MONTH OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS – SIXTEENTH DAY

THE CHALICE OF BENEDICTION

Participation in His Blood, more active on our part, is what our Lord desires. This yearning we hear expressed in the words in which our Savior offered His Blood to His disciples, and it can be read from His sacred countenance as He inclines His head on the Cross to the open wound in His Heart. It can be gleaned from the admonition of the Apostle: The chalice of benediction, which we bless, is it not the communication of the blood of Christ? The Mass you attend every Sunday is the representation of the Cross with a something else, namely, your presence, your share and part in the act of infinite religion. Jesus, your Priest and your Victim, is there acting divinely through His human minister; but Jesus should not be alone, offering and offered up on the Eucharistic altar. On the Cross He was alone; it was the original sacrifice giving birth to the Church. On the Eucharistic altar, the Church must be with Him, offering and offered up. We Catholics are, in the words of St. John, purchased from among men, the first-fruits to God and to the Lamb, but as such we have the grave responsibility of being channels of grace to the rest of the world, for if the first-fruit be holy. The Precious Blood has been given to us as the treasure of the Church, as St. Catherine calls it, which we may offer again and again all day long both for ourselves and for others.

Before the elevation at Mass, let us present our own bodies as a living sacrifice by slaying our vices and dying to this world, but with hearts alive with faith and love offering all that we have to Him Who delivered Himself up for us. After elevation let us go forth to the Victim on Calvary that he might sanctify the people by his own blood, by him therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise always to God. The second duty we owe to God, and to satisfy which we should offer the Precious Blood, is to make expiation and reparation for sins committed. For this purpose the Precious Blood was spilt on the Cross and is consecrated in the Mass, which shall be shed for you and for many, to the remission of sins. Then, again, we must make oblation of this Blood in gratitude for the numberless gifts and favors we receive at the hand of God and as the mightiest petition for further benefits. There is no more efficacious means at our disposal to touch the heart of God and to obtain His grace and mercy than the oblation of the Precious Blood. This Blood of the Atonement appeased the wrath of the Father, opened Heaven to us and made us children of God. Ah, how great, then, must be its power of intercession!

How many millions of sins are committed daily whereby the love and goodness of God is outraged! By offering up daily the Precious Blood of Jesus, consecrated on many hundred thousand altars, to save the sorely tempted from falling into sin, what untold honor and glory we should give to the majesty and holiness of God! If we truly loved God our zeal would prompt us to raise the chalice by making these oblations as a barrier to the perversity of the human will and to draw down the grace of God for the enlightenment of the sinner that he might not heap insults upon his Lord and Creator by his reckless sinning. This act of love and zeal would be, at the same time, a means of atonement for our own sins. What joy, what happiness, what merits in heaven we should prepare for ourselves by this simple but soul-saving practice. The practice of offering the Blood of Christ for this purpose should occupy your mind a few moments every morning at Mass after elevation.  He must know that he who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his way, shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins. More precious, however, than His own Blood is to us, are souls in the eyes of the Lord. – St. Bernard.

Chalice Image 

The most magnificent piece is a gold chalice that Catherine II of Russia commissioned as part of a communion set in 1791. It was made in St. Petersburg by Iver Windfeldt Buch of gold, diamonds, chalcedony, bloodstone, nephrite, carnelian, and cast glass.  – Hillwood estate museum 

Month of the Precious Blood of Jesus – Fifteenth day

A LAMB STANDING AS IT WERE SLAIN 

What a grand spectacle in the sight of high heaven, looking down upon this sinful earth, to see not 250,000 sacrificial lambs and the bloody doorposts of the Old Law, but Jesus the Son of the living God, a Lamb standing as it were slain on 250,000 altars every day the world over, pleading with His Five Wounds for us poor banished children of Eve! 250,000 chalices with Thy Blood, O Lord, the Blood of Gethsemane, of the Pretorium, of Golgotha, all the Blood poured out in Thy seven effusions! What love, what a bountiful redemption! Copiosa apud eum redemptio! 

The Bollandists relate of the virgin, St. Coletta, that once on a Maundy Thursday, while the celebrant of the Mass, a bishop, was elevating the sacred Host after the consecration, she began to exclaim: O my God! O merciful Jesus! O ye angels and saints! O Christians and sinners! Do come and behold this miracle, oh, listen to this intercession! And she continued to cry aloud until her confessor was called and commanded her to be silent. After the service the bishop in company with his three priests went to the saint and asked her to explain the cause of all that disturbance. Coletta replied: When you raised the Sacred Host at elevation, Rt. Rev. Bishop, I saw dear Jesus in living reality, covered with fresh and bleeding wounds and affixed to the cross with nails. At the same time I saw Him, with eyes raised to heaven, pleading most tenderly: O merciful Father look with favor down upon Thy beloved Son; behold My sufferings, My wounds, My blood, behold My obedience to Thy will, My zeal for Thy honor, My pity on unfortunate sinners! All this I offer Thee, that all sinners may find mercy and grace with Thee and serve Thee in love. O most holy Father, let not My sufferings endured for them, let not My blood shed for them, be lost to them; accept My vicarious satisfaction and sanctify them, that they may be saved and rejoice in Thee with eternal gratitude! The bishop was deeply moved and said: I believe with my whole soul that Jesus is ever pleading in the tabernacle as hostia (Victim) in the omnipotence of His utter abasement and with the compassionate Blood of His Wounds to obtain for us mercy and grace that we may not spend eternity in hell cursing the Holy Trinity, but praising it forever in heaven. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself. But how wilt Thou draw us, O Lord? Ah, as the flower is inclined to the sun, as the hart is drawn to the running fountain.

By the love of Thy Precious Blood leaping out from Thy Sacred Heart on the Cross and falling in profusion over us in the holy sacrifice of the Mass and flowing through the channels of Thy sacraments into our souls, thereby softening our hardened hearts and making our indifferent and drooping spirits re vive like a plant after a refreshing rain. But now in Christ Jesus, you, who some time were afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. The Blood of Christ is a magnet that draws souls unto itself and inclines God, the tree of life, to show us His mercy. St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi. At this stream of Christ’s Precious Blood, let us weep when we remember our Saviors excessive love for us, as the Israelites did of old when they remembered Sion near the rivers of Babylon. Let our right hand be forgotten, if we do not hang up our work-a-day instruments to make the holy sacrifice of the New Law the beginning of joy, at least on the Lord s day. Let my tongue cleave to my jaws, if I sound not Thy praise, O Lord, in Thy holy temple, where Thou, our King, dost offer worship to Thy heavenly Father in our behalf. For You are come to mount Sion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the company of many thousands of angels and to Jesus the mediator of the dew testament, and to the sprinkling of blood which speaketh better than that of Abel.

It is in the Mass that we come to Jesus the mediator of the New Testament and to the sprinkling of blood. Here our souls are sprinkled with the Blood of the Lamb that taketh away the sins of the world, even as Moses sprinkled the chosen people with the blood of animals and as the priest sprinkles the people on Sunday with holy water. And this divine Blood cries to heaven for us during the Mass with as many voices as there are drops of Blood in the chalice.

MONTH OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS – FOURTEENTH DAY

A LAMB STANDING AS IT WERE SLAIN 

In the first Mass at the Last Supper Christ had to immolate Himself in a mystical manner, before He could give His Apostles His flesh to eat and His blood to drink. This is my body which is given for you. This is my blood of the New Testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins. The food which He gave as well as the sacrifice which He made was spiritual. The Mass corresponds to the Commemorative Passover of the Jews: For Christ our Pasch is sacrificed.  

The sacrifice of the Mass is no new sacrifice instituted by the Church, but the same sacrifice offered by Christ on the Cross; for Christ our Lord, who immolated Himself once only after a bloody manner on Calvary, is the same victim of the Mass, whose sacrifice is daily renewed on our altars in obedience to the command of the Lord: Do this for a commemoration of me. The Eucharist as a sacrament is perfected by consecration; but as a sacrifice, all its force consists in its oblation. Although we say of the ministers of the Mass that they offer sacrifice, yet, when they consecrate the body and blood of our Lord, they do not act in their own, but in the person of Christ, as is shown by the words of consecration. It is Christ the Lord Who offers His own Blood for us at the elevation of the chalice.  For by one oblation he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.  But Christ being come a high-priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hand, that is, not of this creation: Neither by the blood of goats or of calves, but by his own blood, entered once into the holies having obtained eternal redemption. 

Commenting on the form used at Mass in the consecration of the Blood,  For this is the chalice of my blood of the new and eternal testament, the mystery of faith, which shall be shed for you and for many to the remission of sins, the Catechism of the Council of Trent remarks that here, therefore, rather than at the consecration of His body, is appropriately commemorated the passion of our Lord, by the words, which shall be shed for the remission of sins; for the blood, separately consecrated, has more force and weight to place before the eyes of all the passion of the Lord, His death, and the nature of His passion.

 We call the Blood of the Lord the mystery of faith, because, when faith proposes to our belief that Christ the Lord, the true Son of God, at once God and man, suffered death for us, a death designated by the sacrament of His Blood, human reason is most particularly beset with very great difficulty and embarrassment. For we must well understand that the Blood of Christ the Lord is not given under a figure, as was done in the Old Law, but that it is really and truly given to men, a prerogative which appertains to the New Testament.

By a law of Holy Church it is forbidden that anyone but the priests consecrating the body of the Lord in the sacrifice should receive the holy Eucharist under both kinds, without the authority of the Church itself. There are various and many reasons why the laity are not to communicate under both species. In the first place, the greatest caution was necessary to avoid spilling the Blood of the Lord on the ground, a thing that seemed not easy to be avoided, if the chalice ought to be administered in a large assemblage of the people. 

Besides, as the Holy Eucharist ought to be in readiness for the sick, it was very much to be apprehended, were the species of wine long unconsumed, that it might turn acid. Moreover, there are very many who cannot at all bear the taste or even the smell of wine; lest, therefore, what is intended for the health of the soul should prove noxious to that of the body, most prudently has it been enacted by the Church, that the faithful should receive the species of bread only. It is further to be observed that, in several countries, they labor under extreme scarcity of wine, nor can it be brought from elsewhere without very heavy expenses.

The sacrifice of Calvary, of infinite value, was offered once, the application of its fruits must be made every day till the end of time. It must be unhesitatingly taught, says the Council of Trent, that the holy sacrifice of the Mass is not a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving only, or a mere commemoration of the sacrifice accomplished on the Cross, but also truly a propitiatory sacrifice, by which God is appeased and rendered propitious to us.

If, therefore, with a pure heart, a lively faith, and impressed with an inward sorrow for our transgressions, we immolate and offer this most holy Victim, it is not to be doubted that we shall obtain mercy from the Lord and grace in seasonable aid; for so delighted is the Lord with the odor of this Victim, that, imparting to us the gift of grace and repentance, He pardons our sins. Hence, also, this usual prayer of the Church: As often as the commemoration of this Victim is celebrated, so often is the work of our salvation being done that is to say, through this unbloody sacrifice flow to us these most plenteous fruits of the Bloody Victim.

NOVENA TO OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL – NINTH DAY

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Novena           

         July 7 – July 15

       Ninth day  (final day)        

O Most Holy Mother of Mount Carmel, when asked by a saint to grant privileges to the family of Carmel, you gave assurance of your Motherly love and help to those faithful to you and to your Son. Behold us, your children. We glory in wearing your holy habit, which makes us members of your family of Carmel, through which we shall have your powerful protection in life, at death and even after death. Look down with love, O Gate of Heaven, on all those now in their last agony! Look down graciously, O Virgin, Flower of Carmel, on all those in need of help! Look down mercifully, O Mother of our Savior, on all those who do not know that they are numbered among your children. Look down tenderly, O Queen of All Saints, on the poor souls!

   (Pause and mention petitions)

Our Father

Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Pater Noster

Pater Noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.

Hail Mary

Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and in the hour of our death. Amen.

Ave Maria

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, Et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, Ora pro nobis peccatoribus, Nunc et in hora mortis nostrae.

Glory Be

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Gloria Patri

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

O Mary, Conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Mother and Ornament of Carmel, pray for us.

Virgin, Flower of Carmel, pray for us.

Patroness of all who wear the Scapular, pray for us.

Hope of all who die wearing the Scapular, pray for us

St. Joseph, Friend of the Sacred Heart, pray for us.

St. Joseph, Chaste Spouse of Mary, pray for us.

St. Joseph, Our Patron, pray for us.

O sweet Heart of Mary, be my Salvation!

 

Altar boys threaten to resign if girl servers allowed!

Altar boys put pastor under pressure

Altenau – From 23 boys threaten in Altenau 14 with resignation – because they do not want girls in their ranks.

When Hans Hautmann had pitched the current Church Gazette the parish association Bad Kohlgrub, he could not believe his eyes. A message that was read in Wurmansau the parish council, literally drove him a flush of anger in the face. “This is nothing more than extortion,” the Ammertaler says angrily. By this he means that what happens in Altenau: There, the altar boys who prevents a girl is picked up in their lap. True to the motto: Either you or we.

“All this makes me very, very sad,” says Pastor Rudolf Scherer. He would have liked let the girl in Altenau mini trate, but it has the majority of the 23 boys who fill the church there volunteering, not wanted. 14 of them had declared to give up their service, if the girl is taken. “What shall I do then?” The priest asks perplexed and thus illustrates the whole dilemma. “I’m really not happy.” What happens is the pastor, Pastoralreferent Andreas Haering and parish council chairman Christian Staltmeir have made public in the parish news. The text stresses that all “counter to its own convictions” done. All three therefore bow to pressure from the altar boys.

On Tagblatt request the youngsters want not comment on their behavior. But you certify the girl’s mother concerned to be actually quite nice fellows. “I know most yes,” says the woman who does not want to publicize her name to protect her daughter. As the Altenauerin stated that she knew in advance that their request will cause trouble. For the acolytes lock for years against female colleagues. Nevertheless, the girl was disappointed when it did not work well with her. “But you know it’s not about you personally go,” her mother says.

About the result of weeks of negotiations, the representatives of the Parish have informed the family itself.And the three top acolytes should explain themselves. “They stood in front of me and have rumgeeiert” says the mother. The Altenauerin emphasized, however, that she harbors no ill will against them. Even if they can not understand why they should interfere with a girl at the altar service. For everything else there but fellow clubs.

Source

NOVENA TO OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL – EIGHTH DAY

      Novena to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel  

               Eighth day

You give us hope, O Mother of Mercy, that through your Scapular promise we might quickly pass through the fires of purgatory to the Kingdom of your Son. Be our comfort and our hope. Grant that our hope may not be in vain but that, ever faithful to your Son and to you, we may speedily enjoy after death the blessed company of Jesus and the saints.

   (Pause and mention petitions)

Our Father

Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Pater Noster

Pater Noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.

Hail Mary

Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and in the hour of our death. Amen.

Ave Maria

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, Et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, Ora pro nobis peccatoribus, Nunc et in hora mortis nostrae.

Glory Be

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Gloria Patri

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

O Mary, Conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Mother and Ornament of Carmel, pray for us.

Virgin, Flower of Carmel, pray for us.

Patroness of all who wear the Scapular, pray for us.

Hope of all who die wearing the Scapular, pray for us

St. Joseph, Friend of the Sacred Heart, pray for us.

St. Joseph, Chaste Spouse of Mary, pray for us.

St. Joseph, Our Patron, pray for us.

O sweet Heart of Mary, be my Salvation!

NOVENA TO OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL – SEVENTH DAY

 Novena to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

     (July 7 to July 15)

      Seventh day

O Mary, Help of Christians, you assured us that wearing your Scapular worthily would keep us safe from harm. Protect us in both body and soul with your continual aid. May all that we do be pleasing to your Son and to you.

 (Pause and mention petitions)

Our Father

Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Pater Noster

Pater Noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.

Hail Mary

Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and in the hour of our death. Amen.

Ave Maria

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, Et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, Ora pro nobis peccatoribus, Nunc et in hora mortis nostrae.

Glory Be

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Gloria Patri

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

O Mary, Conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Mother and Ornament of Carmel, pray for us.

Virgin, Flower of Carmel, pray for us.

Patroness of all who wear the Scapular, pray for us.

Hope of all who die wearing the Scapular, pray for us

St. Joseph, Friend of the Sacred Heart, pray for us.

St. Joseph, Chaste Spouse of Mary, pray for us.

St. Joseph, Our Patron, pray for us.

O sweet Heart of Mary, be my Salvation!

THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS – THIRTEENTH DAY

THE SPOUSE OF BLOOD

When every commandment of the law had been read by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats with water, and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying: This is the blood of the testament, which God hath enjoined unto you. The tabernacle also and all the vessels of the ministry, in like manner, he sprinkled with blood. And almost all things, according to the law, are cleansed with blood: and without shedding of blood there is no remission But the blood of animals had the power only of purifying from legal defilement, as a type of baptism and penance. If sins were forgiven by the sprinkling of blood, it was only because it disposed sinners for true repentance, through the merits of the Precious Blood of Jesus, The Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world. Hence, on Good Friday, when Jesus Christ, the true Paschal Lamb, shed His Blood for us on the Cross, the Old Testament with all its sacrifices came to an end. Even though lambs were still sacrificed the following year and thereafter, they had no value as sacrifices and no symbolic meaning. This is expressed in the words of St. Paul: Sacrifices and oblation thou wouldest not… Then said I: Behold I come, that I should do thy will, O God: he taketh away the first that he may establish that which followeth. It was the Blood of the Savior that taketh away the first and established that which followeth. (Heb. X, 5-9).   This is the chalice, the New Testament in my blood, which shall be shed for you.

We confess, says the Council of Vienne, that the Divine Word in His assumed nature, did not only want to be nailed to the cross for our salvation and to die thereon, but also that, after giving up His spirit, He wanted His side pierced with a lance, in order to form from the water and blood flowing from this wound, the only and immaculate and virginal mother, the Church, the bride of Christ, even as from the side of the first man cast into a deep sleep, Eve, his wife, was formed. Speaking on these words of Genesis, Then the Lord God cast a deep sleep upon Adam, Mgr. Adalbert Huhn has this beautiful exposition on the Church and the Precious Blood.

Divine Savior on the Cross, he exclaims, we understand Thee! Then the moment had come when God cast also upon Thee a deep sleep; and during this sleep Thy side was opened and from it was taken Thy bride, the Church. Taken from Thy substance and therefore Thine own and the product of Thy Heart and the outcome of Thy Love, that is the Church of Christ: founded in the Cross, taken from the Heart s Blood of the Savior. And only in this conception is it possible to understand the whole importance and the entire greatness of the Church of Christ. His Blood forms the substance of the Church and hence the remarkable inference: Christ and the Church are one, even as Adam and Eve were of one substance, as man and wife are one in marriage, or, if we may reach higher, as Father and Son are consubstantial, so also Christ and the Church. In this sense only can we understand the Divine Savior’s words to His Apostles: He that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me.

Oh, what a terrible error it is in these eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to differentiate in a spirit that is certainly not of heaven, between Christ and the Church, to presume to acknowledge the authority of Christ without acknowledging the authority of the Church. New and Eternal Testament, made between bridegroom and bride, between the second Adam and the second Eve! Whosoever abandons the one must renounce the other;

because both are one. Her life element is His, her graces are no other than His, her truths are identical with His.

The Church does not exist without Christ, because the bridegroom is true to His bride taken from His side in the hour when He was cast into the sleep of love.

From these thoughts let us draw a second conclusion, not less important or less beautiful than the first.  The marriage of Adam and Eve produced a numerous offspring; and from the union of the second Adam formed with His bride from His own Heart s blood also many children are born for heaven. But they must all spring from this marriage, otherwise they cannot be His own. The bridegroom has no other children than those engendered with His bride, with His holy Church; and the children who would honor Him as Father must be received as the fruit of this union, in which there is question, not of flesh and blood, but of spirit and life. Therefore it is impossible to be a child of the Son of God without being a child of His holy Church, and hence whosoever wants to become His child must go to His bride and must seek her in the bond that exists between Him and her. This Divine Blood issuing from the Saviour s sacred wounds on Calvary was destined to over flow the entire earth for all times to come through the Church which our Redeemer established in His Blood. God the Father sent a deluge of water to destroy all living creatures, but God the Son deluged the world with His Blood to save all living creatures. 

More beautiful than the rivers of Paradise, this life-giving stream flows through the channels of the Mass and the Sacraments into millions of hearts, purifying, sanctifying, and glorifying souls. Every good thought and every holy desire that takes root in the heart and blossoms into fruit thrives so luxuriously because the soil is fructified by the Precious Blood.  

Let us, then, love the Church, the greatest gift of the Precious Blood, as Christ also loved the Church, and delivered himself up for it.

NOVENA TO OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL – SIXTH DAY

Sixth day

With loving provident care, O Mother Most Amiable, you covered us with your Scapular as a shield of defense against the Evil One. Through your assistance, may we bravely struggle against the powers of evil, always open to your Son Jesus Christ.

   (Pause and mention petitions)

Our Father

Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Pater Noster

Pater Noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.

Hail Mary

Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and in the hour of our death. Amen.

Ave Maria

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, Et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, Ora pro nobis peccatoribus, Nunc et in hora mortis nostrae.

Glory Be

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Gloria Patri

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

O Mary, Conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Mother and Ornament of Carmel, pray for us.

Virgin, Flower of Carmel, pray for us.

Patroness of all who wear the Scapular, pray for us.

Hope of all who die wearing the Scapular, pray for us

St. Joseph, Friend of the Sacred Heart, pray for us.

St. Joseph, Chaste Spouse of Mary, pray for us.

St. Joseph, Our Patron, pray for us.

O sweet Heart of Mary, be my Salvation!

MONTH OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS – TWELFTH DAY

With Dyed Garments

DEVOTION TO THE MOTHER OF GOD

The Precious Blood of Jesus, says St. Bonaventure, derives its origin from His most holy Mother. Jesus and Mary have prepared for my soul the sweetest and most refreshing potion. St. Athanasius writes in a similar strain: Jesus was nourished at the breast of His Mother that from His own side might flow the Blood of the divine testament, the drink of salvation. When the child Jesus was forty days old, Mary offered the Divine Victim in the temple to His Heavenly Father. With five shekels, according to the law, she then redeemed Him Who afterwards redeemed the world with His Five Wounds.  O good Jesus, exclaims St. Thomas of Villanova, Thou belongest to us by a two-fold right; Thou wast given to us by the Father and purchased for us by the Mother. But it was beneath the Cross that our blessed Mother made the offering of her Son in the most heroic manner. Mary, is then, the rightful dispenser of the Blood of Jesus. Hence St. Anthony gives us these consoling words: Certain access to God is assured us when the Mother stands before the Son and the Son before the Father. Thus a powerful petition, written with the Blood of His well-beloved Son, can be presented every morning to the Father in the holy sacrifice of the Mass through the hands of the Blessed Virgin. The Precious Blood flows, as it were, from the heart of Mary to the heart of Jesus through all the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary. As we meditate on the life of Christ, each bead, each Ave, is imbued with the Blood of the Redemption that circulated in His sacred Body from the time of the Annunciation until His glorious Ascension. In the joyful mysteries, we adore the Precious Blood in the tabernacle of Mary s sacred body, in the crib of Bethlehem and in the temple of Jerusalem. In the sorrowful mysteries, we contemplate and adore the Blood of Jesus in the garden, in the praetorium, in the streets of Jerusalem and on the hill of Calvary. In the glorious mysteries, we worship this same Precious Blood in the glorious body of our Saviour in heaven and on our altars. The first token that God gave our first parents as a sign of reconciliation and the assurance of His protection, was a garment. Rebecca obtained the blessing that belonged to the first-born for her favorite son by means of a garment. The same Jacob gave his favorite son Joseph a coat of many colors, because he loved him more than the rest. Mary made for her Son Jesus a seam less garment that is venerated to this day. Jesus impressed the image of His bloody countenance on the veil of Veronica, and this piece of garment is an object of great devotion. And now, my dearest Mother Mary, I beseech Thee with confidence, obtain for me, although thy unworthy child, the blessing of God the Father by covering me with the merits of thy Son Jesus, that I may regain my eternal birthright in heaven. Clothe me every evening, Sweet Lady of Mt. Carmel, but especially on the eve of my life, with the Dyed Garments of the Precious Blood.

THE SPOUSE OF BLOOD

Upon the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept, when we remembered Sion. On the willows in the midst thereof, we hung up our instruments. For there they that led us into captivity required of us the words of songs. And they that carried us away said: sing ye to us a hymn of the songs of Sion. How shall we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten. Let my tongue cleave to my jaws, if I do not remember thee: if I make not Jerusalem the beginning of my joy (Ps. 136). In these words, an exile returning from the Babylonian captivity expressed the intense grief of the children of Israel over their banishment from the Holy City. How great must have been their love of the divine worship in the temple, if they sat and wept when they remembered Sion! How ardent must have been their enthusiasm in speaking of the solemnity of the daily sacrifices offered at Jerusalem, since they were requested by those who had carried them away to sing a hymn of the songs of Sion! What fealty and attachment to their faith, if they would rather lose their right hand and have their tongue cleave to their jaw than be a traitor to their holy religion! The magnificent temple, the hundreds of priests and Levites, the solemn rites, the beautiful songs, the thousands of victims, all this was in spiring, indeed. But what must have made the deepest impression on the faithful Israelites was, to see the priest who had charge of the temple service accept and slay the offering, carefully gather its blood, sprinkle with it him who offered the victim and then pour out the rest around the altar. This was a daily custom and lasted from the time of Aaron to the coming of Christ, excepting the time the Jews were in captivity. What a grand spectacle, for instance, is presented to our vision by a description of the ceremonies of the Passover, the greatest feast of the Hebrews, by which they celebrated their escape from the angel of the Passover and their deliverance from Egyptian bondage. In commemoration of these miraculous events, Moses commanded that at Eastertide a lamb was to be slain by every family and with its blood the doorpost to be sprinkled three times. In the days of Christ it was customary for every Jew to eat this paschal lamb at Jerusalem. The city itself was not large enough to contain the immense number of guests, who therefore put up tents beyond the city limits. Josephus tell us that just before the destruction of Jerusalem 250,000 lambs were slain at one time for the feast of Easter; since no fewer than ten persons were required for every lamb, we can estimate the number of persons who took part in this grand act of sacrifice. When we recall the manner in which these sacrificial lambs were immolated, the scene becomes still more spectacular. At three o clock on the Thursday before Easter the temple priests blew great blasts on their silver trumpets, to tell the waiting multitude that they were ready for the sacrifice of the paschal lamb. Now could be seen hundreds of thousands of lambs carried hither and thither from the temple on the shoulders of the leader of each little band of pilgrims. Each lamb was then suspended on two sticks forming a cross. The longer stick was driven through the body and in the tendons of the hind legs; the shorter one caused the front feet to be extended. These supports were to be of wood. In this manner the lamb was roasted and placed upon the table. What a true image of our Lord upon the Cross! It was God who ordained that blood should form the covenant between Himself and His chosen people.