"I have loved you with an everlasting love...And I know the plans I have for you says the Lord"
Jeremiah:29-31
The Power of Christ's Blood
Saint John Chrysostom "If we wish to understand the power of Christ’s blood, we should go back to the ancient account of its prefiguration in Egypt. “Sacrifice a lamb without blemish,” commanded Moses, “and sprinkle its blood on your doors.” If we were to ask him what he meant, and how the blood of an irrational beast could possibly save men endowed with reason, his answer would be that the saving power lies not in the blood itself, but in the fact that it is a sign of the Lord’s blood. In those days, when the destroying angel saw the blood on the doors he did not dare to enter, so how much less will the devil approach now when he sees, not that figurative blood on the doors, but the true blood on the lips of believers, the doors of the temple of Christ. If you desire further proof of the power of this blood, remember where it came from, how it ran down from the cross, flowing from the Master’s side. The gospel records that when Christ was dead, but still hung on the cross, a soldier came and pierced his side with a lance and immediately there poured out water and blood. Now the water was a symbol of baptism and the blood, of the holy Eucharist. The soldier pierced the Lord’s side, he breached the wall of the sacred temple, and I have found the treasure and made it my own. So also with the lamb: the Jews sacrificed the victim and I have been saved by it. “There flowed from his side water and blood.” Beloved, do not pass over this mystery without thought; it has yet another hidden meaning, which I will explain to you. I said that water and blood symbolised baptism and the holy Eucharist. From these two sacraments the Church is born: from baptism, “the cleansing water that gives rebirth and renewal through the Holy Spirit,” and from the holy Eucharist. Since the symbols of baptism and the Eucharist flowed from his side, it was from his side that Christ fashioned the Church, as he had fashioned Eve from the side of Adam. Moses gives a hint of this when he tells the story of the first man and makes him exclaim: “Bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh!” As God then took a rib from Adam’s side to fashion a woman, so Christ has given us blood and water from his side to fashion the Church. God took the rib when Adam was in a deep sleep, and in the same way Christ gave us the blood and the water after his own death. Do you understand, then, how Christ has united his bride to himself and what food he gives us all to eat? By one and the same food we are both brought into being and nourished. As a woman nourishes her child with her own blood and milk, so does Christ unceasingly nourish with his own blood those to whom he himself has given life. “Go and sin no more” Being the only one without sin, Jesus could have, strictly speaking, thrown the first stone. But he does not do that; he does not condemn her. In her look he understands that this woman has not yet been able to have an authentic human life, one that is willed by God. She has not yet been truly loved for herself…. In the hands of the scribes and Pharisees, then, this woman is nothing but an object, a “pretext” to accuse Jesus. Not being loved for herself, how could this woman ever grasp the truth about loving others and the kind of love God requires between a man and woman? This is a concrete illustration of what human beings have become because of sin: they crave one another, they use one another to their own advantage, almost as if they were objects. Jesus came especially to redeem human beings from this situation, to manifest to them how much they are loved for themselves, freely, without any preconditions…. He does not love the woman the way the others have, that is, to possess her, to use her like property. He makes a gift of love wholly directed toward her; he wants her finally to recover her dignity as a woman and as a full-fledged human being, the way the Father has wanted for her. Only after she discovers the blossoming of this love will the woman find—in this fountain now flowing in her innermost being—the capacity to love others for themselves the way she is loved. The statement Jesus addresses to her--Go, and do not sin again—is not a threat. It is an invitation, although an urgent one, of course, because it allows for the freely given love lavished on her by the Father to permeate her whole existence and her relationships with others. From the moment that she knows she is loved, and loved this way, the woman should now learn to love in light and in truth herself…. Her terror now behind her, the woman experiences Jesus’ gaze of mercy as balm that flows into her heart. No man has ever looked at her that way! What new confidence Jesus’ Go must have instilled in the woman! At that moment it meant, “Go back to living, to hoping; go back home; return to your dignity as a woman; announce to the men, just through your presence among them, that there is not only the law, there is also grace; there is not only justice, there is also mercy.” Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa We have ashes placed on our foreheads. What a curious Catholic custom. What does it mean, having ashes on your head? It means that you came from the earth and to the earth you will return. “Remember, man, that you are but dust.” Ah, but what dust! You are dust that is going to be one with God. Isn’t that enough to make you dance, right in the middle of this ash business? We are not an ordinary dust—we are a dust that is going to be eternal, a dust that is going to be glorified, a dust that is going to be with God. So, let us prepare ourselves to receive that “dust” with joy—a joy based on discipline—and let us enter the corridor of Lent. Lent is a time of going very deeply into ourselves, of really straightening the ways of the Lord. What is it that we have to tear out of our soul, by the roots? What is it that stands between us and God? Between us and our brothers and sisters? Between us and life, the life of the Spirit? Whatever it is, let us relentlessly tear it out, without a moment’s hesitation. Let us be willing to surrender all that we have within ourselves. Lent is a corridor that leads us to the face of the Father, the face of God. You cannot come heavily laden—you were born naked, and when you die you will come naked before God. His Son died naked. So, do not carry anything. You will take before God only that which you have given away. But you are not dead yet! So meanwhile, let things drop, really drop. Then you will enter Lent with a fantastic joy. For every time you drop anything pertaining to the wrong type of self-fulfillment, or to the adoration of yourself, or to all the things that clutter up your life, a sense of immense joy will come to you and through you. Seven weeks are set aside every year for us to let go of the old and to enter into the new, because God is merciful. Now we can pass over from the old life that we led before Lent into the new life after. This “passover” is a daily occurrence; it is not only during Lent. But Lent enhances it and makes you think. It concentrates you. It brings you into the heart of God. Lent is you and I, like Saint John the well-beloved, putting our head on the bosom of Christ and hearing the heartbeats of God (Jn 13:21-25). When you hear the heartbeats of God, you change. We try to listen well to those heartbeats during Lent, so that we may not only repent and make our peace with God, but forgive all who have hurt us. Let each one of us open his or her heart to God, and let him wash us clean, let him fill us with a hunger for him, and a thirst. Let him make us his own, so that when we come to Easter our joy will be beyond reckoning. Servant of God Catherine de Hueck Doherty A Truly Profitable Life
May peace be in your soul…. Every other gift which one possesses in this life is vanity just as all other things of the world are vanity. It is wonderful to be alive inasmuch as our true life is the life beyond; otherwise who could bear the burden of this life if there weren’t a prize for suffering, an eternal joy; how could one explain the admirable resignation of so many poor creatures who struggle with life and often die in the breach if it weren’t for the certainty of God’s justice? In the world which has distanced itself from God, there is a lack of peace, but there is also a lack of charity that is true and perfect love. Maybe if all of us listened more to Saint Paul, human miseries would be slightly diminished…. My life is monotonous, but every day I understand better what a grace it is to be Catholic. Poor unlucky those who don’t have a faith: to live without a faith, without a patrimony to defend, without a steady struggle for the truth, is not living but existing. We must never exist but live, because even through every disappointment we should remember that we are the only ones who possess the truth, we have a faith to sustain, a hope to attain: our homeland. And therefore let us banish all melancholy that can only exist when the faith is lost. Human sorrows touch us, but if they are viewed in the light of religion, and thus of self-surrender, they are not harmful but helpful, because they purify the soul of the little and inevitable stains by which we men, due to our wicked nature, dirty ourselves many times. In this holy Lent, let us lift up our hearts and always go forward for the triumph of the reign of Christ in Society. Cordial greetings in Jesus Christ. Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati is a lay Dominican who died at the age of 24 and was dedicated to serving the poor in his native Italy. |
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I'm not really a writer, but it's on my long list of aspirations to become one. The first on the list is to become a great Saint! My hope is to share knowledge and inspiration as we walk together during our pilgrim journey on earth and guide each other, hand in hand to the gates of Heaven... If you for find this website helpful please consider making a donation today! Archives
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