Tag: fr richard clarke

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Thought for the Day – 31st July – The Precious Blood in Heaven

Posted on by AnaStpaul

The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

31st Day – The Precious Blood in Heaven

In heaven the Precious Blood of Jesus will not only share the glory of His sacred humanity, but it will be the source of its divine beauty, for the glory of Jesus will then consist in having bought us with a great price, and that price was none other than His Precious Blood. It will be a continual source of joy and thanksgiving to us, and will ever remind us of our ransom from sin and hell, and of the unspeakable blessings we shall then enjoy. Grant, O Lord, that I may share that joy!

The special glory of the Precious Blood appears to be ever present in the minds of the redeemed in heaven, and to form the subject of their songs and praise. ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive honour and glory and power.’ ‘Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God in Thy blood.’ ‘We have washed our robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’ If this is to be the continual song of heaven we must try to anticipate it on earth by cultivating a devotion to the Precious Blood of Jesus.

The Precious Blood will also receive the unceasing homage of the blessed in heaven on account of its having won for them all their graces. It purchased for them the glory that they now enjoy. In the overflowing of their hearts they will recognise it as the fount of all those delights that will inebriate their souls. Through it they drink of the waters of life, through it they gaze in ecstasy on the glory of Jesus, through it they are absorbed in the beatific vision. O my Lord! it is to Thy Precious Blood that I owe everything in this life, and shall owe my eternal happiness in the life to come. Oh, fill me with unspeakable gratitude to Thee now and forever!

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

Posted on by AnaStpaul

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 – 26 July – The Sixth Shedding of the Precious Blood

Posted on by AnaStpaul

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

Posted on by AnaStpaul

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

Posted on by AnaStpaul

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 – 21 July – The First Shedding of the Precious Blood

Posted on by AnaStpaul

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

Posted on by AnaStpaul

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

Posted on by AnaStpaul

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

Posted on by AnaStpaul

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 – 16 July – The Trampling on the Precious Blood

Posted on by AnaStpaul

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

Posted on by AnaStpaul

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

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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!

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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.

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Thought for the Day – 5 July – Types of the Precious Blood: (2) The Blood of the Paschal Lamb

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

5th Day – Types of the Precious Blood: (2) The Blood of the Paschal Lamb

On the night when God delivered His people from Egypt a lamb was slain that was a type of the Lamb of God. It was to be a lamb without blemish, no bone of it was to be broken, it was to be wholly consumed by those in whose dwelling it was slain, and its blood was to be shed to the last drop. Apply these conditions of the paschal lamb to the Lamb of God, and see how perfectly they were fulfilled in the sacrifice of the cross.

The blood of the paschal lamb was to be sprinkled on the door-posts of the Israelites, and thereby they were to be rendered safe from the judgement that fell upon the Egyptians. So the Precious Blood sprinkled upon our hearts saves us from the punishment we have justly deserved. It appeases the anger of God and marks us as belonging to Him, and travellers to the heavenly Jerusalem longing to be freed from the bondage of earthly things.

How is the Precious Blood sprinkled on our souls? In all the sacraments of the Church, in every act of contrition, in every deed of supernatural charity, in every prayer offered humbly and with confidence, it falls upon us, and renders us safe from the avenging angel, and secures us from the anger of God that our sins have justly merited. Asperges me, Domine, hyssopo et mundabor – ‘Sprinkle me, O Lord, and I shall be rendered clean in Thy sight.’

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Thought for the Day – 3 July – The Anticipation of the Precious Blood

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

3rd Day – The Anticipation of the Precious Blood

When the promise of the Redeemer to come was made to our first parents in the Garden of Eden after their fall, the shadow of the Precious Blood fell upon the world and reconciled it with God. The curse that had been incurred lost its fatal power to destroy. The anger of God had been appeased and He looked upon the earth through the medium of the Blood of His only-begotten Son, that was to be shed for sin, and for its sake offered forgiveness and mercy to the sinners who repented of their sin. So may He extend to me the forgiveness and mercy that I need far more than did Adam and Eve, for I have sinned far more deeply and often than they.

As the ages rolled on, the same shadow, sheltering men from God’s fierce anger, still rested on the earth. In its sweet shade rested Abraham and all the patriarchs, Samuel and all the prophets, through its influence sinners found mercy and saints obtained graces innumerable. If it did so much for the heathen world, what must it not do for Catholics! Grant, O Lord, that now and ever I may sit under His shadow Whom I have desired!

All through the four thousand years before Christ came, the tradition of the necessity of the shedding of blood for the forgiveness of sins was almost universal. The Jewish sacrifices were expressly ordained to keep up the memory of it. In heathen countries the blood of victims was almost everywhere offered. God never leaves Himself without a witness even among those who have departed far from Him. Admire His goodness in so doing.

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Thought for the Day – 2 July – The Eternity of the Precious Blood

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

2nd Day – The Name of the Precious Blood of Jesus

St Peter tells us (1 St Pet. i. 20) that the Precious Blood of Christ was ‘foreknown before the foundation of the world.’ From all eternity God had decreed that the Precious Blood of the Word made Man should be shed for us. Even before man had sinned, God had provided a remedy, and had determined that if man should rebel against the sovereignty of God, He would not cast the rebel off, but would redeem him from sin, even at such a price as this! How can we sufficiently admire the love and mercy of God, thus counteracting the effect of sin even before it was committed?

God’s foreknowledge of what was to happen did not effect the perfect freedom of the human will, any more than the presence of a spectator affects the freedom of those whose actions he watches. God determined that the Precious Blood should be spilt because He foreknew that man would sin, and He foreknew that man would sin because in His omniscience He foresaw that man acting freely would use his free will to disobey. Make an act of faith in man’s freedom and God’s foreknowledge.

When God looks forward to my life, what does He forsee? That depends on myself and my voluntary choice of good or of evil. What return does He look forward to from me for the inestimable gift of the Precious Blood? Am I going to grieve and wound Him Who from all eternity decreed that His Precious Blood should be shed to win for me the kingdom of heaven?

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Thought for the Day – 1 July – The Feast and Month of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

1st Day – The Name of the Precious Blood of Jesus

Why is the blood of Jesus called the Precious Blood? Because it was the blood of God Himself veiled under the form of man, and therefore every drop of it as it flowed through His sacred veins deserved our supreme homage, as being united to His divinity. Hence we can adore the Precious Blood as we adore the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and all else which belongs to the Sacred Humanity, with the supreme homage which belongs to God alone.

We also term it the Precious Blood inasmuch as it was the blood of One Who was not only full of grace, but was Himself the Source of all grace, so that the grace that dwelt with Him was infinite, and the grace that manifested itself through the veil of flesh had no bounds or limits, save those that the mere fact of His human nature carried with it. If, therefore, the blood of the saints is counted as most precious, if we treasure a piece of cloth stained with their blood, how much more is the blood of the King of saints precious beyond all price!

The Precious Blood is also precious on account of its effects. One drop of it was sufficient to not only cleanse the world from sin, but to earn all possible graces for all the millions who have ever lived on earth. How infinite then must be its preciousness! What has it not done for man! What has it not done for me! It has washed me clean and made me pure, in spite of all my sins. O Jesus! give me an ever increasing devotion to the Precious Blood!

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Quote/s of the Day – 2 March – “The Month of St Joseph”

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Quote/s of the Day – 2 March – “The Month of St Joseph”

“St Joseph, as the greatest of all the Saints
next to Our Lady, had all the privileges of other Saints.
Hence, we may piously believe that, like St John,
he was cleansed from sin in his mother’s womb.
He was to be Mary’s spouse,
he was to occupy the first and foremost place
in the family of Jesus,
he was, hereafter, to be the Patron of the whole Church!
It was, therefore, fitting that he should be endowed
with this initial privilege of being, from his birth,
a child of God, an heir of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Thank God for this privilege bestowed on him!”

Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)
From “The Devout Year”

Posted in ADVENT QUOTES, GOD ALONE!, GOD is LOVE, QUOTES on HEAVEN, The MOST HOLY REDEEMER, Our SAVIOUR, The O ANTIPHONS

Quote/s of the Day – 28 December – “O Clavis David”

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Quote/s of the Day – 28 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – The Feast of the Holy Innocents

“O Clavis David”

“ O Key of David and Sceptre of the house of Israel,
Who openest and no man shutteth
and shuttest and no man openeth;
Ccome and deliver from the prisonhouse,
the captive who sits in darkness and in the shadow of death.”

“The Key and the Sceptre, are the symbols of supreme authority; they indicate the sway which the Saviour is to hold over His faithful people and the right which He alone possesses of opening the Gate of Heaven to the children of men and of extending to them the golden sceptre of His mercy and forgiving love.
To me, O Key of David, unworthy though I am, open in Thy Mercy the Door of Heaven; stretch forth to me, all undeserving, the sceptre of Thy favour and Thy love.”

Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

Posted in CHRIST the KING, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, EUCHARISTIC Adoration, GOD ALONE!, The DIVINE INFANT, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS, The O ANTIPHONS

Quote/s of the Day – 27 December – “O Emmanuel”

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Quote/s of the Day – 27 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary”

“O Emmanuel”

“O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver,
the expectation of the nations and their Saviour,
Come to save us, O Lord our God!”

“Emmanuel, God with us, is a Name which in every way belongs to Christ Our Lord.
He is with His people in all their needs, ever ready to help and console them.
He is with us on every Altar, waiting for us to come and pour out our sorrow and our needs before Him.
He is with us, above all, in Holy Communion, when He Comes to dwell in our heart and to bring with Him every grace we need.
He is with us in the hour of death and He will be with us forever in Heaven.”

Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

Posted in CHRIST the KING, The O ANTIPHONS

Quote/s of the Day – 26 December – “O Rex Gentium”

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Quote/s of the Day – 26 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary”

“O Rex Gentium”

“O King of the nations and desired of them
and the Cornerstone which maketh both one,
Come and save man, whom Thou didst form of dust.”

“Christ was desired by all nations, long before they knew Him Whom they desired.
The heathen world felt a craving want which it could not define but which was the desire for the Saviour, Who should free them from the bondage of sin.
So now, men of goodwill, outside the Church, feel something of the same strange longing.
Nothing will satisfy it save submission to their King by union with His Mystical Body, the Church of God.
Oh, how happy am I, whose desires are fulfilled, in that I am no alien but a servant of that King, Whom to serve, is my own desire!”

Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST the LIGHT, CHRIST the SUN of JUSTICE, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, The DIVINE INFANT, The O ANTIPHONS

Quote/s of the Day – 25 December – “O Oriens”

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Quote/s of the Day – 25 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – The Nativity of Our Lord, Christmas Day!

“O Oriens”

“O Orient, Splendour of Eternal Light and Sun of Justice;
Come and enlighten those who sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death.”

“That rising Light is the Sun of Justice, Who shall exercise His Justice in delivering the captive and in recompensing His friends a hundred, nay, a thousandfold, for every little service done for Him. For His Justice is virtually identical with His Mercy and rejoices to employ itself in works of pity and of love.”

Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

Posted in ADVENT QUOTES, MARIAN QUOTES, MARIAN REFLECTIONS, The DIVINE INFANT, The O ANTIPHONS, The REDEMPTION

Quote/s of the Day – 24 December – “O Adonai”

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Quote/s of the Day – 24 December – The Vigil of the Nativity oL Our Lord Jesus Christ

“O Adonai”

“O Lord and Leader of the house of Israel,
Who didst appear to Moses in a flame of fire in the bush
and didst give to him the law on Mount Sinai,
Come to Redeem us with Thine outstretched Arm.”

“ The flame of fire in the burning bush, was a figure of Jesus in Mary’s Sacred womb.
Holy indeed was the place where God was present and whence He promised to His people their deliverance from Egypt. So He still speaks, as if concealed in Mary’s womb and reminds us that He has made her holy with a holiness second only to His own and, when we draw nigh to her, we hear His Voice announcing to us that He has heard our prayers offered through her and will come to deliver us from our enemies .”

Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

Posted in DECEMBER - The DIVINE INFANCY and The IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, PRAYERS to the DIVINE INFANT JESUS, The DIVINE INFANT, The HOLY INFANCY, The O ANTIPHONS

Quote/s of the Day – 23 December – “O Radix Jesse”

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Quote/s of the Day – 23 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary”

“O Radix Jesse”

“O Root of Jesse , Who standest for a Sign to the nations, before Whom kings shall close their mouth,
of Whom the Gentiles shall entreat mercy;
Come to set us free and no longer delay!”

 “O Root of Jesse O King and Saviour, Come and set us free; free from all which displeases Thee, free from the snares which entangle our feet, free from our perverse attachment to our own will , free from the power of the devil, free from our apathy in obeying Thy commands and holy inspirations, free from all which hinders us in Thy service; Come and say the Word and we shall be delivered!”

 Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

Posted in DECEMBER - The DIVINE INFANCY and The IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, DOCTRINE, DOGMA, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, MARIAN QUOTES, MARIAN REFLECTIONS, MARIAN TITLES, PAPAL DECREE, QUOTES on CHASTITY, QUOTES on HUMILITY, St Francis de Sales, The IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, The INCARNATION

Quote/s of the Day – 8 December – The Feast of the Immaculate Conception

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Quote/s of the Day – 8 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – The Feast of the Immaculate Conception

“Hail, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee,
blessed art thou among women”

Luke 1:28

On 8 December 1854, Pope Pius IX promulgated Ineffabilis Deus, the Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.
On 25 March 1858, at Lourdes, when asked by St Bernadette, who she was, Our Lady replied:

“I am the Immaculate Conception”

Our Lady to St Bernadette
at Lourdes on 25 March 1858

“She saw herself raised to the highest dignity
that ever was or will be, for although
it should please God to create anew many worlds,
He could never make a pure creature be greater
than the Mother of God.

Our Lady humbled herself
and acknowledged herself
unworthy of being raised
to the high dignity of Mother of God, therefore,
she was made to be His Mother,
for she had no sooner uttered the protestation of her littleness,
than, having abandoned herself to Him,
by an act of incomparable charity,
she became the Mother of the Most High,
Who is the Saviour of our souls!”

St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor of Charity

“The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity
had also been waiting for one, whose immaculate purity should make her fit, as far as any child of Adam could be fit, to be His Mother.
There had been many holy women among
the daughters of Abraham but none, without sin and, therefore, none in whose womb the Son of God
could find repose.
If Christ thus could not come to dwell
with one who was stained with sin,
what must be the purity He requires now,
of those whose Guest He becomes in Holy Communion
O Jesus, forgive me all my careless receptions of Thee,
my want of careful preparation,
my faults innumerable!”

Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)
The Fulfilment of the Decree

Posted in DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, DOCTORS of the Church, DOCTRINE, DOMINICAN OP, FATHERS of the Church, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, NOVEMBER - Month of the SOULS in PURGATORY, PRAYERS for the SOULS, PURGATORY, QUOTES on MERCY, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on REPARATION/EXPIATION, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SUFFERING, QUOTES on the POOR, REDEMPTIVE Suffering, St Francis de Sales, The HOLY SOULS

Quote/s of the Day – 3 November – The Holy Souls in Purgatory

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Quote/s of the Day – 3 November – “The Month of The Holy Souls in Purgatory” and the Feast of the Holy Souls in Purgatory

The Doctrine of Purgatory
by Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Bishop of Geneva
Doctor of Charity of the Church

From “The Catholic Controversy“
(originally published by Burns and Oates, London 1886)
Translated by Rev Henry Benedict Mackey OSB (19th Century)
English Canon of the Isle of Wight

https://www.goodcatholicbooks.org/francis/catholic-controversy/purgatory.html

Prayer for the Holy Souls in Purgatory
By St Ignatius of Antioch (c 35-c 108)
Apostolic Father of the Church

Receive in tranquility and peace,
O Lord, the souls of Thy servants,
who have departed this present life
to come to Thee.
Grant them rest and place them
in the habitations of Light,
the abodes of blessed spirits.
Give them the life that will not age,
good things that will not pass away,
delights that have no end,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

“ … Yet only grant me repentance here below
That I may make reparation for my sins, …
That these tears may extinguish the blazing furnace
With its burning flames. …

And, instead of acting like the merciless,
Set merciful compassion within me,
That, by showing mercy to the poor,
I may obtain Your mercy.”

St Nerses Chnorhali (1102-1173)
Armenian Bishop

“The more one longs for a thing,
the more painful does deprivation of it become.
And because, after this life,
the desire for God, the Supreme Good,
is intense in the souls of the just –
(because this impetus toward Him,
is not hampered by the weight of the body
and that time of enjoyment,
of the Perfect Good, would have come)
had there been no obstacle.
The soul suffers enormously,
from the delay.”

St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
Angelic Doctor

“If, during life, we have been kind
to the suffering Souls in Purgatory,
God will ensure that help be not denied us,
after death.”

St Paul of the Cross (1694-1775)

“The Holy Souls must sometimes think, reproachfully,
how little their friends on earth do
to aid them in their present sufferings.
Among many other methods of aiding them,
I can offer up for them
all the pains of mind and body
which God sends me, asking God
to accept them in alleviation
of the sufferings of the holy souls.
This will help me to be patient
and to suffer willingly and,
when my time comes, I shall find
that patient suffering for others,
will shorten my time of banishment from God,
in the fires of Purgatory.”

Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

Posted in ACT of REPARATION, CATHOLIC Quotes, DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, EUCHARISTIC ADORATION and Nocturnal, GOOD RESOLUTIONS, QUOTES on GRATITUDE, QUOTES on MODESTY, SACRED HEART PRAYERS, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS

Our Morning Offering – 28 September – Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus to make amends for the outrages He suffers in the Blessed Sacrament

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Our Morning Offering – 28 September – “The Month of The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary and The Holy Cross” – Pentecost XVI

Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
to make amends for the outrages He suffers
in the Blessed Sacrament
By Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

Grant me, O Sacred Heart,
by Thine own sweetness
and boundless mercy,
the pardon which I ask for,
and give me grace to keep
the resolution, which I now make,
to do all I can in the future ,
to pay Thee, in the Sacrament of Thy Love,
the profound adoration which I owe Thee
and to show Thee that gratitude
and love which are justly due to Thee.
I resolve to repair my past faults
by the modesty of my deportment
in Thy Churches,
by my constancy in visiting Thee,
my devotion and fervour in receiving Thee
and, in fulfilment of Thy desire,
I impose upon myself the duty of often
repeating Acts of Reparation
in Thy Presence, as Thou hast deigned to direct,
in order, as far as I can, to atone
for the injuries done Thee by others
and of which Thy very love
makes Thee the Victim in this Divine Sacrament.

Bless, I beseech Thee, this resolve
and give me grace to keep it faithfully.
Amen

Posted in CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, PATIENCE - Fr Richard CLARKE, Quote on SELF-ABANDONMENT, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES on DIVINE PROVIDENCE, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, QUOTES on TRUST and complete CONFIDENCE in GOD, St Francis de Sales, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 27 September – Behold, your reward is great in Heaven,

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Quote/s of the Day – 27 September – Saints Cosmas and Damian (Died c 286 ) Martyrs – Wisdom 5:16-20 – Luke 6:17-23 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Be glad in that day and rejoice,
for behold, your reward is great in Heaven,”

Luke 6:23

“Rejoice and be glad,
for your reward
will be great in Heaven.”

Matthew 5:12

“The one who walks in the love of God
seeks neither gain nor reward
but seeks only, with the will,
to lose self and all things, for God
and this loss, the lover judges to be a gain! ”

St John of the Cross (1442-1591)
Doctor of the Church

“It is true that we require great confidence
to abandon ourselves, without any reserve,
to Divine Providence but, when we do abandon all,
Our Lord takes care of all and disposes of all.
But, if we reserve anything which we are
unwilling to confide to Him, He leaves us,
as if He would say:
“You think yourselves sufficiently wise
to manage that affair without Me –
you can do so and see what will come of it!”

St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor Caritatis

“The patience of the Saints
was more severely tried than is ours.
Not only were they stoned, racked, torn asunder,
not only did they suffer want, distress, afflictions
(Hebrews 11 : 37) but, they had to endure
what was still more difficult –
ingratitude, failure, unkindness, false accusations, desolation, darkness.
Yet they willingly endured all for Jesus’ sake,
never ceasing to love Him through it all.
I have my trials, yet none so dreadful as theirs,
yet I complain even under my lighter cross!”

Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)