests, nay demands, that everyone reborn in the torrents of that Blood adore it with grateful love.
“The Blood of the new and eternal covenant especially deserves this worship of latria when it is elevated during the sacrifice of the Mass. But such worship achieves its normal fulfillment in sacramental communion with the same Blood, indissolubly united with Christ’s eucharistic Body. In intimate association with the celebrant the faithful can then truly make his sentiments at communion their own: ‘I will take the chalice of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. . . The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve my soul for everlasting life. Amen.’ Thus as often as they come worthily to this holy table they will receive more abundant fruits of the redemption and resurrection and eternal life won for all men by the Blood Christ shed ‘through the Holy Spirit.’ Nourished by his Body and Blood, sharing the divine strength that has sustained countless martyrs, they will stand up to the slings and arrows of each day’s fortunes – even if need be to martyrdom itself for the sake of Christian virtue and the kingdom of God. Theirs will be the experience of that burning love which made Saint John Chrysostom cry out:
“Let us, then, come back from that table like lions breathing out fire, thus becoming terrifying to the Devil, and remaining mindful of our Head and of the love he has shown for us. . . This Blood, when worthily received, drives away demons and puts them at a distance from us, and even summons to us angels and the Lord of angels. . . This Blood, poured out in abundance, has washed the whole world clean. . . This is the price of the world; by it Christ purchased the Church… This thought will check in us unruly passions. How long, in truth, shall we be attached to present things? How long shall we remain asleep? How long shall we not take thought for our own salvation? Let us remember what privileges God has bestowed on us, let us give thanks, let us glorify him, not only by faith, but also by our very works.
“If only Christians would reflect more frequently on the fatherly warning of the first pope: ‘Look anxiously, then, to the ordering of your lives while your stay on earth lasts. You know well enough that your ransom was not paid in earthly currency, silver or gold; it was paid in the precious blood of Christ; no lamb was ever so pure, so spotless a victim.’
“If only they would lend a more eager ear to the apostle of the Gentiles: ‘A great price was paid to ransom you; glorify God by making your bodies the shrines of his presence.’ Their upright lives would then be the shining example they ought to be; Christ’s Church would far more effectively fulfill its mission to men. God wants all men to be saved, for he has willed that they should all be ransomed by the Blood of his only-begotten Son; he calls them all to be members of the one Mystical Body whose head is Christ. If only men would be more responsive to these promptings of his grace, how much the bonds of brotherly love among individuals and peoples and nations would be strengthened. Life in society would be so much more peaceable, so much worthier of God and the human nature created in his image and likeness.
“This is the sublime vocation that Saint Paul urged Jewish converts to fix their minds on when tempted to nostalgia for what was only a weak figure and prelude of the new covenant: ‘The scene of your approach now is mount Sion, is the heavenly Jerusalem, city of the living God; here are gathered thousands upon thousands of angels, here is the assembly of those first-born sons whose names are written in heaven, here is God sitting in judgment on all men, here are the spirits of just men, now made perfect; here is Jesus, the spokesman of the new covenant, and the sprinkling of his blood, which has better things to say than Abel’s had.’
“We have full confidence, venerable brethren, that these fatherly exhortations of ours, once brought to the attention of your priests and people in whatever way you deem best, will be put into practice not just willingly but enthusiastically. As a sign of heavenly graces and our affection we impart our most heartfelt apostolic blessing to each of you and to all your flocks, and particularly to those who respond with devout generosity to the promptings of this letter.
Given at Saint Peter’s in Rome, the eve of the feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ’s Most Precious Blood, June 30, 1960, the second year of our pontificate.”
- The above excerpt is taken from: Sanguis Christi – On Promoting Devotion to the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ
- Christ’s Blood, Source of Salvation by St. John Paul II
- Conference on The Precious Blood of Christ by Fr. John A. Hardon SJ
- Catholic Encyclopedia
Fr. Frederick William Faber (1814—1863): The Precious Blood, pp. 23-34:
“We need not go to Jerusalem, we need not have lived eighteen hundred years ago, to find the Precious Blood, and worship it.
[…] We actually worship it every day in the chalice at Mass. When the chalice is uplifted over the altar, the Blood of Jesus is there, whole and entire, glorified and full of the pulses of His true human life.
The Blood that once lay in the cave at Olivet, that curdled in the thongs and knots of the scourges, that matted His hair, and soaked His garments, that stained the crown of thorns and bedewed the Cross…; that same Blood is living in the chalice, united to the Person of the Eternal Word, to be worshipped with the uttermost prostration of our bodies and our souls.
When the beams of the morning sun come in at the windows of the church, and fall for a moment into the uncovered chalice, and glance there as if among precious stones with a restless timid gleaming, and the priest sees it, and the light seems to vibrate into his own heart, quickening his faith and love, it is the Blood of God which is there, the very living Blood whose first fountains were in the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
“When the Blessed Sacrament is laid upon your tongue – that moment and that act which the great angels of God look down upon with such surpassing awe – the Blood of Jesus is throbbing there in all its abounding life of glory. It sheathes in the sacramental mystery that exceeding radiance which is lighting all heaven at that moment with a magnificence of splendor which exceeds the glowing of a million suns. You do not feel the strong pulses of His immortal life. If you did, you could hardly live yourself. Sacred terror would undo your life.
But in that adorable Host is the whole of the Precious Blood, the Blood of Gethsemane, Jerusalem, and Calvary, the Blood of the Passion, of the Resurrection, and of the Ascension, the Blood shed and reassumed. As Mary bore that Precious Blood within herself of old, so do you bear it now. It is in His Heart and veins, within the temple of His Body, as it was when He lay those nine months in her ever-blessed womb.
We believe all this; nay, we so believe it that we know it rather than believe it; and yet our love is so faint and fitful. Our very fires are frost in comparison with such a faith as this.”
[…] The whole of the Precious Blood is in the chalice and in the Host. It is not part: it is the whole. We may well tremble to think what sanctuaries we are, when the Blessed Sacrament is within us.”
THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT HE OFFERED HIMSELF WITHOUT BLEMISH TO GOD TO THE ONE WHO LOVED US WHO WASHED OUR SINS THROUGH HIS BLOOD AND MADE US KINGS AND PRIESTS OF GOD HIS FATHER TO HIM BE GLORY AND POWER. AMEN.
Meditations on the Precious Blood of Jesus from writings of St. Albert
“I adore You, O Precious Blood of Jesus, flower of creation, fruit of virginity, ineffable instrument of the Holy Spirit, and I rejoice at the thought that You came from the drop of virginal blood on which eternal Love impressed its movement; You were assumed by the Word and deified in His person. I am overcome with emotion when I think of Your passing from the Blessed Virgin’s heart into the heart of the Word, and, being vivified by the breath of the Divinity, becoming adorable because You became the Blood of God.
I adore You enclosed in the veins of Jesus, preserved in His humanity like the manna in the golden urn, the memorial of the eternal Redemption which He accomplished during the days of His earthly life. I adore You, Blood of the new, eternal Testament, flowing from the veins of Jesus in Gethsemane, from the flesh torn by scourges in the Praetorium, from His pierced hands and feet and from His opened side on Golgotha. I adore You in the Sacraments, in the Eucharist, where I know You are substantially present….
I place my trust in You, O adorable Blood, our Redemption, our regeneration. Fall, drop by drop, into the hearts that have wandered from You and soften their hardness.
O adorable Blood of Jesus, wash our stains, save us from the anger of the avenging angel. Irrigate the Church; make her fruitful with Apostles and miracle-workers, enrich her with souls that are holy, pure and radiant with divine beauty.”
“My soul, if you wish to be intimate with Mary, let yourself
be carried between her arms and nourished with her blood…
Let this ineffable, chaste thought accompany you
to the Banquet of God and you will find in the Blood of the Son
the nourishment of the Mother.”
St Albert the Great (Albertus Magnus), Dominican, Doctor of the Church, Teacher and Mentor of St. Thomas Aquinas, Patron of scientists and philosophers, Germany ~ 1280+, Incorruptible, Feast day November 15.
Above: Madonna House Apostolate offers all day exposition 6/7 days of week (9 a.m.- 5 p.m. or 8 p.m.), the Roman rite Mass and the Byzantine rite Divine Liturgy
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Adoration enables us to truly enter into His Heart and discover the delights contained therein. Graces are poured out on those who stand before Him and worship Him, waiting to receive this shower of blessings. Hence the need to stand before Him (stabat) until we die with the desire to dwell with Him forever. That is what praying is all about.
Maria of the Himalaya