July, The Month of the Most Precious Blood
The month of July is traditionally dedicated to the Precious Blood of Jesus. To someone unfamiliar with Catholicism, a devotion involving blood might sound strange, even unnerving. After all, spilled blood ordinarily means injury or even death; not infrequently it means violence, a sign of evil. The Blood of Jesus, on the other hand, offers a sign of hope, bringing cleansing and new life. July of this Jubilee Year of Hope is an especially appropriate time to contemplate the “Precious” nature of Jesus’s Blood, the sacrifice that gives hope to the world.
Blood Mentioned in the Old Testament
From the beginning of salvation history, blood was understood as valuable and deserving of reverence. When Cain killed his brother Abel, God rebuked him by saying, “The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground” (Gen 4:10). Under the Mosaic law, consuming blood was forbidden, since blood represented life: “You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood” (Lev 17:14).
God’s covenant with His people was sealed in blood. The blood of the Passover lamb, spread across the doorposts of the Israelites, protected their firstborn from the destroying angel and marked the beginning of their new life (Ex 12:7, 13). In the regular sacrifices of Israel, the blood of animals was used for purification; the letter to the Hebrews mentions “the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls … for the purification of the flesh” (Heb 9:13).
Sacrificial Lamb
In the definitive, all-sufficient sacrifice of Jesus Christ, blood is poured out that truly takes away sins and ushers in a new covenant. The above-quoted passage from Hebrews, having referenced the animal sacrifices, continues, “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Heb 9:13–14). The New Testament is full of references to the saving Blood of Jesus:
• “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses” (Eph 1:7)
• “The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7)
• “For you were slain and with your blood you purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue, people and nation” (Rev 5:9)
If blood is life, the blood of God Incarnate is divine life, a sacrifice of infinite value, capable indeed of freeing all human beings from sin. That the Lord loved His creatures so much as to not only redeem them Himself, but do it at such great personal cost, is a supremely powerful reason for hope.
Nourished by His Body and Blood
With this background, one can easily understand why Catholic spirituality has long called Jesus’s Blood “Precious” and regarded it with special devotion. Early Christians adapted an ancient legend, one that described mother pelicans as tearing open their own breasts to feed their chicks with blood in times of famine, as an allegory for Christ giving souls life with His Blood. Saint Thomas Aquinas refers to this imagery in his Eucharistic hymn Adoro Te Devote: “O Pious Pelican, Lord Jesus, Thy Blood my sinful filth laves; / One drop of which the entire world from all evil saves.” This symbol can also be found in the church of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, on the sanctuary gate.
Blood from Christ’s Wounds
Saints who teach about the power of Christ’s Blood also include Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, who, as a young girl, had a powerful experience when contemplating an image of Our Lord on the Cross, the blood falling from his hands. “I felt a great pang of sorrow when thinking this blood was falling to the ground without anyone’s hastening to gather it up,” she recalls in her autobiography. “I understood I was then to pour it out upon souls.” This incident first prompted her zeal to pray for sinners.
Divine Mercy
Near our own time, Our Lord Himself gave a message about the power of His Blood through Saint Faustina. When He appeared to her as shown in the Divine Mercy image, with the red ray and the pale ray pouring from His Heart, He explained that these rays represented the blood and water that flowed from His side on the cross: “The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls” (Diary of Saint Faustina, §299). Again, blood is life; now Christ’s life becomes the life of all.
Drawing Hope
In his “Ballad of Reading Gaol,” Oscar Wilde says, “For only blood can wipe out blood, /And only tears can heal.” These words are ultimately verified in Jesus’s Precious Blood. In a world so much wounded, in which blood is so often shed tragically or cruelly, we can draw hope from knowing that God does not stand aloof from our suffering. He descended into the midst of our sinful world, allowed His Blood to be spilled, and in that sacrifice, renewed humanity, offering His life of grace to everyone. This July, as we continue through the Jubilee Year, is an especially blessed opportunity to deepen our hope and love by contemplating the immeasurable gift of our Savior’s truly Precious Blood.
Respecting the Body and Blood of Our Lord:
When Holy Communion Should Be Denied
By His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke
