Our Lord’s Precious Blood is a Mighty Spiritual Weapon CONSTANCE T. HULL

Our Lord’s Precious Blood is a Mighty Spiritual Weapon

CONSTANCE T. HULL

 

The month of July is dedicated to the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord. It is a time to meditate upon and come to a greater love of the Blood Our Lord shed for us during His earthly life and the Precious Blood that is given to us as true drink at every Mass we attend. The great love Our Lord has for us, is as such, that He shed every ounce of it for us.  Not only has He left us the gift of His love in the chalice consecrated by the priest, He has given us a weapon to aid us in the spiritual battles we must wage in this life in order to attain our Crown of Glory.

Shortly after my husband and I were married, he developed debilitating and bizarre migraines that looked like a cross between a stroke and a pulmonary embolism. One morning after having a glass of sangria—which contains red wine—I found my husband unconscious and unresponsive on our bathroom floor. I had to call an ambulance and he was rushed to the hospital. When he came to, he spent 18 hours blind due to the worst migraine he ever experienced. After that incident, we decided it was best for him to refrain from taking the chalice at Mass and I would do the same in sign of unity with him. The body and blood of Our Lord are present in both species.

I refrained from the chalice for a few years, until shortly after my consecration to Mary. Not long after my consecration, my spiritual life grew in unprecedented intensity and I started experiencing forms of spiritual warfare previously unknown to me. I started researching spiritual warfare and stumbled upon helpful videos by FSSP priest and exorcist Fr. Chad Ripperger. It was then I learned that the Precious Blood is one of the most effective spiritual weapons at our disposal.

St. John Chrysostom said of the Blood of Christ:

Let us, then, come back from that table like lions breathing out fire, thus becoming terrifying to the Devil, and remaining mindful of our Head and of the love he has shown for us. . . This Blood, when worthily received, drives away demons and puts them at a distance from us, and even summons to us angels and the Lord of angels. . . This Blood, poured out in abundance, has washed the whole world clean. . . This is the price of the world; by it Christ purchased the Church… This thought will check in us unruly passions. How long, in truth, shall we be attached to present things? How long shall we remain asleep? How long shall we not take thought for our own salvation? Let us remember what privileges God has bestowed on us, let us give thanks, let us glorify him, not only by faith, but also by our very works.

The Precious Blood fortifies us in our battles against the world, the devil, and ourselves. We should walk away from the chalice, with the Blood of the Lamb upon our lips, enkindled with love and prepared for the battle that lies ahead, for the spiritual life is a battle. The shedding of every ounce of His blood for our sakes should have a profound impact on each one of us every time we approach the chalice in order to consume His Precious Blood. We should look upon the chalice with tender devotion and arduous love knowing the gift we have been given. We are unworthy, but nonetheless, He has given His Blood to each one of us to strengthen us and so we may grow in deeper intimacy with Him. He has given His priests the grace to bring forth His Precious Blood in their weak and vulnerable hands because of His even greater love for them.

It is in His Blood that we have been washed clean and it is through His Blood—and His Body—that we are united body and soul to Christ and to one another. Do we consider the gift we receive when we approach the Precious Blood at each Mass? St. John XXIII issued an apostolic exhortation on the Precious Blood, Sanguis Christi, in which he states:

“As we now approach the feast and month devoted to honouring Christ’s Blood — the price of our redemption, the pledge of salvation and life eternal — may Christians meditate on it more fervently, may they savour its fruits more frequently in sacramental communion. Let their meditations on the boundless power of the Blood be bathed in the light of sound biblical teaching and the doctrine of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church. How truly precious is this Blood is voiced in the song which the Church sings with the Angelic Doctor (sentiments wisely seconded by our predecessor Clement VI):

Blood that but one drop of has the world to win

All the world forgiveness of its world of sin. [Adoro te Devote, St. Thomas Aquinas]

Unlimited is the effectiveness of the God-Man’s Blood — just as unlimited as the love that impelled him to pour it out for us, first at his circumcision eight days after birth, and more profusely later on in his agony in the garden, in his scourging and crowning with thorns, in his climb to Calvary and crucifixion, and finally from out that great wide wound in his side which symbolizes the divine Blood cascading down into all the Church’s sacraments. Such sure passing love suggests, nay demands, that everyone reborn in the torrents of that Blood adore it with grateful love.”

This month of July is meant to be a time of greater devotion to the Precious Blood of Our Lord, but this month of devotion should extend to every time we place the sacred chalice to our lips. In our sinfulness, weakness, brokenness, and spiritual battles, the Precious Blood reminds us of how much we need Christ. Devotion to the Precious Blood leads us to surrender ourselves more fully to Him and to rely on Him in every moment of our day. We cannot make a single step forward on the path to holiness without Him. It is why if we are going to cling to something in this life, we should cling to the chalice of Our Lord’s Precious Blood, so that He can continue to wash us anew each time we receive; that we may become white as snow.

Prayer for Calling on the Precious Blood of Our Lord

Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Thy Son I pray: May the Precious Blood of Jesus, wash over me and through me. Let it heal any and every wound and scar, so that the devil may find no purchase in me. Cause it to saturate and fill up my whole being; my heart, soul, mind, and body; my memory, and my imagination; my past and my present; every fiber of my being, every molecule, every atom. Let there remain no part of me untouched by His Precious Blood. Make it flow over and around the altar of my heart on every side.

Fill and heal especially the wounds and scars of/caused by __________.

These things I ask of You, Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus.

Jesus, likewise grant that the light of Your Holy Cross shine in all these same parts of me and my life, that no darkness remain where the devil may hide or have any influence.

Mary, Refuge of Sinners, pray for me to receive these graces I ask. Amen.

✠

image: Detail of a carved panel from the Dominican church of St Dominic in San Francisco by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P. / Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

 

By Constance T. Hull

Constance T. Hull is a wife, mother, homeschooler, and a graduate with an M.A. in Theology with an emphasis in philosophy.  Her desire is to live the wonder so passionately preached in the works of G.K. Chesterton and to share that with her daughter and others. While you can frequently find her head inside of a great work of theology or philosophy, she considers her husband and daughter to be her greatest teachers. She is passionate about beauty, working towards holiness, the Sacraments, and all things Catholic. She is also published at The Federalist, Public Discourse, and blogs frequently at Swimming the Depths (www.swimmingthedepths.com).

10 Things to remember if Pope Francis Bugs you by Fr. Longenecker

Ten Things to Remember if Pope Francis Upsets You
July 15, 2014 By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

Many conservative Catholics are experiencing a range of negative feelings about Pope Francis. When a headline screams that he stated that 2% of Catholic clergy are pedophiles, that he “promises to solve the celibacy problem” that he doesn’t want to convert Evangelicals or that he doesn’t judge a homosexual who “searches for the Lord and has goodwill” they experience confusion, anger, resentment, bewilderment and fear.
Some have given up on Pope Francis. Others say he is “the false prophet” who will accompany the anti Christ in the end times. Others don’t like his dress sense, grumble about his media gaffes and some think they are all intentional and that he is a very shrewd Jesuit who wants to undermine the Catholic faith. The sensationalism doesn’t do any good. These folks should step back and realize they are (in their own way) being just as sensational about Pope Francis as liberals were about Pope Benedict when they called him “God’s Rottweiler” or “Nazi Ratzi” and said he was a closet homosexual and a hater of women.

So if Pope Francis upsets you–and by the way–I’ve had my own moments of head scratching over Francis–here are ten things to remember which help put things in perspective and maintain some balance.

The first thing to remember is that he is the pope. He is not going to change Catholic doctrine or moral teaching. He can’t and he knows that. He may be a “reformer” but there’s only so much he can do. His statement on women priests is an indicator of that: “The door is closed to women’s ordination.”

The second thing to remember is that we have been blessed for the last thirty years with two stellar popes. Most of us don’t remember any other kind of papacy. Both Pope St John Paul II and Benedict XVI have been men of outstanding holiness, intellectual accomplishment, courage and perception, and they were very much bookends. They supported one another. Francis is different, and if he is not their equal in those attributes, he has other strengths. Instead of criticizing him for what he’s not we should be loving him for who he is.

The third thing to remember is that Popes come and go. Each one brings different gifts and different personalities to the papacy. God knows what he’s doing, and if a particular pope challenges your faith…well faith isn’t much good unless it’s challenged. What kind of faith is it it is nothing but certainty and confidence all the time? Think of St Peter walking on the water. That’s faith.

Fourth: is your faith in Jesus Christ and the faith of the church or is it in the pope? Catholics should love the pope, but they should love Jesus more. If one pope comes along who you find difficult to love and understand, take heart. You weren’t supposed to love him that much anyway. It’s okay to love the pope, but those who blame Catholics for idolizing the pope? Well, sometimes they have a point.

Fifth: Check out the times in which we live. With modern social media, every conversation can become a global headline. This is a pope who loves people and relates to them. Here is a pope who connects with people, talks with people, shares with people and embraces people. When this happens there is a multitude of communication risks that take place. The pope says “X” but the person hears “Y” and reports “Z”. Hasn’t this ever happened to you? You’ve had a conversation and it was reported to a third or fourth party and you shriek, “But that’s not what I said!” The only way to avoid this is for the pope to be a silent figurehead in the apostolic palace just waving to people and never saying anything except in a formal papal statement. Maybe some people think this is what the pope should be, and some popes have been content to be that sort of figurehead. Not Francis.

Six: Media people love to write attention grabbing headlines and they know conflict sells. People love to read the gossip. They love to read the scandal. They love to pick up on the negativities. If a sour person can put a negative and shocking headline on a story he will. That’s life. Read More.

We’re foolish to believe the headlines and we’re even more foolish to believe the headlines that do nothing but feed our own negative bias. Example: a liberal who disliked Pope Benedict would gravitate towards headlines that portrayed him as God’s Rottweiler and Nazi Ratzi. They were false but the foolish person swallowed the headline because it reinforced his already existing bias. Do you dislike Francis? Are you gullible enough to pick up the negative headlines about Francis and believe them without listening to the whole story? Do you believe the headline without even reading the whole article? Then it’s your partially your fault.

Seven: Remember Francis is from Argentina. The church scene there is very different from the atmosphere in the USA and Europe. He surprises us in many ways. He surprises right wing conservative American Catholics with what seems to be left leaning economic positions. He surprises liberal Catholics with his emphasis on the devil and the battle against demons. He surprises those in the developed world with his passion for the poor and his ability to turn over some tables. This is part of his gift to the church: that he is an outsider and as such he surprises and disturbs. Isn’t that part of what the gospel should do? Its supposed to make us uncomfortable. Its supposed to make us re-examine our preconceptions, our self righteousness and our certain certainties. Isn’t that what Jesus did to the religious establishment? Sure it’s scary at times. So buckle your seat belt.

Eight: Remember that you don’t have to pay serious attention to every single word that falls from the mouth of the pope. He’s not some sort of divine oracle, and the more he talks informally to people, the more he’s likely to be misunderstood, make gaffes and be mis reported. It’s okay to shrug your shoulders and let him get on with being pope and for you to get on with your Catholic life of prayer, worship, study, service and the pursuit of sanctity. So be a good Catholic and don’t worry about the pope. Even if he’s a corrupt monster (and we’ve had some popes like that) the church goes on. The gates of hell will not prevail against her–and neither will the odd pope who doesn’t fit your ideal.

Nine: The Catholic Church is universal. It’s a very big family. Not everything or everyone will be to your taste. Speaking of taste–how much of your discomfort with Pope Francis is simply a matter of taste? Have you done your homework, read what he has really said, watched what he has really done? Has any of it actually contradicted formal church teaching? Is any of it heresy? No. Maybe you don’t like Pope Francis and maybe you actually think he’s a lousy pope. Maybe you think he could handle the media better and may be you worry about some of his opinions. So welcome to the muddled mystery that is the Catholic Church. If you want a church to your own liking I guess you better go join a sect because the Catholic Church is never going to be 100% what anybody likes. Somebody once asked me after I became a Catholic whether I “liked the Catholic Church.” I said, “No. I didn’t join the Catholic Church because I liked it. If I was joining a church I liked I’d still be an Anglican. I joined it because it was the true church.”

Read more: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/standingonmyhead/ten-things-to-remember-if-pope-francis-upsets-you#ixzz37duQ4ssC