Tag: month of the most precious blood

Posted in ONE Minute REFLECTION

One Minute Reflection – 22 July – I took hold of Him and would not let Him go

Posted on by AnaStpaul

I will rise and go about the city; in the streets and crossings I will seek Him Whom my heart loves.

Song 3:2-5; 8:6-7

REFLECTION – Sometimes when meditating she began to see her interior deformities and to be so displeased with herself that with anxiety she would wonder how she could ever be pleasing to God, who would see so many stains in her, for where she saw only one stain the penetrating eyes of the divinity would see an infinite number.

She was reassured about this by the divine reply: “Love makes pleasing.” By this she understood that if on earth human love has such power that sometimes it makes the deformed pleasing, for love’s sake, to those who love them, and even at times so pleasing that the lovers, through the power of love, want to resemble their loved ones, how then be distrustful of God, who is Love itself? Cannot He, through the power of love, make pleasing those whom he loves?

Another time, when she was downcast at the memory of her former sins to such an extent that she desired only to hide herself completely, the Lord deigned to incline with such gracious condescension toward her that the whole court of heaven seemed to be trying to restrain him as if in astonishment. The Lord responded thus: “Nothing can restrain me from following her when she so powerfully attracts my heart by the cords of her humility.”

St Gertrude of Helfta (The Herald of Divine Love, Book III, ch. 30)

PRAYER – Almighty, ever-living God, Your only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ made Mary of Magdala the first herald of Easter joy. Grant that, following her example and helped by her prayers, we may, in this life, proclaim the living Christ and come to see Him reigning with You in glory. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, in unity with the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever, amen.

Posted in LOVE of NEIGHBOUR, QUOTES on LOVE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on Love of Self

Quote/s of the Day – 22 July – Deep waters cannot quench love, nor floods sweep it away

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 22 July –“Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Feast of St Mary of Magdala -– Readings: Ps 118:95-96., Ps 118:1, Song 3:2-5; 8:6-7, Luke 7:36-50

Set me as a seal on Your heart, as a seal on Your arm; for stern as death is love, relentless as the nether world is devotion; its flames are a blazing fire. Deep waters cannot quench love, nor floods sweep it away. Were one to offer all he owns to purchase love, he would despise it as nothing.

Song 3:2-5; 8:6-7

And turning to the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house; you gave Me no water for My feet; but she has bathed My feet with her tears, and has wiped them with her hair. You gave Me no kiss; but she, from the moment she entered, has not ceased to kiss My feet. You did not anoint My head with oil; but she has anointed My feet with ointment. Wherefore I say to you, her sins, many as they are, shall be forgiven her, because she has loved much. But he to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” And He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” And they who were at table with Him began to say within themselves, “Who is this man, who even forgives sins?” But He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Luke 7:36-50

“To magnify her Royal Lover still further,
the soul must have eyes only for Him,
in other words,
with an ever-growing, anxiously eager attentiveness.
the soul must study all the details of His beauty,
His perfections,
must keep on discovering motives
for finding ever-increasing gratification
in the ineffable Beauty with which it is in love.”

St Francis de Sales

LOVE is strong as death: since both equally separate the soul from the body and all terrestrial things, the only difference is, that the separation is real and effectual when caused by death, whereas that occasioned by love is usually confined to the heart. I say usually, because divine love is sometimes so violent that it actually separates the soul from the body, and, by causing the death of those who love, it renders them infinitely happier than if it bestowed on them a thousand lives.

Half-hours with the Saints (Charles Kenny)

“We become what we love
and who we love
shapes what we become.”

St Clare

Love the Lord and so,
learn to love yourselves
that when, by loving the Lord,
you shall have loved yourselves,
you may securely love
your neighbour as yourselves.

St Augustine

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

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.

Posted in ONE Minute REFLECTION

One Minute Reflection – 21 July – “I have come, not to abolish, but to fulfil”

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One Minute Reflection – 21 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Readings: Sir 15:5, Ps 91:2, 2 Tim 4:1-8, Matt 5:13-19

Do not think that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For amen I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot, or one tittle shall not pass of the law, till all be fulfilled.

Matt 5:13-19

REFLECTION – Brethren, let us “sing to the Lord a new song.” To the old man, the old song; to the new man, a new song. The Old Testament is an old song, the New Testament a new song. The first covenant concerns mostly temporal and earthly promises. People who remain attached to the things of the earth still sing an old song. In order to sing the new song, a person must love eternal things. That love is both new and eternal; it is always new, because it never grows old.

But if we think about it, this love is very old. How could it be new? My brethren, was eternal life born yesterday? Eternal life is Christ and, as God, he was not born yesterday. For “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God. He was present to God in the beginning. Through him all things came into being, and apart from him nothing came to be.” If he made what is old, what is he other than eternal, co-eternal with the Father? It is we who, by sin, have fallen into senescence. Human beings have become old as a consequence of sin. It is by God’s grace that we are renewed. All who are thus renewed in Christ sing a new song for they are beginning to be established in eternal life.

PRAYER – Holy, almighty God, You sent Your prophets and then Your only Son to teach us and lead us to eternal life. Remember Lord, Your solemn covenant, renewed and consecrated by the blood of the Lamb, so that Your people may obtain forgiveness for their sins and a continued growth in grace. Send us Your Spirit, to enlighten our hearts and minds and grow in love for You and the Word made flesh. Guide us in our understanding and living, by the Words of the Word. Holy Mother Mary intercede for us, that we may merit to be co-heirs of His Kingdom. Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever, amen.

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

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.

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

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!

Posted in Our MORNING Offering

Our Morning Offering – 19 July – Prayer for Five Graces By St Alphonsus Liguori

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Our Morning Offering – 19 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood”

Prayer for Five Graces
By St Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)
Most Zealous Doctor

Eternal Father, Your Son has promised
that You would grant, all the graces
we ask of You in His name.
Trusting in this promise and in the name of
and through the merits of Jesus Christ,
I ask of You five special graces:
First, I ask pardon for all the offenses I have committed,
for which I am sorry with all my heart
because I have offended Your infinite goodness.
Second, I ask for Your divine Light,
which will enable me to see
the vanity of all things of this earth
and see also, Your infinite greatness and goodness.
Third, I ask for a share in Your love,
so that I may detach myself from all creatures,
especially from myself and love only Your holy will.
Fourth, grant me the grace to have confidence
in the merits of Jesus Christ
and in the intercession of Mary.
Fifth, I ask for the grace of perseverance,
knowing that, whenever I call on You for assistance,
You will answer my call and come to my aid.
I fear only, that I will neglect to turn to You in time of need
and thus bring myself to ruin.
Grant me the grace to pray always,
O Eternal Father,
in the name of Our Lord Jesus.
Amen.

Posted in QUOTES of the SAINTS

Quote/s of the Day – 19 July – We are debtors

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Quote/s of the Day – 19 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Readings: Ps 47:10-11, Ps 47:2, Rom 8:12-17, Luke 16:1-9

Brethren: We are debtors, not to the flesh, that we should live according to the flesh, for if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you will live. For whoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Now you have not received a spirit of bondage so as to be again in fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons, by virtue of which we cry, Abba! Father! The Spirit Himself gives testimony to our spirit that we are sons of God. But if we are sons, we are heirs also: heirs indeed of God and joint heirs with Christ.

Rom 8:12-17

O God, we ponder Your kindness within Your temple. As Your name, O God, so also Your praise reaches to the ends of the earth. Of justice Your right hand is full.

Ps 47:10-11

And this instruction he gives us here also, meaning, Let it have attention shown it indeed, for we do owe it this, yet let us not live according to the flesh, that is, let us not make it the mistress of our life. For it must be the follower, not the leader, and it is not it that must regulate our life, but the laws of the Spirit must it receive.

St John Chrysostom (Homily 14 on Romans)

The prison does the same service for the Christian which the desert did for the prophet. Our Lord Himself spent much of His time in seclusion, that He might have greater liberty to pray, that He might be quit of the world. It was in a mountain solitude, too, He showed His glory to the disciples. Let us drop the name of prison; let us call it a place of retirement. Though the body is shut in, though the flesh is confined, all things are open to the spirit.

Tertullian (To The Martyrs)

“Our greatest cross is the fear of crosses. . .
We have not the courage to carry our cross
and we are very much mistaken,
for, whatever we do,
the cross holds us tight –
we cannot escape from it.
What, then, have we to lose?
Why not love our crosses
and make use of them to take us to heaven?”

St Jean Vianney

“Start being brave about everything!
Drive out darkness and spread light.
Do not look at your weaknesses.
Realise instead, that in Christ Crucified,
you can do all things.”

St Catherine of Siena

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

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!

Posted in Our MORNING Offering

Our Morning Offering – 18 July – Anima Christi

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Our Morning Offering – 18 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood”

Anima Christi

Soul of Christ, sanctify me
Body of Christ, save me
Blood of Christ, inebriate me
Water from the side of Christ, wash me
Passion of Christ, strengthen me
Good Jesus, hear me
Within Your wounds, shelter me
from turning away, keep me
From the evil one, protect me
At the hour of my death, call me
Into Your presence lead me
to praise You with all Your saints
Forever and ever,
Amen

For many years the Anima Christi was popularly believed to have been composed by Saint Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) , as he puts it at the beginning of his Spiritual Exercises and often refers to it. In the first edition of the Spiritual Exercises Ignatius merely mentions it, evidently supposing that the reader would know it. In later editions, it was printed in full. It was by assuming that everything in the book was written by Ignatius that it came to be looked upon as his composition. On this account the prayer is sometimes referred to as the Aspirations of St. Ignatius Loyola and so my image shows St Ignatius at prayer.

However, the prayer actually dates to the early fourteenth century and was possibly written by Pope John XXII but its authorship remains uncertain. It has been found in a number of prayer books printed during the youth of Ignatius and is in manuscripts which were written a hundred years before his birth. The English hymnologist James Mearns found it in a manuscript of the British Museum which dates to about 1370. In the library of Avignon there is preserved a prayer book of Cardinal Pierre de Luxembourg (died 1387), which contains the prayer in practically the same form as we have it today. It has also been found inscribed on one of the gates of the Alcázar of Seville, which dates back to the time of Pedro the Cruel (1350–1369).

The invocations in the prayer have rich associations with Catholic concepts that relate to the Eucharist (Body and Blood of Christ), Baptism (water) and the Passion of Jesus (Precious Blood and Holy Wounds).

Posted in QUOTES on LOVE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD

Quote/s of the Day – 18 July – Greater love than this no one has, that one lay down his life for his friends

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Quote/s of the Day – 18 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Readings: John 15:13, Ps 40:2, 1 John 3:13-18, John 15:12-16

Greater love than this no one has, that one lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:13

“Suffering is the ancient law of love;
there is no quest without pain;
there is no lover who is not also a Martyr.”

Bl Henry Suso (1295-1366)

Wherefore, O blessed, you may regard yourselves as having been translated from a prison to, we may say, a place of safety. It is full of darkness, but you yourselves are light; it has bonds, but God has made you free. Unpleasant exhalations are there, but you are an odour of sweetness. The judge is daily looked for, but you shall judge the judges themselves. Sadness may be there for him who sighs for the world’s enjoyments. The Christian outside the prison has renounced the world, but in the prison he has renounced a prison too. It is of no consequence where you are in the world — you who are not of it. And if you have lost some of life’s sweets, it is the way of business to suffer present loss, that after gains may be the larger.

Tertullian (To the Martyrs)

 Moreover, also, the blessed Saturus related this his vision, which he himself committed to writing:— We had suffered, says he, and we had gone forth from the flesh, and we were beginning to be borne by four angels into the east; and their hands touched us not. And we floated not supine, looking upwards, but as if ascending a gentle slope. And being set free, we at length saw the first boundless light; and I said, ‘Perpetua’ (for she was at my side), ‘this is what the Lord promised to us; we have received the promise.’ And while we are borne by those same four angels, there appears to us a vast space which was like a pleasure-garden, having rose-trees and every kind of flower. And the height of the trees was after the measure of a cypress, and their leaves were falling incessantly. Moreover, there in the pleasure-garden four other angels appeared, brighter than the previous ones, who, when they saw us, gave us honour, and said to the rest of the angels, ‘Here they are! Here they are!’ with admiration. And those four angels who bore us, being greatly afraid, put us down; and we passed over on foot the space of a furlong in a broad path. There we found Jocundus and Saturninus and Artaxius, who having suffered the same persecution were burnt alive; and Quintus, who also himself a martyr had departed in the prison. And we asked of them where the rest were. And the angels said to us, ‘Come first, enter and greet your Lord.’

Tertullian (The Passion of the Holy Martyrs Perpetua and Felicity)

Wherefore, continuing to enjoy fair winds, we were reluctantly hurried on in one day and a night, mourning [as we did] over the coming departure from us of this righteous man. But to him this happened just as he wished, since he was in haste as soon as possible to leave this world, that he might attain to the Lord whom he loved.

The Martyrdom of Ignatius

“Now Paul rejoices with Stephen,
with Stephen he enjoys the brightness of Christ;
he exults with Stephen,
he reigns with Stephen.
There, where Stephen arose,
the first, stoned under Paul’s very eyes,
there too, Paul has risen
with the help of Stephen’s prayers!”

St Fulgentius of Ruspe (c 462 – 533)
Bishop in North Africa

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

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?

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

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.

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

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!

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

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.

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

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!

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

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.

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

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!

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

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

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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 JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

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!

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

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

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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

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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

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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 – 5 July – Your Blood, The Fire of Love! By St Catherine of Siena

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Our Morning Offering – 5 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood”

Your Blood, The Fire of Love!
By St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380)
Doctor of the Church

O sweet Jesus, my Love,
to strengthen my soul
and to rescue it from the weakness
into which it has fallen,
You have built a wall around it
and have mixed the mortar with Your Blood,
confirming my soul and uniting it
to the sweet will and charity of God!
Just as lime mixed with water
is placed between stones to cement them together,
so You, O God, have placed between
Your creature and Yourself,
the Blood of Your only-begotten Son,
cemented with the divine lime
of the fire of ardent charity,
in such a way that there is no Blood
without fire, nor fire without Blood.
Your Blood was shed, O Christ, by the fire of love!
Amen.

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

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.’

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

Quote/s of the Day – 4 July – “Month of the Precious Blood”

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Quote/s of the Day – 4 July – “Month of the Precious Blood”

“Greater love than this
no man hath,
that a man lay down his life
for his friends.”

John 15:13

“Jesus, knowing that his hour was come, …
he loved them unto the end.”

John 13:1

“I beg you never to entertain
the least dread and to place
all your trust in the Blood of Christ Crucified …
May all servile fear be banished from your spirits.
You will say with Saint Paul …
“I can do all things through Christ crucified,
since he is within me by desire
and love and he strengthens me”
(cf. Phil 4:13; Gal 2:20).
Love, love, love!
By His Blood, the gentle Lamb
has made an unassailable rock of your soul.”

St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380)
Doctor of the Church

“The actions of good Christians
are of such great value,
that heaven is given to us for them.
However, … it is not because they come from us
and are the wool of our hearts.
Rather, it is because they are dyed
with the Blood of the Son of God.
I mean, that the Saviour sanctifies our actions
by the merits of His Blood.
A branch of the vine,
united and joined to the stock,
produces fruit, not by it’s own power
but empowered by the stock.
Now we are united by charity
to our Redeemer,
as members to the head (Eph 4:15-16).
That is why our fruits and good works,
drawing their value from Him,
merit life everlasting.”

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

“How long are you going to be deaf to His call?
Or are you going to lose your soul,
which Jesus Christ bought at the price
of His Precious Blood?”

St John Francis Régis (1597-1640)