“In His Blood we find our source of mercy; in His Blood, fire; in His Blood, compassion; in His Blood, bitter things become sweet; and heavy burdens, light. Rejoice in the Blood, wash yourselves in His Blood. Grow and be strengthened in His Blood, clothe yourselves in His Blood, feel exhilarated in His Blood, be satiated in His Blood.”
Prot. n.86/2019
Re: Solemnity of the Precious Blood
Dear Sisters,
May the joy and peace of the Lord be with each of you!
Special greetings on this solemn day when we celebrate God’s Love poured out in our hearts through the gift of Christ’s Blood, the price of our salvation.
Each year this solemnity is offered to us not only as a memory to be celebrated, but as a mystery to be accepted and lived for a deeply transformed existence.
St. Bonaventure said, “The drops of Christ’s Blood are a most precious and incomparable treasure,” because it was the cost of God’s Love for each life. From this Blood, unconditionally poured out drop by drop, we can learn to what extent Love can go. In gazing at Jesus’ open side we can draw from the Fire, Spirit and transforming Blood in order that we may be gift for others in our daily lives.
Each of us feels invited to contemplate the Blood of Jesus with open hearts and vigilant and profound gazes, that Blood silently penetrating the events of our personal and community stories passing through each wound like a stream of grace and mercy that heals and purifies, flooding us with peace and tenderness. As renewed humanity, we are called to drink at this inexhaustible Fount in order to quench the thirst, in turn, of each person we meet. We want to share a brief reflection and suggest three possible small steps:
♥ Taking care of our interior life – We are called to take great care of our interior life, rooted in Christ, the new and living way to enter into God’s mystery by drawing nourishment from the Spirit living in us, transforming our humanity and urging us to limitless self-giving. Let us feel encouraged to dwell in the sacred space of our hearts through attentive and prolonged listening to God’s Word and drinking from the Chalice of Jesus’ Blood in order to translate His newness into concrete choices each day and in a lifestyle that is all love and charity. Let the Fire of the Spirit unify our being around the Word of the Blood so that it may dwell in us and become a Light, motivating each choice and sustaining all the transformations and challenges that life entails.
I ask myself: How is the Word of the Blood transforming my life?
♥ Being in a covenant relationship - In contemplating the Blood of the New and Eternal Covenant we are encouraged to create relationships that know how to generate a new, reconciled and reconciling humanity that is more united and open to being inclusive. Let us feel called to restore our deep desire to accept what takes us beyond any boundary and to be hospitable, encouraging us to integrate differences and appreciate each person’s uniqueness. The Blood of Jesus calls us to get close to situations in order to support, take care of, encourage and promote a culture of life.
I ask myself: How is the Blood of Christ fostering my relationships?
♥ Witnessing love to its extreme consequences – The Blood of Christ calls each of us to be a visible sign of community in a church ready to pay the high price of love. An intimate union with the Crucified Spouse must motivate us to live the radicalness of the Gospel with readiness. Our compassion for our dear neighbor must drive us to witness the Gospel with a new lifestyle that stands against the culture of this time and the economic and social policies that are being imposed on us in every corner of the world. Let us feel strongly invited to commit ourselves completely, sending us to the existential peripheries of the world, the Church and our Congregation to assert the hope that is in us.
Day by day, we choose to learn to know how to lose, letting go of all selfishness and closure in order to be an immeasurable gift, not fearing the risk of choices that faith asks of us in order to be prophetic sowers of hope.
I ask myself and I share in community: How do I experience the strength of the Blood of Christ in my mission?
As Adorers of the Blood of Christ, we want to be women enlightened by the Word in the Church and clothed in the power of the Blood in order to collaborate with Christ in the transformation of the world. Inspired and sustained by St. Maria De Mattias’ example we, as well, want to witness and live the love, tenderness and renewed compassion that the Blood of Christ regenerates.
May the vital lymph flowing from the wounded heart of the Son of God nourish our lives and increase the yearning and the desire that urges us beyond ourselves.
Again, we send heartfelt best wishes. May the Blood of Christ quench our deepest thirst.
We ask you to extend our best wishes for this solemnity to your collaborators and co-workers, to the lay Associates and all those committed to following the footsteps of the Lamb with inner passion.
All blessings in the Lord, united in communion in our single Chalice,
Loving greetings,
General Superior
and collaborators
This evening's prayer introduces us to the Solemnity of the Precious Blood, a festival, linked to a relic given by the Savelli Princes to the Church of San Nicola in Carcere in 1708. This relic was a strip of the Centurion's mantle, which pierced Jesus with the spear, bathed in blood and water coming out of Jesus' side.
From that year, the feast of the Precious Blood of Jesus was celebrated on the first Sunday of June.
In 1808, for the first centenary of this donation, Don Francesco Albertini founded the Pious Association of the Precious Blood and called Don Gaspar to give an inaugural address. In 1815 this Association became the Archconfraternity and Don Gaspar was its great promoter.
Maria De Mattias, who was deeply impressed by his preaching in Vallecorsa, developed the idea of founding a Congregation under the title of the Precious Blood.
In 1849 Pope Pius IX, in exile in Gaeta, received the visit of Don Giovanni Merlini who predicted his return to Rome if he had extended the feast of the Precious Blood to the whole Church. The Pope replied: I do not make a vow but promise and, back in Rome, extended the feast to the whole Church in 1849.
Pius X in 1914 fixed the liturgical date of the Feast on 1 July and Pius XI in 1934, on the occasion of the Jubilee of the Redemption, raised it to solemnity.
With the reform of the calendar Paul VI united the united to the feast of Corpus Domini but our Congregations celebrate it on July 1st as a solemnity.