9781644135945

The Light of the World
was kept, “not without blood, which he offereth for his own and the people’s ignorance” (Heb
9:7). But “Christ being come, a high priest of the good things to come, . . . by His own blood
entered once into the Holies, having obtained eternal redemption” (Epistle). The redemption
of Christ lasts for eternity. It was a redemption quite different from that of the Old Testament.
It shall “cleanse our conscience from dead works,” that we “may receive the promise of eternal
inheritance” (Epistle). “Being now justified by His blood, shall we be saved from wrath through
Him” (Rom 5:9). We are redeemed through the blood of Christ and through the merits of His
death. “The mercies of the Lord I will sing forever.”
“At that time Jesus, when He had taken the vinegar, said: It is consummated. And bowing
His head, He gave up the ghost. . . . The soldiers, therefore, came; and . . . one of the
soldiers with a spear opened His side, and immediately there came out blood and water”
(Gospel). Christ was only eight days old when He shed His blood for us at His circumcision.
He shed blood a second time on the Mount of Olives, when He saw the terrible sufferings
that awaited Him. He shed blood a third time during the scourging at the pillar, and again
when He was cruelly crowned with thorns by the soldiers. His blood flowed again when His
garments were torn from Him on Calvary, thus reopening the wounds of the scourging. He
shed His blood for us again when His hands were pierced with the cruel nails. He hung on
the cross shrouded in the garment of His own blood. But even after He had bowed His head
and given up the ghost a few drops of blood still remained in His body. He would shed this
for us, too, that He might give His blood to the very last drop. “Having loved His own who
were in the world, He loved them unto the end” ( Jn 13:1). Christ wished to give men this
final proof of His love. In the Credo of the Mass we confess our faith in His saving death: “I
believe . . . in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God; . . . who for us men and
for our salvation came down from heaven. . . . He was crucified also for us, suffered under
Pontius Pilate and was buried.” “Thou hast redeemed us, O Lord, in Thy blood, and hast
made us to our God a kingdom.”
“This is He that came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and
blood. There are three who give testimony in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost;
and these three are one. And there are three that give testimony on earth: the spirit, the water,
and the blood; and these three are one” (Gradual). We have three witnesses that Jesus is the
promised Savior, the Son of God. The witness of the water, that is, the voice of the Father, who
acknowledged Him as His Son at the baptism in the Jordan; the witness of the blood, that is,
the blood of the Son which was shed on Calvary; the witness of the Spirit, that is, the testimony
of the Holy Ghost, who acknowledged Christ to be the Son of God through His descent upon
the faithful on Pentecost. We believe in Him who has redeemed us in His blood.
The precious blood of Jesus is placed in our hands as our offering at the Holy Sacrifice
of the Mass. “The chalice of benediction which we bless, is it not the communion of the
blood of Christ?” (Offertory.) That which we offer after the Consecration and which we
consume in Holy Communion, is no longer mere wine, but the most precious blood of
Christ; it is the price of our atonement and the surest guarantee of our salvation when the
Lord shall return (Communion).
We have been redeemed. Heaven is again open to us through the precious blood of
Christ. “Let us draw near with a true heart in the fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled
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