Most Precious Blood 1.7.18 Sacrifice
Christ replaces the animals of the old testament. The animal
sacrifices did not take away sin of themselves, only indicating a desire of the
people to be forgiven.
Our Lord makes Himself the Lamb of sacrifice, a sacrifice
exceeding all others because His Blood has infinite value. His blood really
cleanses from sin.
He offers Himself. He is both Priest and Victim.
But He did not kill Himself. We (the whole human race)
killed Him, by our sin. Some did the physical tasks of killing Him but all of
us contributed.
This is not to our credit, yet it works in our favour. We
shed His blood and that blood saves us!
It should have increased our punishment but it actually
makes us better off; it opens the way for us to be forgiven for all our sins,
and finally to enter Heaven.
God blesses us further by giving us the Mass, wherein we can
be present at Our Lord’s saving sacrifice, and benefit from it.
This is the cup of My
blood… it will be shed for you and for many so that sins may be forgiven.
At Mass we unite ourselves with Our Lord as He offers
himself to God the Father, in atonement for sin. He offers Himself; and we join
with His sacrifice to make it our own as well. We ask Our Lord to take us
before the throne of mercy, so we can be forgiven. The Father will accept us in
the fragrance of His Son’s offering.
(We need to go to Confession to gain full forgiveness, but
the Mass serves to establish a general climate of Mercy, whereby God is willing
to forgive all who approach Him).
It all hinges on our response to God's generosity, the human
response to the divine initiative.
Each person is invited to apply for this Mercy, to seek the
Precious Blood of Christ to take effect, purifying from sin, enriching in
virtue.
How many people will do this, we do not know. We hope the
‘many’ will be very many.
For all sorts of reasons people today may not connect with
this saving sacrifice.
Some do not believe in God at all. Some think they have no
sin to be forgiven. Some think forgiveness is automatic, not requiring
repentance. Some think they can be forgiven in their own way and do not need
Sacraments. Some might want to be forgiven but are too attached to their sins.
It is tragic when His blood is spilled in vain; when someone
persists in sin even to death.
But while there is life, there is hope. Our Lord will forgive
any outrage against Himself as long as there is serious contrition on the part
of the offender.
How to bring about such contrition is not easy, but it does
happen that people do convert, and this is something for us to pursue with all
our energy.
For our part we not only have contrition but we try to help
the situation along, doing all in our power to assist the workings of the
Precious Blood in saving sinners.
We revere the Precious Blood because it is Christ Himself,
actually present; and that would be reason enough; but even further, out of
gratitude to Him for doing this on our behalf. We make atonement for the sins
of indifference and sacrilege towards Our Lord. We worship Him, thank Him, and
accept the mercy He offers us.
This, we hope, will reduce the punishments the world is
heaping up for itself, and help to save ‘many’ souls.
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