The Precious Blood which we worship is the Blood which the Savior
shed for us on Calvary and reassumed at His glorious Resurrection; it
is the Blood which courses through the veins of His risen, glorified,
living body at the right hand of God the Father in heaven; it is the
Blood made present on our altars by the words of Consecration ("The
cup of blessing that we bless, is it not the sharing of the Blood of
Christ?" 1 Cor. 10:16); it is the Blood which merited sanctifying
grace for us and through it washes and beautifies our soul ("God has
favored us in His beloved Son, in whom we have Redemption through His
Blood. The remission of sins, according to the riches of His grace,
which has abounded beyond measure in us." Eph. 1:6-8) and inaugurates
the beginning of eternal life in it ("May His Blood be for us, we
pray, a fountain of water springing up to eternal life."
Postcommunion from the Mass for the Precious Blood).

Today's Mass extols the efficacy of the Precious Blood which Christ
shed so generously for us. By it Our Lord welds the peoples of the
earth into one kingdom of God ("Thou has redeemed us, Lord, with Thy
Blood, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and has
made us for our God a kingdom." (Apoc. 5:9-10) By it He cleansed us
not only externally and legally but internally by blotting out the
sins on our soul and opening the heavenly Holy of holies to us ("When
Christ appeared as High Priest of the good things to come, He entered
once for all through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not
made by hands (that is, not of this creation), nor again by virtue of
blood of goats and calves, but by virtue of His own Blood, into the
Holies, having obtained eternal redemption." see Heb. 9:11-15). By it
He won our Redemption, obtained the remission of our sins, appeased
the wrath of God against sinners ("Being justified freely by His
grace through the Redemption which is in Christ Jesus Whom God has
set forth as a propitiation by His Blood through faith." Rom. 3:25).
By It He protects us against the onslaughts of the devil as the blood
of the Paschal lamb protected the Jews in Egypt against the avenging
angel (Ex. 12:13). And what is the ultimate source of this generous
shedding of Christ's Blood? The love of the Sacred Heart revealed to
us through the pierced side of the Savior (John 19:30-35).


Meditation from the Cathedral Missal