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March 10, 2008 • VOL. 46, NO. 5 • Oakland,
CA
In
His Light
The outpouring of Christ’s blood
is for our salvation
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
As I sit down to write this edition of my column I have an image that
continues to play in my imagination. It is a scene from Mel Gibson’s
“The Passion of the Christ.” If you’ve seen that movie,
you will recall that after Christ’s scourging, Our Lady is shown
kneeling on the floor of the courtyard pavement wiping up her Son’s
blood with a cloth.
While there is no warrant in any of the Gospels or other sources for the
historical truth of this depiction, it has a sort of fittingness that
helped to make this moment, at least for me, one of the most memorable
in the film.
This image vividly captures the inestimable worth of Christ’s blood.
I think it keeps coming back to me just now because of where we are in
our progress through Lent to the Easter Vigil.
In the readings for Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours, there is an increasing
mention of blood, of the shedding of Christ’s Precious Blood for
us in his Passion and of how that outpouring of his blood saves us.
| The Litany can be found below this column | |
These Lenten expressions of this truth of our faith come to full flowering
at the Paschal Vigil when the deacon, in the Exultet, proclaims that we
must rejoice, because “this is our Passover feast, when Christ,
the true Lamb, is slain, whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.”
In the Office of Readings for Friday of the Third Week of Lent, we read
in St. Gregory the Great’s meditation on Our Lord’s prayer
for the forgiveness of his executioners, how this cry to his Father for
mercy towards them is present in his blood. Since many of you do not have
access to this text, I will share it with you here.
St. Gregory takes Job’s prayer, “Earth, do not cover over
my blood, do not let my cry find a hiding place in you (Job 16:18),”
as expressing Christ’s prayer for those who put him to death:
“[This text] speaks of Christ’s blood. Earth does not cover
over the blood of our Redeemer, for every sinner, as he drinks the blood
that is the price of his redemption, offers praise and thanksgiving, and
to the best of his power makes that blood known to all around him. …The
blood that is drunk, the blood of redemption is itself the cry of our
Redeemer. [The Letter to the Hebrews] speaks of ‘the sprinkled blood
that calls out more eloquently than Abel’s’ (12:24). Of Abel’s
blood Scripture had written: ‘The voice of your brother’s
blood cries out to me from the earth’ (Gen. 4:10). The blood of
Jesus calls out more eloquently than Abel’s, for the blood of Abel
asked for the death of Cain the fratricide, while the blood of the Lord
has asked for, and obtained, life for his persecutors.”
An extended mediation on Jesus
The Letter to the Hebrews provides St. Gregory with a reference that helps
him to develop his point with great force. This is very understandable,
since that Letter is, in some sense, an extended meditation on Jesus as
the High Priest of the New Covenant, who, at his ascension, comes before
the Father in the heavenly sanctuary with His own blood to obtain our
salvation (see Heb. (9:1-14).
Undoubtedly it is because of the eloquence with which the Letter to the
Hebrews explains how the offering of Christ’s blood was the price
of our redemption that this book of the New Testament is read continuously
in the Office of Readings for the last two weeks of Lent, up until the
Easter Vigil.
The whole of the New Testament, not just the Letter to the Hebrews, testifies
to the infinite worth of the blood of Christ. According to all of the
accounts of the institution of the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper,
Jesus identifies his blood as poured out for the remission of sins, as
the seal of the new and eternal covenant. Thus, it is the sacrifice of
Atonement foretold by Isaiah in his prophecy of God’s Suffering
Servant.
St. Paul, in his farewell to the Ephesians, reminds them that God the
Father bought his Church “with the blood of his own Son” (Acts
20:28). St. Peter puts it this way: “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 Pet. 1:18-19).
And St. John’s testimony to the outpouring of blood along with water
from the open side of Christ dead on the cross is his affirmation of this
mystery.
‘The price of our redemption’
Blessed John XXIII, in his Apostolic Letter on the Most Precious Blood,
summarizes the riches of the biblical teaching by speaking of Christ’s
blood as “the price of our redemption, the pledge of salvation and
life eternal.”
This great pope reminds us that “unlimited is the effectiveness
of [Christ’s] the God-Man’s Blood — just as unlimited
as the love that impelled him to pour it out for us . . . 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 the
Church’s sacraments.”
To reinforce his point, Blessed John quotes from St. John Chrysostom:
“This Blood, poured out in abundance, has washed the whole world
clean.”
In linking here the unlimited effectiveness of Christ’s blood with
the unlimited effectiveness of his love, Blessed John XXIII gives us the
key to understanding how it is that the shedding of the Lord’s blood
accomplishes our redemption.
In his Passion he loved unconditionally and so he makes satisfaction for
all the sinful acts of human history — from Adam until the end of
time — in which we refuse God the whole-hearted love he deserves
from us. Christ loves infinitely in the shedding of his blood, and that
outpouring reconciles us with God and with each other.
Blessed John understands that insofar as Christians begin to comprehend
the significance of the shedding of Christ’s blood for us, we cannot
help but “cherish warmly that marvelous manifestation of divine
mercy toward individuals and Holy Church and the whole world redeemed
and saved by Jesus Christ.”
In other words, to the degree we grasp the worth of Christ’s blood,
we will grow in ardent devotion toward his blood. Such loving devotion
is, then, a special fruit of our observance of Lent. As we recall what
Jesus, as the Paschal Lamb of the New Covenant, did to save us, we respond
with increased faith, and love, and trust in him. (I’ll say a bit
more about this at the end of this column.)
One of the most beautiful expositions about the power and worth of Christ’s
blood I’ve ever encountered was in a sermon of Dr. Billy Graham
which I heard on the television many years ago. Dr. Graham concluded his
preaching by calling on the congregation to comprehend the worth of the
saving blood of Christ and to renew their faith in its power.
To me his sermon was not complete. It was like one of those ancient statues
that has come to us as only a torso without arms or legs or head. It was
fragment. Why? Because Christ invites us not only to have faith in his
Precious Blood, but to actually receive his blood in the Holy Eucharist.
In the Blessed Sacrament Christ gives us his body under the appearance
of bread and his blood under the appearance of wine. His purpose in establishing
this sacrament is to unite us with his saving sacrifice, to give us communion
with his love. And each set of appearances is an awesome sign of the grace
given us through the sign.
‘An almost incomprehensible grace’
As St. Thomas Aquinas reminds us, receiving the whole Christ under these
two different signs “serves to represent Christ’s Passion,
in which the blood was separated from the body” (ST, III, 76, 2).
Drinking Christ’s Precious Blood from the chalice is an almost incomprehensible
grace: the presentation to us and the acceptance by us of the very blood
by which we are saved.
It is my conviction that one of the best results to be looked for from
our attentive Lenten meditations on the meaning and power of Christ’s
Precious Blood will be a renewed reverence in our drinking his blood in
Holy Communion.
In consuming what admittedly looks and tastes like wine, we come into
contact with nothing other than the very blood which Jesus in his love
poured out in his agony in the garden, in his scourging and crowning with
thorns, in his climb to Calvary and crucifixion, and finally from that
great wide wound opened in his Sacred Heart when all “was finished.”
With this renewed appreciation for the incomparable gift of Christ’s
Precious Blood offered us in the chalice at Mass, let us approach it with
wonder and awe. Let us walk from our pew to the Host and then to the cup
with hearts afire for the divine love we are about to consume. Let our
simple gesture of reverence as we bow before the chalice be “supercharged”
with all our love and adoration for Christ who shed this, his Precious
Blood, for me and for those dear to me, even for my enemies and for the
whole world.
Let none of us refer to what is in the cup as “wine.” No more
casual references to “taking the wine,” or “drinking
the wine” or “ministering the wine,” or “liking
the taste of the wine.” It is not wine; it is blood, God’s
blood.
Let all of us, especially us priests and deacons and extraordinary ministers
of Holy Communion, unfailingly express our worship of that which we hold
in the chalice as long as the Precious Blood remains present it.
Let us observe carefully and fully the norms of the Missal’s “Instruction”
about receiving and distributing the Precious Blood, not for the sake
of the norms themselves (that would be only legalism), but with an attention
and reverence that gives heartfelt expression to our loving worship. In
this way we will call and inspire one another to be of one heart and mind
in acts of adoration and gratitude.
And, finally, let us give our whole soul to the grace of drinking Christ’s
blood so that we will, in turn, pour ourselves out in love for God and
neighbor.
I mentioned above that Lent is a most appropriate time to nurture our
devotion to the Precious Blood of Christ. Meditating on the Scripture
readings and the other liturgical tests for this season is an excellent
way to achieve this goal and take possession of this great grace.
Another help I would mention is one praised by the letter of Blessed John
XXIII quoted above: praying the “Litany of the Most Precious Blood.”
To assist you in this regard I am appending a copy to this column. You
could cut it out, place it in your prayer book, and make it part of your
Lenten prayer.
May the Holy Spirit bless these days of the final weeks of our Lent, and
may you come to the Paschal Triduum new again in the life of Christ.
Litany of the Most Precious Blood
of Jesus
(This litany clearly traces the line of salvation
history through a series of biblical references and passages. In its present
form it was approved by Blessed John XXIII on February 24, 1960. “Directory
on Popular Piety and the Liturgy”)
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.
Blood of Christ, Incarnate Word of God, save us.
Blood of Christ, of the new and Eternal Testament, save us.
Blood of Christ, falling upon the earth in the Agony, save us.
Blood of Christ, shed profusely in the Scourging, save us.
Blood of Christ, flowing forth in the Crowning with Thorns, save us.
Blood of Christ, poured out on the Cross, save us.
Blood of Christ, Price of our salvation, save us.
Blood of Christ, without which there is no forgiveness, save us.
Blood of Christ, Eucharistic drink and refreshment of souls, save us.
Blood of Christ, river of mercy, save us.
Blood of Christ, Victor over demons, save us.
Blood of Christ, Courage of martyrs, save us.
Blood of Christ, Strength of confessors, save us.
Blood of Christ, bringing forth virgins, save us.
Blood of Christ, Help of those in peril, save us.
Blood of Christ, Relief of the burdened, save us.
Blood of Christ, Solace in sorrow, save us.
Blood of Christ, Hope of the penitent, save us.
Blood of Christ, consolation of the dying, save us.
Blood of Christ, Peace and Tenderness of hearts, save us.
Blood of Christ, Pledge of Eternal Life, save us.
Blood of Christ, freeing souls from Purgatory, save us.
Blood of Christ, most worthy of all glory and honor, save us.
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 of us a kingdom for our God.
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 beseech Thee, that we may worthily adore this Price of our salvation,
and through its power be safeguarded from the evils of this present life,
so that we may rejoice in its fruits forever in Heaven. Through the same
Christ Our Lord.
R. Amen.
Previous "In His Light" Columns by Bishop Allen H. Vigneron
