Category: CATHOLIC DEVOTIONS of the Month

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Thought for the Day – 28 July – The Precious Blood in Baptism

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

28th Day – The Precious Blood in Baptism

In Baptism the Precious Blood washes away from the soul of the new-born child, or of the adult who approaches the sacrament in good dispositions, the stain of original sin. This privilege extends to all, whether within the Church or outside of it, who are validly baptised with water, and the words prescribed and the intention on the part of him who administers it to do that which the Catholic Church does in the baptism of her children. Thus through the power of the Precious Blood hundreds and thousands of little children are enabled to see the face of God forever in heaven.

It is not merely the absence of what is hateful to God that is the result of Baptism. The soul of the baptised child receives a share of all the perfections and graces won for us by the Precious Blood. It is not merely cleansed, but sanctified. It is not colourless like water, but red with the charity of which the Precious Blood is the sign and symbol. It is filled with all the gifts of the Holy Ghost, the virtues of faith, hope and charity are poured into it. It is beautiful exceedingly in God’s sight, for it has a supernatural likeness to Him.

This beauty remains in the soul of all baptised persons until they commit a mortal sin. It goes on increasing with every action done for God. Nothing can take it away from us except a deliberate or grave act of disobedience to His holy law. Pray for a continually increasing sense of the incomparable beauty of baptismal innocence.

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Thought for the Day – 27 July – The Seventh Shedding of the Precious Blood

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

27th Day – The Seventh Shedding of the Precious Blood

Even when the work of redemption was consummated, and Jesus had breathed forth His soul into His Father’s hands, He shed once more His Precious Blood for man. It was to mark the completeness of His sacrifice that He thus poured forth, as it were, the last drop that still lingered in His Sacred Heart. It was a sign that He kept nothing in reserve. He proved His inexhaustible love to man by this last act by which He bequeathed to man the last trace of life that still remained. Oh, undying, unwavering love of Jesus, that loved us with an extremity of love unto the very end!

The water and the blood that issued from Our Lord’s side were the symbols of the two chief sacraments: the water of holy Baptism, and the blood of the Blessed Eucharist. Thus it was that Christ is said, by this piercing of His side, to have laid the foundations of the Church, amd as Eve, the spouse of Adam was formed from the side of Adam, so the Church, the sacred Spouse of Christ, was formed from His side when the spear of the centurion pierced it. Pray for an intense love of holy Church, on account of the love that Christ bears to His own true spouse.

The centurion little knew the meaning and import of his act when he pierced the side of Jesus. He had some affection of the eyes, and the blood sprinkled upon him cured his sight in a moment. At the same time grace touched his heart, and he was converted. Oh, wondrous power of the sacred blood of Christ!

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Thought for the Day – 26 July – The Sixth Shedding of the Precious Blood

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

26th Day – The Sixth Shedding of the Precious Blood

Not the hands alone, that did for man those works of love, but also the feet, that went about doing good, were pierced by the cruel nails. It seems as if men were bent on requiting the very limbs that were employed for the good of man with evil in return. They not only hate Him without a cause, but they hated Him for His love to them. Such is man when he is in Satan’s power. Such have I too often been, so ungrateful to God, rebelling against the means which He employed to heal my soul and deliver me from sin.

What must have been the unutterable agony of those three hours during which the sacred body of Our Lord was dragging with all its weight on the wounds in His hands and feet! Who can describe it? The agony that racked each nerve so that there was no sound part of His body, the utter exhaustion, and, worst of all, the agonising thirst that was the effect of the the continual streams which drained His sacred body of the Precious Blood. Who can imagine it? “Behold and see, all who pass by the way, whether there is any sorrow like to My sorrow.”

Yet these wounds inflicted by man’s malignity, are now employed by Jesus as arguments pleading for mercy for sinners at His Father’s hands. Oh, Jesus, when shall I forgive, as Thou didst forgive me? When shall I learn that it is a privilege and a glory to return good for evil, and so to resemble Thee?

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Thought for the Day – 25 July – The Fifth Shedding of the Precious Blood

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

25th Day – The Fifth Shedding of the Precious Blood

On the summit of Calvary, stretched upon the rough cross, with His arms extended along the cross-pieces which are to form the horizontal part of it, lies the Son of God, already wounded, covered with blood, exhausted by suffering and by His repeated falls upon the way. Surely the executioners will be satisfied with the ordinary method of tying his arms to the cross, and leaving Him thus to die. No, for the innocent, spotless Lamb of God new tortures are in store. Huge nails are placed in the centre of His hands, and with cruel strokes of a heavy mallet driven through His delicate, sensitive palms. The blows are struck, the Precious Blood gushes forth, and Jesus groans under the exquisite pain which thrills through every nerve.

O Jesus! how can we bear to see Thee thus wounded! Those hands which were ever stretched forth to do good to all, to heal sorrows, and cure diseases! They never did aught but good, how then can cruel men be so ungrateful, so barbarous, so impious as to requite Thee thus? Oh, may I learn to sorrow with Thy anguish, and, like They most holy Mother, to join my compassion to Thy passion!

Yet sad and strange to say, my actions correspond but ill to the expressions of my sorrow. It is for the sins committed by my stretched-out hands that Thou art suffering, for my selfishness, unkindnes, immodesty, anger, covetousness. How shall I compensate Thee for my share in this cruelty? Oh, help me to do so, and show me how I can do so!

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Thought for the Day – 24 July – The Fourth Shedding of the Precious Blood

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

24th Day – The Fourth Shedding of the Precious Blood

After the scourging the soldiers devised a fresh torture for the Son of God. They wove of the spiny branches of the thorn a sort of helmet or crown of thorns, and put it on His head, pressing it down with their spears. The long sharp thorns pierce through the flesh, and the Precious Blood trickles down over His forehead and fills His eyes, blinding Him, and causing Him fresh pain and misery.

This crowning of thorns was to atone for our proud thoughts, impure thoughts, uncharitable thoughts, the trickling blood covering His sacred face, for our wretched vanity and desire to beautify ourselves in the sight of men, the blinding of His eyes for our immodest looks, careless looks, looks of curiosity and pride. O my Lord, how varied were the sufferings Thou hadst to undergo for my manifold sins!

Each form of suffering endured by the Son of God will have its own appropriate reward for His sacred humanity. As for each stripe a fresh ray of glory, for each insult a new song of praise from angels and saints, so the crown He will wear in heaven will be glorious in proportion to the suffering and ignominy of the crown of thorns. All that we suffer for Him will have a corresponding and appropriate reward in heaven.

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Thought for the Day – 23 July – The Third Shedding of the Precious Blood

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

23rd Day – The Third Shedding of the Precious Blood

When Pilate found that he could not persuade the Jews to consent to the release of Jesus, he ordered Him to be scourged, hoping that they might be satisfied with something short of death, and that their rage might be softened at the sight of a punishment so cruel. The scourging was for this reason severe beyond what was usual, as the Pharisees are said to have bribed the executioners and plied them with drink to induce them to still greater barbarity. See how all seemed to unite to add to the tortures inflicted on the Son of God.

Watch the scene. The Son of God with His hands tied to a short pillar, on either side of Him an executioner with a scourge of many lashes, some tipped with barbed spikes of iron, lashing Him with brutal ferocity. His sacred body first covered with bruises and weals, and then the flesh cut open and the Precious Blood first trickling down and then flowing down from the open wounds. Still they go on striking the wounds and sores and bleeding flesh with unrelenting violence, the barbs tearing off morsels of flesh until the ground is covered not only with a pool of blood, but also with morsels of His sacred flesh. O Jesus, what didst Thou not suffer for me!

Hear Him moaning gently in His agony, and amidst the moans praying to the Eternal father to accept each blow in expiation for the sins of men, and especially for the sinful indulgence of the flesh. O Jesus, may the thought of Thy scourging keep me from ever yielding to temptation, and may I mortify my body for the love of Thee!

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Thought for the Day – 22 July – The Second Shedding of the Precious Blood

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

22nd Day – The Second Shedding of the Precious Blood

It is said that those who have suffered an extremity of anguish have sometimes been bathed in a perspiration which was tinged with blood. In the Garden of Gethsemani, Jesus was bathed in a sweat of blood which poured down to the ground. Ah, what must have been the intensity of His agony! None ever knew such sorrow as His. None ever was so crushed by the weight of intolerable misery. How could this happen to the Divine Son of God? To me it might have happened, and happened justly for my sins, but to Him it seems impossible, unjust, cruel.

It happened to Jesus because on Him sin was allowed to wreak all its malice, to do all the havoc of which its immeasurable intensity of evil is possible, as far as was compatible with His sinlessness and His divine perfections. In some respects the very perfection of His nature caused Him to suffer more, as none was so sensitive to pain and disappointment as He, and His divinity, far from being used by Him to relieve His sufferings, was only employed to enable His sacred humanity ro suffer more than it could have borne unaided.

Was this unjust? No, for He took it upon Himself and bore it willingly. Was it cruel? No, for His sacred humanity was to have a reward altogether exceeding such sufferings as His. It was to enjoy the glory of the highest heaven for all eternity in return for its brief agony on earth. For the joy that was set before Him He gladly endured it all, the joy of saving us from sin and death.

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Thought for the Day – 21 July – The First Shedding of the Precious Blood

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

21st Day – The First Shedding of the Precious Blood

It was but a few days after Our Lord’s Birth that His Precious Blood first flowed for the sins of men. It was on the occasion of His circumcision, the rite which is generally believed to have been the condition of the cleansing away of original sin under the Jewish covenant. O Jesus, ar least Thine infancy might have passed before the work of expiation began! No, from His earliest days Christ began His work of redemption. In His yearning love He longed for suffering on behalf of those He loved, and would brook no delay.

The Precious Blood flowing in those earliest days teaches us another lesson. It shows how sin never fails to bring suffering with it. If it did so in the case of God made Man, and that throughout His life so that He was never exempt from suffering, how much more is it reasonable that it should do so in the case of sinful man! If it did such things in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry? How then can I with all my sins expect to escape suffering?

Yet this first blood-shedding, this early suffering, was the occasion of the Name of Jesus being given to the Child Who endured it. He was our Saviour in, and because of His suffering – in and because of the shedding of His Precious Blood. Hence to suffer for Him, to be willing to shed our blood for Him, is the condition of sharing in His glorious work as Saviour of the world. Without suffering, without shedding of blood, there is no remission.

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Thought for the Day – 20 July– The Precious Blood a Lesson of Charity

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

20th Day – The Precious Blood a Lesson of Charity

“He loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own Blood.” (Apoc. i. 5) St John, the apostle of love, mentions this as the primary mark of the love of Jesus for us. He proved His love by saving those He loved from that which would have separated them forever from Him: and this although the loss was theirs, not His, and though it was one that they richly deserved to incur. Here is a model for us, when others wrong us and return ill-will for our love.

This reconciliation He effected at the cost of His own blood. We read sometimes of a child who sheds his blood for father or mother, or a husband who shed his blood for his beloved spouse. We admire exceedingly such noble and generous self-devotion. But who ever heard of one who shed his blood in order to reconcile to himself, and restore peace and happiness to, enemies who had willfully and deliberately insulted him? Love so wonderful as this was possible only to the Son of God.

Yet if we are really to learn of Him to follow in His footsteps, we must imitate Him in this love for enemies. He Himself commands it: “Love your enemies!” “If you love them that love you, what reward shall you have?” The precept seems impossible, and becomes possible only when we contemplate Him Who shed the last drop of His blood for those who hated Him. Looking at Thee, O Lord, I not only will forgive those who have offended me, but I will seek to do them good, that I may have the happiness of doing to them as Thou hast done to me!

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Thought for the Day – 19 July – The Precious Blood a Lesson of Patience

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

19th Day – The Precious Blood a Lesson of Patience

If we watch the Son of God during those scenes in His sacred passion in which He shed His blood for us, we notice in one and all His exceeding and incomparable patience. During the agony in the garden it was the sight of the brutal ingratitude of man that caused the sweat of blood to flow from His sacred limbs. How could He endure to suffer for such wretches? Yet meekly and patiently He endured their sacrileges, blasphemies, impurities, wanton hatred of God, which rose up before Him as He knelt there in Gethsemani.

At the pillar, again, what divine patience! Not a look of anger, not a word of reproach. There He stands, the picture of uncomplaining endurance. What a lesson for me! How ready I am to complain when when I receive some fancied slight or some trifling injury! How different am I from the Son of God! What a contrast is my conduct to His! O Jesus! teach me to endure without complaint my sufferings, which are small indeed when compared with Thine!

See Him once more upon the cross! Listen to the jibes and sneers cast at Him by the priests, their taunts of His inability to save Himself, Messias though He was. How all this must have aggravated His physical agony! Yet His constant prayer was Father, forgive them! O Jesus, grant me more of the patience and meekness Thou didst show while Thy Precious Blood was ebbing forth on the altar of the cross!

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Thought for the Day – 18 July – 18th Day – The Precious Blood a Lesson of Sacrifice

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

18th Day – The Precious Blood a Lesson of Sacrifice

Why did the Eternal Father choose for His co-equal Son that He should close His sojourn on earth by the cruel agony and unspeakable degradation of shedding for man the last drop of the Precious Blood? Would it not have sufficed to redeem us from sin if He had appeared on earth for one instant clad in human form? Yes, but then man would never have learnt the lesson of sacrifice. He would not have been moved to regard suffering as a necessary part of the ideal life. We thank Thee, O Lord, for this Thy commiseration for our blindness and our ignorance!

The lesson of sacrifice for the sake of others is one that Our Lord’s life teaches us throughout. Nothing for Himself, no concession to His human nature for its own sake. No avoiding of pain or reproach on account of the suffering it entailed, but rather a joyful acceptance of all that might be to man a source of grace and a motive of virtue. May I rejoice, O Lord, to have the privilege of following Thee step by step along Thy path of suffering.

This road of suffering is also one that leads us to solid happiness in this world and eternal joy in the next. It is for our own interest to sacrifice ourselves. Who are so happy as they who shed their blood for Christ? For them no purgatory, whatever their past life, but an immediate entrance into the celestial paradise. Such a sacrifice as this may not be asked of me, but how do I make those that I know would be pleasing to Him Who sacrificed Himself wholly for me?

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Thought for the Day – 17 July – 17th Day – The Precious Blood quenching the Flames of Hell

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

17th Day – The Precious Blood quenching the Flames of Hell

Mortal sin can only have two endings: to be blotted out by the Precious Blood, or incur the eternal punishment of hell. By the first it is totally extinguished: by the second it is retained as a testimony to the justice of God and to His infinite holiness, which cannot endure to look upon iniquity. Pray for a great horror of mortal sin, which involves such consequences: everlasting misery for the unrepentant, and the pouring forth of the Precious Blood as the only the only remedy even for those who do penance for their sins.

The guilt of mortal sin is entirely abolished by the blood of Christ, and also the eternal punishment. But the temporal punishment only so far as the sinner has a sufficient contrition for his sin and does all in his power to atone for it. For many who die in the love and fear of God there will remain a heavy debt still to be paid.

How are we to apply to our souls the blood of Christ so that we may be free from temporal punishment as well as from guilt? (1) We must offer up our sufferings in union with those of the Son of God, and bear them with meekness and resignation for His sake. (2) We must make frequent acts of the love of God and seek to bear Him in continual remembrance. (3) We must perform some determinate penaces, for determinate sins, both for sins in the past, and tendencies to sin in the present. (4) We must give alms if we can. (5) We must try and extinguish our own sins by saving others from sin. To prevent one mortal sin is to extinguish a virtual hell.

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Thought for the Day – 16 July – The Trampling on the Precious Blood

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

16th Day – The Trampling on the Precious Blood

There are some who not only waste the Precious Blood, but actually trample it under their feet. These are they who, being washed from all their sins in the most Precious Blood of Jesus, deliberately turn back again to the sins they have abandoned, and set at naught His proffered love and friendship, and become far worse at the end than they were at the beginning. My Jesus! may I never be guilty of such base ingratitude!

But there are other still worse, who, after having been enrolled in the army of Jesus Christ, desert His standard and profess themselves unable to accept the teaching of the Church. Through pride or vice or covetousness they lose all their love of their holy faith and appreciation of its truth. These do indeed trample on the Precious Blood, and put Christ Our Lord to shame. Yet at any time, without God’s grace, I might be guilty of a like abandonment of my faith. O my God, make me always faithful to Thee!

There is a still lower depth. Some not only lose their faith, but become it enemies and traducers. They esteem the blood with which they are sanctified an unclean thing, and offer an affront to the Spirit of grace. They assail the Church, its ministers, its sacraments, its doctrines, with lying lips and open insult. How can any ever fall so low as this? Yet among them all will be found some who were once more pleasing to God than I. May I take warning from them and humble myself, and cherish as an inestimable treasure the grace won for me by the Precious Blood!

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Thought for the Day – 15 July – 15th Day – The Waste of the Precious Blood

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

15th Day – The Waste of the Precious Blood

It seems a strange thing to say that the Precious Blood of Jesus was wasted, and in one sense it is true that every drop fulfilled the design for which it was shed in the honour it gave to God and the immeasurable reward that it won for the sacred humanity of the Son of God. But as regards men, for whom it was shed, it was in great measure wasted, because they in their folly and guilt refused the boon that was offered them. Alas! what madness to spurn such a treasure, every drop of which was worth a million worlds!

How do men waste the Precious Blood? Whenever the reject any grace that was won for them, whether it be a grace to avoid sin, or a grace that was intended to carry them on to a higher level of virtue, their rejection renders it, as far as they are concerned, inefficacious. It has been offered in vain, on account of their non-acceptance of the grace offered them.

Their rejection of it does not simply leave them where they were but puts them in a worse position than before it was received. They are less ready to receive further graces. They have disqualified themselves for at least a portion of the rich store of grace that God had prepared for them. The Precious blood has not only been shed in vain for them, but through their perversity has been for their disadvantage, and not for their benefit, in respect of the grace they have rejected and other graces which would have followed from it. Pray, then, that you may never willingly reject any grace, lest your birthright, like Esau’s, should prove a curse rather than a blessing.

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Thought for the Day – 14 July – Sanctification by the Precious Blood

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

14th Day – Sanctification by the Precious Blood

The Precious Blood does not only wash away the sins of men and restore them to friendship with God. This is but the commencement of its work of love and mercy. It has in it unlimited power to carry them on to the heights of sanctity, to engender in them every virtue, to implant in the soul all the gifts of the Holy Ghost. So we read in the Apocalypse that the Lamb of God has not only washed us from our sins in His own blood, but also made us to be kings and priests of God. So through the Precious Blood there is bestowed on me not only cleannes from my past sins, but graces to make me beautiful in the sight of God.

How does the Precious Blood win these graces for us? It appeals to the love of God and reminds Him that, as He has given us the surpassing gift of His own Son to be sacrificed for us, He must with Him also freely give us all things. In that one gift all else is contained, and we have a sort of claim to whatever we want from the hands of God.

The Precious Blood of Christ also obtains our sanctification by the merits that it won for us. Each drop that was shed was enough, and more than enough, to purchase graces without limit or end. All the actions of Our Lord had an infinite value by reason of His infinite dignity. How much more the shedding of that Blood which in itself calls for the highest adoration!

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Thought for the Day – 13 July – 13th Day – The Conquests of the Precious Blood

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

13th Day – The Conquests of the Precious Blood

Victory without conquest is but of little avail to one who invades the territory of the foe. Our Lord came not only to subdue His enemies, but o obtain for Himself a kingdom. By the shedding of the Precious Blood the kingdoms of this world became the kingdoms of Our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. The blood of Jesus sinking into the ground gave to the earth a new life. The curse had departed, the new era had begun which shall culminate in the new heaven and the new earth wherein dwelleth justice. Pray that the King may soon come to take possession of this kingdom.

The shedding of the Precious Blood also won for Christ our King not only a new territory, but a multitude of new subjects. If the material world was sanctified by the Precious Blood, how much more those who dwelt upon it! What must have been the joy of Jesus to look down on whole countries faithful to Him amidst trials and persecutions! Ireland, Belgium, Spain, Catholic Austria, France, Italy, covered with multitudes subdued and held
in joyful captivity by the Precious Blood. Rejoice in the wide spread of the Faith, and pray that it may spread more and more.

Above all, the Precious Blood has subdued to the yoke of Christ priests innumerable, monks, nuns, saints in the world and in religion, all rejoicing to be the very bond-slaves of the Precious Blood. Their chief calls himself the Servant of the Servants of God. Pray that you may rejoice to be a willing slave of Jesus Christ.

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Quote/s of the Day – 12 July – A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.

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Quote/s of the Day – 12 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Readings: Ps 46:2, Ps 46:3, Rom 6:19-23, Ps 33:12, 6, Ps 46:2, Matt 7:15-21

A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruits you will know them.

Matt 7:15-21

“Take heed that you are not led astray,
for many will come in my name,
saying, ‘I am he!’“

Luke 21:8

“If you believe what you like in the Gospels
and reject what you don’t like,
it is not the Gospel you believe
but yourself.”

Saint Augustine (354-430)

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them. Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruits you will know them.

Matt 7:15-21

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father in heaven shall enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matt 7:15-21

 For as some are mentioned in the sacred Hebrew books, as early as the time of Abraham — neither of his fleshly race nor of the people of Israel nor of the foreign society among the people of Israel — who were, nevertheless, sharers in their sacrament, why may we not believe that there were others elsewhere among other people, here and there, although we do not read any mention of them in the same authorities? Thus the salvation of this religion, by which only true one true salvation is truly promised, never failed him who was worthy of it; and whoever it failed was not worthy of it. And from the very beginning of the propagation of man, even to the end, the gospel is preached, to some for a reward, to some for judgment; and thus also those to whom the faith was not announced at all were foreknown as those who would not believe; and those to whom it was announced, although they were not such as would believe, are set forth as an example for the former; while those to whom it is announced who should believe, are prepared for the kingdom of heaven, and the company of the holy angels.

St Augustine (On the Predestination of the Saints)

Brethren: I speak in a human way because of the weakness of your flesh; for as you yielded your members as slaves of uncleanness and iniquity unto iniquity, so now yield your members as slaves of justice unto sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free as regards justice. But what fruit had you then from those things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of these things is death. But now set free from sin and become slaves to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and as your end, life everlasting. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is life everlasting in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rom 6:19-23

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Thought for the Day – 12 July – 12th Day – The Victories of the Precious Blood

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

12th Day – The Victories of the Precious Blood

The Precious Blood has conquered sin and Satan. It was the shedding of it on the cross which gave the death-blow to the kingdom of the devil. It was when the Son of God had by the loss of His Sacred Blood been reduced to the extremity of weakness and of misery, and brought down to the very gates of death, that He triumphed over the tyrant that had enslaved the world, and compelled all the rebel angels to bow the knee before His sacred humanity. Rejoice with your victorious King, and pray that you may deserve to share His triumph.

The Precious Blood has also conquered sinner by thousands, who, if it had not been shed, would have remained hardened sinners unto the end. Who can withstand its silent appeal, as it trickles down from His head, His hands, His feet? Who can refuse to listen to its silent pledgings? Who can turn away from Him Who has thus loved us even unto death? O my Jesus, may I never turn away from Thy voice calling me from Thy throne upon the cross to love Thee and obey Thy voice!

The Precious Blood has also conquered and averted the anger of God, Whose decree of just retribution would but for it have fallen upon sinners. Can the Father resist the pleadings of his co-equal Son when He holds out His hands, still marked with the scars of His sacred wounds, and asks for mercy and forgiveness for the sinner? May Thy wounds, O Jesus, plead for me now and at the hour of death!

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Our Morning Offering – 11 July – May I Be United With You, Good Jesus By St Peter Canisius

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Our Morning Offering – 11 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood”

May I Be United With You, Good Jesus
By St Peter Canisius (1521-1597)
Doctor of the Church

Let my eyes take their sleep
but may my heart always
keep watch for You.
May Your right hand bless Your servants
who love You.
May I be united with the praise
that flows from You, Lord Jesus,
to all Your saints;
united with the gratitude
drawn from Your Heart, good Jesus,
that causes Your saints to thank You;
united with Your Passion, good Jesus,
by which You took away our guilt;
united with the divine longing
that You had on earth, for our salvation;
united with every prayer
that welled from Your divine Heart, good Jesus
and flowed into the hearts of Your saints.
Amen.

Posted in The HOLY FAMILY

Thought for the Day – 11 July – 11th Day – The Universality of the Precious Blood

Posted on by AnaStpaul

The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

11th Day – The Universality of the Precious Blood

It is of faith that Christ died, not only for the elect, but for all. There was no single individual member of the whole race of men who did not enjoy the privilege of being redeemed by Christ, not the most degraded of heathen, not the most ignorant or the most hardened in sin. The Precious Blood was sprinkled on all, and if they did not avail themselves of its benefits, it was their own fault. None will incur the eternal misery of hell who has not deliberately rejected the forgiveness that the Precious Blood won for us.

What about the innocent child who dies without Baptism? For it, too, the Precious Blood was shed, and if it does not attain to eternal salvation in heaven, this is owing to the willful sin of man, and not to any lack of efficacy in the Precious Blood. It will at least enjoy great natural happiness through all eternity. He who shed His Precious Blood for all is not unmindful of those who through no fault of their own fail of attaining the joy of the beatific vision.

Does the Precious Blood do anything for sinners who have rejected it? Yes, for though their rejection of it excludes them from all right to share in the blessings it won for man, and has deserved for them eternal punishment, yet their punishment, terrible as it will be, will nevertheless be in some way short of what they deserved and this is through the merits of the Precious Blood. Thank God for His infinite mercy, and pray that you may never forfeit any of the graces won for you.

Posted in Holy Name PRAYERS

Quote/s of the Day – 10 July – Praise the Lord, you children, praise the name of the Lord (Ps 112:1, 9)

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Quote/s of the Day – 10 July – “Month of the Precious Blood” – Readings: Ps 112:1, 9, Ps 112:2, Prov 31:10-31, Ps 123:7-8, Matt 12:46-50

Praise the Lord, you children, praise the name of the Lord. He establishes in her home the barren wife as the joyful mother of children.

Ps 112:1, 9

Praise the Lord, you children, praise the name of the Lord. He establishes in her home the barren wife as the joyful mother of children.

Ps 112:1, 9

Blessed be the name of the Lord both now and forever.

Ps 112:2

My Jesus, mercy!

(300 days every time said)

“Faith in Jesus and in the power of His Holy Name
is the greatest spiritual force in the world today.
It is a source of joy and inspiration in our youth;
of strength in our manhood,
when only His Holy Name and His grace,
can enable us to overcome temptation;
of hope, consolation
and confidence at the hour of our death,
when more than ever before,
we realise, that the meaning of Jesus is
‘Lord, the Saviour.’
We should bow in reverence to His Name
and submission to His Holy Will.”

Bl Henry Suso (1290-1365)

“Was it not through the brilliance
and sweet savour of this Name,
that God called us into
His marvelous light?”

St Bernardine of Siena (1380-1444)

“If thou are bound down by sickness,
if sorrows weary thee,
if thou are trembling with fear,
invoke the name of Jesus.”

St Lawrence Justinian (1381-1456)

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

Thought for the Day – 10 July – 10th Day – The Precious Blood on Calvary

Posted on by AnaStpaul

The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

10th Day – The Precious Blood on Calvary

In old pictures and engravings of the crucifixion we often see angels holding a chalice to catch the drops of the Precious Blood as they fall from the sacred wounds in the hands and feet of Jesus. We are also told that the angels collected all the blood that Our Lord had shed during His Passion, that not a drop might be lost. How they must have counted each drop as a treasure of infinite value. What were all the treasures of the earth compared with these drops, instinct with the Godhead of Jesus! Pray that you may scorn all earthly things in comparison with the Precious Blood of Jesus.

The angels not only treasure up the Precious Blood, but they pay to each drop their supreme homage. So we kneel and adore the Precious Blood in the chalice upon the altar. In each drop Christ is present whole and undivided. Make an act of faith in this wondrous miracle, and pray that you may adore with a reverent homage like that of the angels present at the crucifixion.

As the three hours advance, the body of Jesus is more and more drained of the Precious Blood. Hence follows a thirst so agonising that it forced from the lips of Jesus the cry, ‘I thirst!’. When our lips are parched and dry in sickness or in the agony of death, may we remember Thee, O Lord, and Thy sacred thirst endured for us, and may we offer up our sufferings in union with Thy unspeakable and agonising thirst upon the cross!

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

One Minute Reflection – 9 July – The Precious Blood in its Earthly Origin

Posted on by AnaStpaul

The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

9th Day – The Precious Blood in its Earthly Origin

A child in its mother’s womb lives with the physical life of its mother. It is nourished by its mother, and her blood circulates in its veins. The Precious Blood of Jesus flowing through His veins was derived from Mary. She furnished from her immaculate body the Precious Blood that Jesus shed for us. How close must have been the union of Jesus and Mary! Can we wonder at her surpassing holiness when she not only carried her God within her womb, but furnished the very body with which His humanity clothed itself?

We also find in this thought a fresh proof of Mary’s unblemished purity. It is repugnant to our reverence for the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity to imagine Him dwelling in a womb that had ever been defiled by sin, and much more to suppose that the Precious Blood which flowed in His veins and was the price of our redemption did not come from a source as pure as God could make it. Make an act of faith in the Immaculate Conception of Mary, and thank God for that privilege conferred on her.

We must also remember that Jesus’ was wholly Mary’s. It was not as in the case of other children who have an earthly father. The body of Jesus was formed in Mary’s womb by the operation of the Holy Ghost, and naturally Jesus was altogether hers. In heaven, the body that Jesus wears is still derived from Mary, and their union is now closer than ever. In holy Communion Jesus is altogether ours. Do we conform ourselves to Him as Mary did?

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

Our Morning Offering – 8 July – Indulgenced Act of Oblation to Our Father By Pope Pius VII

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Our Morning Offering – 8 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood”

By the Merit of the
Precious Blood of Jesus
By Servant of God Pope Pius VII (1742-1823)
Papacy from 1800 to 1823
Indulgenced Act of Oblation to Our Father

Eternal Father!
I offer Thee the merit
of the Precious Blood of Jesus,
Thy well-beloved Son,
my Saviour and my God,
for all my wants,
spiritual and temporal,
in aid of the Holy Souls in Purgatory
and chiefly for those
who most loved this Precious Blood,
the price of our redemption
and who were most devout
to the sorrows and pains
of most Holy Mary,
our dear Mother.

Glory be to the Blood of Jesus,
now and forever
and throughout all ages.
Amen.

Indulgence of 300 days, each time this prayed is offered, with a Plenary Indulgence, once a month,
under the usual conditions.

Note of Interest: On 15 August 1811 – the Feast of the Assumption – it is recorded that the Pope celebrated Mass and was said to have entered a trance and began to levitate in a manner that drew him to the Altar. This particular episode aroused great wonder and awe among attendants, which included the French soldiers guarding him, who were awestruck at what had occurred and left records of it.

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

Thought for the Day – 8 July – 8th Day – Types of the Precious Blood: (5) The Holocaust

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

8th Day – Types of the Precious Blood: (5) The Holocaust

The holocaust, or whole burnt offering, could be an ox or sheep, or pigeon, or turtle-dove, according to the abilities of him who offered it. Its blood was to be shed, and the whole body was afterwards to be burnt upon the altar. So Christ offered Himself a holocaust to God, there was no part of His human nature that was not sacrificed for the sins of men. All the faculties of His soul, every thought and wish and inclination, every nerve and fibre in His body, all were offered to God and consecrated to Him. Try and realise the extent of this sacrifice.

In this offering Christ left us an example. If we are really to tread in His footsteps, a partial offering is not enough. As long as keep anything for ourselves and deny it to God, there is rapine in our holocaust, that is, we keep back part of what we profess to sacrifice entirely to God, and such an offering cannot be acceptable. Is there anything which I consciously still keep back from God?

First of all, the blood of the sacrifice was to be shed, and the blood, as we read in Holy Scripture, signifies the life. We must therefore dedicate our lives to God before we can belong wholly to Him. Hence the virtue of religious vows. If we are not called to these, at least we are called to make the service of God the end and aim of our daily life. Is this the character of my life?

Posted in The HOLY FAMILY

Our Morning Offering – 7 July – Constant Prayer to the Precious Blood of Jesus

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 7 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood”

Constant Prayer
to the Precious Blood of Jesus
By St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380)

Precious Blood,
Ocean of Divine Mercy,
Flow upon us!
Precious Blood,
most pure Offering,
Procure us every grace!
Precious Blood,
Hope and Refuge of sinners,
Atone for us!
Precious Blood,
Delight of holy souls,
Draw us!
Amen

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

One Minute Reflection – 7 July – I send you forth

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Whatever town you enter, and they receive you, eat what is set before you, and cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God is at hand for you.’ – Luke 10:1-9

REFLECTION – What advantage, pray, could be greater than to be seen doing those things which Christ with his own lips declared to be proofs of love to Himself? For addressing the leader of the apostles He said, Peter, do you love me? and when he confessed that he did, the Lord added, if you love me tend my sheep. The Master asked the disciple if He was loved by him, not in order to get information (how should He who penetrates the hearts of all men?), but in order to teach us how great an interest He takes in the superintendence of these sheep. This being plain, it will likewise be manifest that a great and unspeakable reward will be reserved for him whose labors are concerned with these sheep, upon which Christ places such a high value. For when we see any one bestowing care upon members of our household, or upon our flocks, we count his zeal for them as a sign of love towards ourselves: yet all these things are to be bought for money:— with how great a gift then will He requite those who tend the flock which He purchased, not with money, nor anything of that kind, but by His own death, giving his own blood as the price of the herd.

Wherefore when the disciple said, You know Lord that I love You, and invoked the beloved one Himself as a witness of his love, the Saviour did not stop there, but added that which was the token of love. For He did not at that time wish to show how much Peter loved Him, but how much He Himself loved His own Church, and he desired to teach Peter and all of us that we also should bestow much zeal upon the same. For why did God not spare His only-begotten Son, but delivered Him up, although the only one He had? It was that He might reconcile to Himself those who were disposed towards Him as enemies, and make them His peculiar people. For what purpose did He shed His blood? It was that He might win these sheep which He entrusted to Peter and his successors. Naturally then did Christ say, Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord shall make ruler over His household. Again, the words are those of one who is in doubt, yet the speaker did not utter them in doubt, but just as He asked Peter whether he loved Him, not from any need to learn the affection of the disciple, but from a desire to show the exceeding depth of his own love: so now also when He says, Who then is the faithful and wise servant? he speaks not as being ignorant who is faithful and wise, but as desiring to set forth the rarity of such a character, and the greatness of this office. Observe at any rate how great the reward is — He will appoint him, he says, ruler over all his goods.

PRAYER – Holy God and Almighty Father, we are the disciples of Your Son as we follow Him home to You, grant us we pray, the strength and love to imitate Him in all things and to daily, pick up our cross with joy and commitment. May the Blessed Virgin, be a constant protection and assistance in our times of struggle and may all your Angels , the Apostles and Saints and Martyrs, pray for us, through our Lord Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, God for always and forever, amen.

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

Thought for the Day – 7 July – Types of the Precious Blood: (4) The Offerings for Sins of Ignorance

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

7th Day – Types of the Precious Blood: (4) The Offerings for Sins of Ignorance

In the Book of Leviticus an elaborate ritual is prescribed in expiation of sins committed through ignorance. A calf is to be offered, and the ancients of the people are to lay their hands upon its head, and the priest is to carry some of its blood into the tabernacle of the testimony, and to sprinkle it seven times before the veil and to pour forth the blood at at the foot of the altar. All this is in expiation for sins committed by those who at the time knew not that they were sins. What a proof of God’s hatred of sin, even though he who did the act was was not at the time aware that it was a sin!

Yet such ignorance is rarely altogether without some fault. Sometimes there was at least some faint suspicion that the deed done was displeasing to God, sometimes the ignorance was itself the result of sin blinding the soul and dulling the perceptions, sometimes it was the consequence of obstinacy and self-will. I may have committed many sins through ignorance: were they altogether without fault?

Those sins had to be atoned for with blood, and that blood was a type of the blood of Jesus. He, therefore, shed His Precious Blood for my sins of ignorance as well as sins of malice, and whatever fault was in them added to His sacred sufferings. I must then compassionate with Him in all that He suffered for the countless sins that men have committed against God through ignorance, and especially for my own.

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

Our Morning Offering – 6 July – An Old Morning Prayer

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Our Morning Offering – 6 July – “Month of the Precious Blood”

An Old Morning Prayer – Excerpt
From The Blossoms of the Cross — 1894
The Sisters of St Joseph

I rise In God’s strength,
In God’s power,
In the Agony of Christ,
In the Cross of Christ,
In Christ’s Precious Blood,
These will sustain me against my enemies,
visible and invisible.
I rise in the blessing of Christ
which my dearest Jesus left to the whole world.
Protect me, All-Holy Trinity,
God the Father, Who created me,
God, the Son, Who redeemed me in His Precious Blood,
God, the Holy Ghost, Who sanctified me in Holy Baptism.
God, the Father, I give myself to Thee!
God, the Son, I commend myself to Thee!
God, the Holy Ghost, teach me!
Mary, Mother of God, assist me!
All you Saints of God, pray for me!
All you Holy Angels, protect me!
The Cross of Christ preserve me!
Amen

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

Thought for the Day – 6 July – Types of the Precious Blood: (3) The Peace-Offering

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

6th Day – Types of the Precious Blood: (3) The Peace-Offering

The peace-offering was one of the chief sacrifices of the Old Law. It was an offering of gratitude for blessings received, or of petition for blessings desired. So Jesus offered Himself upon the cross, not only to obtain for us the blessings of eternal life, but also to render thanks to God for His mercy to man and make to Him the only possible return worthy of His majesty.

The blood of the heifer sacrificed was shed as a necessary part of the sacrifice. “The priests, the sons of Aaron shall offer the blood thereof, pouring it round about the altar.” (Lev. i. 5). There is no mark of our gratitude to God like willingness to suffer for Him. The blood is, as it were, the life, and the shedding of it corresponds in the body to the sacrifice of our will in the soul , which is the noblest sacrifice that man can make to God. Do I sacrifice my will to God’s, or is self-will still strong within me?

The blood was shed, moreover, as a means of obtaining fresh favours. Those who are anxious to gain great things from God must make some sacrifice for His sake, and those who are most powerful with Him, are those who give up their will to His. Christ in His sacred humanity is all-powerful with God, because in the head of the book it is written of Him that He should fulfil the will of God and was content to do it. Do I deserve such influence with Him?