The reason underlying devotion to the Most Precious Blood of Christ is the fact that we were redeemed with the Precious Blood. The Precious Blood of Christ, shed during the Passion, is the price he paid for our salvation.
Our church and parish is dedicated in part to the Precious Blood of Jesus, so it is fitting that we honour the Precious Blood in a special way.
THE PRECIOUS BLOOD IN SCRIPTURE
The Precious Blood of Jesus redeems us
You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 1 Peter 1: 18-19
When Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and heifers sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, 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. Hebrews 9: 11-14
The Precious Blood of Jesus brings us into fellowship with God
But now you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ. Ephesians 2: 13
The Precious Blood of Jesus makes peace with God
For in him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Colossians 1: 20
The Precious Blood of Jesus cleanses us
If we walk in the light, as [God] is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1: 7
The Precious Blood of Jesus gives power over the devil
I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, fort he accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” Revelation 12: 10-11
The Precious Blood of Jesus ratifies the New Covenant
Taking the chalice after supper Jesus said, “This chalice which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” Luke 22:20
The Precious Blood of Jesus is real drink and, together with his flesh, food for our eternal life
Jesus said, “Whoever eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My Flesh is real food and My Blood is real drink. Whoever eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood dwells in Me, and I dwell in him”. John 6: 54-56
When they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. John 19: 34
On Promoting Devotion to the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
An Apostolic Letter from Blessed Pope John XXIII.
June 30, 1960
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 of 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 fulfilment 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 St. 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.”
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 fulfil 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.
PRAYERS IN HONOUR OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD
Jesus, Man of Sorrows, accept the homage I wish to render your most Precious Blood, as a token of my sincerest appreciation for the sorrows and sufferings you have willingly borne to atone for my many sins and to prove how much you love me. I adore you as my very God, who willed to become man in order to save me from eternal death. I thank you as the best Friend I have, who laid down your life as proof of the greatest love possible.
I ask pardon for having so little thought of you, the Man of Sorrows, and for having caused your sorrows and sufferings by the many sins I have committed.
I pray to you, good Jesus, for all the graces I need to know you, to love you and serve you faithfully until death, and to save my soul. Give me a fervent devotion to your Sacred Passion by which I was redeemed, venerating especially your Precious Blood. Teach me how to unite the sorrows and sufferings of my life with your own. Through the merits of your most Precious Blood and the prayers of your Mother of Sorrows, I ask for this special favour:
(Mention your request) ….
With childlike trust I abandon myself to your holy will concerning my request. If it should not please you to grant what I ask, I ask you, give me that which you know will be of greater benefit to my soul. Grant me the grace to know you, to love you, and to be truly sorry that I have offended you. I ask this grace by your Precious Blood:
By that Precious Blood which bathed your sacred Body and trickled down to the ground in the Garden of Olives.
By that Precious Blood which poured forth from your sacred Body during the scourging.
By that Precious Blood which covered your sacred face when you were crowned with thorns.
By that Precious Blood which burst from your hands and feet on Calvary.
By that Precious Blood which came forth from your Sacred Heart after your death.
By that Precious Blood which is still offered daily on our altars at Holy Mass.
By that Precious Blood which we drink in Holy Communion and of which you said, “He who feeds on My Flesh and drinks My Blood has life eternal.”
A HYMN IN PRAISE OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD
Glory be to Jesus,
Who in bitter pains
Poured for me the life-Blood
From His sacred veins.
Grace and life eternal
In that Blood I find;
Blest be His compassion,
Infinitely kind.
Blest through endless ages
Be the precious stream,
Which from endless torments
Dost the world redeem.
Abel’s blood for vengeance
Pleaded to the skies;
But the Blood of Jesus
For our pardon cries.
Oft as it is sprinkled
On our guilty hearts,
Satan in confusion
Terror-struck departs.
Oft as earth exulting
Wafts its praise on high,
Angel-hosts rejoicing
Make their glad reply.
Lift ye then your voices;
Swell the mighty flood;
Louder still and louder
Praise the Precious Blood.
Attributed to Alfonso M. de’ Liguori (1696–1787) Translated by Edward Caswall in Hymns for the Use of the Birmingham Oratory, 1857.
Precious Blood, ocean of Divine Mercy:
Flow upon us.