The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July
By Rev. Richard F. Clarke
30th Day – The Precious Blood in Holy Communion
If in other sacraments the Precious Blood is morally applied to the souls of those who receive them, in holy Communion it is physically communicated to body as well as soul. We have the wonderful privilege of being brought into bodily contact with the Precious Blood, whether it be under the species of wine in the chalice, or of bread in the Sacred Host. How pure our bodies should be if they are thus to touch the Source of all purity, the Holy of holies, the God Whose infinite purity is such that the very angels are not pure in His sight! How can we venture thus to touch Christ Himself? To receive the Precious Blood into our sinful and impure bodies?
Yet Christ Our Lord invites us to do so. In His inexplicable love for us, He desires us, asks us to receive His Precious Blood in holy Communion. Instead of saying, as he did to Mary, Touch Me not, He says, Drink, O My friends, and be inebriated, O my dearly beloved. Admire His divine condescension, and beware of presuming on His patience and His love.
How are we to account for Jesus’ willingness, nay, anxiety, to be thus received by sinful men. It is because in thus communicating Himself to us, He makes us more like to what He Himself is, and what He desires us to be. The Precious Blood imparts to our souls all heavenly gifts and graces if we receive it as we ought. O Jesus, grant that I may receive Thee frequently, fervently, with a complete oblation of my whole self!
AnaStpaul 