July, the month of the Precious Blood of Jesus: July 1st

July, month of the Precious Blood of Jesus

1st July SOLEMNITY OF THE PREZ.MO BLOOD

THE SEVEN EFFUSIONS
Come, let us adore Christ, the Son of God, who redeemed us with his Blood. To redeem us, Jesus shed his blood seven times! The reason for such copious and painful effusions should not be sought in the need to save the world, because a single drop would have been enough to save it, but only in its love for us. At the dawn of human history a serious blood event occurred: the fratricide of Cain; Jesus, at the dawn of his earthly life, wants to start redemption with the first outpouring of Blood, that of Circumcision, shed on the same arms of the Mother, as the first altar of the New Testament. Then the first worthy offering from the earth rises to God and, from then on, He will look at humanity no longer with the gaze of justice, but of mercy. Years have passed since this first outpouring - years of humble hiding, of privations and work, of prayer, of humiliations and persecutions - and Jesus begins his redemptive Passion in the garden of olives, shedding sweat of blood. It is not the physical pains that make him sweat Blood, but the vision of the sins of the whole of humanity, which he innocently took upon himself, and the black ingratitude of those who would have trampled on his Blood and refused his love. Jesus again pours Blood into the scourging to purify especially the sins of the flesh, because "for such a putrid plague, there could be no healthier medicine" (S. Cyprian). More Blood in the crown of thorns. It is Christ, the king of love, who in the place of the golden one has chosen the painful and bloody crown of thorns, so that human pride bends before the Majesty of God. Other Blood along the painful way, under the heavy wood of the cross, amid insults, blasphemies and beatings, the torment of a Mother and the weeping of the pious women. "Whoever wants to come after me - he says - deny himself, take up his cross and follow me". There is therefore no other way to reach the mountain of health, than that bathed by the Blood of Christ. Jesus is on Calvary and again pours Blood from the hands and feet stuck to the cross. From the top of that mountain - the true theater of divine love - those bleeding hands reach out for a broad embrace of pity and mercy: "Come to me all!" The cross is the throne and chair of the precious Blood, the emblem that will bring health and new civilization to the centuries, the sign of Christ's triumph over death. The most generous Blood, that of the Heart, could not be missing, just the last drops left in the body of the Savior, and he gives it to us through the wound, which the spear blow opens in his side. Thus Jesus reveals the secrets of his Heart to humanity, so that he will read his immense love to you. This is how Jesus wanted to squeeze all the blood out of every vein and give it generously to men. But what have men done since the day of Christ's death to today to reciprocate so much love? Men continued to be incredulous, to blaspheme, to hate and kill each other, to be dishonest. Men have trampled the Blood of Christ!

EXAMPLE: In 1848 Pius IX, due to the occupation of Rome, was forced to take refuge in Gaeta. Here the servant of God Fr Giovanni Merlini went and predicted to the Holy Father that if he had vowed to extend the feast of the Most Holy Blood to the whole Church, he would soon return to Rome. The Pope, after reflecting and praying, on June 30, 1849 made him answer that he would have done so not by vote, but spontaneously, if the prediction had come true. Faithful to the promise, on August 10 of the same year, he signed the decree for the extension of the feast of the Most Blood to the whole Church on the first Sunday of July. St. Pius X. in 1914, fixed it on the first of July and Pius XI in 1934, in memory of the XIX Centenary of the Redemption, raised it to a first class double rite. In 1970 Paul VI, following the reform of the calendar, joined it to the Solemnity of Corpus Domini, with the new title of Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. The Lord made use of the prophecy of a missionary saint for the extension of this feast to the whole Church and thus wanted to demonstrate how dear the cult to his Precious Blood was.

PURPOSE: I will practice this month, in union with the Precious Blood, praying especially for the conversion of sinners.

GIACULATORIA: Blood of Jesus, price of our ransom, be blessed forever!