| Devotion to Our Lady |
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Article 1
The Importance of the Precious Blood of Jesus
The Importance of the Precious Blood of Jesus
The Blood of Jesus is precious in and of itself. First of all, it is precious in its source: it was drawn from the veins of Mary, the purest of virgins. It is precious above all because it is the Blood of a God; the divinity is united to it, and it is truly a Divine Blood, to which are owed the homages of adoration which we render to God Himself. On Calvary, the Angels adored the blood flowing from the wounds of Jesus and saturating the soil; at the altar they are still there by the thousands, adoring that same Blood hidden under the sacred species.
O Blood of Jesus, I adore you present in the Blessed Sacrament, where you still flow in the sacred veins of the God-Man; I adore you in all the circumstances of the Passion where you were shed for us; enlighten me, that I may better understand your infinite excellence, and dedicate myself more generously to your worship and your glory.
Let us consider how the Blood of Jesus is precious for God Himself, since it rendered Him the greatest homage of glorification by repairing the dishonor that sin had caused Him, and gave the most touching witness of love. Let us recall that in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, it is the same Blood that is offered again to the heavenly Father; let us always attend Mass as on Calvary, thinking that then we render to the Lord the only homage worthy of Himself.
The Blood of Jesus is precious to our Divine Saviour Himself. It is His Blood, the principle of His natural life, which is the cause of all the acts He performed on earth. But above all, His Blood was precious to Him in His Passion, for it cost Him so many pains when He shed it in the scourging, the crowning of thorns and the horrible torment of the crucifixion.
The Blood of Jesus is also precious to Him in its effects. If there are so many holy souls that love and glorify Him, if in the hearts of so many martyrs, missionaries and virgins there are flames of most pure charity and the greatest zeal for the glory of God, it is due to the Blood of Jesus. If in Heaven there are thousands of Elect who will glorify the Lord eternally, it is also because of the adorable Blood: it is what redeemed and sanctified them.
The Blood of Jesus is also very precious to Mary. It is because she was to provide the first drops of this Blood that God ornamented her with so much grace and sanctity, and that He put them within her as a kind of reflection of His divine perfections. O Mary, you who were the most worthy adorer of the Blood of your Son, teach us how to adore Him and glorify Him.
But above all, the Blood of Jesus is precious to us. If we cast a glance into our past life, we see our poor soul withered, defiled, spreading the infection of sin; but when one drop of the Blood of Jesus falls upon it through absolution, it is washed and purified; its ugliness turns into beauty and its infection into sweet perfume. And in the Eucharist, oh how precious the Blood of Jesus is to us! Yes, the Blood of Jesus is for us the source of the greatest happiness.
But life passes, and it passes quickly; after death, what shall be our place? Alas, after our numerous iniquities, it ought to be hell; let us consider that dreadful dungeon which was reserved for us, those devouring flames in which we were to burn eternally. But Jesus shed His Blood to prevent us from falling into that abyss of fire: if we follow His holy law, we will go to Heaven, which He purchased for us with His sufferings and the shedding of His Blood. For the Blessed, Heaven is the complete satisfaction of love, a participation in the felicity of God Himself; it is an eternity spent upon the bosom of Jesus, plunged into torrents of love and delight, and all of this is the fruit of the Divine Blood!
We truly have every reason to call it the Precious Blood, for it is so precious in every way! And how precious our own life becomes, since it is totally consecrated to what is most precious! My heart and my love are so precious to Jesus, because in order to possess them, He gave the last drop of that Blood whose value is infinite. God is Sovereign Wisdom, He cannot give something of great worth in return for an object of little price; how highly, then, has He reckoned my soul!
Let us often contemplate the price of the Divine Blood; how useful that will be to make us flee from all sin, to kindle us with love for Jesus! O Jesus, my love is therefore very precious to You, since to be loved by me, You shed unto the last drop of Your Divine Blood!
Devotion that we owe to the Precious Blood
First of all, let us acknowledge that faith, a very living faith, ought to be the first homage we have to render to the Blood of Jesus. We must believe that it is this Divine Blood which opened Heaven to us, we must penetrate ourselves with the thought that God became man and shed all His Blood to preserve us from eternal woe. This living faith will kindle our hearts with love for Jesus, who has so loved us, and this homage of our faith will be, at the same time, a reparation for the many infidels who do not know the Blood of Jesus, the many unbelievers who do not believe in it, the many Christians who believe in it but do not think of it and do not render it any homage.
The second homage we have to offer to the Blood of Jesus is that of compassion. God does everything with supreme wisdom; He willed to choose hearts which, by their love and their compassion, offer compensation to Him for the coldness of men and the crimes that insult Him every day. This loving commiseration will be likely to lessen our own pains, and to make us forget them in a way, at the sight of God suffering to the point of sweating blood in His agony, and enduring the other most bitter torments of His Passion. In the inevitable sorrows of life, if we want Jesus to have pity on us, let us have pity on Him; let us remember His sorrows and the shedding of His Blood – and not only vaguely, but in a way that will touch us, penetrate us with the deepest sorrow. When we look upon the crucifix, let us always express to Our Lord a sentiment of compassion; it will be an homage that will be very pleasing to Him and incline Him to have mercy on us in all our miseries.
The third sentiment to express to Jesus shedding His Blood for us is horror for sin and hatred for all faults, however slight they may be. Let us consider that it is sin which opened the veins of Jesus and made His Blood flow so painfully; it is our own sins, grievous sins, repeated sins committed in the past. Oh, who among us would still want to commit a voluntary sin, entertain a sentiment of self-love, a sentiment contrary to charity? O Jesus, we want to avoid sin, flee all the occasions of sin, since it cost You so many sufferings.
But the sentiment that the Blood of Jesus ought to arouse in us above all is love. Unceasingly, His Blood and His wounds repeat to us that word so sweet to our heart: I love you! Indeed, as Jesus Himself said, Greater love than this no man has, that he lay down his life for those he loves (John 15:13). The shedding of His Blood and His death upon the cross are the supreme proofs of His love for us. But in return, may our lips, faithful echos of our hearts, also say to Him at every moment: O Jesus, I love You, You who have loved me to the point of shedding Your Blood for me!
We are all exposed to temptation, even in the holiest state, and Saint James the Apostle said, Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been tried, he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him (James 1:12). In these combats which the devil wages against whatever virtue, let us have recourse to the Blood of Jesus, let us apply it to our soul, and we will victoriously repel the attacks of hell. At the moment we are tempted, if we always remember the most bitter shedding of the Blood of Jesus, who would want to commit sin?
In all our troubles, whatever their nature, when we need lights to know how to act, let us again have recourse to the Blood of the Saviour; we cannot always have a guide in all the difficulties we encounter; but Jesus is always ready to listen to us and enlighten us upon what we have to do. On earth, His kindheartedness made Him find pleasure in comforting the afflicted, healing the sick, converting the sinners: well, He is still the same; He loves it when we go to Him with confidence in order that He may have an occasion to do good to us. What He did through His word during His mortal life, He does now through His Precious Blood; it is the means of action He employs to heal spiritual illnesses, purify souls and comfort those who suffer.
Yes, O Jesus, we want always to have recourse to Your Blood and apply it unceasingly to our souls, that they may appear beautiful and pleasing in Your sight. May we know how to employ Your Precious Blood in all our needs, and may we make it the most habitual object of our devotion and our homages.
Lord Jesus, may Thy Precious Blood purify souls for whom Thou hast died with so much love!
Extracts taken from: Msgr. J. S. Raymond, Méditations sur la Passion et le Précieux Sang de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ, 1910 edition, pp. 262-273.
O Blood of Jesus, I adore you present in the Blessed Sacrament, where you still flow in the sacred veins of the God-Man; I adore you in all the circumstances of the Passion where you were shed for us; enlighten me, that I may better understand your infinite excellence, and dedicate myself more generously to your worship and your glory.
Let us consider how the Blood of Jesus is precious for God Himself, since it rendered Him the greatest homage of glorification by repairing the dishonor that sin had caused Him, and gave the most touching witness of love. Let us recall that in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, it is the same Blood that is offered again to the heavenly Father; let us always attend Mass as on Calvary, thinking that then we render to the Lord the only homage worthy of Himself.
The Blood of Jesus is precious to our Divine Saviour Himself. It is His Blood, the principle of His natural life, which is the cause of all the acts He performed on earth. But above all, His Blood was precious to Him in His Passion, for it cost Him so many pains when He shed it in the scourging, the crowning of thorns and the horrible torment of the crucifixion.
The Blood of Jesus is also precious to Him in its effects. If there are so many holy souls that love and glorify Him, if in the hearts of so many martyrs, missionaries and virgins there are flames of most pure charity and the greatest zeal for the glory of God, it is due to the Blood of Jesus. If in Heaven there are thousands of Elect who will glorify the Lord eternally, it is also because of the adorable Blood: it is what redeemed and sanctified them.
The Blood of Jesus is also very precious to Mary. It is because she was to provide the first drops of this Blood that God ornamented her with so much grace and sanctity, and that He put them within her as a kind of reflection of His divine perfections. O Mary, you who were the most worthy adorer of the Blood of your Son, teach us how to adore Him and glorify Him.
But above all, the Blood of Jesus is precious to us. If we cast a glance into our past life, we see our poor soul withered, defiled, spreading the infection of sin; but when one drop of the Blood of Jesus falls upon it through absolution, it is washed and purified; its ugliness turns into beauty and its infection into sweet perfume. And in the Eucharist, oh how precious the Blood of Jesus is to us! Yes, the Blood of Jesus is for us the source of the greatest happiness.
But life passes, and it passes quickly; after death, what shall be our place? Alas, after our numerous iniquities, it ought to be hell; let us consider that dreadful dungeon which was reserved for us, those devouring flames in which we were to burn eternally. But Jesus shed His Blood to prevent us from falling into that abyss of fire: if we follow His holy law, we will go to Heaven, which He purchased for us with His sufferings and the shedding of His Blood. For the Blessed, Heaven is the complete satisfaction of love, a participation in the felicity of God Himself; it is an eternity spent upon the bosom of Jesus, plunged into torrents of love and delight, and all of this is the fruit of the Divine Blood!
We truly have every reason to call it the Precious Blood, for it is so precious in every way! And how precious our own life becomes, since it is totally consecrated to what is most precious! My heart and my love are so precious to Jesus, because in order to possess them, He gave the last drop of that Blood whose value is infinite. God is Sovereign Wisdom, He cannot give something of great worth in return for an object of little price; how highly, then, has He reckoned my soul!
Let us often contemplate the price of the Divine Blood; how useful that will be to make us flee from all sin, to kindle us with love for Jesus! O Jesus, my love is therefore very precious to You, since to be loved by me, You shed unto the last drop of Your Divine Blood!
Devotion that we owe to the Precious Blood
First of all, let us acknowledge that faith, a very living faith, ought to be the first homage we have to render to the Blood of Jesus. We must believe that it is this Divine Blood which opened Heaven to us, we must penetrate ourselves with the thought that God became man and shed all His Blood to preserve us from eternal woe. This living faith will kindle our hearts with love for Jesus, who has so loved us, and this homage of our faith will be, at the same time, a reparation for the many infidels who do not know the Blood of Jesus, the many unbelievers who do not believe in it, the many Christians who believe in it but do not think of it and do not render it any homage.
The second homage we have to offer to the Blood of Jesus is that of compassion. God does everything with supreme wisdom; He willed to choose hearts which, by their love and their compassion, offer compensation to Him for the coldness of men and the crimes that insult Him every day. This loving commiseration will be likely to lessen our own pains, and to make us forget them in a way, at the sight of God suffering to the point of sweating blood in His agony, and enduring the other most bitter torments of His Passion. In the inevitable sorrows of life, if we want Jesus to have pity on us, let us have pity on Him; let us remember His sorrows and the shedding of His Blood – and not only vaguely, but in a way that will touch us, penetrate us with the deepest sorrow. When we look upon the crucifix, let us always express to Our Lord a sentiment of compassion; it will be an homage that will be very pleasing to Him and incline Him to have mercy on us in all our miseries.
The third sentiment to express to Jesus shedding His Blood for us is horror for sin and hatred for all faults, however slight they may be. Let us consider that it is sin which opened the veins of Jesus and made His Blood flow so painfully; it is our own sins, grievous sins, repeated sins committed in the past. Oh, who among us would still want to commit a voluntary sin, entertain a sentiment of self-love, a sentiment contrary to charity? O Jesus, we want to avoid sin, flee all the occasions of sin, since it cost You so many sufferings.
But the sentiment that the Blood of Jesus ought to arouse in us above all is love. Unceasingly, His Blood and His wounds repeat to us that word so sweet to our heart: I love you! Indeed, as Jesus Himself said, Greater love than this no man has, that he lay down his life for those he loves (John 15:13). The shedding of His Blood and His death upon the cross are the supreme proofs of His love for us. But in return, may our lips, faithful echos of our hearts, also say to Him at every moment: O Jesus, I love You, You who have loved me to the point of shedding Your Blood for me!
We are all exposed to temptation, even in the holiest state, and Saint James the Apostle said, Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been tried, he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him (James 1:12). In these combats which the devil wages against whatever virtue, let us have recourse to the Blood of Jesus, let us apply it to our soul, and we will victoriously repel the attacks of hell. At the moment we are tempted, if we always remember the most bitter shedding of the Blood of Jesus, who would want to commit sin?
In all our troubles, whatever their nature, when we need lights to know how to act, let us again have recourse to the Blood of the Saviour; we cannot always have a guide in all the difficulties we encounter; but Jesus is always ready to listen to us and enlighten us upon what we have to do. On earth, His kindheartedness made Him find pleasure in comforting the afflicted, healing the sick, converting the sinners: well, He is still the same; He loves it when we go to Him with confidence in order that He may have an occasion to do good to us. What He did through His word during His mortal life, He does now through His Precious Blood; it is the means of action He employs to heal spiritual illnesses, purify souls and comfort those who suffer.
Yes, O Jesus, we want always to have recourse to Your Blood and apply it unceasingly to our souls, that they may appear beautiful and pleasing in Your sight. May we know how to employ Your Precious Blood in all our needs, and may we make it the most habitual object of our devotion and our homages.
Lord Jesus, may Thy Precious Blood purify souls for whom Thou hast died with so much love!
Extracts taken from: Msgr. J. S. Raymond, Méditations sur la Passion et le Précieux Sang de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ, 1910 edition, pp. 262-273.
Article 2
Symbol of Life and Love!
Symbol of Life and Love!
Blood and Symbol of Life and Love
We give blood that others may have life. There can be no life without blood—we even have the phrase: “This is my lifeblood!” The word “lifeblood” is defined by dictionaries as “the most important part of something: the part of something that provides its strength and energy.” We bring into this world babies whom we call “our own flesh and blood”―which is loosely linked to Adam’s words concerning the creation of Eve: “And Adam said: ‘This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man!’” (Genesis 2:23).
Out of love for our fellow man, we try to avoid shedding his blood: “Whosoever shall shed man’s blood, his blood shall be shed: for man was made to the image of God” (Genesis 9:6). “Innocent blood may not be shed in the midst of the land which the Lord thy God will give thee to possess, lest thou be guilty of blood” (Deuteronomy 19:10). “And God said to Cain: ‘What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from the earth!’” (Genesis 4:10).
Rather than shed our blood, Jesus, our brother through our adoption into God’s family, shed His own. This “love” and “life” is seen in the Agony in the Garden. Our Lord showed His “love” for us by His bloody sweat in Gethsemane, when He did not refuse to take the next step in winning eternal “life” for us sinners and the salvation of our souls. The German World War II general, Erwin Rommel, said: “Sweat saves blood, blood saves lives, and brains saves both!” Our Lord’s bloody sweat and blood saved both our blood and our lives! He is the “brains” behind our salvation!
‘Blood Money’
In a certain sense blood is money. Christ bought us back―from the consequences of sin and slavery to the devil―by paying the price or ransom with His Precious Blood: “Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as gold or silver, but with the Precious Blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19).
We do not really appreciate this price of our redemption—unless, of course, we are one day placed in a similar position where we might have to bloodily lay down our lives for Christ and our sins, not to mention the sins of the world (of which we are partially guilty if we neglect to regularly pray and sacrifice, as Our Lady of Fatima asked, for the conversion of sinners).
When the Jews were seeking the death sentence for Jesus, “the whole people said: ‘His blood be upon us and our children!’” (Matthew 27:25). Words that they lived to regret, for they would pay for shedding the Blood of Jesus by having their own blood shed in the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Christ could have quoted the words of His prophet Jeremias against the Jews: “But know ye, and understand, that if you put me to death, you will shed innocent blood against your own selves, and against this city, and the inhabitants thereof. For in truth the Lord sent me to you, to speak all these words in your hearing” (Jeremias 16:15).
Jesus Himself prophesied: “Amen I say to you there shall not be left here a stone upon a stone that shall not be destroyed … For the days shall come upon thee, and thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and straiten thee on every side, and beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee: and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone: because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation” (Matthew 24:2; Luke 19:43-44).
Over one million Jews were bloodily slaughtered by the Romans in that fateful day of reckoning! Sin doesn’t come cheap—it is easy to commit, expensive in price! Forgiveness and salvation do not come cheap―“No one thinks of how much blood it costs” (Dante, Paradise).
Blood On Our Own Heads
God threatens falsehood! “Know that thou shalt be put to death: thy blood shall be upon thy own head!” (3 Kings 2:37). The Israelites were leading very sinful lives—Isaias compares them to Sodom and Gommorha. They were sacrificing in the Temple, but also leading lives of sin in the meantime.
This is pretty much the state of the Church and the world today. God is given lip-service, while the world is loved with all the heart. Hypocritically, we praise God to high Heaven while we sin like Hell! What God speaks to sinful Israel through Isaias, His prophet, He could well address to us today, saying:
“Israel hath not known Me, and My people hath not understood. Woe to the sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a wicked seed, ungracious children: they have forsaken the Lord, they have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel, they are gone away backwards. For what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression?
"The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is sad. From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head, there is no soundness therein: wounds and bruises and swelling sores: they are not bound up, nor dressed, nor fomented with oil. Your land is desolate, your cities are burnt with fire: your country strangers devour before your face, and it shall be desolate as when wasted by enemies. And the daughter of Sion shall be left as a covert in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, and as a city that is laid waste. Except the Lord of hosts had left us seed, we had been as Sodom, and we should have been like to Gomorrha. Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrha.
“To what purpose do you offer Me the multitude of your victims, saith the Lord? I am full, I desire not holocausts of rams, and fat of fatlings, and blood of calves, and lambs, and buck goats. When you came to appear before me, who required these things at your hands, that you should walk in My courts? Offer sacrifice no more in vain: incense is an abomination to Me. The new moons, and the Sabbaths, and other festivals I will not abide, your assemblies are wicked. My soul hateth your new moons, and your solemnities: they are become troublesome to Me, I am weary of bearing them. And when you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away My eyes from you: and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear: for your hands are full of blood.
“Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evil of your devices from My eyes: cease to do perversely! Learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for the fatherless, defend the widow. And then come, and accuse Me, saith the Lord. If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool. If you be willing, and will hearken to Me, you shall eat the good things of the land. But if you will not, and will provoke Me to wrath: the sword shall devour you because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it” (Isaias 1:3-20).
Same old problem, eh? “If you be willing to listen to Me…!” Too busy having fun, no time to listen. “They have ears and hear not!” (Psalm 113:14). “And thy ears shall hear the word of one admonishing thee behind thy back” (Isaias 30:21). “And the Lord hath sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising early, and sending, and you have not hearkened, nor inclined your ears to hear” (Jeremias 25:4). But to those who are willing to listen― “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!” (Matthew 11:15)―Our Lord and Our Lady speak out:
Anemic Souls Destroy Church’s Lifeblood
“Many hearts consecrated to God in the priestly and religious state will fall into lukewarmness ... The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance … The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless Sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world. God will strike in an unprecedented way” (Our Lady of Good Success & La Salette).
We Will Pay With Our Blood!
“In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God. There will be a formidable and frightful war, in which both native and foreign blood will flow, including that of secular and regular priests as well as that of other religious ... blood will flow on all sides. Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death ... France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war ... Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian ... Blood will flow in the streets ... Men will kill each other, massacre each other even in their homes ... A general war will follow which will be appalling ... This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph ... all order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … With my Son I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father. I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger” (Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette & Akita).
Why will all these horrendous things happen? Because, as Our Lord said of Jerusalem while He still walked the Earth, “because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation!” (Luke 19:44). Or, as Sr. Lucia of Fatima reports in 1957: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them.” Truly, we have not known the hour of Our Lady’s visitation—so we shall be visited in another way!
Woe! Woe! Woe! Thrice Woe!
To the same Mother Mariana, to whom Our Lady of Good Success was appearing, Our Lord also warned Mother Mariana that the chastisement would be severe for those religious who squandered so many graces with their pride and vainglory to secure positions of power and rank. He especially condemned the lukewarm: “Alas! If men, and above all, priests and religious souls, would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small inveterate imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me.... But I will not tolerate this. Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me. I desire all or nothing — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
“The times will come,” He told her, “when doctrine will be commonly known among the learned and the ignorant. ... Many religious books will be written. But the practice of the virtues and of these doctrines will be found in only a few souls; for this reason, saints will become rare. And precisely for this reason, My priests and My religious will fall into a fatal indifference. Their coldness will extinguish the fire of divine love, afflicting My Loving Heart with these small thorns that you see ... Alas! If you could only know My intense interior suffering ... caused by the lack of correspondence to this deluge of graces with which I inundate My priests and religious and, as a consequence, by the sins that they commit!
Jesus continued: “Know, moreover, that Divine Justice releases terrible chastisements on entire nations, not only for the sins of the people, but especially for those of priests and religious persons. For the latter are called, by the perfection of their state, to be the salt of the Earth, the masters of truth and the deflectors of divine wrath. Straying from their divine mission, they degrade themselves in such a way that, before the eyes of God, they quicken the rigor of the punishments.”
Add to all this the blood shed in abortions. In the USA, since Roe vs. Wade in 1973, an estimated 58 million babies have been killed (aborted), Worldwide, since 1980, the number is an estimated 1,340 million babies killed. Their blood is upon the head of the world and we live in that world.
Add to the aborted babies the escalating shedding of blood through Christian persecution, civil violence and political wars—and you have not just a pool of blood crying out to Heaven for vengeance, but a veritable sea of blood!
Way Out of This Bloody Mess!
What Our Lady of Good Success said to Mother Mariana, she says to us today—if we can only break ourselves away from having fun and find time to listen and act upon what she says: “Clamor insistently without tiring and weep with bitter tears in the privacy of your heart, imploring our Celestial Father that, for love of the Eucharistic Heart of my Most Holy Son and His Precious Blood shed with such generosity and the profound bitterness and sufferings of His cruel Passion and Death, He might take pity on His ministers and bring to an end those ominous times and restore the spirit of the priests” (Our Lady of Good Success).
The Rosary, especially, has been given a power that Heaven wants to see us use. Sr. Lucia of Fatima says: The Most Holy Virgin, in these last times in which we live, has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations, that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.”
So...! What are we going to do? Click with the mouse and timidly go to the next page? Or click our fingers and ask for another beer, wine or soda? Or click the remote and turn on the TV? Or let something click in our heads that makes us get down on our knees and ‘click’ through the mysteries of the Rosary?
We give blood that others may have life. There can be no life without blood—we even have the phrase: “This is my lifeblood!” The word “lifeblood” is defined by dictionaries as “the most important part of something: the part of something that provides its strength and energy.” We bring into this world babies whom we call “our own flesh and blood”―which is loosely linked to Adam’s words concerning the creation of Eve: “And Adam said: ‘This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man!’” (Genesis 2:23).
Out of love for our fellow man, we try to avoid shedding his blood: “Whosoever shall shed man’s blood, his blood shall be shed: for man was made to the image of God” (Genesis 9:6). “Innocent blood may not be shed in the midst of the land which the Lord thy God will give thee to possess, lest thou be guilty of blood” (Deuteronomy 19:10). “And God said to Cain: ‘What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from the earth!’” (Genesis 4:10).
Rather than shed our blood, Jesus, our brother through our adoption into God’s family, shed His own. This “love” and “life” is seen in the Agony in the Garden. Our Lord showed His “love” for us by His bloody sweat in Gethsemane, when He did not refuse to take the next step in winning eternal “life” for us sinners and the salvation of our souls. The German World War II general, Erwin Rommel, said: “Sweat saves blood, blood saves lives, and brains saves both!” Our Lord’s bloody sweat and blood saved both our blood and our lives! He is the “brains” behind our salvation!
‘Blood Money’
In a certain sense blood is money. Christ bought us back―from the consequences of sin and slavery to the devil―by paying the price or ransom with His Precious Blood: “Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as gold or silver, but with the Precious Blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19).
We do not really appreciate this price of our redemption—unless, of course, we are one day placed in a similar position where we might have to bloodily lay down our lives for Christ and our sins, not to mention the sins of the world (of which we are partially guilty if we neglect to regularly pray and sacrifice, as Our Lady of Fatima asked, for the conversion of sinners).
When the Jews were seeking the death sentence for Jesus, “the whole people said: ‘His blood be upon us and our children!’” (Matthew 27:25). Words that they lived to regret, for they would pay for shedding the Blood of Jesus by having their own blood shed in the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Christ could have quoted the words of His prophet Jeremias against the Jews: “But know ye, and understand, that if you put me to death, you will shed innocent blood against your own selves, and against this city, and the inhabitants thereof. For in truth the Lord sent me to you, to speak all these words in your hearing” (Jeremias 16:15).
Jesus Himself prophesied: “Amen I say to you there shall not be left here a stone upon a stone that shall not be destroyed … For the days shall come upon thee, and thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and straiten thee on every side, and beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee: and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone: because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation” (Matthew 24:2; Luke 19:43-44).
Over one million Jews were bloodily slaughtered by the Romans in that fateful day of reckoning! Sin doesn’t come cheap—it is easy to commit, expensive in price! Forgiveness and salvation do not come cheap―“No one thinks of how much blood it costs” (Dante, Paradise).
Blood On Our Own Heads
God threatens falsehood! “Know that thou shalt be put to death: thy blood shall be upon thy own head!” (3 Kings 2:37). The Israelites were leading very sinful lives—Isaias compares them to Sodom and Gommorha. They were sacrificing in the Temple, but also leading lives of sin in the meantime.
This is pretty much the state of the Church and the world today. God is given lip-service, while the world is loved with all the heart. Hypocritically, we praise God to high Heaven while we sin like Hell! What God speaks to sinful Israel through Isaias, His prophet, He could well address to us today, saying:
“Israel hath not known Me, and My people hath not understood. Woe to the sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a wicked seed, ungracious children: they have forsaken the Lord, they have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel, they are gone away backwards. For what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression?
"The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is sad. From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head, there is no soundness therein: wounds and bruises and swelling sores: they are not bound up, nor dressed, nor fomented with oil. Your land is desolate, your cities are burnt with fire: your country strangers devour before your face, and it shall be desolate as when wasted by enemies. And the daughter of Sion shall be left as a covert in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, and as a city that is laid waste. Except the Lord of hosts had left us seed, we had been as Sodom, and we should have been like to Gomorrha. Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrha.
“To what purpose do you offer Me the multitude of your victims, saith the Lord? I am full, I desire not holocausts of rams, and fat of fatlings, and blood of calves, and lambs, and buck goats. When you came to appear before me, who required these things at your hands, that you should walk in My courts? Offer sacrifice no more in vain: incense is an abomination to Me. The new moons, and the Sabbaths, and other festivals I will not abide, your assemblies are wicked. My soul hateth your new moons, and your solemnities: they are become troublesome to Me, I am weary of bearing them. And when you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away My eyes from you: and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear: for your hands are full of blood.
“Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evil of your devices from My eyes: cease to do perversely! Learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for the fatherless, defend the widow. And then come, and accuse Me, saith the Lord. If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool. If you be willing, and will hearken to Me, you shall eat the good things of the land. But if you will not, and will provoke Me to wrath: the sword shall devour you because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it” (Isaias 1:3-20).
Same old problem, eh? “If you be willing to listen to Me…!” Too busy having fun, no time to listen. “They have ears and hear not!” (Psalm 113:14). “And thy ears shall hear the word of one admonishing thee behind thy back” (Isaias 30:21). “And the Lord hath sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising early, and sending, and you have not hearkened, nor inclined your ears to hear” (Jeremias 25:4). But to those who are willing to listen― “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!” (Matthew 11:15)―Our Lord and Our Lady speak out:
Anemic Souls Destroy Church’s Lifeblood
“Many hearts consecrated to God in the priestly and religious state will fall into lukewarmness ... The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance … The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless Sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world. God will strike in an unprecedented way” (Our Lady of Good Success & La Salette).
We Will Pay With Our Blood!
“In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God. There will be a formidable and frightful war, in which both native and foreign blood will flow, including that of secular and regular priests as well as that of other religious ... blood will flow on all sides. Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death ... France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war ... Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian ... Blood will flow in the streets ... Men will kill each other, massacre each other even in their homes ... A general war will follow which will be appalling ... This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph ... all order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … With my Son I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father. I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger” (Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette & Akita).
Why will all these horrendous things happen? Because, as Our Lord said of Jerusalem while He still walked the Earth, “because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation!” (Luke 19:44). Or, as Sr. Lucia of Fatima reports in 1957: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them.” Truly, we have not known the hour of Our Lady’s visitation—so we shall be visited in another way!
Woe! Woe! Woe! Thrice Woe!
To the same Mother Mariana, to whom Our Lady of Good Success was appearing, Our Lord also warned Mother Mariana that the chastisement would be severe for those religious who squandered so many graces with their pride and vainglory to secure positions of power and rank. He especially condemned the lukewarm: “Alas! If men, and above all, priests and religious souls, would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small inveterate imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me.... But I will not tolerate this. Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me. I desire all or nothing — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
“The times will come,” He told her, “when doctrine will be commonly known among the learned and the ignorant. ... Many religious books will be written. But the practice of the virtues and of these doctrines will be found in only a few souls; for this reason, saints will become rare. And precisely for this reason, My priests and My religious will fall into a fatal indifference. Their coldness will extinguish the fire of divine love, afflicting My Loving Heart with these small thorns that you see ... Alas! If you could only know My intense interior suffering ... caused by the lack of correspondence to this deluge of graces with which I inundate My priests and religious and, as a consequence, by the sins that they commit!
Jesus continued: “Know, moreover, that Divine Justice releases terrible chastisements on entire nations, not only for the sins of the people, but especially for those of priests and religious persons. For the latter are called, by the perfection of their state, to be the salt of the Earth, the masters of truth and the deflectors of divine wrath. Straying from their divine mission, they degrade themselves in such a way that, before the eyes of God, they quicken the rigor of the punishments.”
Add to all this the blood shed in abortions. In the USA, since Roe vs. Wade in 1973, an estimated 58 million babies have been killed (aborted), Worldwide, since 1980, the number is an estimated 1,340 million babies killed. Their blood is upon the head of the world and we live in that world.
Add to the aborted babies the escalating shedding of blood through Christian persecution, civil violence and political wars—and you have not just a pool of blood crying out to Heaven for vengeance, but a veritable sea of blood!
Way Out of This Bloody Mess!
What Our Lady of Good Success said to Mother Mariana, she says to us today—if we can only break ourselves away from having fun and find time to listen and act upon what she says: “Clamor insistently without tiring and weep with bitter tears in the privacy of your heart, imploring our Celestial Father that, for love of the Eucharistic Heart of my Most Holy Son and His Precious Blood shed with such generosity and the profound bitterness and sufferings of His cruel Passion and Death, He might take pity on His ministers and bring to an end those ominous times and restore the spirit of the priests” (Our Lady of Good Success).
The Rosary, especially, has been given a power that Heaven wants to see us use. Sr. Lucia of Fatima says: The Most Holy Virgin, in these last times in which we live, has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations, that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.”
So...! What are we going to do? Click with the mouse and timidly go to the next page? Or click our fingers and ask for another beer, wine or soda? Or click the remote and turn on the TV? Or let something click in our heads that makes us get down on our knees and ‘click’ through the mysteries of the Rosary?
Article 3
How "Precious" is the Blood of Jesus to You?
How "Precious" is the Blood of Jesus to You?
The Only Way Christ Could Dies Was By Being Slain
Is Jesus the Lamb of God? He is the Lamb of God not only because He sacrificed Himself, He is the Lamb of God because He continues sacrificing Himself in an unbloody way in every Mass He offers. And while His sacrifice is completed, our sacrifice must go on along with it, as an imitation of His sacrifice. Having said that, one of several primary foundations for the imitation of Christ can be found with the Precious Blood of Jesus. The moment we say that Christ is the Lamb of God and explain that the Lamb of God was slain for our redemption, having further recognized ― and this is crucial ― that Christ, though Man, would not have died naturally because, unlike us, He was not a sinner. His death had to be inflicted outside of Himself and could not come from within Himself. In a word, the Lamb of God had to be slain in order to die. Moreover, Christ being the sinless Lamb of God, having no sin on His soul which would have deserved death, his mortal Body, mortal because He wanted it to be mortal, could only die by the Blood separating from that Body. Christ’s Body was deprived of its Soul when the Blood left the Body. All of this, therefore, is locked up in realizing that Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who by shedding His Blood, redeemed the world.
Let us see the context which the Church, over the centuries, has used as the foundation for her devotion to the Precious Blood of Christ.
Church’s Foundation for Devotion to Precious Blood of Christ
The revealed foundation for the Church’s belief in the Precious Blood and the reason for her fostering devotion to the Precious Blood among the faithful occurs in the first chapter of the first letter of St. Peter, verses 18-19. St. Peter writes:
“Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as gold or silver, from your vain conversation of the tradition of your fathers: But with the Precious Nlood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled,” (1 Peter 1:18-19).
There are certain words and phrases in the revealed statement that we have just read that we should begin to unravel in order to understand something of the depth of meaning behind those two simple words, Precious Blood. St. Peter begins by reminding the faithful to remember the hardest thing in this life for us is to remain mindful of the truths of Faith. Because what we believe on God’s revealed Word is twice removed from the common experience that we have in this world. What we believe is first of all not immediately perceptible to the senses.
Moreover, what we believe is not even penetrable to the naked reason. The word, remember, is an imperative: keep in mind. Arouse your Faith in what and how you were redeemed. And it is the how we were redeemed that is the foundation stone of the mystery of the Precious Blood. God took on a human nature so that in that human nature He could die. In order to die, the soul had to separate from the body. But for the Body to have the soul separate, the body itself had to be deprived of His Blood.
Theologically speaking and physiologically speaking, the All-Holy Son of God who became Man to redeem us, could only have died by being drained of His Blood. Christ could not have died of some disease. Christ could not have died because of some mortal illness. All illness, disease, the natural debilitating of the body, is the result of sin. Let me emphasize this. All our illness, our disease, our sickness, our wasting away of our body for all of us ― this is our Faith ― is the result of our sinful nature. Not so with Christ. That draining of the human body of His Blood, was the one way that Christ―sinless Son of God and Son of Mary that He was―the one way that He could die.
St. Peter continues: “we were redeemed” or “we were ransomed.” What is St. Peter talking about? What is St. Peter saying when he says that we were redeemed? Literally it means “bought back”. Having sinned before God, we incurred a heavy debt. The debt was death. But all of the deaths (plural) of all of the human beings since the beginning of time, we believe, would not have been adequate ― again, it is our Faith – would not have been adequate to ransom, to make up for, the infinite gravity of the sin not only of our first parents but by now the accumulated ― what a low figure of speech ― mountain of sin. Because an infinite being was in His Being offended by His creatures, only an Infinite Being could provide adequate ransom to redeem.
St. Peter continues: “We were not redeemed with corruptible things as gold or silver.” And you would think that Peter would find two better words than gold and silver. Because of all material things that are corruptible, two of the most incorruptible are gold and silver! But not even the most precious things that the world can provide, no other ransom, would have been adequate. But we have been redeemed, bought back, ransomed, by the Precious Blood of the Lamb of God. Try not to forget the title. Precious Blood is the revealed title, part of God’s inspired biblical teaching in the first letter of the first Vicar of Christ.
Why does St. Peter identify the Blood of the Lamb of God as “Precious?” Well, it is surely “Precious” because it is the Blood of no human being. It is the Blood of the living God, who took on human nature, capable of shedding His Blood. Why was the Blood of Christ Precious? Because it is the Blood of God who took on human nature in order to be able to suffer and to bleed and, let us add, in order to bleed to death. Why Precious? Because it is the Blood of the living God! Once we think little of God, then we think little of what He has done for us―the shedding of His Blood, and thus His Blood in no longer “Precious” to us, but rather ordinary!
Is Jesus the Lamb of God? He is the Lamb of God not only because He sacrificed Himself, He is the Lamb of God because He continues sacrificing Himself in an unbloody way in every Mass He offers. And while His sacrifice is completed, our sacrifice must go on along with it, as an imitation of His sacrifice. Having said that, one of several primary foundations for the imitation of Christ can be found with the Precious Blood of Jesus. The moment we say that Christ is the Lamb of God and explain that the Lamb of God was slain for our redemption, having further recognized ― and this is crucial ― that Christ, though Man, would not have died naturally because, unlike us, He was not a sinner. His death had to be inflicted outside of Himself and could not come from within Himself. In a word, the Lamb of God had to be slain in order to die. Moreover, Christ being the sinless Lamb of God, having no sin on His soul which would have deserved death, his mortal Body, mortal because He wanted it to be mortal, could only die by the Blood separating from that Body. Christ’s Body was deprived of its Soul when the Blood left the Body. All of this, therefore, is locked up in realizing that Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who by shedding His Blood, redeemed the world.
Let us see the context which the Church, over the centuries, has used as the foundation for her devotion to the Precious Blood of Christ.
Church’s Foundation for Devotion to Precious Blood of Christ
The revealed foundation for the Church’s belief in the Precious Blood and the reason for her fostering devotion to the Precious Blood among the faithful occurs in the first chapter of the first letter of St. Peter, verses 18-19. St. Peter writes:
“Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as gold or silver, from your vain conversation of the tradition of your fathers: But with the Precious Nlood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled,” (1 Peter 1:18-19).
There are certain words and phrases in the revealed statement that we have just read that we should begin to unravel in order to understand something of the depth of meaning behind those two simple words, Precious Blood. St. Peter begins by reminding the faithful to remember the hardest thing in this life for us is to remain mindful of the truths of Faith. Because what we believe on God’s revealed Word is twice removed from the common experience that we have in this world. What we believe is first of all not immediately perceptible to the senses.
Moreover, what we believe is not even penetrable to the naked reason. The word, remember, is an imperative: keep in mind. Arouse your Faith in what and how you were redeemed. And it is the how we were redeemed that is the foundation stone of the mystery of the Precious Blood. God took on a human nature so that in that human nature He could die. In order to die, the soul had to separate from the body. But for the Body to have the soul separate, the body itself had to be deprived of His Blood.
Theologically speaking and physiologically speaking, the All-Holy Son of God who became Man to redeem us, could only have died by being drained of His Blood. Christ could not have died of some disease. Christ could not have died because of some mortal illness. All illness, disease, the natural debilitating of the body, is the result of sin. Let me emphasize this. All our illness, our disease, our sickness, our wasting away of our body for all of us ― this is our Faith ― is the result of our sinful nature. Not so with Christ. That draining of the human body of His Blood, was the one way that Christ―sinless Son of God and Son of Mary that He was―the one way that He could die.
St. Peter continues: “we were redeemed” or “we were ransomed.” What is St. Peter talking about? What is St. Peter saying when he says that we were redeemed? Literally it means “bought back”. Having sinned before God, we incurred a heavy debt. The debt was death. But all of the deaths (plural) of all of the human beings since the beginning of time, we believe, would not have been adequate ― again, it is our Faith – would not have been adequate to ransom, to make up for, the infinite gravity of the sin not only of our first parents but by now the accumulated ― what a low figure of speech ― mountain of sin. Because an infinite being was in His Being offended by His creatures, only an Infinite Being could provide adequate ransom to redeem.
St. Peter continues: “We were not redeemed with corruptible things as gold or silver.” And you would think that Peter would find two better words than gold and silver. Because of all material things that are corruptible, two of the most incorruptible are gold and silver! But not even the most precious things that the world can provide, no other ransom, would have been adequate. But we have been redeemed, bought back, ransomed, by the Precious Blood of the Lamb of God. Try not to forget the title. Precious Blood is the revealed title, part of God’s inspired biblical teaching in the first letter of the first Vicar of Christ.
Why does St. Peter identify the Blood of the Lamb of God as “Precious?” Well, it is surely “Precious” because it is the Blood of no human being. It is the Blood of the living God, who took on human nature, capable of shedding His Blood. Why was the Blood of Christ Precious? Because it is the Blood of God who took on human nature in order to be able to suffer and to bleed and, let us add, in order to bleed to death. Why Precious? Because it is the Blood of the living God! Once we think little of God, then we think little of what He has done for us―the shedding of His Blood, and thus His Blood in no longer “Precious” to us, but rather ordinary!
Article 4
Devotion to the Precious Blood of Jesus
Devotion to the Precious Blood of Jesus
Devotion to the Precious Blood
Devotion to the Precious Blood is not a spiritual option, it is a spiritual obligation, and that not only for priests, but for every follower of Christ. One of the symptoms of modern society (even modern Catholic society) is the symptom of a growing, gnawing secularism, that is lessening and weakening devotion to the Precious Blood.
Devotion, as you may know, is a composite of three elements: First of all it is veneration. Secondly, it is invocation. Thirdly, is it is imitation. In other words, devotion to the Precious Blood of Christ, the Lamb of God who was slain, is first of all to be veneration on our part, which is a composite of knowledge, love and adoration. We need to come to a deeper understanding of what those two casually spoken words ― Precious Blood ― really mean. Sadly, most people do look on those words in casual way.
There is a passage in one of the oldest documents, outside of Sacred Scripture, from the first century of the Christian era, dated about 96 A.D. to be exact, from Pope St. Clement I, in which the pope states:
“Let us fix our gaze on the Blood of Christ and realize how truly precious It is, seeing that it was poured out for our salvation and brought the grace of conversion to the whole world.”
To understand the meaning of the Precious Blood we must obtain some comprehension of the gravity of sin, of the awfulness of offending God, because it required the Blood of the Son of God to forgive that sin. We are living in an age in which to sin has become fashionable. Nevertheless we believe, or should believe, that we are here for only a very short time. We further believe Christ when He told us the way that leads to damnation is broad and many there are who walk that way, that the way that leads to eternal life is narrow and there are few who walk that way. The Church has never pronounced infallibly on the number lost and the number saved, but she has canonized St. John of the Cross and made him a Doctor of the Church. Says John of the Cross: “I believe that the majority of the human race will be lost.”
This veneration of the Precious Blood, which is the first element in our devotion to the Precious Blood means that we have a deep sensitivity to the awfulness of sin. Sin must be terrible. It must be awful. It must be the most dreadful thing in the universe. Why? Because it cost the living God in human form the shedding of His Blood.
Devotion to the Precious Blood means ― beyond veneration which means understanding, grasping and loving, loving Jesus Christ in the shedding of His Blood ― it further means that we invoke Christ under the attribute of His Precious Blood. If a thousand Catholics were picked at random―that is to say believing, church-going Catholics―and they were to be asked: “What litanies has the Church approved for the universal recitation by the faithful?” It is honestly doubtful if very many out of a thousand would know that one of those litanies is the Litany of the Precious Blood. Here are a few invocations from that Litany:
“Blood of Christ, Only-Begotten Son of the eternal Father.”
What is that saying? Is it saying that that Blood was the Only Begotten Son of the Eternal Father? Frankly, yes. Because we know that term―“Precious Blood”―is not just a symbol, not just a title. It identifies that quality of the Only-Begotten Son of the Eternal Father, which Christ wants us to constantly have in mind, namely, that the Only-Begotten Son of the Eternal Father suffered. Suffered for us.
“Blood of Christ falling upon the earth in the Agony.”
In the Middle Ages when the Faith was stronger than in modern times, when even the errors were more ‘respectable’ and as ‘crazy’ as today, there were those who speculated that maybe, just maybe, when Christ shed His Blood either in the Agony in the Garden, or on Calvary―that once the Blood left the Body It became just ordinary blood. And the Church infallibly defined: Every drop of Christ’s Blood in the Agony in the Garden, every drop He shed on Calvary, every drop was united hypostatically with the Second Person of the Trinity. Every drop of that Blood was adorable.
“Blood of Christ, Price of our salvation.”
Love and pain are really inseperable―if love is true love. If one person claims to love someone else, the one who claims to love ― if there is genuine love ― is not only resigned to enduring pain ― but giving proof of love through that pain, for pain is the proof of love, pain is the price of love. That’s why God became Man: that He might be able to endure pain, especially the pain of draining His Blood out of love for us. It is recommended that all of you should try to promote the recitation of the litany of the Precious Blood.
Finally, devotion means imitation. In other words, if Christ showed His love for us by the shedding of His Blood, we are to show our love for Him ― we are to show our love for Him by the shedding of our blood. That is what the Church means when she has us say, that when Christ offers Himself daily on the altar in the Sacrifice of the Mass, we are told to identify that as our sacrifice ― His and ours. He, the Head of the Mystical Body, Who can no longer suffer, but thank God, we can!
This shedding of blood, is especially and increasingly likely today, since we are living in the most heroic age of martyrs in the history of Christianity. Countless millions of Christians who believe in the Precious Blood are proving their love for Him by their sufferings. Many, over the last 120 years, have shed and are shedding their blood physically. What a privilege! Yes, what a privilege if we were called to shed our blood physically in the Name of, and out of love for Christ!
We may well be called, some time in the future, to the grace of martyrdom. But even if it is not God’s Will that we shed our blood for Christ, to manifest our love for Him physically, let us make sure, absolutely sure, that we let no opportunity go by without shedding our blood spiritually. And that, my friends, no matter what our state of life, no matter what our vocation may be, if we are Christians, we are meant to shed our blood!
Devotion to the Precious Blood is not a spiritual option, it is a spiritual obligation, and that not only for priests, but for every follower of Christ. One of the symptoms of modern society (even modern Catholic society) is the symptom of a growing, gnawing secularism, that is lessening and weakening devotion to the Precious Blood.
Devotion, as you may know, is a composite of three elements: First of all it is veneration. Secondly, it is invocation. Thirdly, is it is imitation. In other words, devotion to the Precious Blood of Christ, the Lamb of God who was slain, is first of all to be veneration on our part, which is a composite of knowledge, love and adoration. We need to come to a deeper understanding of what those two casually spoken words ― Precious Blood ― really mean. Sadly, most people do look on those words in casual way.
There is a passage in one of the oldest documents, outside of Sacred Scripture, from the first century of the Christian era, dated about 96 A.D. to be exact, from Pope St. Clement I, in which the pope states:
“Let us fix our gaze on the Blood of Christ and realize how truly precious It is, seeing that it was poured out for our salvation and brought the grace of conversion to the whole world.”
To understand the meaning of the Precious Blood we must obtain some comprehension of the gravity of sin, of the awfulness of offending God, because it required the Blood of the Son of God to forgive that sin. We are living in an age in which to sin has become fashionable. Nevertheless we believe, or should believe, that we are here for only a very short time. We further believe Christ when He told us the way that leads to damnation is broad and many there are who walk that way, that the way that leads to eternal life is narrow and there are few who walk that way. The Church has never pronounced infallibly on the number lost and the number saved, but she has canonized St. John of the Cross and made him a Doctor of the Church. Says John of the Cross: “I believe that the majority of the human race will be lost.”
This veneration of the Precious Blood, which is the first element in our devotion to the Precious Blood means that we have a deep sensitivity to the awfulness of sin. Sin must be terrible. It must be awful. It must be the most dreadful thing in the universe. Why? Because it cost the living God in human form the shedding of His Blood.
Devotion to the Precious Blood means ― beyond veneration which means understanding, grasping and loving, loving Jesus Christ in the shedding of His Blood ― it further means that we invoke Christ under the attribute of His Precious Blood. If a thousand Catholics were picked at random―that is to say believing, church-going Catholics―and they were to be asked: “What litanies has the Church approved for the universal recitation by the faithful?” It is honestly doubtful if very many out of a thousand would know that one of those litanies is the Litany of the Precious Blood. Here are a few invocations from that Litany:
“Blood of Christ, Only-Begotten Son of the eternal Father.”
What is that saying? Is it saying that that Blood was the Only Begotten Son of the Eternal Father? Frankly, yes. Because we know that term―“Precious Blood”―is not just a symbol, not just a title. It identifies that quality of the Only-Begotten Son of the Eternal Father, which Christ wants us to constantly have in mind, namely, that the Only-Begotten Son of the Eternal Father suffered. Suffered for us.
“Blood of Christ falling upon the earth in the Agony.”
In the Middle Ages when the Faith was stronger than in modern times, when even the errors were more ‘respectable’ and as ‘crazy’ as today, there were those who speculated that maybe, just maybe, when Christ shed His Blood either in the Agony in the Garden, or on Calvary―that once the Blood left the Body It became just ordinary blood. And the Church infallibly defined: Every drop of Christ’s Blood in the Agony in the Garden, every drop He shed on Calvary, every drop was united hypostatically with the Second Person of the Trinity. Every drop of that Blood was adorable.
“Blood of Christ, Price of our salvation.”
Love and pain are really inseperable―if love is true love. If one person claims to love someone else, the one who claims to love ― if there is genuine love ― is not only resigned to enduring pain ― but giving proof of love through that pain, for pain is the proof of love, pain is the price of love. That’s why God became Man: that He might be able to endure pain, especially the pain of draining His Blood out of love for us. It is recommended that all of you should try to promote the recitation of the litany of the Precious Blood.
Finally, devotion means imitation. In other words, if Christ showed His love for us by the shedding of His Blood, we are to show our love for Him ― we are to show our love for Him by the shedding of our blood. That is what the Church means when she has us say, that when Christ offers Himself daily on the altar in the Sacrifice of the Mass, we are told to identify that as our sacrifice ― His and ours. He, the Head of the Mystical Body, Who can no longer suffer, but thank God, we can!
This shedding of blood, is especially and increasingly likely today, since we are living in the most heroic age of martyrs in the history of Christianity. Countless millions of Christians who believe in the Precious Blood are proving their love for Him by their sufferings. Many, over the last 120 years, have shed and are shedding their blood physically. What a privilege! Yes, what a privilege if we were called to shed our blood physically in the Name of, and out of love for Christ!
We may well be called, some time in the future, to the grace of martyrdom. But even if it is not God’s Will that we shed our blood for Christ, to manifest our love for Him physically, let us make sure, absolutely sure, that we let no opportunity go by without shedding our blood spiritually. And that, my friends, no matter what our state of life, no matter what our vocation may be, if we are Christians, we are meant to shed our blood!
Article 5
Three Drops of Blood Lead to a Bloodbath!
Three Drops of Blood Lead to a Bloodbath!
The Bloody Beginning!
We could say that the Precious Blood that Jesus shed for our salvation, is also the Blood of Mary, since, as the revelations to the mystics explain, Mary furnished the material aspect in the Incarnation, by providing her blood as the material matter that would go towards the making of the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ in her womb. To the Venerable Mary of Agreda it was revealed thus:
“The operations, which proceed within God Himself, depend not on the cooperation of creatures, for they have no part in them and God could not expect such cooperation for executing the works within Himself (works ‘ad intra’); but in the works outside of Himself (works ‘ad extra’), He could not proceed without the cooperation of most holy Mary and without her free consent. For He wished to reach this pinnacle of all the works outside Himself in Her and through Her; and He wished that we should owe this benefit to this Mother of wisdom and our Reparatrix.
The Blood of Mary Begins A Bloody Era
“Therefore this great Lady considered and inspected profoundly the dignity being offered her, that of Mother of God. She saw how profitable was this enterprise and commerce with the Divinity. And, having conferred with herself and with the heavenly messenger Gabriel about the grandeur of these high and divine sacraments, and finding Herself in excellent condition to receive the message sent to her, her purest soul was absorbed and elevated in admiration, reverence and highest intensity of divine love. By the intensity of these movements and supernal affections, her most pure heart, as it were by natural consequence, was contracted and compressed with such force, that it distilled three drops of her most pure blood, and these, finding their way to the natural place for the act of conception, were formed by the power of the divine and holy Spirit, into the body of Christ Our Lord. Thus the matter, from which the most holy Humanity of the Word for our Redemption is composed, was furnished and administered by the most pure heart of Mary and through the sheer force of her true love. At the same moment, with a humility never sufficiently to be extolled, she pronounced these words, which were the beginning of our salvation: ‘Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum!’—’Be it done unto me according to thy word!’
“At the pronunciation of this ‘fiat,’ so sweet to the hearing of God and so fortunate for us, in one instant, four things happened. First, the most holy Body of Christ Our Lord was formed from the three drops of blood furnished by the heart of most holy Mary. Secondly, the most holy Soul of the same Lord was created, just as the other souls. Thirdly, the Soul and the Body united, in order to compose His perfect Humanity. Fourthly, the Divinity united Itself in the Person of the Word with the Humanity, which together became one composite being, in hypostatical union; and thus was formed Christ true God and Man, our Lord and Redeemer” (Revelations to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God).
Giving Blood Begets Giving Blood
Our Lady ‘gave her blood’ in the Incarnation and Our Lord would give His Blood in the Redemption. Yet even before that—and we celebrate that feast today, July 2nd—Our Lady brings the future King of Martyrs to another future blood-letting martyr, St. John the Baptist on this feast of the Visitation. This visit of one future ‘Martyr’ to another future martyr was one of great joy—as St. Elizabeth, filled with Holy Ghost, expressed under His impulse: “Mary rising up in those days, went into the hill country with haste into a city of Juda. And she entered into the house of Zachary, and saluted Elizabeth. And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: and she cried out with a loud voice, and said: ‘Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy!’” (Luke 1:39-44). He would leap for joy after his martyrdom too, when after decapitation, he leapt joyfully up to Heaven! Of him, Our Lord had said: “Amen I say to you, there hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist!” (Matthew 11:11) and a greater honor cannot be given than martyrdom—for “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
Bloody Apostolic Calling
Those words―”Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13)—were spoken at the Last Supper, on the brink of His own Passion and bloody Death. When Our Lord had said to His Apostles “Follow Me!”—He did not only mean follow Me here on Earth and be My disciples, but, unknowingly to them, that “Follow Me!” also entailed following Him unto the shedding of blood and dying as martyrs. The only one to die a natural death was St. John the Evangelist, but, had he not been protected by a miracle, he also would have died a martyr when they placed him into a cauldron of boiling oil.
The Bloody Disease Spreads
The early days of the Church were days of persecution and martyrdom. It was the blood that martyrs shed, that watered the fledgling Church and helped her grow—as the famous saying goes: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” This saying has been almost literally copied from Tertullian, who in the year 197 wrote: “The blood [of martyrs] is the seed of Christians.” In 197 A.D., Tertullian, in a book he entitled The Apology, writes to the Roman governor of his province, refuting various false charges being made against Christians and the Christian Faith, arguing that the followers of Christ were loyal subjects of the empire, and thus, should not be persecuted. At any rate, Tertullian observes, the persecution was failing to destroy Christianity, for he writes, “Kill us, torture us, condemn us, grind us to dust; your injustice is the proof that we are innocent. Therefore God suffers (allows) that we thus suffer. When you recently condemned a Christian woman to the “leno” (pimp, i.e. accused her of being a prostitute) rather than to the “leo” (lion), you made confession that a taint on our purity is considered among us something more terrible than any punishment and any death. Nor does your cruelty, however exquisite, avail you; it is rather a temptation to us. The more often we are mown down by you, the more we grow in number―the blood of Christians is seed.”
The same idea was already to be found in the mid-second century, in a speech by an unknown author, made to the pagan Diogneto: “Do you not see that [the Christians] thrown to the wild beasts―to make them deny the Lord—do not allow themselves to be beaten? Do you not see that the more they are punished, the more the others increase in numbers?” One of Tertullian’s contemporaries was Ippolito Romano, who, during the persecutions organized by the Roman Emperor, Septimius Severus, wrote that a large number of men, attracted to the Faith by martyrs, also became God’s martyrs.
This belief of the first Christians was well-founded, because, referring to His redeeming death, Jesus said: “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit” (John 12:24). The martyrs simply follow the path shown by Jesus, who speaking of Himself said: “I am the way, and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).
The martyrs gain through losing their lives in bearing witness to Jesus ― they gain eternal life. Their lives manifested that they fully believed the promise made by Christ: “Everyone therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33). “And I say to you, My friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will shew you whom you shall fear―fear ye Him, Who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell! Yea, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5).
But this is also positive for the Church, that receives new believers, encouraged to convert thanks to the example set by the martyrs, and she also sees a renewal in existing believers.
We could say that the Precious Blood that Jesus shed for our salvation, is also the Blood of Mary, since, as the revelations to the mystics explain, Mary furnished the material aspect in the Incarnation, by providing her blood as the material matter that would go towards the making of the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ in her womb. To the Venerable Mary of Agreda it was revealed thus:
“The operations, which proceed within God Himself, depend not on the cooperation of creatures, for they have no part in them and God could not expect such cooperation for executing the works within Himself (works ‘ad intra’); but in the works outside of Himself (works ‘ad extra’), He could not proceed without the cooperation of most holy Mary and without her free consent. For He wished to reach this pinnacle of all the works outside Himself in Her and through Her; and He wished that we should owe this benefit to this Mother of wisdom and our Reparatrix.
The Blood of Mary Begins A Bloody Era
“Therefore this great Lady considered and inspected profoundly the dignity being offered her, that of Mother of God. She saw how profitable was this enterprise and commerce with the Divinity. And, having conferred with herself and with the heavenly messenger Gabriel about the grandeur of these high and divine sacraments, and finding Herself in excellent condition to receive the message sent to her, her purest soul was absorbed and elevated in admiration, reverence and highest intensity of divine love. By the intensity of these movements and supernal affections, her most pure heart, as it were by natural consequence, was contracted and compressed with such force, that it distilled three drops of her most pure blood, and these, finding their way to the natural place for the act of conception, were formed by the power of the divine and holy Spirit, into the body of Christ Our Lord. Thus the matter, from which the most holy Humanity of the Word for our Redemption is composed, was furnished and administered by the most pure heart of Mary and through the sheer force of her true love. At the same moment, with a humility never sufficiently to be extolled, she pronounced these words, which were the beginning of our salvation: ‘Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum!’—’Be it done unto me according to thy word!’
“At the pronunciation of this ‘fiat,’ so sweet to the hearing of God and so fortunate for us, in one instant, four things happened. First, the most holy Body of Christ Our Lord was formed from the three drops of blood furnished by the heart of most holy Mary. Secondly, the most holy Soul of the same Lord was created, just as the other souls. Thirdly, the Soul and the Body united, in order to compose His perfect Humanity. Fourthly, the Divinity united Itself in the Person of the Word with the Humanity, which together became one composite being, in hypostatical union; and thus was formed Christ true God and Man, our Lord and Redeemer” (Revelations to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God).
Giving Blood Begets Giving Blood
Our Lady ‘gave her blood’ in the Incarnation and Our Lord would give His Blood in the Redemption. Yet even before that—and we celebrate that feast today, July 2nd—Our Lady brings the future King of Martyrs to another future blood-letting martyr, St. John the Baptist on this feast of the Visitation. This visit of one future ‘Martyr’ to another future martyr was one of great joy—as St. Elizabeth, filled with Holy Ghost, expressed under His impulse: “Mary rising up in those days, went into the hill country with haste into a city of Juda. And she entered into the house of Zachary, and saluted Elizabeth. And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: and she cried out with a loud voice, and said: ‘Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy!’” (Luke 1:39-44). He would leap for joy after his martyrdom too, when after decapitation, he leapt joyfully up to Heaven! Of him, Our Lord had said: “Amen I say to you, there hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist!” (Matthew 11:11) and a greater honor cannot be given than martyrdom—for “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
Bloody Apostolic Calling
Those words―”Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13)—were spoken at the Last Supper, on the brink of His own Passion and bloody Death. When Our Lord had said to His Apostles “Follow Me!”—He did not only mean follow Me here on Earth and be My disciples, but, unknowingly to them, that “Follow Me!” also entailed following Him unto the shedding of blood and dying as martyrs. The only one to die a natural death was St. John the Evangelist, but, had he not been protected by a miracle, he also would have died a martyr when they placed him into a cauldron of boiling oil.
The Bloody Disease Spreads
The early days of the Church were days of persecution and martyrdom. It was the blood that martyrs shed, that watered the fledgling Church and helped her grow—as the famous saying goes: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” This saying has been almost literally copied from Tertullian, who in the year 197 wrote: “The blood [of martyrs] is the seed of Christians.” In 197 A.D., Tertullian, in a book he entitled The Apology, writes to the Roman governor of his province, refuting various false charges being made against Christians and the Christian Faith, arguing that the followers of Christ were loyal subjects of the empire, and thus, should not be persecuted. At any rate, Tertullian observes, the persecution was failing to destroy Christianity, for he writes, “Kill us, torture us, condemn us, grind us to dust; your injustice is the proof that we are innocent. Therefore God suffers (allows) that we thus suffer. When you recently condemned a Christian woman to the “leno” (pimp, i.e. accused her of being a prostitute) rather than to the “leo” (lion), you made confession that a taint on our purity is considered among us something more terrible than any punishment and any death. Nor does your cruelty, however exquisite, avail you; it is rather a temptation to us. The more often we are mown down by you, the more we grow in number―the blood of Christians is seed.”
The same idea was already to be found in the mid-second century, in a speech by an unknown author, made to the pagan Diogneto: “Do you not see that [the Christians] thrown to the wild beasts―to make them deny the Lord—do not allow themselves to be beaten? Do you not see that the more they are punished, the more the others increase in numbers?” One of Tertullian’s contemporaries was Ippolito Romano, who, during the persecutions organized by the Roman Emperor, Septimius Severus, wrote that a large number of men, attracted to the Faith by martyrs, also became God’s martyrs.
This belief of the first Christians was well-founded, because, referring to His redeeming death, Jesus said: “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit” (John 12:24). The martyrs simply follow the path shown by Jesus, who speaking of Himself said: “I am the way, and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).
The martyrs gain through losing their lives in bearing witness to Jesus ― they gain eternal life. Their lives manifested that they fully believed the promise made by Christ: “Everyone therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33). “And I say to you, My friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will shew you whom you shall fear―fear ye Him, Who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell! Yea, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5).
But this is also positive for the Church, that receives new believers, encouraged to convert thanks to the example set by the martyrs, and she also sees a renewal in existing believers.
Article 6
Middle-Aged Blood
Middle-Aged Blood
The Body Needs Its Blood!
We need blood to live. Take away the blood and death ensues. In a sense, the same can be said of the Mystical Body of Christ—it needs Its blood. Take away Its blood and death will soon follow. The primary Blood of the Mystical Body of Christ is that of Jesus Christ—Holy Scripture says of Him: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … All things were made by Him: and, without Him, was made nothing that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men … who are born, not of [human] blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:1-4; 13).
Jesus Himself reinforces this, saying: “I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). “I am the bread of life” (John 6:48). “I am the way … and the life” (John 14:6). His way to eternal life was to shed His Blood for our eternal life. That shedding of His Blood was an ultimate act and proof of love: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13). “I lay down My life for My sheep … No man taketh it away from me: but I lay it down of myself, and I have power to lay it down … Therefore doth the Father love Me: because I lay down My life” (John 10:15-17). “Wilt thou lay down thy life for Me?” (John 13:38). “Can you drink the chalice that I shall drink? … My chalice indeed you shall drink” (Matthew 20:22-23).
Our Lord commanded us to imitate that tremendous love: “This is My commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12). By shedding blood for Christ and the Faith, we gain eternal life, for we unite our blood to His Blood, we unite our love to His love: “Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25). “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it” (Mark 8:35). “And I give them life everlasting; and they shall not perish forever, and no man shall pluck them out of My hand” (John 10:28).
Blood and Love Go Hand in Hand
Blood and love seem to go together. As Fr. Faber writes, in his book The Precious Blood, “Salvation is through the Precious Blood … There is no washing away of iniquity, except in the Precious Blood of our most dear Redeemer … When love is bold, it prays to be set on fire with the flames which Jesus came to kindle. But it is only the Precious Blood which makes our heart beat hotly with the love of Him …
“The Apostle St. Paul was one of the chief glories of the Precious Blood. Redeeming grace was his favorite theme. He was forever magnifying and praising the Blood of Jesus. His heart was filled with it, and was enlarged by grace that it might hold yet more. After the Heart of Jesus, never was there a human heart like that of Paul, in which all other human hearts might beat as if it were their own … St. Paul's heart feels for everyone, makes every one's case its own, sorrows and rejoices with those who sorrow or rejoice, and becomes all things to all men that it may save them all. Among the wonders of creation there are few to compare with that glorious apostolic heart. The vastness of its sympathies, the breadth of its charity, the unwearied hopefulness of its zeal, the delicacy of its considerateness, the irresistible attraction of its imperious love—all this was the work of the Precious Blood; and that heart is still alive even upon earth, still beating in his marvelous Epistles as part of the unquenchable life of the Church. It is impossible to help connecting these characteristics of St. Paul's heart with the manifest devotion to the Precious Blood. Let us take him then as our guide amidst the unsearchable riches of Christ and the super-abounding graces of His redeeming Blood” (Fr. Faber, The Precious Blood).
The Bloody Love Continues to Flow
The contagion of St. Paul’s love and the shedding of his blood—which was because of his love—spread throughout the ages, being passed from one Christian to another. The same could be said of the other Apostles too. It is much like example that parents give to the children and which is usually passed onto their grandchildren. Example matters, example counts! That is one reason why the Church places before her children—at least the clergy and the religious—the examples of the martyrs on a daily basis, in what is known as the The Roman Martyrology. It contains a very brief—and sometimes very painfully descriptive—account of the deaths of these heroes and examples of Holy Mother Church.
Some religious orders have added accounts of their own martyrs—who did not get a mention in the universal martyrology—as an example and an encouragement to their own members of the pinnacle of love: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13). Even though these accounts did not come to be recorded in a systematic way that made them available to everyone (with the invention of the printing press in the 16th century), their exploits were still handed down by word of mouth or by being hand-written locally).
Martyrdom is a Myth and a Fable—Say Some
There are some modern writers who hold that Christian martyrdom was a gross exaggeration that was invented by Christians. Such a skeptical attitude echoes the Modernist theory that the life of Christ as we know and as recorded by the Gospels is also a creation of the imagination and wishful thinking of Christians! Just like the Modernists, these disparagers of Christian martyrdom say that there is no documentation for all this martrydom and this proves the exaggerations.
Firstly, let us remember that, even today, most people are unaware of the thousands of Christians dying today even with the availability of modern media reporting, internet communication and record keeping. Nearly 2,000 years ago, the documents of a minority Church that was on the fringe of society would have been far more incomplete, and we can assume that most martyrs and persecutions were not recorded.
Secondly, it must be remembered that early record keeping was mainly on papyrus, which had a very short life-expectancy—not to mention the vast and systematic destruction of books and such items by the ongoing Barbarian invasions into Europe that coincided with the progressive fall of the Roman Empire throughout the 4th century. Thus many records were either willfully destroyed or fell foul of natural decomposition. There were no printing presses or photo copiers to make multiple copies in those days.
Thirdly, nevertheless, the limited records that survived and still exist, show the Church under severe duress and persecution. Such duress and persecution knows little or no limits—meaning that a lack of cooperation on the part the person persecuted, would easily lead to physical violence and even death itself. Law enforcement was practically non-existent in those early days. Everything usually depended upon the whims and pleasure of local lord or ruler, who did not always know and follow the laws of God, but his own ideas of what was lawful. He was the law enforcement, court, judge and executioner—again, something that we are regressing to in our times.
Lastly, to think that the classical world was a tolerant place where minorities were accepted is a little dishonest. It’s a far stretch of the imagination to hold that a person holding a different religion from the state religion would suffer no consequences, especially in such times that were much more lawless and brutal than more modern days—though we seem to be returning to those lawless and brutal days with each decade that passes.
Get Real! Get Some Common Sense!
Most people miss the point when they think of persecution, by merely limiting it to the actions of a hostile state, such as the Roman Empire, or some local king. It is not just a case of this emperor or that king, against this or that Christian, Rather, it is a worldwide struggle, throughout all ages and times, between good and evil. If you try to do good, people inspired to do evil will work against you and try to stop or hinder you.
When St. Benedict was abbot of a monastery, the monks opposed his methods and some even tried to poison him several times. After St. Teresa of Avila attempted to reform the Carmelites in Spain, she gained many enemies, was put on trial, and was forced into seclusion. The point is that you do not need an official persecution to be harassed. Speaking-out the message of Christ could result in rebuke and persecution, even in the most Christian countries during the most Christian times. If you don’t believe that, then just go and post a Christian message on Facebook, or go door to door with a Bible or a Catechism. Even if this is done in the most charitable and gentle manner, I am certain that you’ll receive some nasty feedback.
I Told You It Would Happen!
This always has been and always will be the case—as evidenced by the words of Our Lord Himself: “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation. For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law … And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends; and some of you they will put to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake” (Luke 12:51-53; 21:16-17). “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name’s sake. And then shall many be scandalized: and shall betray one another: and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall seduce many. And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold. But he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved” (Matthew 24:9-13).
Are We Going Back to the “Dark Ages”?
It could well be argued that our present civilization is headed back to what some have called the “Dark Ages”—which were the centuries at the beginning of the Middle-Ages (500 to 1000 AD). They were called “Dark Ages” because the light of the Faith was to be dimmed together with the classical education and culture that had reigned during the Greek and Roman Empires. Barbarian invasions, from outside the parameters and borders of the Roman Empire, profited from the internal weakness and decline of the Empire to invade and transform Roman Europe into a Barbarian Europe.
This is why this period should be of great interest to us, as we seemingly head into our own "Neo-Dark-Ages", where Christianity and Culture are weakened and waning, while paganism is strengthened and gaining. As they say, if you do not learn your history, you will be obliged to learn the lessons of history by repeating them. It certainly seems as though we have not learnt our lesson and are well on the way to repeating history, especially the history of the "Dark-Ages."
Growth and Decay—Instruction and Destruction
In the sixth and seventh centuries the Roman Empire was in a state of decay and deterioration. The western empire was being overrun by tribal attacks and their immigration totally changing the balance of powers. Within a few centuries there were more disadvantages to being identified with the decadence of “Christian” Rome, than attempting to remain independent. When Christianity meant being Roman, then, by association, the Church was also identified with the moral deterioration of the empire, so much so as to no longer have any impact on people.
The so-called “Dark Ages” (the Early Middle Ages) refer to the period in Western Europe that describes the transition from the decay of the classical (Greek) culture to the beginning of the medieval culture in the eleventh century (the Renaissance). It is, thus a period of around 500 years.
As the Roman Empire deteriorated into a collection of “barbarian” states with some form of Christian awareness, there was little loyalty to a Roman Church authority and even less knowledge of the Bible on the part of the laity. Roman “civilization” deteriorated into an unorganized power struggle between tribal territorial chiefs, forcing the Church to make its priority that of survival instead of global expansion.
Melting Pot of Beliefs
The term Christianity had incorporated many concepts of the paganism that it had once sought to eradicate or Christianize. Now paganism risked paganizing Christianity. Syncretism (the blending together of different religious beliefs) became a pragmatic and irresistible trend when faced with inescapable assimilation of hundreds of pagan cultures. The evolving Roman-Germanic culture became inseparable to the culture of the Church. To become a Christian you had to become a Roman citizen culturally. Thus the Christianizing of a nation became the civilizing of a people.
Estimated Martyrs up to Start of Middle Ages
As the fifth century (the 400’s) came to a close, it had been 16 generations since the Ascension of Our Lord into Heaven. Some scholars estimate that the world, at the end of the 4th century and at the start of the Middle Ages, was 20% (1 out 5) Christian and 30% (3 out of 10) under evangelization or evangelized. Holy Scripture had been translated into 13 languages. The total martyrs since AD 33 was estimated at being 2,102,000, that is 1% (1 out of 100) of all Christians since the Church began, which translates into 4,400 martyrdoms per year.
Manipulation, Compromise and Demise
Much of the knowledge of the Scriptures and the Biblical basis of Faith were lost in the intrigue and power manipulations and compromises to keep and expand the Church’s authority in a morally decaying world power struggle. There was no Roman emperor in the West (the Roman Empire had relocated its capital and power base from Rome to Constantinople in the East), the Roman army was drafting every available man to battle the invading marauding tribal raiding armies, which forced people out of the urban cities into an isolated rural existence. Throughout the period of 500-950 the majority of Europe moved to the village and towns. In the 11th century there would be a revival of urban development. As the Church of Rome consolidated its authority in the absence of imperial powers to govern in civil affairs in Italy and in the face of religious schisms, a significant authority was necessary to avoid the disintegration of the whole Church. Circumstances forced and justified a centralization of authoritative decision-making.
First Period: Barbarian Age
Just as the Church gained official sanction and freedom from persecution within the empire, invading enemies brought terrible destruction and death to many more Christians than before. The challenge of survival became the main issue in this period. Against risks that we cannot even imagine, a handful of stalwart soldiers of the cross, bearing no arms, launched counter offensives into the pagan invaders territories.
Christianization and Viking Invasions (500-1000 AD)
With the invading barbarian hordes from the north and north-east, much of the educational and religious centers were destroyed. Only in the far western part of the empire, in modern day Ireland, could one find monasteries that were dedicated to the best education of that day. Were it not for these educational monasteries learning would have been erased from Western Europe. Throughout mainland Europe invading barbarian tribes swept across Europe destroying monasteries, towns, and any leadership. Europe was plunging into chaos. Beginning in 510 the Irish Peregrini [Irish Pilgrims], who were an unorganized wandering groups of hermits and preachers who had been trained in Irish monasteries, began to migrate across Europe and would do so for the next 300 years.
The Faith Fights Back
The Peregrini were a combination of asceticism, adventure, and mission practiced by monks who were led only by the Spirit without a pre-planned strategy. They walked across the Alps, Germany, Danube, Italy, as well as all the northern Scottish islands of Orkney (70 islands), reaching all the way to Iceland. Wherever they landed they established a new community like the one they had left behind. They were volunteer exiles like Abraham who would only know where they were going after the journey had begun, as a life-long commitment for the love of God.
Fighting Corruption and Moral Decadence
Europe was in shambles at this time. It was said that no one living could remember the Roman Empire. The continent had been decimated by unending waves of attacks by the barbarian tribesmen. Corruption and moral decadence amid general chaos were the norm and Christianity was on the verge of dissolving into a syncretistic religion of Christianity intermingled with paganism. They would turn abandoned Roman army forts into monasteries, all the way to Italy. They preached publicly of the “salvation in Jesus, served oppressed, cultivated the life of the mind, and established several monasteries in the area, to which thousands flocked” (Warner 2000, p. 492).
They used an Irish writing-tablet called pugilatores scotorum as their main tool. With abundant sheep, whose hides were the source of the pages of written texts, copies of Scriptures were made available. Scriptoriums were established for the copying of Scriptures in Ireland.
The Irish “miniscule” was some of the earliest use of small letters in writing, which became an instant attraction. In a world desperate for basic education these Irish “scholars” transformed Europe. They produced thousands of Christian scholars all over Europe. The conversions acquired in this extended evangelistic effort would make it one of the great missionary feats of all time.
Growth Among Decadence—Building on Ruins
By 545 the Irish monasteries at Clonard has 3,000 monks and at Belfast over 3,000. For a considerable time these missionaries were sent back to the mainland to evangelize the unreached tribal groups and areas devastated by the plagues and marauding wars of barbarian conquests.
Anyone interested in following Christ seriously would go to a monastery to be trained in godliness, disciplines, general education and how to organize other monasteries. Wherever they went this would be the cycle: evangelize, build a monastery, recruit candidates for the monastery, educate them for the ministry then send them out to evangelize and start more monasteries.
Columba
In the second half of the sixth century and 7th century Irish monks, filled with missionary zeal swept across Europe. Columba (521-597), a man of royal birth, was trained at Clonard. It was said that twelve students who studied in Clonard became known as the Twelve Apostles of Ireland and Columba was one of these. His noble end had an ignominious beginning. While copying manuscripts in a scriptorium, he made a copy of a psalter, or copy of the Psalms. Columba intended to keep the copy, but his superior disputed his rights, resulting in a battle in 561 in which several were killed. Columba was to be excommunicated for these deaths, but instead he was to be exiled. He volunteered to work as a missionary in Scotland and Britain.
Columba, at 42 years of age, and his twelve companions traveled through Scotland. He converted the king of the Picts (a group of tribes in central and northern Scotland) and the new king of the Scots in 574 came for his blessing. He
was eventually given land on the island of Iona, off the west coast of Scotland, which he used as a base of operations and perhaps the most famous missionary training center of all time. Iona became the only center for literacy in that region. Men would give up their lives of worldly pursuits to learn the disciplines necessary to withstand the rigors of missionary work among the unsaved. When they learned the skills, attitudes and maturity, they were sent out to take the Gospel where it had not yet been announced. His model became the catalyst for the revitalization of monasticism and became the “apostle” to Scotland. For over two hundred years the monetary at Iona continued to send out missionaries to all parts of Europe.
Columbanus
St. Columbanus (540-615) left an Irish monastery in his mid-40s with 12 companions for the European continent, which had been overrun for years by barbarian tribes. He likewise traveled with twelve companions, establishing monasteries in Gaul (France), Switzerland, Burgundy and N. Italy. Other Irish missionaries went to Iceland, England, up the Rhine into Hungary and Italy.
The primary evangelistic expansion during this early period came from Isles back to the mainland. He taught a Celtic monastic rule and Celtic penitential practices for those repenting of sins, which emphasized private confession to a priest, followed by penances as sentence for reparation for the sins. He instituted a perpetual service of praise, one choir following another, non-stop day and night. His zeal and commitment attracted many to follow his strict monastic rule. Clifton Warner of Regent College writes, “Celtic Christians knew of no other way of being a Christian but to be a Christian living in community. Peregrini were sent from a community, with others, to form the nucleus of a new community” (Warner 2000, p.493).
Their lifestyle was four-fold: (1) a robust lifestyle, with a great love for life and creation; (2) an ascetic lifestyle, because they voluntarily deprived themselves of many comforts for the love of God; (3) a reflective lifestyle, giving serious attention to reading, study and the development of the mind (music, art, and worthy books); (4) a contemplative lifestyle, practicing solitude and prayerful meditation (McNeill 1974, p. 157).
St. Augustine
As St. Columba and his teams were evangelizing in the north, Pope St. Gregory the Great sent St. Augustine (530?-604) to Britain in 597, along with 40 Benedictine monks. However, when they heard of the savagery of the Anglo-Saxons, Augustine turned back to Gaul. When he communicated this to the Pope, he was ordered to return to Kent, in Britain, no matter what. Only seven of his monks were will to join him now that they knew what they were facing.
However, they were welcomed by King Ethelbert, who had some knowledge of the Christianity from his wife, Bertha, who was a Frankish (Gaulic or Gallican) Christian. A condition of his marriage was the presence of a bishop (as a “confessor”). They had restored a church that dated from Roman times (pre-400).
The king listened to the Gospel, but initially he was not persuaded; however, he granted them liberty to preach the new religion, providing food and build a monastery outside the city walls in Canterbury. Within a year the king is converted, then, as was the custom of the time, his parliament adopted the new Faith and in a single day St. Augustine baptizes the king and 10,000 Saxons at Canterbury by 598. The Canterbury Cathedral was founded and Augustine became the first of a long line of archbishops of Canterbury.
Kane quotes Gough Meisser in his book A concise History of the Christian World Mission who describes the courageous missionary work of these Irish missionaries:
“What is the debt the world owes to primitive Celtic Christianity? The answer is that it produced the greatest missionary effort the world has ever seen; that when Europe was overrun by the barbarian hordes, these wandering Irish saints pushed their settlements right into the heart of European heathendom, and from the North Sea to the Lombardic plains, from beyond the Rhine to the border of Brittany, Ireland kept the lamp of learning alight in those dark days, and not only made possible the Christianization of barbarian Europe, but educated and supplied the greatest teachers down to the time of Charlemagne” (Kane, p. 38).
Martyrdom Still Part and Parcel of Life
By the year 500, the Western World was 20% (1 out 5) Christian and 30% (3 out of 10) under evangelization or evangelized. Holy Scripture had been translated into 13 languages. The number of martyrs since the time of Christ was estimated at being 2,102,000, that is 1% (1 out of 100) of all Christians since the Church began, which translates into 4,400 martyrdoms per year since the time of Christ.
By 600, there had been 19 generations since Christ and the Western world was still about 20% Christian, with around 33% evangelized, and Holy Scripture translated into 14 languages. The total martyrs since the Church began was estimated at 2,197,000 (about 0.5%, or 1 in 200 of all Christians who ever lived), which comes to around 3,800 martrydoms each year since the time of Christ.
By the year 700, or 22 generations after Christ, the Western world is still around 20% Christian. The Church had
evangelized approximately 29% of the known world. The total number of martyrs since Christ was estimated to be 2,423,000 (about 0.5%, or 1 in 200 of all Christians who ever lived) which translated to an average of 2,300 per year since the time of Christ.
As time went on, and more and more of the Western world was evangelized and baptized, the numbers of martyrs decreased. Yet wherever the Church entered a new area of evangelization among pagans, it almost invariably entered the arena of martyrdom. This is representative of the never ending battle between Christ and the devil, between the Kingdom of Heaven and the kingdoms of the world (the devil's world), between the Christian and the pagan, between morality and immorality, between good and evil. “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
We need blood to live. Take away the blood and death ensues. In a sense, the same can be said of the Mystical Body of Christ—it needs Its blood. Take away Its blood and death will soon follow. The primary Blood of the Mystical Body of Christ is that of Jesus Christ—Holy Scripture says of Him: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … All things were made by Him: and, without Him, was made nothing that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men … who are born, not of [human] blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:1-4; 13).
Jesus Himself reinforces this, saying: “I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). “I am the bread of life” (John 6:48). “I am the way … and the life” (John 14:6). His way to eternal life was to shed His Blood for our eternal life. That shedding of His Blood was an ultimate act and proof of love: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13). “I lay down My life for My sheep … No man taketh it away from me: but I lay it down of myself, and I have power to lay it down … Therefore doth the Father love Me: because I lay down My life” (John 10:15-17). “Wilt thou lay down thy life for Me?” (John 13:38). “Can you drink the chalice that I shall drink? … My chalice indeed you shall drink” (Matthew 20:22-23).
Our Lord commanded us to imitate that tremendous love: “This is My commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12). By shedding blood for Christ and the Faith, we gain eternal life, for we unite our blood to His Blood, we unite our love to His love: “Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25). “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it” (Mark 8:35). “And I give them life everlasting; and they shall not perish forever, and no man shall pluck them out of My hand” (John 10:28).
Blood and Love Go Hand in Hand
Blood and love seem to go together. As Fr. Faber writes, in his book The Precious Blood, “Salvation is through the Precious Blood … There is no washing away of iniquity, except in the Precious Blood of our most dear Redeemer … When love is bold, it prays to be set on fire with the flames which Jesus came to kindle. But it is only the Precious Blood which makes our heart beat hotly with the love of Him …
“The Apostle St. Paul was one of the chief glories of the Precious Blood. Redeeming grace was his favorite theme. He was forever magnifying and praising the Blood of Jesus. His heart was filled with it, and was enlarged by grace that it might hold yet more. After the Heart of Jesus, never was there a human heart like that of Paul, in which all other human hearts might beat as if it were their own … St. Paul's heart feels for everyone, makes every one's case its own, sorrows and rejoices with those who sorrow or rejoice, and becomes all things to all men that it may save them all. Among the wonders of creation there are few to compare with that glorious apostolic heart. The vastness of its sympathies, the breadth of its charity, the unwearied hopefulness of its zeal, the delicacy of its considerateness, the irresistible attraction of its imperious love—all this was the work of the Precious Blood; and that heart is still alive even upon earth, still beating in his marvelous Epistles as part of the unquenchable life of the Church. It is impossible to help connecting these characteristics of St. Paul's heart with the manifest devotion to the Precious Blood. Let us take him then as our guide amidst the unsearchable riches of Christ and the super-abounding graces of His redeeming Blood” (Fr. Faber, The Precious Blood).
The Bloody Love Continues to Flow
The contagion of St. Paul’s love and the shedding of his blood—which was because of his love—spread throughout the ages, being passed from one Christian to another. The same could be said of the other Apostles too. It is much like example that parents give to the children and which is usually passed onto their grandchildren. Example matters, example counts! That is one reason why the Church places before her children—at least the clergy and the religious—the examples of the martyrs on a daily basis, in what is known as the The Roman Martyrology. It contains a very brief—and sometimes very painfully descriptive—account of the deaths of these heroes and examples of Holy Mother Church.
Some religious orders have added accounts of their own martyrs—who did not get a mention in the universal martyrology—as an example and an encouragement to their own members of the pinnacle of love: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13). Even though these accounts did not come to be recorded in a systematic way that made them available to everyone (with the invention of the printing press in the 16th century), their exploits were still handed down by word of mouth or by being hand-written locally).
Martyrdom is a Myth and a Fable—Say Some
There are some modern writers who hold that Christian martyrdom was a gross exaggeration that was invented by Christians. Such a skeptical attitude echoes the Modernist theory that the life of Christ as we know and as recorded by the Gospels is also a creation of the imagination and wishful thinking of Christians! Just like the Modernists, these disparagers of Christian martyrdom say that there is no documentation for all this martrydom and this proves the exaggerations.
Firstly, let us remember that, even today, most people are unaware of the thousands of Christians dying today even with the availability of modern media reporting, internet communication and record keeping. Nearly 2,000 years ago, the documents of a minority Church that was on the fringe of society would have been far more incomplete, and we can assume that most martyrs and persecutions were not recorded.
Secondly, it must be remembered that early record keeping was mainly on papyrus, which had a very short life-expectancy—not to mention the vast and systematic destruction of books and such items by the ongoing Barbarian invasions into Europe that coincided with the progressive fall of the Roman Empire throughout the 4th century. Thus many records were either willfully destroyed or fell foul of natural decomposition. There were no printing presses or photo copiers to make multiple copies in those days.
Thirdly, nevertheless, the limited records that survived and still exist, show the Church under severe duress and persecution. Such duress and persecution knows little or no limits—meaning that a lack of cooperation on the part the person persecuted, would easily lead to physical violence and even death itself. Law enforcement was practically non-existent in those early days. Everything usually depended upon the whims and pleasure of local lord or ruler, who did not always know and follow the laws of God, but his own ideas of what was lawful. He was the law enforcement, court, judge and executioner—again, something that we are regressing to in our times.
Lastly, to think that the classical world was a tolerant place where minorities were accepted is a little dishonest. It’s a far stretch of the imagination to hold that a person holding a different religion from the state religion would suffer no consequences, especially in such times that were much more lawless and brutal than more modern days—though we seem to be returning to those lawless and brutal days with each decade that passes.
Get Real! Get Some Common Sense!
Most people miss the point when they think of persecution, by merely limiting it to the actions of a hostile state, such as the Roman Empire, or some local king. It is not just a case of this emperor or that king, against this or that Christian, Rather, it is a worldwide struggle, throughout all ages and times, between good and evil. If you try to do good, people inspired to do evil will work against you and try to stop or hinder you.
When St. Benedict was abbot of a monastery, the monks opposed his methods and some even tried to poison him several times. After St. Teresa of Avila attempted to reform the Carmelites in Spain, she gained many enemies, was put on trial, and was forced into seclusion. The point is that you do not need an official persecution to be harassed. Speaking-out the message of Christ could result in rebuke and persecution, even in the most Christian countries during the most Christian times. If you don’t believe that, then just go and post a Christian message on Facebook, or go door to door with a Bible or a Catechism. Even if this is done in the most charitable and gentle manner, I am certain that you’ll receive some nasty feedback.
I Told You It Would Happen!
This always has been and always will be the case—as evidenced by the words of Our Lord Himself: “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on Earth? I tell you, no; but separation. For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law … And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends; and some of you they will put to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake” (Luke 12:51-53; 21:16-17). “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name’s sake. And then shall many be scandalized: and shall betray one another: and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall seduce many. And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold. But he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved” (Matthew 24:9-13).
Are We Going Back to the “Dark Ages”?
It could well be argued that our present civilization is headed back to what some have called the “Dark Ages”—which were the centuries at the beginning of the Middle-Ages (500 to 1000 AD). They were called “Dark Ages” because the light of the Faith was to be dimmed together with the classical education and culture that had reigned during the Greek and Roman Empires. Barbarian invasions, from outside the parameters and borders of the Roman Empire, profited from the internal weakness and decline of the Empire to invade and transform Roman Europe into a Barbarian Europe.
This is why this period should be of great interest to us, as we seemingly head into our own "Neo-Dark-Ages", where Christianity and Culture are weakened and waning, while paganism is strengthened and gaining. As they say, if you do not learn your history, you will be obliged to learn the lessons of history by repeating them. It certainly seems as though we have not learnt our lesson and are well on the way to repeating history, especially the history of the "Dark-Ages."
Growth and Decay—Instruction and Destruction
In the sixth and seventh centuries the Roman Empire was in a state of decay and deterioration. The western empire was being overrun by tribal attacks and their immigration totally changing the balance of powers. Within a few centuries there were more disadvantages to being identified with the decadence of “Christian” Rome, than attempting to remain independent. When Christianity meant being Roman, then, by association, the Church was also identified with the moral deterioration of the empire, so much so as to no longer have any impact on people.
The so-called “Dark Ages” (the Early Middle Ages) refer to the period in Western Europe that describes the transition from the decay of the classical (Greek) culture to the beginning of the medieval culture in the eleventh century (the Renaissance). It is, thus a period of around 500 years.
As the Roman Empire deteriorated into a collection of “barbarian” states with some form of Christian awareness, there was little loyalty to a Roman Church authority and even less knowledge of the Bible on the part of the laity. Roman “civilization” deteriorated into an unorganized power struggle between tribal territorial chiefs, forcing the Church to make its priority that of survival instead of global expansion.
Melting Pot of Beliefs
The term Christianity had incorporated many concepts of the paganism that it had once sought to eradicate or Christianize. Now paganism risked paganizing Christianity. Syncretism (the blending together of different religious beliefs) became a pragmatic and irresistible trend when faced with inescapable assimilation of hundreds of pagan cultures. The evolving Roman-Germanic culture became inseparable to the culture of the Church. To become a Christian you had to become a Roman citizen culturally. Thus the Christianizing of a nation became the civilizing of a people.
Estimated Martyrs up to Start of Middle Ages
As the fifth century (the 400’s) came to a close, it had been 16 generations since the Ascension of Our Lord into Heaven. Some scholars estimate that the world, at the end of the 4th century and at the start of the Middle Ages, was 20% (1 out 5) Christian and 30% (3 out of 10) under evangelization or evangelized. Holy Scripture had been translated into 13 languages. The total martyrs since AD 33 was estimated at being 2,102,000, that is 1% (1 out of 100) of all Christians since the Church began, which translates into 4,400 martyrdoms per year.
Manipulation, Compromise and Demise
Much of the knowledge of the Scriptures and the Biblical basis of Faith were lost in the intrigue and power manipulations and compromises to keep and expand the Church’s authority in a morally decaying world power struggle. There was no Roman emperor in the West (the Roman Empire had relocated its capital and power base from Rome to Constantinople in the East), the Roman army was drafting every available man to battle the invading marauding tribal raiding armies, which forced people out of the urban cities into an isolated rural existence. Throughout the period of 500-950 the majority of Europe moved to the village and towns. In the 11th century there would be a revival of urban development. As the Church of Rome consolidated its authority in the absence of imperial powers to govern in civil affairs in Italy and in the face of religious schisms, a significant authority was necessary to avoid the disintegration of the whole Church. Circumstances forced and justified a centralization of authoritative decision-making.
First Period: Barbarian Age
Just as the Church gained official sanction and freedom from persecution within the empire, invading enemies brought terrible destruction and death to many more Christians than before. The challenge of survival became the main issue in this period. Against risks that we cannot even imagine, a handful of stalwart soldiers of the cross, bearing no arms, launched counter offensives into the pagan invaders territories.
Christianization and Viking Invasions (500-1000 AD)
With the invading barbarian hordes from the north and north-east, much of the educational and religious centers were destroyed. Only in the far western part of the empire, in modern day Ireland, could one find monasteries that were dedicated to the best education of that day. Were it not for these educational monasteries learning would have been erased from Western Europe. Throughout mainland Europe invading barbarian tribes swept across Europe destroying monasteries, towns, and any leadership. Europe was plunging into chaos. Beginning in 510 the Irish Peregrini [Irish Pilgrims], who were an unorganized wandering groups of hermits and preachers who had been trained in Irish monasteries, began to migrate across Europe and would do so for the next 300 years.
The Faith Fights Back
The Peregrini were a combination of asceticism, adventure, and mission practiced by monks who were led only by the Spirit without a pre-planned strategy. They walked across the Alps, Germany, Danube, Italy, as well as all the northern Scottish islands of Orkney (70 islands), reaching all the way to Iceland. Wherever they landed they established a new community like the one they had left behind. They were volunteer exiles like Abraham who would only know where they were going after the journey had begun, as a life-long commitment for the love of God.
Fighting Corruption and Moral Decadence
Europe was in shambles at this time. It was said that no one living could remember the Roman Empire. The continent had been decimated by unending waves of attacks by the barbarian tribesmen. Corruption and moral decadence amid general chaos were the norm and Christianity was on the verge of dissolving into a syncretistic religion of Christianity intermingled with paganism. They would turn abandoned Roman army forts into monasteries, all the way to Italy. They preached publicly of the “salvation in Jesus, served oppressed, cultivated the life of the mind, and established several monasteries in the area, to which thousands flocked” (Warner 2000, p. 492).
They used an Irish writing-tablet called pugilatores scotorum as their main tool. With abundant sheep, whose hides were the source of the pages of written texts, copies of Scriptures were made available. Scriptoriums were established for the copying of Scriptures in Ireland.
The Irish “miniscule” was some of the earliest use of small letters in writing, which became an instant attraction. In a world desperate for basic education these Irish “scholars” transformed Europe. They produced thousands of Christian scholars all over Europe. The conversions acquired in this extended evangelistic effort would make it one of the great missionary feats of all time.
Growth Among Decadence—Building on Ruins
By 545 the Irish monasteries at Clonard has 3,000 monks and at Belfast over 3,000. For a considerable time these missionaries were sent back to the mainland to evangelize the unreached tribal groups and areas devastated by the plagues and marauding wars of barbarian conquests.
Anyone interested in following Christ seriously would go to a monastery to be trained in godliness, disciplines, general education and how to organize other monasteries. Wherever they went this would be the cycle: evangelize, build a monastery, recruit candidates for the monastery, educate them for the ministry then send them out to evangelize and start more monasteries.
Columba
In the second half of the sixth century and 7th century Irish monks, filled with missionary zeal swept across Europe. Columba (521-597), a man of royal birth, was trained at Clonard. It was said that twelve students who studied in Clonard became known as the Twelve Apostles of Ireland and Columba was one of these. His noble end had an ignominious beginning. While copying manuscripts in a scriptorium, he made a copy of a psalter, or copy of the Psalms. Columba intended to keep the copy, but his superior disputed his rights, resulting in a battle in 561 in which several were killed. Columba was to be excommunicated for these deaths, but instead he was to be exiled. He volunteered to work as a missionary in Scotland and Britain.
Columba, at 42 years of age, and his twelve companions traveled through Scotland. He converted the king of the Picts (a group of tribes in central and northern Scotland) and the new king of the Scots in 574 came for his blessing. He
was eventually given land on the island of Iona, off the west coast of Scotland, which he used as a base of operations and perhaps the most famous missionary training center of all time. Iona became the only center for literacy in that region. Men would give up their lives of worldly pursuits to learn the disciplines necessary to withstand the rigors of missionary work among the unsaved. When they learned the skills, attitudes and maturity, they were sent out to take the Gospel where it had not yet been announced. His model became the catalyst for the revitalization of monasticism and became the “apostle” to Scotland. For over two hundred years the monetary at Iona continued to send out missionaries to all parts of Europe.
Columbanus
St. Columbanus (540-615) left an Irish monastery in his mid-40s with 12 companions for the European continent, which had been overrun for years by barbarian tribes. He likewise traveled with twelve companions, establishing monasteries in Gaul (France), Switzerland, Burgundy and N. Italy. Other Irish missionaries went to Iceland, England, up the Rhine into Hungary and Italy.
The primary evangelistic expansion during this early period came from Isles back to the mainland. He taught a Celtic monastic rule and Celtic penitential practices for those repenting of sins, which emphasized private confession to a priest, followed by penances as sentence for reparation for the sins. He instituted a perpetual service of praise, one choir following another, non-stop day and night. His zeal and commitment attracted many to follow his strict monastic rule. Clifton Warner of Regent College writes, “Celtic Christians knew of no other way of being a Christian but to be a Christian living in community. Peregrini were sent from a community, with others, to form the nucleus of a new community” (Warner 2000, p.493).
Their lifestyle was four-fold: (1) a robust lifestyle, with a great love for life and creation; (2) an ascetic lifestyle, because they voluntarily deprived themselves of many comforts for the love of God; (3) a reflective lifestyle, giving serious attention to reading, study and the development of the mind (music, art, and worthy books); (4) a contemplative lifestyle, practicing solitude and prayerful meditation (McNeill 1974, p. 157).
St. Augustine
As St. Columba and his teams were evangelizing in the north, Pope St. Gregory the Great sent St. Augustine (530?-604) to Britain in 597, along with 40 Benedictine monks. However, when they heard of the savagery of the Anglo-Saxons, Augustine turned back to Gaul. When he communicated this to the Pope, he was ordered to return to Kent, in Britain, no matter what. Only seven of his monks were will to join him now that they knew what they were facing.
However, they were welcomed by King Ethelbert, who had some knowledge of the Christianity from his wife, Bertha, who was a Frankish (Gaulic or Gallican) Christian. A condition of his marriage was the presence of a bishop (as a “confessor”). They had restored a church that dated from Roman times (pre-400).
The king listened to the Gospel, but initially he was not persuaded; however, he granted them liberty to preach the new religion, providing food and build a monastery outside the city walls in Canterbury. Within a year the king is converted, then, as was the custom of the time, his parliament adopted the new Faith and in a single day St. Augustine baptizes the king and 10,000 Saxons at Canterbury by 598. The Canterbury Cathedral was founded and Augustine became the first of a long line of archbishops of Canterbury.
Kane quotes Gough Meisser in his book A concise History of the Christian World Mission who describes the courageous missionary work of these Irish missionaries:
“What is the debt the world owes to primitive Celtic Christianity? The answer is that it produced the greatest missionary effort the world has ever seen; that when Europe was overrun by the barbarian hordes, these wandering Irish saints pushed their settlements right into the heart of European heathendom, and from the North Sea to the Lombardic plains, from beyond the Rhine to the border of Brittany, Ireland kept the lamp of learning alight in those dark days, and not only made possible the Christianization of barbarian Europe, but educated and supplied the greatest teachers down to the time of Charlemagne” (Kane, p. 38).
Martyrdom Still Part and Parcel of Life
By the year 500, the Western World was 20% (1 out 5) Christian and 30% (3 out of 10) under evangelization or evangelized. Holy Scripture had been translated into 13 languages. The number of martyrs since the time of Christ was estimated at being 2,102,000, that is 1% (1 out of 100) of all Christians since the Church began, which translates into 4,400 martyrdoms per year since the time of Christ.
By 600, there had been 19 generations since Christ and the Western world was still about 20% Christian, with around 33% evangelized, and Holy Scripture translated into 14 languages. The total martyrs since the Church began was estimated at 2,197,000 (about 0.5%, or 1 in 200 of all Christians who ever lived), which comes to around 3,800 martrydoms each year since the time of Christ.
By the year 700, or 22 generations after Christ, the Western world is still around 20% Christian. The Church had
evangelized approximately 29% of the known world. The total number of martyrs since Christ was estimated to be 2,423,000 (about 0.5%, or 1 in 200 of all Christians who ever lived) which translated to an average of 2,300 per year since the time of Christ.
As time went on, and more and more of the Western world was evangelized and baptized, the numbers of martyrs decreased. Yet wherever the Church entered a new area of evangelization among pagans, it almost invariably entered the arena of martyrdom. This is representative of the never ending battle between Christ and the devil, between the Kingdom of Heaven and the kingdoms of the world (the devil's world), between the Christian and the pagan, between morality and immorality, between good and evil. “Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people!’ Wherefore, ‘Go out from among them, and be ye separate!’ saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
Article 7
The Need For Martyrdom
The Need For Martyrdom
The Need of Personal Martyrdom in Our Soul
This is also a battle that takes place daily in each of us—as St. Paul so aptly describes: “For we know that the law [of God] is spiritual; but I am carnal [wordly], sold under sin. That which I do, I understand not. For I do not do the good which I want to do, but I do the evil which I hate ... The desire for good is present within me; but to accomplish that which is good, I find not. For the good which I want to do, I do not accomplish; but the evil which I do not want, that is what I do! Now, if I do that which I do not want to do, then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find, then, a law, that when I have a desire to do good, evil is present with me. For I am truly delighted with the law of God, according to the spiritual man within me: but I see another law in my flesh [the carnal man], fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin, that is in my body. Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God, by Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:14-25).
This microcosm of the battle within ourselves, reflects the macrocosm of the struggle or war with the world that the Church and Her members has to endure in all places and through all ages. It is a case of kill or be killed—the world and Kingdom of God are irreconcilable enemies and the war will only end and peace can only exist when one opponent defeats the other. “The life of man upon earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1) … “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12). St. Paul tells us: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the Faith!” (2 Timothy 4:7).
Not only did he fight the world, but he also fought himself. Not only was he put to death and martyred by the world, but he also put to death the world within himself and tells us to do the same. He speaks of overcoming himself and his evil inclinations on quite a few occasions: “I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty: I so fight, not as one beating the air: but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway … I die daily” (1 Corinthians 9:26-29; 15:31). If we will not die to sin, we will die in sin “Jesus said to them: ‘You shall die in your sin!’” (John 8:21). “For if you live according to the flesh, you shall die: but if, by the Spirit, you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live!” (Romans 8:13). “For the wisdom of the flesh is death; but the wisdom of the Spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you” (Romans 8:6-9).
St. Paul speaks of his battle against his flesh: “Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God, by Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25). “There was given me a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me. For which thing thrice I besought the Lord, that it might depart from me. And He said to me: ‘My grace is sufficient for thee!’” (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). “And where sin abounded, grace did more abound” (Romans 6:1).
Abuse of Grace
But grace is not to be abused! We should not presume upon on it, nor be complacent in it, nor misuse it! “And we do exhort you, that you receive not the grace of God in vain!” (2 Corinthians 6:1). “I have not run in vain, nor labored in vain!” (Philippians 2:16). “By the grace of God, I am what I am; and His grace in me hath not been void, but I have labored more abundantly than all they: yet not I, but the grace of God with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10).
Spiritual Martyrdom
Through the wounds and scars of Original Sin, we find, just like St. Paul, that there is within a certain affinity with some aspects of the world, a certain love of some elements of the world. The devil and the world will bait this weakness of ours if we are not vigilant and strong. We are only as strong as our weakest link—and so we have to eliminate our inherent weaknesses ruthlessly through mortification. Mortification is a compound word taken from two Latin words: mors, mortis meaning “death”, and facere, factus meaning “to do” or “to make”—therefore “mortification” is a putting to death of our weaknesses and sinful tendencies, and replacing them by their opposites from the range of virtues.
“For we that are dead to sin, how shall we live any longer therein? … For our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer. Let no sin therefore reign in your mortal body, so as to obey the lusts thereof ... Know you not, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are whom you obey, whether it be of sin unto death, or of obedience unto justice? … Therefore, as you have yielded your members to serve uncleanness and iniquity, unto iniquity; so now yield your members to serve justice, unto sanctification … Know you not that all we, who are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in His death? For we are buried together with Him by baptism into death; that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection” (Romans 6:2-19).
That martyrdom of mortification is a painful martyrdom—especially when we see those around us, not practicing mortification but gratification; not praying but playing; not weeping over sin but laughing over fun! Yet theirs is the easy, broad and wide road that leads downwards through the broad and wide gates of Hell. Ours has to be hard, narrow and straight path that leads uphill to the narrow gates of Heaven. Life is thus one long spiritual martyrdom, that sheds much spiritual blood—but though the way and the work may be tough, the payment and rewards are ‘out of this world’!
This is also a battle that takes place daily in each of us—as St. Paul so aptly describes: “For we know that the law [of God] is spiritual; but I am carnal [wordly], sold under sin. That which I do, I understand not. For I do not do the good which I want to do, but I do the evil which I hate ... The desire for good is present within me; but to accomplish that which is good, I find not. For the good which I want to do, I do not accomplish; but the evil which I do not want, that is what I do! Now, if I do that which I do not want to do, then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find, then, a law, that when I have a desire to do good, evil is present with me. For I am truly delighted with the law of God, according to the spiritual man within me: but I see another law in my flesh [the carnal man], fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin, that is in my body. Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God, by Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:14-25).
This microcosm of the battle within ourselves, reflects the macrocosm of the struggle or war with the world that the Church and Her members has to endure in all places and through all ages. It is a case of kill or be killed—the world and Kingdom of God are irreconcilable enemies and the war will only end and peace can only exist when one opponent defeats the other. “The life of man upon earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1) … “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12). St. Paul tells us: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the Faith!” (2 Timothy 4:7).
Not only did he fight the world, but he also fought himself. Not only was he put to death and martyred by the world, but he also put to death the world within himself and tells us to do the same. He speaks of overcoming himself and his evil inclinations on quite a few occasions: “I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty: I so fight, not as one beating the air: but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway … I die daily” (1 Corinthians 9:26-29; 15:31). If we will not die to sin, we will die in sin “Jesus said to them: ‘You shall die in your sin!’” (John 8:21). “For if you live according to the flesh, you shall die: but if, by the Spirit, you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live!” (Romans 8:13). “For the wisdom of the flesh is death; but the wisdom of the Spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you” (Romans 8:6-9).
St. Paul speaks of his battle against his flesh: “Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God, by Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25). “There was given me a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me. For which thing thrice I besought the Lord, that it might depart from me. And He said to me: ‘My grace is sufficient for thee!’” (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). “And where sin abounded, grace did more abound” (Romans 6:1).
Abuse of Grace
But grace is not to be abused! We should not presume upon on it, nor be complacent in it, nor misuse it! “And we do exhort you, that you receive not the grace of God in vain!” (2 Corinthians 6:1). “I have not run in vain, nor labored in vain!” (Philippians 2:16). “By the grace of God, I am what I am; and His grace in me hath not been void, but I have labored more abundantly than all they: yet not I, but the grace of God with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10).
Spiritual Martyrdom
Through the wounds and scars of Original Sin, we find, just like St. Paul, that there is within a certain affinity with some aspects of the world, a certain love of some elements of the world. The devil and the world will bait this weakness of ours if we are not vigilant and strong. We are only as strong as our weakest link—and so we have to eliminate our inherent weaknesses ruthlessly through mortification. Mortification is a compound word taken from two Latin words: mors, mortis meaning “death”, and facere, factus meaning “to do” or “to make”—therefore “mortification” is a putting to death of our weaknesses and sinful tendencies, and replacing them by their opposites from the range of virtues.
“For we that are dead to sin, how shall we live any longer therein? … For our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer. Let no sin therefore reign in your mortal body, so as to obey the lusts thereof ... Know you not, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are whom you obey, whether it be of sin unto death, or of obedience unto justice? … Therefore, as you have yielded your members to serve uncleanness and iniquity, unto iniquity; so now yield your members to serve justice, unto sanctification … Know you not that all we, who are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in His death? For we are buried together with Him by baptism into death; that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection” (Romans 6:2-19).
That martyrdom of mortification is a painful martyrdom—especially when we see those around us, not practicing mortification but gratification; not praying but playing; not weeping over sin but laughing over fun! Yet theirs is the easy, broad and wide road that leads downwards through the broad and wide gates of Hell. Ours has to be hard, narrow and straight path that leads uphill to the narrow gates of Heaven. Life is thus one long spiritual martyrdom, that sheds much spiritual blood—but though the way and the work may be tough, the payment and rewards are ‘out of this world’!
Article 8
Washed by His Blood
Washed by His Blood
Cleansing by Blood
St. John speaks of the Blood of Christ washing us from all sin: “The Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). This notion of being washed and cleansed by blood is of ancient origin and we can find it frequently in the Old Testament. The blood of sacrifices was caught by the priest in a basin, and then sprinkled seven times on the altar; while the blood of lamb at the Passover was sprinkled on the doorposts and lintels of the houses for their protection from the avenging angel that would pass over (Exodus 12; Leviticus 4:5-7; 16:14-19).
Old Testament Blood
At the giving of the law by God to Moses, during the Exodus, the blood of the sacrifices was sprinkled on the people as well as on the altar, and thus the people were consecrated to God, or entered into covenant with Him: “And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord: and rising in the morning he built an altar at the foot of the mount, and they offered holocausts, and sacrificed pacific victims of calves to the Lord. Then Moses took half of the blood, and put it into bowls: and the rest he poured upon the altar. And taking the book of the covenant, he read it in the hearing of the people: and they said: ‘All things that the Lord hath spoken we will do, we will be obedient!’ And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people, and he said: ‘This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words!’” (Exodus 24:4-8)
New Testament Blood
Hence the Blood of the Covenant or Testament: “Jesus, taking the chalice, gave thanks, and gave to them, saying: ‘Drink ye all of this! For this is My Blood of the new testament [new covenant, meaning “new agreement”], which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins!” (Matthew 26:27-28). St. Paul develops this, saying: “For when every commandment of the law had been read by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying: ‘This is the blood of the testament [covenant, meaning “agreement”], which God hath enjoined unto you!’ The tabernacle also, and all the vessels of the ministry, in like manner, he sprinkled with blood. And almost all things, according to the law, are cleansed with blood: and without shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9:19-22).
Apocalyptic Blood
This same idea of cleansing by blood is seen in the Book of the Apocalypse: “Jesus Christ, … hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood” (Apocalypse 1:5). The Ancients in the Apocalypse sing a new canticle, saying: “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to take the book, and to open the seals thereof; because Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God, in Thy blood, out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Apocalypse 5:9-10). “I saw a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne, and in sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hand … And one of the ancients answered, and said to me: ‘These that are clothed in white robes, who are they? And whence came they?’ And I said to him: ‘My Lord, thou knowest!’ And he said to me: ‘These are they who are come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb!’” (Apocalypse 7:9, 13-14).
“And there was a great battle in Heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels: and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in Heaven. And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world; and he was cast unto the Earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in Heaven, saying: ‘Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: because the accuser of our brethren is cast forth, who accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb!” (Apocalypse 12:7-11).
“And I saw Heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and with justice doth He judge and fight. And His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many diadems, and He had a name written, which no man knoweth but Himself. And He was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood; and His name is called, the Word of God” (Apocalypse 19:11-13).
Blood of Warfare
Warfare conjures up images of blood and death! Spiritual warfare, likewise, brings to mind images of blood and death. Except that the exemplar or model in the spiritual warfare is the Blood of Jesus Christ, shed for us in His Passion and Death—which was His culminating and decisive battle with the devil at the end of His earthly life. He resisted unto blood and overcame the devil by His blood, as the Apocalypse says: “And they overcame him [the devil] by the Blood of the Lamb!” (Apocalypse 12:11).
Yet have we resisted unto blood in our warfare with the devil?—“Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in Faith: knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world” (1 Peter 5:8-9). Resist him strong in Faith! Yet we don’t resist him strongly enough, as St. Paul says: “For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin!” (Hebrews 12:4). And that is why we fall into sin so often, because our resistance is too weak, just as Faith is too weak. We barely break sweat in resisting, never mind the thought of resisting unto blood!
Blood to Heal Our Wounds
The bloody wounds of Christ produce the medicine and healing for our sinful wounded souls: “But He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His bruises we are healed” (Isaias 53:5). St. Peter adds: “By Whose stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24). In his book, The Precious Blood, Fr. Faber writes: “The Precious Blood belongs in an especial manner to men [the human race]. Much more, therefore, does God invite them to come to its heavenly baths, and receive therein, not only the cleansing of their souls, but the power of a new and amazing life.”
As Holy Scripture says: “For if the blood of goats and of oxen, and the ashes of an heifer being sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh, then how much more shall the Blood of Christ, Who, by the Holy Ghost offered Himself unspotted unto God, cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:13-14). Echoing this, in the Chronicles of the French Carmelites, we read of Frances of the Mother of God, that, one day, before Communion, those words of the Apocalypse were deeply imprinted on her mind: “He hath loved us and washed away our sins in His Blood.” Presently, Our Lord said to her interiorly: “I have shed My Blood for your sins, and now I come in Holy Communion to wash away the stains which remain.” When she had received Our Lord, she saw her soul all covered with Blood (Chroniques, vol. 2, pp. 595-596).
Blood Transformation
Just as some sick persons need a blood transfusion, many sick souls need a blood transformation. We see some striking tranformations brought about by the Blood of Jesus. Saul the Persecutor of the Church, becomes St. Paul the Pillar of the Church. The Good Thief steals Heaven at the proverbial “eleventh hour”. Mary Magdalen the sinner, the woman of ill-repute, the woman possessed by seven devils, is washed clean by the Blood of Jesus in advance of His Passion and she gratefully washes His feet with her tears. Calixtus the thieving pilferer becomes St. Calixtus the Pope. Mary the Prostitute (Mary of Egypt) becomes St. Mary the Penitent. Moses the Murderer becomes St. Moses the Mild. Olga the Assassin becomes St. Olga the Apostle. Margaret the Mistress becomes St. Margaret the Modest. The list of cures by a Precious Blood transformation are endless. One awaits you too—if you wish to be cured! The first step is to admit you are sick! Not many are willing to do that!
Blood in the Temple
We see the importance of blood with the tabernacle (in Latin, tabernaculum means “tent”) of Moses in the wilderness, followed many years later by the great Temple in Jerusalem that Solomon built. These two houses or worship, which were virtually identical in their original plan or pattern, encompasses the entire Jewish religious system throughout the Old Testament—up to the time of the New Testament when Jesus came. God gave detailed and explicit instructions as to the design and implementation of these houses of worship. At the very center of every aspect of ceremony and worship—the entire religion for that matter—there was the blood.
In the outer court surrounding the tabernacle, the first thing visible, was (1) the altar of the burnt offering. Here animals that were slain and consumed by the fire from morning to night. Literally thousands of sacrifices per year, with the blood being separated from the body of the animals. Next, within the tabernacle itself, there was the holy place where (2) the altar of incense and the temple veil itself, were continuously sprinkled with the blood. Beyond the veil was (3) the most holy place or "holy of holies," at the very center of which God Himself dwelt on His throne, which was the Ark of the Covenant, Once a year the High Priest entered that room by himself to bring the blood, and to worship God. The highest act of that worship was the sprinkling of blood on the mercy seat of the golden ark, covered by the wings of the hovering cherubim angel.
The priestly function began only with the act of receiving the blood. The utmost care was taken by the priest to receive the blood; it represented the life or soul. None but a circumcised Levite in a proper state of Levitical purity and attired in proper vestments could perform this act; so, too, the sprinkling of the blood was the exclusive privilege of the priests, the sons of Aaron. Moses sprinkled it when Aaron and his sons were inducted into the priesthood; but this was exceptional. In holocausts and thank-offerings the blood was sprinkled “round about upon the altar.” In the sin-offering, the practice seems to have been to put some of the blood on the horns of the brazen altar, or on those of the golden altar when that was used, or even on parts of the holy edifice. The same distinction appears in the case of turtle-doves and pigeons: their blood was smeared on the side of the brazen altar; when sin-offerings, it was partly sprinkled on the side of the altar and partly smeared on the base.
St. John speaks of the Blood of Christ washing us from all sin: “The Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). This notion of being washed and cleansed by blood is of ancient origin and we can find it frequently in the Old Testament. The blood of sacrifices was caught by the priest in a basin, and then sprinkled seven times on the altar; while the blood of lamb at the Passover was sprinkled on the doorposts and lintels of the houses for their protection from the avenging angel that would pass over (Exodus 12; Leviticus 4:5-7; 16:14-19).
Old Testament Blood
At the giving of the law by God to Moses, during the Exodus, the blood of the sacrifices was sprinkled on the people as well as on the altar, and thus the people were consecrated to God, or entered into covenant with Him: “And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord: and rising in the morning he built an altar at the foot of the mount, and they offered holocausts, and sacrificed pacific victims of calves to the Lord. Then Moses took half of the blood, and put it into bowls: and the rest he poured upon the altar. And taking the book of the covenant, he read it in the hearing of the people: and they said: ‘All things that the Lord hath spoken we will do, we will be obedient!’ And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people, and he said: ‘This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words!’” (Exodus 24:4-8)
New Testament Blood
Hence the Blood of the Covenant or Testament: “Jesus, taking the chalice, gave thanks, and gave to them, saying: ‘Drink ye all of this! For this is My Blood of the new testament [new covenant, meaning “new agreement”], which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins!” (Matthew 26:27-28). St. Paul develops this, saying: “For when every commandment of the law had been read by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying: ‘This is the blood of the testament [covenant, meaning “agreement”], which God hath enjoined unto you!’ The tabernacle also, and all the vessels of the ministry, in like manner, he sprinkled with blood. And almost all things, according to the law, are cleansed with blood: and without shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9:19-22).
Apocalyptic Blood
This same idea of cleansing by blood is seen in the Book of the Apocalypse: “Jesus Christ, … hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood” (Apocalypse 1:5). The Ancients in the Apocalypse sing a new canticle, saying: “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to take the book, and to open the seals thereof; because Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God, in Thy blood, out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Apocalypse 5:9-10). “I saw a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne, and in sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hand … And one of the ancients answered, and said to me: ‘These that are clothed in white robes, who are they? And whence came they?’ And I said to him: ‘My Lord, thou knowest!’ And he said to me: ‘These are they who are come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb!’” (Apocalypse 7:9, 13-14).
“And there was a great battle in Heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels: and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in Heaven. And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world; and he was cast unto the Earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in Heaven, saying: ‘Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: because the accuser of our brethren is cast forth, who accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb!” (Apocalypse 12:7-11).
“And I saw Heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and with justice doth He judge and fight. And His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many diadems, and He had a name written, which no man knoweth but Himself. And He was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood; and His name is called, the Word of God” (Apocalypse 19:11-13).
Blood of Warfare
Warfare conjures up images of blood and death! Spiritual warfare, likewise, brings to mind images of blood and death. Except that the exemplar or model in the spiritual warfare is the Blood of Jesus Christ, shed for us in His Passion and Death—which was His culminating and decisive battle with the devil at the end of His earthly life. He resisted unto blood and overcame the devil by His blood, as the Apocalypse says: “And they overcame him [the devil] by the Blood of the Lamb!” (Apocalypse 12:11).
Yet have we resisted unto blood in our warfare with the devil?—“Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in Faith: knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world” (1 Peter 5:8-9). Resist him strong in Faith! Yet we don’t resist him strongly enough, as St. Paul says: “For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin!” (Hebrews 12:4). And that is why we fall into sin so often, because our resistance is too weak, just as Faith is too weak. We barely break sweat in resisting, never mind the thought of resisting unto blood!
Blood to Heal Our Wounds
The bloody wounds of Christ produce the medicine and healing for our sinful wounded souls: “But He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His bruises we are healed” (Isaias 53:5). St. Peter adds: “By Whose stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24). In his book, The Precious Blood, Fr. Faber writes: “The Precious Blood belongs in an especial manner to men [the human race]. Much more, therefore, does God invite them to come to its heavenly baths, and receive therein, not only the cleansing of their souls, but the power of a new and amazing life.”
As Holy Scripture says: “For if the blood of goats and of oxen, and the ashes of an heifer being sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh, then how much more shall the Blood of Christ, Who, by the Holy Ghost offered Himself unspotted unto God, cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:13-14). Echoing this, in the Chronicles of the French Carmelites, we read of Frances of the Mother of God, that, one day, before Communion, those words of the Apocalypse were deeply imprinted on her mind: “He hath loved us and washed away our sins in His Blood.” Presently, Our Lord said to her interiorly: “I have shed My Blood for your sins, and now I come in Holy Communion to wash away the stains which remain.” When she had received Our Lord, she saw her soul all covered with Blood (Chroniques, vol. 2, pp. 595-596).
Blood Transformation
Just as some sick persons need a blood transfusion, many sick souls need a blood transformation. We see some striking tranformations brought about by the Blood of Jesus. Saul the Persecutor of the Church, becomes St. Paul the Pillar of the Church. The Good Thief steals Heaven at the proverbial “eleventh hour”. Mary Magdalen the sinner, the woman of ill-repute, the woman possessed by seven devils, is washed clean by the Blood of Jesus in advance of His Passion and she gratefully washes His feet with her tears. Calixtus the thieving pilferer becomes St. Calixtus the Pope. Mary the Prostitute (Mary of Egypt) becomes St. Mary the Penitent. Moses the Murderer becomes St. Moses the Mild. Olga the Assassin becomes St. Olga the Apostle. Margaret the Mistress becomes St. Margaret the Modest. The list of cures by a Precious Blood transformation are endless. One awaits you too—if you wish to be cured! The first step is to admit you are sick! Not many are willing to do that!
Blood in the Temple
We see the importance of blood with the tabernacle (in Latin, tabernaculum means “tent”) of Moses in the wilderness, followed many years later by the great Temple in Jerusalem that Solomon built. These two houses or worship, which were virtually identical in their original plan or pattern, encompasses the entire Jewish religious system throughout the Old Testament—up to the time of the New Testament when Jesus came. God gave detailed and explicit instructions as to the design and implementation of these houses of worship. At the very center of every aspect of ceremony and worship—the entire religion for that matter—there was the blood.
In the outer court surrounding the tabernacle, the first thing visible, was (1) the altar of the burnt offering. Here animals that were slain and consumed by the fire from morning to night. Literally thousands of sacrifices per year, with the blood being separated from the body of the animals. Next, within the tabernacle itself, there was the holy place where (2) the altar of incense and the temple veil itself, were continuously sprinkled with the blood. Beyond the veil was (3) the most holy place or "holy of holies," at the very center of which God Himself dwelt on His throne, which was the Ark of the Covenant, Once a year the High Priest entered that room by himself to bring the blood, and to worship God. The highest act of that worship was the sprinkling of blood on the mercy seat of the golden ark, covered by the wings of the hovering cherubim angel.
The priestly function began only with the act of receiving the blood. The utmost care was taken by the priest to receive the blood; it represented the life or soul. None but a circumcised Levite in a proper state of Levitical purity and attired in proper vestments could perform this act; so, too, the sprinkling of the blood was the exclusive privilege of the priests, the sons of Aaron. Moses sprinkled it when Aaron and his sons were inducted into the priesthood; but this was exceptional. In holocausts and thank-offerings the blood was sprinkled “round about upon the altar.” In the sin-offering, the practice seems to have been to put some of the blood on the horns of the brazen altar, or on those of the golden altar when that was used, or even on parts of the holy edifice. The same distinction appears in the case of turtle-doves and pigeons: their blood was smeared on the side of the brazen altar; when sin-offerings, it was partly sprinkled on the side of the altar and partly smeared on the base.
Article 9
Are You a Bloody Catholic?
Are You a Bloody Catholic?
The Temple and Tabernacle of the New Testament
The Old Testament was a figure or symbol of what was to come in the New Testament—which was to be the perfection and realization of all the Old Testament types. The Catholic Faith is the perfection of the Old Testament Jewish religion, the church is the realization and perfection of the old Jewish Temple and the Sanctuary and Tabernacle of the church is the realization and perfection of the Holies, the Holy of Holies and the Ark of the Covenant. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the realization and perfection of all the old Jewish sacrifices.
The Cleansing Blood in Confession
The Sacrament of Confession is the purificative sprinkling and cleansing from sin by the Precious Blood that replaces the blood sprinkling of the Old Testament. Fr. Faber, in relating the Precious Blood to the Sacrament of Confession, writes:
“What is Absolution? It is the authentic dripping of the Precious Blood upon the head of the repentant sinner. It is God's patience grown so patient, as to be magnificent. It is, almost but not quite, the limit of the outstretching of the eternal arms of mercy. In it human acts reach to one of their highest heights. They are lifted up to merit salvation by the merits of the Precious Blood. Human sorrow is consecrated and made divine by the touch and the anointing of the sorrow of Jesus; and that unction was only to reach us with the flowing of His Blood from His gracious Wounds.
“Without shedding of Blood there was to be no remission of sin. Millions of souls are at large in Heaven this day, who, without Absolution, would have been in Hell. Yet it were better a whole solar system should be shattered to pieces than a single soul lost. If there is something very divine in the facility of Baptism, reminding us of creation when the word was spoken and forthwith the work was done, there is also something very divine in the difficulty and effort of Absolution, reminding us of redemption which was only accomplished by a Passion and with Blood.
“Hearts have to be softened, habits weakened, dispositions changed, occasions deserted, new tastes infused, entanglements untied. The Precious Blood has to put forth more of its strength here [in Confession and Absolution] than in Baptism; because it has to overcome more inveteracy and resistance. It has also to venture its sacred riches more prodigally here, than in other Sacraments. In all Sacraments it runs two generous risks―the risk of invalidity and the risk of sacrilege. Both these risks are more especially run in the Sacrament of Penance.
“Yet what numberless confessions are daily heard! What hundreds, or thousands, of Absolutions are daily given, the greater portion of which I am undoubtingly certain, from the character of God and the experience of the confessional, are valid! How many Absolutions have we ourselves received in our lives, and hope still to receive! Surely, if we could see as God sees, and as perchance the angels are allowed to see, we should behold innumerable streams of Blood intersecting the crowded souls of men, as a vast river-system shows like a net-work on a map; and this would be a vision of the prodigality of Absolution” (Fr. Faber, The Precious Blood).
The Precious Blood Softens Misery
“Great as the actual miseries of life are, the Precious Blood is continually making them very much less than they otherwise would be. It diminishes poverty by multiplying alms. It lessens the evil of pain, and to some extent even its amount, by the grace of patience and the appliances of the supernatural life; not to speak of miraculous operations, occurring perhaps hourly upon the earth, through the touch of relics, crosses, and other sacred objects. The amount of temporal evil which would otherwise have come upon the earth, but is daily absorbed by the Sacrament of penance and by the virtue of penance, must be enormous.
“In the case of mental suffering, besides the many indirect alleviations brought to it by the Precious Blood, we must remember the vast world of horrors arising from unabsolved consciences, horrors which the Sacraments are annihilating daily. Failure is indeed the rule of human enterprise, and success is the exception. Yet there are numberless counterbalancing blessings won by the interest of the Mother of God, by the intercession of the saints, by the intervention of angels, by the Sacrifice of the Mass, and by the sacramental residence of Jesus upon earth, which would not exist but for the Precious Blood.” (Fr. Faber, The Precious Blood).
Are You A Bloody Catholic? Then Do Something!
Do not let the Precious Blood of Jesus be shed in vain for you! He shed His Blood potentially for all—yet most people waste that Blood and pour it away unused and abused. They will regret it eternally. Profit from His Blood while you can. The power of the Precious Blood is beyond our power to conceive—because it is infinite in value and so infinite in power. Use it—don’t abuse it! Collect it—don’t neglect it!
Yet you do abuse it by making bad confessions or not confessing enough and therefore not bathing enough in the Precious Blood. You do neglect it by failing to collect it through many extra Holy Communions aside from Sunday Communions. It is has a tremendous power there for our use—but that power we lose when we abuse. Confession and Communion are the two legs with which we should be running to Heaven. Are those legs healthy and being used, or are they crippled and unused? Is there decent muscle in those legs, or are they atrophied? Perhaps Our Lord needs to use the power of His Precious Blood and force it through our arteries and veins while saying: "Get up and walk!"
The Old Testament was a figure or symbol of what was to come in the New Testament—which was to be the perfection and realization of all the Old Testament types. The Catholic Faith is the perfection of the Old Testament Jewish religion, the church is the realization and perfection of the old Jewish Temple and the Sanctuary and Tabernacle of the church is the realization and perfection of the Holies, the Holy of Holies and the Ark of the Covenant. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the realization and perfection of all the old Jewish sacrifices.
The Cleansing Blood in Confession
The Sacrament of Confession is the purificative sprinkling and cleansing from sin by the Precious Blood that replaces the blood sprinkling of the Old Testament. Fr. Faber, in relating the Precious Blood to the Sacrament of Confession, writes:
“What is Absolution? It is the authentic dripping of the Precious Blood upon the head of the repentant sinner. It is God's patience grown so patient, as to be magnificent. It is, almost but not quite, the limit of the outstretching of the eternal arms of mercy. In it human acts reach to one of their highest heights. They are lifted up to merit salvation by the merits of the Precious Blood. Human sorrow is consecrated and made divine by the touch and the anointing of the sorrow of Jesus; and that unction was only to reach us with the flowing of His Blood from His gracious Wounds.
“Without shedding of Blood there was to be no remission of sin. Millions of souls are at large in Heaven this day, who, without Absolution, would have been in Hell. Yet it were better a whole solar system should be shattered to pieces than a single soul lost. If there is something very divine in the facility of Baptism, reminding us of creation when the word was spoken and forthwith the work was done, there is also something very divine in the difficulty and effort of Absolution, reminding us of redemption which was only accomplished by a Passion and with Blood.
“Hearts have to be softened, habits weakened, dispositions changed, occasions deserted, new tastes infused, entanglements untied. The Precious Blood has to put forth more of its strength here [in Confession and Absolution] than in Baptism; because it has to overcome more inveteracy and resistance. It has also to venture its sacred riches more prodigally here, than in other Sacraments. In all Sacraments it runs two generous risks―the risk of invalidity and the risk of sacrilege. Both these risks are more especially run in the Sacrament of Penance.
“Yet what numberless confessions are daily heard! What hundreds, or thousands, of Absolutions are daily given, the greater portion of which I am undoubtingly certain, from the character of God and the experience of the confessional, are valid! How many Absolutions have we ourselves received in our lives, and hope still to receive! Surely, if we could see as God sees, and as perchance the angels are allowed to see, we should behold innumerable streams of Blood intersecting the crowded souls of men, as a vast river-system shows like a net-work on a map; and this would be a vision of the prodigality of Absolution” (Fr. Faber, The Precious Blood).
The Precious Blood Softens Misery
“Great as the actual miseries of life are, the Precious Blood is continually making them very much less than they otherwise would be. It diminishes poverty by multiplying alms. It lessens the evil of pain, and to some extent even its amount, by the grace of patience and the appliances of the supernatural life; not to speak of miraculous operations, occurring perhaps hourly upon the earth, through the touch of relics, crosses, and other sacred objects. The amount of temporal evil which would otherwise have come upon the earth, but is daily absorbed by the Sacrament of penance and by the virtue of penance, must be enormous.
“In the case of mental suffering, besides the many indirect alleviations brought to it by the Precious Blood, we must remember the vast world of horrors arising from unabsolved consciences, horrors which the Sacraments are annihilating daily. Failure is indeed the rule of human enterprise, and success is the exception. Yet there are numberless counterbalancing blessings won by the interest of the Mother of God, by the intercession of the saints, by the intervention of angels, by the Sacrifice of the Mass, and by the sacramental residence of Jesus upon earth, which would not exist but for the Precious Blood.” (Fr. Faber, The Precious Blood).
Are You A Bloody Catholic? Then Do Something!
Do not let the Precious Blood of Jesus be shed in vain for you! He shed His Blood potentially for all—yet most people waste that Blood and pour it away unused and abused. They will regret it eternally. Profit from His Blood while you can. The power of the Precious Blood is beyond our power to conceive—because it is infinite in value and so infinite in power. Use it—don’t abuse it! Collect it—don’t neglect it!
Yet you do abuse it by making bad confessions or not confessing enough and therefore not bathing enough in the Precious Blood. You do neglect it by failing to collect it through many extra Holy Communions aside from Sunday Communions. It is has a tremendous power there for our use—but that power we lose when we abuse. Confession and Communion are the two legs with which we should be running to Heaven. Are those legs healthy and being used, or are they crippled and unused? Is there decent muscle in those legs, or are they atrophied? Perhaps Our Lord needs to use the power of His Precious Blood and force it through our arteries and veins while saying: "Get up and walk!"
Article 10
Is His Blood on Your Hands or in Your Veins?
Is His Blood on Your Hands or in Your Veins?
The First Shedding of Blood
The first shedding of blood was not in war, nor was it in self-defense, but it was out of envy. Abel and Cain both offered sacrifices to God. The sacrifice of Abel was pleasing to God, but Cain’s sacrifice was for some reason not pleasing to God. Out of bitterness, envy and anger, “Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and slew him. And the Lord said to Cain: ‘Where is thy brother Abel?’ And he answered: ‘I know not! Am I my brother’s keeper?’
And the Lord said to him: ‘What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from the earth! Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth, which hath opened her mouth and received the blood of thy brother at thy hand. When thou shalt till it, it shall not yield to thee its fruit! A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be upon the Earth!’
“And Cain said to the Lord: ‘My iniquity is greater than that I may deserve pardon. Behold Thou dost cast me out this day from the face of the Earth, and I shall be hidden from Thy face, and I shall be a vagabond and a fugitive on the Earth! Every one, therefore, that findeth me, shall kill me!’
“And the Lord said to him: ‘No, it shall not be so: but whosoever shall kill Cain, shall be punished sevenfold!’ And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, that whosoever found him should not kill him. And Cain went out from the face of the Lord, and dwelt as a fugitive on the Earth” (Genesis 4:8-16).
Whatever You Do, You Do To Me!
We may take sins against fellow human beings lightly, yet Our Lord’s parable about the Sheep and the Goats says otherwise: “Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me!” and “As long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!” (Matthew 25:40, 45).
Holy Scripture warns that “Six things there are, which the Lord hateth, and the seventh his soul detesteth: (1) Haughty eyes; (2) a lying tongue; (3) hands that shed innocent blood; (4) a heart that deviseth wicked plots; (5) feet that are swift to run into mischief; (6) a deceitful witness that uttereth lies; (7) and him that soweth discord among brethren” (Proverbs 6:16-19). “The Lord hateth a mouth with a double tongue” (Proverbs 8:13).
As a consequence of these sins, the words of Isaias come to mind: “For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity: your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue uttereth iniquity!” (Isaias 59:3)—thoughts that bring the mind back to God’s words to Cain: “Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth, which hath opened her mouth and received the blood of thy brother at thy hand” (Genesis 4:11).
Sin Gives Us Bloody Hands
Our sins cost Our Lord His Precious Blood and thus, in a sense, when we sin, our hands are, so to speak, smeared with His Blood—not in a cleansing way, but in a polluted way. We see God speak in a similar vein to His prophet Ezechiel: “And the Lord spoke to me, saying: ‘Son of man, declare to them their wicked deeds, because … blood is in their hands!” (Ezechiel 23:36-37). How so? Why so? “Because and they have committed fornication with their idols: moreover also their children, whom they bore to Me, they have offered to them to be devoured. Yes, and they have done this to Me. They polluted My sanctuary on the same day, and profaned My Sabbaths. And when they sacrificed their children to their idols, and went into My sanctuary the same day to profane it: they did these things even in the midst of My house” (Ezechiel 23:36-39). “Judge them as shedders of blood are judged: because blood is in their hands” (Ezechiel 23:36-39).
The Scourge of the Tongue—the Sins of the Mouth
How many people commit adultery? How many people have abortions or kill others? How many people steal? How many people commit acts of violence? How many people blaspheme? The numbers of these offenders fade away into insignificance when compared to the number of those persons who sin with their tongues! “For who is there that hath not offended with his tongue?” (Ecclesiasticus 19:17). “Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not so many as have perished by their own tongue!” (Ecclesiasticus 28:22).
St. James alludes to all this when he writes: “If any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man’s religion is vain!” (James 1:26). “For in many things we all offend. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man. He is able also with a bridle to lead about the whole body. For if we put bits into the mouths of horses, that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. Behold also ships, whereas they are great, and are driven by strong winds, yet are they turned about with a small helm, whithersoever the force of the governor willeth. Even so the tongue is indeed a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold how small a fire kindleth a great wood. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is placed among our members, which defileth the whole body, and inflameth the wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by Hell. For every nature of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of the rest, is tamed, and hath been tamed, by the nature of man. But the tongue no man can tame, an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison. By it we bless God and the Father: and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be” (James 3:2-10).
The Psalmist says: “My tongue is the pen of a writer that writeth swiftly!” (Psalm 44:2). But what does the tongue write or produce? “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21). Holy Scripture says that the “tongue is a piercing arrow” (Jeremias 9:8) and speaks of “the scourge of the tongue” (Job 5:21) and “the stroke of a whip maketh a blue mark: but the stroke of the tongue will break the bones” (Ecclesiasticus 28:21). We speak of “tongue lashings”. Words are also compared to swords--“For the word of God is more piercing than any two edged sword … the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God” (Hebrews 4:12; Ephesians 6:17).
Yet our words can be swords too, and swords shed blood. Our words can be arrows, and arrows draw blood. “Slanderers … shed blood” (Ezechiel 22:9). “The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood” (Proverbs 12:6). “For when evil shall be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue” (Job 20:12). “A slippery mouth worketh ruin” (Proverbs 26:28). “Their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are unprofitable thoughts” (Isaias 59:7). “Their throat is an open sepulcher: with their tongues they acted deceitfully; the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness in their ways” (Psalm 13:3). “The tongue of a third person hath disquieted man” (Ecclesiasticus 28:16). “A jealous woman is a scourge of the tongue which communicateth with all” (Ecclesiasticus 26:9). “A tongue that beareth witness bringeth death” (Ecclesiasticus 26:9) “which is stained with the blood of the innocent” (Numbers 35:33). “Upon whom have you opened your mouth wide, and put out your tongue? Are not you wicked children, a false seed?” (Isaias 57:4).
The Slippery Tongue Slips Into …
“The tongue of the fool is his ruin” (Ecclesiasticus 5:15). “Be not hasty in thy tongue” (Ecclesiasticus 4:34). “Be not called a whisperer, and be not caught in thy tongue and confounded” (Ecclesiasticus 5:16). “Who will set a guard before my mouth, and a sure seal upon my lips, that I fall not by them, and that my tongue destroy me not?” (Ecclesiasticus 22:33). “Blessed is he that hath not slipped with his tongue” (Ecclesiasticus 25:11). “Hedge in thy ears with thorns, hear not a wicked tongue, and make doors and bars to thy mouth” (Ecclesiasticus 28:28). “Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not so many as have perished by their own tongue!” (Ecclesiasticus 28:22).
A Book With Bite!
There is a book that everyone should read—because “Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not so many as have perished by their own tongue!” (Ecclesiasticus 28:22). This book was written by a Swiss priest, Fr. Belet of the diocese of Basle, and is entitled: Sins of the Tongue—the Backbiting Tongue. Some extracts will be quoted here below, if you would like to read the whole book (more of a booklet than a book) then click here. The next twelve or thirteen paragraphs are taken from the book.
The Backbiter’s Weapon
Backbiting inflicts great harm for it shoots three arrows in a single round and deals a triple death. Saint Bernard assures us of this: “Is this tongue not that of a viper? It is surely very fierce, for it kills three victims with a single sting. Is it not a sharp spear, for it pierces three men in a single throw. The backbiter’s tongue is a sharp sword, a double and even a triple sword, like General Joab’s lance that pierced Absalom as he hung in the oak tree.”
Painless Piercing
Certain experiments prove that magnets possess a mysterious and wonderful power. According to Jerome Cardan, if you rub a dagger with a magnet, those it pierces afterwards will not feel it: “In the home of Dr. Lawrence Guascus I saw a needle or a metal point rubbed with a magnet; one could then stick the needle or point into any part of the body without causing any pain. This seemed incredible to me, and I wanted to make sure it was true. So I took a needle, rubbed it with a magnet and stuck it into my arm. I felt the needle’s presence when it had penetrated completely, but I felt no pain whatsoever. In order to be really sure I turned the needle, still stuck in my arm, in every direction. But I felt nothing and shed not a drop of blood. Afterwards, only the point where the needle had entered could be seen.” Cardan adds that Alexander of Verona was the first to perform this experiment, in Milan: he rubbed a sword with oil in order to be able to wound and heal whoever he wished without any pain.
Backbiting resembles that dagger perfectly. You thrust it in, it enters and causes a wound to three people at once: the backbiter, his listener and the person he backbites. The most seriously wounded one of all, the backbiter, feels absolutely nothing.
Raphael Maffei relates that when Chinese warriors prepared for combat they entered with splendid apparel and elegant arms, carrying four swords on their harness and manipulating two at once with great skill.
But the backbiter’s tongue surpasses them by far. It carries not four swords, nor a hundred, nor six hundred, but thousands, for fear it will run out once it enters into combat. The backbiting tongue often lights such a conflagration that four thousand soldiers ― what am I saying, four thousand? ― forty thousand, even a hundred thousand will not suffice to put it out. A two-edged sword, a keen knife, a piercing arrow, a cane-stiletto, a sharp razor, and a quick biting tongue all bear a striking resemblance. Listen to the Psalmist: “They have bent their bow to shoot arrows.” As the bow strikes from far off and wounds a person unawares, the backbiting tongue attacks those who are absent and wreaks its havoc from a distance of many miles. Bending its bow in Germany, it strikes and wounds a Frenchman or a Spaniard in his own land. Its arrows fly across the sea, or rather they pierce all the way to heaven, for they attack God Himself and His Saints. “They set their mouthings in place of heaven” (Psalm 72:9), says David. It also penetrates the very bowels of the earth and rends the dead in their tombs, for David adds, “Their pronouncements pierce the earth.” It buries the living, and it digs the dead out of their tombs.
The Devil’s Basin
The backbiter is a beetle and a leech. Saint John Chrysostom remarks, “Everyone flees a backbiter like unhealthy mud, like a leech that feeds on blood, a beetle that feeds in the mire ― that is, on others’ defects.” As for you, act like bees: gather flowers from thorns and use them to make your honey.
Guillaume Perald says, “The mouth of the backbiter and slanderer is the basin the devil uses to wash his hands.” That basin contains not holy water, but the impure water of detraction. The devil pours this filthy water onto many; not on their face, true, but on their back. For the backbiter harms people who are absent, not present, just as the leech draws blood from behind. Now, let all who are in the habit of backbiting others learn that oftentimes those who reveal the crimes of others are more sinful than those who commit them.
The first shedding of blood was not in war, nor was it in self-defense, but it was out of envy. Abel and Cain both offered sacrifices to God. The sacrifice of Abel was pleasing to God, but Cain’s sacrifice was for some reason not pleasing to God. Out of bitterness, envy and anger, “Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and slew him. And the Lord said to Cain: ‘Where is thy brother Abel?’ And he answered: ‘I know not! Am I my brother’s keeper?’
And the Lord said to him: ‘What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from the earth! Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth, which hath opened her mouth and received the blood of thy brother at thy hand. When thou shalt till it, it shall not yield to thee its fruit! A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be upon the Earth!’
“And Cain said to the Lord: ‘My iniquity is greater than that I may deserve pardon. Behold Thou dost cast me out this day from the face of the Earth, and I shall be hidden from Thy face, and I shall be a vagabond and a fugitive on the Earth! Every one, therefore, that findeth me, shall kill me!’
“And the Lord said to him: ‘No, it shall not be so: but whosoever shall kill Cain, shall be punished sevenfold!’ And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, that whosoever found him should not kill him. And Cain went out from the face of the Lord, and dwelt as a fugitive on the Earth” (Genesis 4:8-16).
Whatever You Do, You Do To Me!
We may take sins against fellow human beings lightly, yet Our Lord’s parable about the Sheep and the Goats says otherwise: “Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me!” and “As long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!” (Matthew 25:40, 45).
Holy Scripture warns that “Six things there are, which the Lord hateth, and the seventh his soul detesteth: (1) Haughty eyes; (2) a lying tongue; (3) hands that shed innocent blood; (4) a heart that deviseth wicked plots; (5) feet that are swift to run into mischief; (6) a deceitful witness that uttereth lies; (7) and him that soweth discord among brethren” (Proverbs 6:16-19). “The Lord hateth a mouth with a double tongue” (Proverbs 8:13).
As a consequence of these sins, the words of Isaias come to mind: “For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity: your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue uttereth iniquity!” (Isaias 59:3)—thoughts that bring the mind back to God’s words to Cain: “Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the Earth, which hath opened her mouth and received the blood of thy brother at thy hand” (Genesis 4:11).
Sin Gives Us Bloody Hands
Our sins cost Our Lord His Precious Blood and thus, in a sense, when we sin, our hands are, so to speak, smeared with His Blood—not in a cleansing way, but in a polluted way. We see God speak in a similar vein to His prophet Ezechiel: “And the Lord spoke to me, saying: ‘Son of man, declare to them their wicked deeds, because … blood is in their hands!” (Ezechiel 23:36-37). How so? Why so? “Because and they have committed fornication with their idols: moreover also their children, whom they bore to Me, they have offered to them to be devoured. Yes, and they have done this to Me. They polluted My sanctuary on the same day, and profaned My Sabbaths. And when they sacrificed their children to their idols, and went into My sanctuary the same day to profane it: they did these things even in the midst of My house” (Ezechiel 23:36-39). “Judge them as shedders of blood are judged: because blood is in their hands” (Ezechiel 23:36-39).
The Scourge of the Tongue—the Sins of the Mouth
How many people commit adultery? How many people have abortions or kill others? How many people steal? How many people commit acts of violence? How many people blaspheme? The numbers of these offenders fade away into insignificance when compared to the number of those persons who sin with their tongues! “For who is there that hath not offended with his tongue?” (Ecclesiasticus 19:17). “Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not so many as have perished by their own tongue!” (Ecclesiasticus 28:22).
St. James alludes to all this when he writes: “If any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man’s religion is vain!” (James 1:26). “For in many things we all offend. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man. He is able also with a bridle to lead about the whole body. For if we put bits into the mouths of horses, that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. Behold also ships, whereas they are great, and are driven by strong winds, yet are they turned about with a small helm, whithersoever the force of the governor willeth. Even so the tongue is indeed a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold how small a fire kindleth a great wood. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is placed among our members, which defileth the whole body, and inflameth the wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by Hell. For every nature of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of the rest, is tamed, and hath been tamed, by the nature of man. But the tongue no man can tame, an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison. By it we bless God and the Father: and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be” (James 3:2-10).
The Psalmist says: “My tongue is the pen of a writer that writeth swiftly!” (Psalm 44:2). But what does the tongue write or produce? “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21). Holy Scripture says that the “tongue is a piercing arrow” (Jeremias 9:8) and speaks of “the scourge of the tongue” (Job 5:21) and “the stroke of a whip maketh a blue mark: but the stroke of the tongue will break the bones” (Ecclesiasticus 28:21). We speak of “tongue lashings”. Words are also compared to swords--“For the word of God is more piercing than any two edged sword … the sword of the Spirit―which is the word of God” (Hebrews 4:12; Ephesians 6:17).
Yet our words can be swords too, and swords shed blood. Our words can be arrows, and arrows draw blood. “Slanderers … shed blood” (Ezechiel 22:9). “The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood” (Proverbs 12:6). “For when evil shall be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue” (Job 20:12). “A slippery mouth worketh ruin” (Proverbs 26:28). “Their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are unprofitable thoughts” (Isaias 59:7). “Their throat is an open sepulcher: with their tongues they acted deceitfully; the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness in their ways” (Psalm 13:3). “The tongue of a third person hath disquieted man” (Ecclesiasticus 28:16). “A jealous woman is a scourge of the tongue which communicateth with all” (Ecclesiasticus 26:9). “A tongue that beareth witness bringeth death” (Ecclesiasticus 26:9) “which is stained with the blood of the innocent” (Numbers 35:33). “Upon whom have you opened your mouth wide, and put out your tongue? Are not you wicked children, a false seed?” (Isaias 57:4).
The Slippery Tongue Slips Into …
“The tongue of the fool is his ruin” (Ecclesiasticus 5:15). “Be not hasty in thy tongue” (Ecclesiasticus 4:34). “Be not called a whisperer, and be not caught in thy tongue and confounded” (Ecclesiasticus 5:16). “Who will set a guard before my mouth, and a sure seal upon my lips, that I fall not by them, and that my tongue destroy me not?” (Ecclesiasticus 22:33). “Blessed is he that hath not slipped with his tongue” (Ecclesiasticus 25:11). “Hedge in thy ears with thorns, hear not a wicked tongue, and make doors and bars to thy mouth” (Ecclesiasticus 28:28). “Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not so many as have perished by their own tongue!” (Ecclesiasticus 28:22).
A Book With Bite!
There is a book that everyone should read—because “Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not so many as have perished by their own tongue!” (Ecclesiasticus 28:22). This book was written by a Swiss priest, Fr. Belet of the diocese of Basle, and is entitled: Sins of the Tongue—the Backbiting Tongue. Some extracts will be quoted here below, if you would like to read the whole book (more of a booklet than a book) then click here. The next twelve or thirteen paragraphs are taken from the book.
The Backbiter’s Weapon
Backbiting inflicts great harm for it shoots three arrows in a single round and deals a triple death. Saint Bernard assures us of this: “Is this tongue not that of a viper? It is surely very fierce, for it kills three victims with a single sting. Is it not a sharp spear, for it pierces three men in a single throw. The backbiter’s tongue is a sharp sword, a double and even a triple sword, like General Joab’s lance that pierced Absalom as he hung in the oak tree.”
Painless Piercing
Certain experiments prove that magnets possess a mysterious and wonderful power. According to Jerome Cardan, if you rub a dagger with a magnet, those it pierces afterwards will not feel it: “In the home of Dr. Lawrence Guascus I saw a needle or a metal point rubbed with a magnet; one could then stick the needle or point into any part of the body without causing any pain. This seemed incredible to me, and I wanted to make sure it was true. So I took a needle, rubbed it with a magnet and stuck it into my arm. I felt the needle’s presence when it had penetrated completely, but I felt no pain whatsoever. In order to be really sure I turned the needle, still stuck in my arm, in every direction. But I felt nothing and shed not a drop of blood. Afterwards, only the point where the needle had entered could be seen.” Cardan adds that Alexander of Verona was the first to perform this experiment, in Milan: he rubbed a sword with oil in order to be able to wound and heal whoever he wished without any pain.
Backbiting resembles that dagger perfectly. You thrust it in, it enters and causes a wound to three people at once: the backbiter, his listener and the person he backbites. The most seriously wounded one of all, the backbiter, feels absolutely nothing.
Raphael Maffei relates that when Chinese warriors prepared for combat they entered with splendid apparel and elegant arms, carrying four swords on their harness and manipulating two at once with great skill.
But the backbiter’s tongue surpasses them by far. It carries not four swords, nor a hundred, nor six hundred, but thousands, for fear it will run out once it enters into combat. The backbiting tongue often lights such a conflagration that four thousand soldiers ― what am I saying, four thousand? ― forty thousand, even a hundred thousand will not suffice to put it out. A two-edged sword, a keen knife, a piercing arrow, a cane-stiletto, a sharp razor, and a quick biting tongue all bear a striking resemblance. Listen to the Psalmist: “They have bent their bow to shoot arrows.” As the bow strikes from far off and wounds a person unawares, the backbiting tongue attacks those who are absent and wreaks its havoc from a distance of many miles. Bending its bow in Germany, it strikes and wounds a Frenchman or a Spaniard in his own land. Its arrows fly across the sea, or rather they pierce all the way to heaven, for they attack God Himself and His Saints. “They set their mouthings in place of heaven” (Psalm 72:9), says David. It also penetrates the very bowels of the earth and rends the dead in their tombs, for David adds, “Their pronouncements pierce the earth.” It buries the living, and it digs the dead out of their tombs.
The Devil’s Basin
The backbiter is a beetle and a leech. Saint John Chrysostom remarks, “Everyone flees a backbiter like unhealthy mud, like a leech that feeds on blood, a beetle that feeds in the mire ― that is, on others’ defects.” As for you, act like bees: gather flowers from thorns and use them to make your honey.
Guillaume Perald says, “The mouth of the backbiter and slanderer is the basin the devil uses to wash his hands.” That basin contains not holy water, but the impure water of detraction. The devil pours this filthy water onto many; not on their face, true, but on their back. For the backbiter harms people who are absent, not present, just as the leech draws blood from behind. Now, let all who are in the habit of backbiting others learn that oftentimes those who reveal the crimes of others are more sinful than those who commit them.
Article 11
Is Your Tongue Bleeding and Dripping with Blood?
Is Your Tongue Bleeding and Dripping with Blood?
Contempt of Charity
The Psalmist goes on to say, “They scoff and speak evil; outrage from on high they threaten” (Psalm 72:8). When its fury is roused, a raging bull lifts its head and casts terrible eyes at its prey, aiming at him and rampaging against him with all its might. Thus does the backbiter move in with head held high; stifling the voice of his conscience, the things he has meditated in his heart spew from his mouth in contempt of every law of Christian charity.
The backbiting tongue has chosen the very motto of Death as its own: “I spare no one!” Priest or judge, known or unknown, religious or worldling, friend or foe, none of that matters to him. The backbiter spares nothing and no one, not even his father and mother. Why is this so? Because he enjoys talking, so speaking evil gratifies him. He considers it a pleasure when he finds something to criticize in others. He is filled with joy when he can invent and relate things that do not even exist.
The Sword and the Dog
“O Lord,” cries David, “rescue my soul from the sword, my only one from the grip of the dog!” (Psalm 21:21). Cassiodorus says that Saint Augustine declares, “The sword is the backbiter’s tongue, and the dog is the backbiter himself.” Why does David ask to be rescued from the grip of the dog? We could understand if he had said a bear or a lion, but why be so afraid of a dog? He is right after a fashion, however. The bear and the lion are naturally fierce, but a dog may often sidle peacefully up to you and suddenly bite your leg. If it is a bulldog, it will square off against you and attack your head. David knew this type of dog from experience. He knew Saul, Semeias, Absalom, Seba, Achitophel and Doeg; they were purebred dogs, which are the most troublesome by far.
Excuses, Excuses…
Do not excuse yourself by saying, “But these are only petty sins,” for a little spark is often enough to produce a conflagration. “Behold how small a fire kindleth a great wood. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity … and inflameth the wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by Hell” (James 3:5-6). This is always true with the backbiting tongue. You say they are petty sins. So if you knew more serious things, wouldn’t you say them? No, wounding your neighbor’s reputation, even lightly, is no little thing. Killing someone with the pen is no less a homicide than killing him with the sword.
Cassian was killed by the hand of a child and pierced with little wounds, but he was no less dead than if he had fallen beneath the hand of Hector or Achilles. The weaker the hand that strikes, the slower the death and the more painful the torment. The smaller the pinpricks of backbiting may seem, the more dangerous the wounds they make. God never lets them go unpunished. Scripture tells us, “He who speaks against his brother, or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law” (James 4:11).
[Here ends the extended series of quotes from Sins of the Tongue—the Backbiting Tongue by Fr. Belet].
How Bloody Are Our Hands—Or Tongues?
Let us not take this lightly—just because we see no physical blood, it does not mean that no ‘spiritual blood’ has been spilt. If Holy Scripture tells us that “Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not so many as have perished by their own tongue!” (Ecclesiasticus 28:22), then the implications are dire. If Our Lord and many saints say that most souls are lost—then it seems that losing your soul by sins of the tongue is one of the easiest and most common ways of doing so—even though Our Lady says that most souls are damned today through sins of impurity. If Holy Scripture tells us that God was not pleased with most of the Chosen People in the desert—“But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were … murmuring against the Lord” (1 Corinthians 10:5; Exodus 16:7). Murmuring and complaining likewise proceed from the tongue. “Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not so many as have perished by their own tongue!” (Ecclesiasticus 28:22).
Piercing others with the sword of the tongue or with the arrows of tongue is very easy—even a weakling can wield the sword of the tongue, for it is not heavy, but its wounds can be. There are, according to Fr. Belet, eight ways by which we can wound others by backbiting:
1. When he gets carried away by vanity and imputes things against his neighbor that never happened, or when he adds to the truth imaginary circumstances that constitute either a lie or detraction.
2. When he brings a hidden or unknown fault to light. What he says is true, but he should not say it. He backbites, not by saying something untrue, but by wounding his neighbor’s reputation. This is a very common sin among us.
Now you might object, “Do you mean to say I can’t tell the truth?” No, my friend! It is not permitted, unless you can do so without harming your neighbor. What you say is true, I admit, but it is hidden. The sinner has wounded his conscience in God’s sight, but he has not lost his reputation before men; therefore, you may not weaken or destroy it with your tongue. And even if the sin you reveal is not altogether secret, but known only to a few, as long as it is not public knowledge, you are backbiting if you reveal it to someone who was unaware of it. And thus you are harming your neighbor.
3. When he exaggerates a crime, be it true, or false. This is a danger to which we readily expose ourselves when we talk about the vices of others.
4. When he relates something about another person that is not evil in any way, but speaks as though his neighbor had done it for evil reasons and adds various explanations such as, “Yes, he did that, but not with God in mind... He’s not so pious as all that; he seeks to please men, he wants to stand out… You should know him, he’s a hypocrite.”
5. When a backbiter declares nothing but is happy to say, “I’ve heard it said that…” or, “There’s a rumor going around...” or when he relates something as if it were doubtful: “So-and-so might not be exactly what you think, I don’t think he is deserving of confidence. His neighbors never heard anything about his holiness, except that only since yesterday has he been rated among the devout.” Or again, when he praises with coldness and reticence. Aulu-Gelle says, “It is more shameful to be coldly and reservedly praised than harshly and bitterly accused.” All these ways of acting must be avoided with the greatest care, for people always seek evil more than good.
6. Backbiting is so subtle that anyone can defame another person with a simple gesture. He hears someone being praised for his integrity, piety or generosity, and he says, “Oh. you don’t know that fellow? I see right through him. Ask me anything about him, I know him inside out.” Or he raises an eyebrow and remains silent; he shakes his head; he turns his eyes so as to have it understood that the person being praised does not deserve it Sometimes a backbiter may keep his mouth shut and just turn his hand two or three times to indicate that the person in question is lightheaded and changes from hour to hour.
7. He can backbite, not only with body language, but also with silence. He may wickedly say nothing about the integrity or morals of his neighbor, especially when he is questioned about them or when his neighbor is accused of some crime.
8. Finally, a person is guilty of backbiting if he is publicly blamed for something he did, and he denies his guilt, thereby making his accuser pass for a liar. It is surely not an obligation to publicly admit a fault committed in secret. However, one should justify himself in some other way, saying, for instance, “Those are only words, they don’t prove anything. Whoever heard them may have been mistaken. Don’t believe everything you hear.” This way of speaking is far more acceptable than the first.
Slick Sinful Swordsmanship
That is how backbiting does its diabolical work. It changes costume so slickly, we can hardly recognize it. Malice is ingenious: It spots a beam where there is only a wisp of straw, an elephant where there is only a fly, a mountain high as the Alps where there is only a molehill. It turns dream into reality and taints the virtues of others so skillfully with its own colors that we mistake them for vices.
Look at the backbiter as he prepares to blacken someone’s reputation. He begins by looking severe and modest, lowering his gaze, heaving sighs and speaking in a slow, serious voice. He takes a host of curves and detours to conceal his deadly art. He goes the long way round before shooting his poison. “It grieves me that a man of his caliber should degrade himself to that point,” he says. “It’s not me who would have revealed his hidden crimes, but since everyone is talking about it, the truth must have its way. You can’t deny or excuse it!” He begins with praise so that people will believe his words more easily, and to give himself the right to criticize all the more harshly afterwards. But he always takes great care to conclude with words of pity.
The more credit and authority a speaker has, the more sinful and deadly his backbiting, for people believe him more easily. Saint Bernard puts it well: “This plague comes in infinite varieties. Some people spew detraction carelessly and bluntly, just as it comes to their mouth [detraction is revealing truths about the sins of others]. Others try to conceal the malice they cannot hold in, beneath an appearance of lying modesty. They begin by heaving sad sighs, speaking slowly and gravely, knitting their brows. Detraction slips out with a plaintive air and as though despite themselves, in contrite and grieving tones: ‘I’m really at a loss with him. I don’t hate him, but all my words have been unable to correct him.’ Or else they say, ‘I knew all that perfectly well; I never mentioned it, but since others have, I can’t hide the truth. I admit it with deep sorrow, it is all too true.’”(Saint Bernard).
Rather Than Spill Blood…
Our Lord shed His own blood and nobody else’s. He suffered calumnies (lies) and did not calumniate others; nor did he detract other (reveal their sins), but sought to bring them to repentance and to administer His mercy to them. In this long list of such persons we have Mary Magdalen, the Chief Publican Zacheus, the Good Thief, the murdering Saul, and many more. Faced with sinners who were weak, He was meek. Faced with those who were hypocritical—such as the Pharisees—He showed His anger. “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost … I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance” (Luke 19:10; 5:32). “Go then and learn what this meaneth, ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice!’ For I am not come to call the just, but sinners!” (Matthew 9:13).
A Gracious Tongue
The Apostles tell us how to use our tongue in the imitation of Our Lord: “Let every man be swift to hear, but slow to speak, and slow to anger” (James 1:9). “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person” (Colossians 4:6). “Let no evil speech proceed from your mouth; but that which is good … Wherefore putting away lying, speak; ye the truth every man with his neighbor … Let all bitterness, and anger, and indignation, and clamor, and blasphemy, be put away from you, with all malice. And be ye kind one to another; merciful, forgiving one another, even as God hath forgiven you in Christ” (Ephesians 4:29; 4:25; 31-32). “For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile … If any man speak, let him speak, as the words of God” (1 Peter 3:10; 4:11).
The Psalmist goes on to say, “They scoff and speak evil; outrage from on high they threaten” (Psalm 72:8). When its fury is roused, a raging bull lifts its head and casts terrible eyes at its prey, aiming at him and rampaging against him with all its might. Thus does the backbiter move in with head held high; stifling the voice of his conscience, the things he has meditated in his heart spew from his mouth in contempt of every law of Christian charity.
The backbiting tongue has chosen the very motto of Death as its own: “I spare no one!” Priest or judge, known or unknown, religious or worldling, friend or foe, none of that matters to him. The backbiter spares nothing and no one, not even his father and mother. Why is this so? Because he enjoys talking, so speaking evil gratifies him. He considers it a pleasure when he finds something to criticize in others. He is filled with joy when he can invent and relate things that do not even exist.
The Sword and the Dog
“O Lord,” cries David, “rescue my soul from the sword, my only one from the grip of the dog!” (Psalm 21:21). Cassiodorus says that Saint Augustine declares, “The sword is the backbiter’s tongue, and the dog is the backbiter himself.” Why does David ask to be rescued from the grip of the dog? We could understand if he had said a bear or a lion, but why be so afraid of a dog? He is right after a fashion, however. The bear and the lion are naturally fierce, but a dog may often sidle peacefully up to you and suddenly bite your leg. If it is a bulldog, it will square off against you and attack your head. David knew this type of dog from experience. He knew Saul, Semeias, Absalom, Seba, Achitophel and Doeg; they were purebred dogs, which are the most troublesome by far.
Excuses, Excuses…
Do not excuse yourself by saying, “But these are only petty sins,” for a little spark is often enough to produce a conflagration. “Behold how small a fire kindleth a great wood. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity … and inflameth the wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by Hell” (James 3:5-6). This is always true with the backbiting tongue. You say they are petty sins. So if you knew more serious things, wouldn’t you say them? No, wounding your neighbor’s reputation, even lightly, is no little thing. Killing someone with the pen is no less a homicide than killing him with the sword.
Cassian was killed by the hand of a child and pierced with little wounds, but he was no less dead than if he had fallen beneath the hand of Hector or Achilles. The weaker the hand that strikes, the slower the death and the more painful the torment. The smaller the pinpricks of backbiting may seem, the more dangerous the wounds they make. God never lets them go unpunished. Scripture tells us, “He who speaks against his brother, or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law” (James 4:11).
[Here ends the extended series of quotes from Sins of the Tongue—the Backbiting Tongue by Fr. Belet].
How Bloody Are Our Hands—Or Tongues?
Let us not take this lightly—just because we see no physical blood, it does not mean that no ‘spiritual blood’ has been spilt. If Holy Scripture tells us that “Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not so many as have perished by their own tongue!” (Ecclesiasticus 28:22), then the implications are dire. If Our Lord and many saints say that most souls are lost—then it seems that losing your soul by sins of the tongue is one of the easiest and most common ways of doing so—even though Our Lady says that most souls are damned today through sins of impurity. If Holy Scripture tells us that God was not pleased with most of the Chosen People in the desert—“But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were … murmuring against the Lord” (1 Corinthians 10:5; Exodus 16:7). Murmuring and complaining likewise proceed from the tongue. “Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not so many as have perished by their own tongue!” (Ecclesiasticus 28:22).
Piercing others with the sword of the tongue or with the arrows of tongue is very easy—even a weakling can wield the sword of the tongue, for it is not heavy, but its wounds can be. There are, according to Fr. Belet, eight ways by which we can wound others by backbiting:
1. When he gets carried away by vanity and imputes things against his neighbor that never happened, or when he adds to the truth imaginary circumstances that constitute either a lie or detraction.
2. When he brings a hidden or unknown fault to light. What he says is true, but he should not say it. He backbites, not by saying something untrue, but by wounding his neighbor’s reputation. This is a very common sin among us.
Now you might object, “Do you mean to say I can’t tell the truth?” No, my friend! It is not permitted, unless you can do so without harming your neighbor. What you say is true, I admit, but it is hidden. The sinner has wounded his conscience in God’s sight, but he has not lost his reputation before men; therefore, you may not weaken or destroy it with your tongue. And even if the sin you reveal is not altogether secret, but known only to a few, as long as it is not public knowledge, you are backbiting if you reveal it to someone who was unaware of it. And thus you are harming your neighbor.
3. When he exaggerates a crime, be it true, or false. This is a danger to which we readily expose ourselves when we talk about the vices of others.
4. When he relates something about another person that is not evil in any way, but speaks as though his neighbor had done it for evil reasons and adds various explanations such as, “Yes, he did that, but not with God in mind... He’s not so pious as all that; he seeks to please men, he wants to stand out… You should know him, he’s a hypocrite.”
5. When a backbiter declares nothing but is happy to say, “I’ve heard it said that…” or, “There’s a rumor going around...” or when he relates something as if it were doubtful: “So-and-so might not be exactly what you think, I don’t think he is deserving of confidence. His neighbors never heard anything about his holiness, except that only since yesterday has he been rated among the devout.” Or again, when he praises with coldness and reticence. Aulu-Gelle says, “It is more shameful to be coldly and reservedly praised than harshly and bitterly accused.” All these ways of acting must be avoided with the greatest care, for people always seek evil more than good.
6. Backbiting is so subtle that anyone can defame another person with a simple gesture. He hears someone being praised for his integrity, piety or generosity, and he says, “Oh. you don’t know that fellow? I see right through him. Ask me anything about him, I know him inside out.” Or he raises an eyebrow and remains silent; he shakes his head; he turns his eyes so as to have it understood that the person being praised does not deserve it Sometimes a backbiter may keep his mouth shut and just turn his hand two or three times to indicate that the person in question is lightheaded and changes from hour to hour.
7. He can backbite, not only with body language, but also with silence. He may wickedly say nothing about the integrity or morals of his neighbor, especially when he is questioned about them or when his neighbor is accused of some crime.
8. Finally, a person is guilty of backbiting if he is publicly blamed for something he did, and he denies his guilt, thereby making his accuser pass for a liar. It is surely not an obligation to publicly admit a fault committed in secret. However, one should justify himself in some other way, saying, for instance, “Those are only words, they don’t prove anything. Whoever heard them may have been mistaken. Don’t believe everything you hear.” This way of speaking is far more acceptable than the first.
Slick Sinful Swordsmanship
That is how backbiting does its diabolical work. It changes costume so slickly, we can hardly recognize it. Malice is ingenious: It spots a beam where there is only a wisp of straw, an elephant where there is only a fly, a mountain high as the Alps where there is only a molehill. It turns dream into reality and taints the virtues of others so skillfully with its own colors that we mistake them for vices.
Look at the backbiter as he prepares to blacken someone’s reputation. He begins by looking severe and modest, lowering his gaze, heaving sighs and speaking in a slow, serious voice. He takes a host of curves and detours to conceal his deadly art. He goes the long way round before shooting his poison. “It grieves me that a man of his caliber should degrade himself to that point,” he says. “It’s not me who would have revealed his hidden crimes, but since everyone is talking about it, the truth must have its way. You can’t deny or excuse it!” He begins with praise so that people will believe his words more easily, and to give himself the right to criticize all the more harshly afterwards. But he always takes great care to conclude with words of pity.
The more credit and authority a speaker has, the more sinful and deadly his backbiting, for people believe him more easily. Saint Bernard puts it well: “This plague comes in infinite varieties. Some people spew detraction carelessly and bluntly, just as it comes to their mouth [detraction is revealing truths about the sins of others]. Others try to conceal the malice they cannot hold in, beneath an appearance of lying modesty. They begin by heaving sad sighs, speaking slowly and gravely, knitting their brows. Detraction slips out with a plaintive air and as though despite themselves, in contrite and grieving tones: ‘I’m really at a loss with him. I don’t hate him, but all my words have been unable to correct him.’ Or else they say, ‘I knew all that perfectly well; I never mentioned it, but since others have, I can’t hide the truth. I admit it with deep sorrow, it is all too true.’”(Saint Bernard).
Rather Than Spill Blood…
Our Lord shed His own blood and nobody else’s. He suffered calumnies (lies) and did not calumniate others; nor did he detract other (reveal their sins), but sought to bring them to repentance and to administer His mercy to them. In this long list of such persons we have Mary Magdalen, the Chief Publican Zacheus, the Good Thief, the murdering Saul, and many more. Faced with sinners who were weak, He was meek. Faced with those who were hypocritical—such as the Pharisees—He showed His anger. “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost … I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance” (Luke 19:10; 5:32). “Go then and learn what this meaneth, ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice!’ For I am not come to call the just, but sinners!” (Matthew 9:13).
A Gracious Tongue
The Apostles tell us how to use our tongue in the imitation of Our Lord: “Let every man be swift to hear, but slow to speak, and slow to anger” (James 1:9). “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person” (Colossians 4:6). “Let no evil speech proceed from your mouth; but that which is good … Wherefore putting away lying, speak; ye the truth every man with his neighbor … Let all bitterness, and anger, and indignation, and clamor, and blasphemy, be put away from you, with all malice. And be ye kind one to another; merciful, forgiving one another, even as God hath forgiven you in Christ” (Ephesians 4:29; 4:25; 31-32). “For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile … If any man speak, let him speak, as the words of God” (1 Peter 3:10; 4:11).
Article 12
Our Lady Foretells a Time of Blood
Our Lady Foretells a Time of Blood
Cleansed By Blood—If There Is Any Blood Left!
Blood is needed to cleanse the sins of the world. We can offer the Blood of Christ, but if we fail to do that, we will end up in our own bloodbath. Blessed Anna-Katarina Emmerich recounted a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary: “She (the Holy Mother) said that if only one priest could offer the bloodless sacrifice as worthily and with the same dispositions as the Apostles, he could avert all the disasters (that are to come). However, there are prophecies that indicate that the Sacrifice of Mass—which is the bloodless sacrifice of Christ—will no longer exist, or barely exist. There are many theologians who increasingly think that “the New Missal is indeed a radical attack on our Faith. It will destroy the Mass more effectively than Luther’s brutal efforts. Having destroyed the Mass, it will inevitably destroy the Church. Having destroyed the Church, it will—inevitably again—destroy the world. For when the blood of Christ is no longer offered on the Altars of our churches, then the blood of men will have to be spilled on the asphalt of our streets” (Yves Dupont, Catholic Prophecy).
Blessed Anna-Katarina Emmerich (19th century) says of a vision granted to her by God: “I saw again the new and odd-looking Church which they were trying to build. There was nothing holy about it . . . People were kneading bread in the crypt below ... but it would not rise, nor did they receive the body of Our Lord, but only bread. Those who were in error, through no fault of their own, and who piously and ardently longed for the Body of Jesus were spiritually consoled, but not by their communion. Then, my Guide [Jesus] said: THIS IS BABEL.’ [The Mass in many languages].” This prophecy was made around 1820 and is recorded in The Life of Anne Catherine Emmerich by Rev. Carl E. Schmoeger, C.SS.R.
The New Missal is an ominous sign of the destruction to come, and these dire forebodings are in complete accord with what the prophecies say, and which can be paraphrased thus: “They wanted to make a new Church, a Church of human manufacture, but God had other designs. The false Church shall be destroyed, and the enemy shall overcome Rome. The pastors shall be scattered, persecuted, tortured, and murdered. The Holy Father shall have to leave Rome, and he shall die a cruel death. An anti-pope shall be set up in Rome.”
One of the prophecies (see further below) says: “Churches are closed; the pastors run away; the Holy Sacrifice ceases!” We should not just apply this to a potential persecution, but also to the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council, which has progressively brought about the fact that many churches are now being closed, many priests abandoned the priesthood (especially in the 1970’s), and, as stated above, there are legitimate questions over the validity of many Masses and priestly ordinations. Consequently, if “the blood of Christ is no longer offered on the Altars of our churches, then the blood of men will have to be spilled on the asphalt of our streets.”
Appeased By Blood
To St. Mechtilde Our Lord once revealed Himself on the altar, with hands extended and Blood streaming from His Wounds: “I show these bleeding Wounds to My Father,” He said, “to appease His wrath. He pardons when He sees the Blood.” Our Lord told Sister Mary of St. Peter: “Ask My Father for as many souls as I shed drops of Blood during My Passion.” By asking for the Precious Blood to be poured out on souls, we prevent Its being, as it were, spilled out on the ground in vain. In His mysterious Providence, God has put the salvation of others in our hands: we must ask for it, and ask fervently and often. One of the best means, of participating in the graces and blessings of the Precious Blood, is to offer It to the Eternal Father. “An offering,” says Father Faber, is “more than a prayer.” In prayer, we are the receivers, but when we make an offering, God receives something from us.
The Carmelite nun, St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi, when in ecstasy, once exclaimed: “Every time a creature offers up the Blood, by which he was redeemed, he offers a gift of infinite worth, which can be equaled by no other.” God revealed the practice of making this offering to this saintly Carmelite nun, when He complained to her that so little effort is made, in this world, to disarm His Divine justice against sinners. Acting upon this admonition, St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi offered the Precious Blood fifty times each day, for the living and the dead. She did this with so much fervor that God showed her, on different occasions, the numerous souls who had, thereby, been converted, or delivered from Purgatory.
At another time, when St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi was in ecstasy, she saw all the holy patrons of the city of Florence, accompanied by innumerable other saints, before the throne of God, interceding for sinners. Their petitions, however, remained unanswered. Then the guardian Angels of the poor sinners approached, but their prayers likewise remained unheard. Next came the multitudes of the blessed to make intercession for the guilty souls. While imploring God’s mercy, they were intent, at the same time, upon offering to the Eternal Father the Precious Blood, and, on account of the merits of the Divine Blood, their petitions were granted.
Like Water Off A Duck’s Back
Should not these examples incite us to offer the Precious Blood frequently during the day? Of course, but sadly, we are tempted to relegate the above accounts to the realm of ‘fairy-tales’ and look upon them mere stories that were made up to illustrate some aspect of Faith or Morals—like Aesop’s Fables, which are mere tales that carry with them a moral lesson. The Blood of Christ fails to penetrate our souls and flows off us like water flowing off a duck’s back! Or, at best, we say to ourselves, “All these prayers and offerings and sacrifices are the work of saints—but I am no saint! So I will simply file it away as ‘this has been read: send to archives’ and move on with my life”!
Bloody Combat!
Let us remember the admonition of St. Paul: “For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” (Hebrews 12:4). Sin is our greatest enemy. The Catechism tells us that sin is the greatest evil in the world—even “itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny” venial sins! That is why St. Dominic Savio took, as one of his four resolutions at the time of his First Holy Communion, the resolution to avoid sin—he wrote down on paper the pledge: “Death rather than sin!” That is the attitude of a true Soldier for Christ.
Of course, St. Dominic Savio never shed his physical blood for Christ, as did many martyrs, but he must have been wounded by the comments and attitude of many around him—especially those who did not hate sin like he hated sin. He will have bled ‘mystical’ blood in place of physical blood—much like the Sacrifice of the Mass is the re-actualization of the Sacrifice of Calvary, but in an unbloody way. St. Dominic must have ‘sweated mystical drops of blood’ many times throughout his short life in trying to follow the right path, the narrow painful path of Christ that leads to holiness and Heaven. The same is in store for us—we must shed our blood for Christ, either physically like the martyrs, or mystically like St. Dominic and all the other unmartyred saints that made it to Heaven. As Holy Scripture says: “The blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation” (Luke 11:50).
Our Lady Predicts Bloody Times
Our Lady speaks of these blood-shedding martyrdoms—whether physical or mystical—in many of her apparitions, as do many other prophecies by saints and mystics. Our Lady of Good Success, speaking of our times, foretold that “there will be a formidable and frightful war, in which both native and foreign blood will flow, including that of secular and regular priests as well as that of other religious. This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph”( Our Lady of Good Success, 1600’s).
At La Salette, Our Lady warns: “God will strike in an unprecedented way ... Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered ... The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God ... Italy will be punished for her ambition in wanting to shake off the yoke of the Lord of Lords. And so she will be left to fight a war; blood will flow on all sides. Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death ... All order and all justice would be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy would be seen” (Our Lady of La Salette, 1846).
“France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling … Men will kill each other, massacre each other even in their homes ... Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of arms and blasphemy. The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession” (Our Lady of La Salette, 1846).
“Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases. It will rain with a fearful hail of animals. There will be thunderstorms which will shake cities, earthquakes which will swallow up countries. Voices will be heard in the air. Men will beat their heads against walls, call for their death, and on another side death will be their torment. Blood will flow on all sides. Who will be the victor if God does not shorten the length of the test? At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent. Enoch and Elias will be put to death. Pagan Rome will disappear. The fire of Heaven will fall and consume three cities. All the universe will be struck with terror and many will let themselves be led astray, because they have not worshiped the true Christ, Who lives among them. It is time; the sun is darkening; only Faith will survive.” (Our Lady of La Salette, 1846).
At Akita, in 1973, a statue of Our Lady weeps tears of blood, and in an apparition Our Lady of Akita says: “I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood.” This brings us back to the power of the Precious Blood of Jesus—which we can participate in by attending the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, not just on Sundays, but as often as possible—even at the cost of sacrifices on our part. Our Lady of Akita also speaks of the terrible carnage that awaits the world if it continues to sin unabated: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead” (Our Lady of Akita, 1973).
Converging Bloody Prophecies
In his book, Catholic Prophecy, Yves Dupont—who had researched prophecies for decades—quotes quite a few prophecies that dovetail with those of Our Lady of La Salette. As a backdrop to these prophecies, he reveals: “I have studied several hundred of these prophecies over the last thirty years or so; I have written books about them. These books, in turn, have resulted in my getting into touch with people whom I would never have heard from otherwise. Thus, I came to receive the unpublished manuscripts of a saintly French priest who died shortly afterwards; these comprised well over 1,000 pages and contained unprocurable material of immense value together with a scholarly analysis of private prophecies. This holy man was a country priest. I can imagine him in his little village for many years on end spending every evening of his solitary life assembling and analyzing this unique monument of prophetical writings, one of the few typewritten copies of which he finally sent to me” (Yves Dupont, Catholic Prophecy).
Blood is needed to cleanse the sins of the world. We can offer the Blood of Christ, but if we fail to do that, we will end up in our own bloodbath. Blessed Anna-Katarina Emmerich recounted a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary: “She (the Holy Mother) said that if only one priest could offer the bloodless sacrifice as worthily and with the same dispositions as the Apostles, he could avert all the disasters (that are to come). However, there are prophecies that indicate that the Sacrifice of Mass—which is the bloodless sacrifice of Christ—will no longer exist, or barely exist. There are many theologians who increasingly think that “the New Missal is indeed a radical attack on our Faith. It will destroy the Mass more effectively than Luther’s brutal efforts. Having destroyed the Mass, it will inevitably destroy the Church. Having destroyed the Church, it will—inevitably again—destroy the world. For when the blood of Christ is no longer offered on the Altars of our churches, then the blood of men will have to be spilled on the asphalt of our streets” (Yves Dupont, Catholic Prophecy).
Blessed Anna-Katarina Emmerich (19th century) says of a vision granted to her by God: “I saw again the new and odd-looking Church which they were trying to build. There was nothing holy about it . . . People were kneading bread in the crypt below ... but it would not rise, nor did they receive the body of Our Lord, but only bread. Those who were in error, through no fault of their own, and who piously and ardently longed for the Body of Jesus were spiritually consoled, but not by their communion. Then, my Guide [Jesus] said: THIS IS BABEL.’ [The Mass in many languages].” This prophecy was made around 1820 and is recorded in The Life of Anne Catherine Emmerich by Rev. Carl E. Schmoeger, C.SS.R.
The New Missal is an ominous sign of the destruction to come, and these dire forebodings are in complete accord with what the prophecies say, and which can be paraphrased thus: “They wanted to make a new Church, a Church of human manufacture, but God had other designs. The false Church shall be destroyed, and the enemy shall overcome Rome. The pastors shall be scattered, persecuted, tortured, and murdered. The Holy Father shall have to leave Rome, and he shall die a cruel death. An anti-pope shall be set up in Rome.”
One of the prophecies (see further below) says: “Churches are closed; the pastors run away; the Holy Sacrifice ceases!” We should not just apply this to a potential persecution, but also to the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council, which has progressively brought about the fact that many churches are now being closed, many priests abandoned the priesthood (especially in the 1970’s), and, as stated above, there are legitimate questions over the validity of many Masses and priestly ordinations. Consequently, if “the blood of Christ is no longer offered on the Altars of our churches, then the blood of men will have to be spilled on the asphalt of our streets.”
Appeased By Blood
To St. Mechtilde Our Lord once revealed Himself on the altar, with hands extended and Blood streaming from His Wounds: “I show these bleeding Wounds to My Father,” He said, “to appease His wrath. He pardons when He sees the Blood.” Our Lord told Sister Mary of St. Peter: “Ask My Father for as many souls as I shed drops of Blood during My Passion.” By asking for the Precious Blood to be poured out on souls, we prevent Its being, as it were, spilled out on the ground in vain. In His mysterious Providence, God has put the salvation of others in our hands: we must ask for it, and ask fervently and often. One of the best means, of participating in the graces and blessings of the Precious Blood, is to offer It to the Eternal Father. “An offering,” says Father Faber, is “more than a prayer.” In prayer, we are the receivers, but when we make an offering, God receives something from us.
The Carmelite nun, St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi, when in ecstasy, once exclaimed: “Every time a creature offers up the Blood, by which he was redeemed, he offers a gift of infinite worth, which can be equaled by no other.” God revealed the practice of making this offering to this saintly Carmelite nun, when He complained to her that so little effort is made, in this world, to disarm His Divine justice against sinners. Acting upon this admonition, St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi offered the Precious Blood fifty times each day, for the living and the dead. She did this with so much fervor that God showed her, on different occasions, the numerous souls who had, thereby, been converted, or delivered from Purgatory.
At another time, when St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi was in ecstasy, she saw all the holy patrons of the city of Florence, accompanied by innumerable other saints, before the throne of God, interceding for sinners. Their petitions, however, remained unanswered. Then the guardian Angels of the poor sinners approached, but their prayers likewise remained unheard. Next came the multitudes of the blessed to make intercession for the guilty souls. While imploring God’s mercy, they were intent, at the same time, upon offering to the Eternal Father the Precious Blood, and, on account of the merits of the Divine Blood, their petitions were granted.
Like Water Off A Duck’s Back
Should not these examples incite us to offer the Precious Blood frequently during the day? Of course, but sadly, we are tempted to relegate the above accounts to the realm of ‘fairy-tales’ and look upon them mere stories that were made up to illustrate some aspect of Faith or Morals—like Aesop’s Fables, which are mere tales that carry with them a moral lesson. The Blood of Christ fails to penetrate our souls and flows off us like water flowing off a duck’s back! Or, at best, we say to ourselves, “All these prayers and offerings and sacrifices are the work of saints—but I am no saint! So I will simply file it away as ‘this has been read: send to archives’ and move on with my life”!
Bloody Combat!
Let us remember the admonition of St. Paul: “For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” (Hebrews 12:4). Sin is our greatest enemy. The Catechism tells us that sin is the greatest evil in the world—even “itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny” venial sins! That is why St. Dominic Savio took, as one of his four resolutions at the time of his First Holy Communion, the resolution to avoid sin—he wrote down on paper the pledge: “Death rather than sin!” That is the attitude of a true Soldier for Christ.
Of course, St. Dominic Savio never shed his physical blood for Christ, as did many martyrs, but he must have been wounded by the comments and attitude of many around him—especially those who did not hate sin like he hated sin. He will have bled ‘mystical’ blood in place of physical blood—much like the Sacrifice of the Mass is the re-actualization of the Sacrifice of Calvary, but in an unbloody way. St. Dominic must have ‘sweated mystical drops of blood’ many times throughout his short life in trying to follow the right path, the narrow painful path of Christ that leads to holiness and Heaven. The same is in store for us—we must shed our blood for Christ, either physically like the martyrs, or mystically like St. Dominic and all the other unmartyred saints that made it to Heaven. As Holy Scripture says: “The blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation” (Luke 11:50).
Our Lady Predicts Bloody Times
Our Lady speaks of these blood-shedding martyrdoms—whether physical or mystical—in many of her apparitions, as do many other prophecies by saints and mystics. Our Lady of Good Success, speaking of our times, foretold that “there will be a formidable and frightful war, in which both native and foreign blood will flow, including that of secular and regular priests as well as that of other religious. This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph”( Our Lady of Good Success, 1600’s).
At La Salette, Our Lady warns: “God will strike in an unprecedented way ... Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered ... The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God ... Italy will be punished for her ambition in wanting to shake off the yoke of the Lord of Lords. And so she will be left to fight a war; blood will flow on all sides. Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death ... All order and all justice would be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy would be seen” (Our Lady of La Salette, 1846).
“France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling … Men will kill each other, massacre each other even in their homes ... Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of arms and blasphemy. The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession” (Our Lady of La Salette, 1846).
“Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases. It will rain with a fearful hail of animals. There will be thunderstorms which will shake cities, earthquakes which will swallow up countries. Voices will be heard in the air. Men will beat their heads against walls, call for their death, and on another side death will be their torment. Blood will flow on all sides. Who will be the victor if God does not shorten the length of the test? At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent. Enoch and Elias will be put to death. Pagan Rome will disappear. The fire of Heaven will fall and consume three cities. All the universe will be struck with terror and many will let themselves be led astray, because they have not worshiped the true Christ, Who lives among them. It is time; the sun is darkening; only Faith will survive.” (Our Lady of La Salette, 1846).
At Akita, in 1973, a statue of Our Lady weeps tears of blood, and in an apparition Our Lady of Akita says: “I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood.” This brings us back to the power of the Precious Blood of Jesus—which we can participate in by attending the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, not just on Sundays, but as often as possible—even at the cost of sacrifices on our part. Our Lady of Akita also speaks of the terrible carnage that awaits the world if it continues to sin unabated: “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead” (Our Lady of Akita, 1973).
Converging Bloody Prophecies
In his book, Catholic Prophecy, Yves Dupont—who had researched prophecies for decades—quotes quite a few prophecies that dovetail with those of Our Lady of La Salette. As a backdrop to these prophecies, he reveals: “I have studied several hundred of these prophecies over the last thirty years or so; I have written books about them. These books, in turn, have resulted in my getting into touch with people whom I would never have heard from otherwise. Thus, I came to receive the unpublished manuscripts of a saintly French priest who died shortly afterwards; these comprised well over 1,000 pages and contained unprocurable material of immense value together with a scholarly analysis of private prophecies. This holy man was a country priest. I can imagine him in his little village for many years on end spending every evening of his solitary life assembling and analyzing this unique monument of prophetical writings, one of the few typewritten copies of which he finally sent to me” (Yves Dupont, Catholic Prophecy).
Article 13
Saving Scapular Dipped in Precious Blood
Saving Scapular Dipped in Precious Blood
God Loves the Simple Things of LIfe
In his relations with us, God shows a preference for the simple things of life. What could be simpler than the manger of rough straw in which He began His life here below! His life, though He was the King of kings, was not in a palace, but in a simple, small, humble home. That same simplicity went with Him to the grave—for His burial was without pomp and He didn’t have His own tomb, but was buried in the tomb of a stranger.
When He wished to enrich our souls with the precious fruits and graces earned by His Passion and Death, He instituted a sacramental system in which seven simple elements become the efficient signs of divine grace. Since the natural function of water is to wash, He chose it for the Sacrament of Baptism, to show us what His grace does for a soul stained by Original Sin―it washes it clean and fills it up with grace, which is symbolized by the water. Since bread is the staff of life, He chose bread to reveal how the grace of the Eucharist nourishes our souls—by feeding souls with His own flesh and grace. Oil was used by soldiers in combat, which was rubbed onto their limbs so that the enemy could not get a firm grip on them—so He chose it for the Soldiers of Christ in the Sacrament of Confirmation. The symbolism of the whole sacramental system is designed to lead us into the knowledge of what divine grace is doing in the hidden depths of our souls. It is a continuation of the divine condescension of the Incarnation and Redemption.
A Simple Garment
The spiritual significance of a simple garment is perhaps as old as human society itself. A garment has always signified something more important than itself. After the Fall God clothed our first parents, and the garments He gave them were the sign of his forgiveness. Jacob made a coat of divers colors for his favorite son, Joseph, and Anna also made a coat for her son, Samuel. A garment was also the mark of that extraordinary friendship which knit the souls of Jonathan and David: “And Jonathan stripped himself of the coat with which he was clothed and gave it to David” (1 Kings 18:4). The priestly vestments designed by God were an outward sign of the high office entrusted to the priests of the Old Law.
Genesis tells us how Jacob loved Joseph above all his other sons and, as a sign of his special love, he made a coat of divers colors for him. This particular affection which the father had for his favorite son aroused the jealousy of his brethren. They determined to do away with him and when the opportunity presented itself, they stripped him of his coat, dipped it in blood and sent it back to his father who immediately recognized it as his son’s. Could the eye of Jacob have followed his beloved son into the fields and had his arm been long enough to save him from his enemies, his love would have prevented Joseph from being sold into Egypt. The ever-vigilant eye of our Blessed Mother is always upon those who wear her Habit, and where her eye is there also is the love of her Heart to save and defend us. The might of her love follows us and whithersoever we go and wherever we dwell it is about us.
No Love or Salvation Without Blood
St. Paul says that “Christ died for us; therefore, being now justified by His Blood, shall we be saved from wrath through Him” (Romans 5:9). St. John, in his Book of the Apocalypse writes: “Jesus Christ … hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own Blood” (Apocalypse 1:5). Our whole sacramental system draws it power and efficacity from the Blood of Jesus Christ, shed for us during His Passion and Death. As Holy Scripture points out: “Christ, … neither by the blood of goats, or of calves, but by His own Blood, entered once into the holies, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and of oxen, and the ashes of a heifer being sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh: then how much more shall the Blood of Christ, Who by the Holy Ghost offered Himself unspotted unto God, cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:12-14).
Washed in the Blood of the Lamb
It is the redemptive Blood of Christ that overcomes all evil, as shown by the following Scriptural quotes. Satan was overcome by the good angels by the Blood of Lamb (Christ): “And there was a great battle in Heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels: and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in Heaven. And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world; and he was cast unto the Earth, and his angels were thrown down with him ... And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb” (Apocalypse 12:7-11). Of the saved souls it is written: “These are they who are come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Apocalypse 7:14). “Blessed are they that wash their robes in the Blood of the Lamb” (Apocalypse 22:14). Which is why St. Peter says: “You were not redeemed with corruptible things as gold or silver, but with the precious Blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19).
The Scapular, like all the other means of salvation that God has given to His Church, owes it power in general to the Passion and Death of Our Lord, and, in particular, the shedding of His most Precious and Sacred Blood. We can well imagine Our Lady having had her clothing stained to some degree with the Precious Blood of her Son—likewise, we can imagine the Scapular, as it were, in a sense, dipped in that same Precious Blood which has worked so many miracles since being shed on Calvary. The miracles of the Precious Blood spill over and flow into the miracles of the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel—and many have those miracles been and many more there will be in the future!
Miracles of the Brown Scapular
The devotion to the Brown Scapular was authorized by miracles. God uses miracles as a witness to the truth of His promises and those of His Mother. Miracles are used by God to confirm the solid foundation of the devotions that the Church proposes to the faithful. The greater the number of miracles obtained by a particular devotion, the more it draws our attention to this devotion and authenticates the truth that the practice is pleasing to God. Of all the devotions adopted by the Church, none has been confirmed by more authenticated miracles than that of the Brown Scapular.
God Loves the Simple Things of LIfe
In his relations with us, God shows a preference for the simple things of life. What could be simpler than the manger of rough straw in which He began His life here below! His life, though He was the King of kings, was not in a palace, but in a simple, small, humble home. That same simplicity went with Him to the grave—for His burial was without pomp and He didn’t have His own tomb, but was buried in the tomb of a stranger.
When He wished to enrich our souls with the precious fruits and graces earned by His Passion and Death, He instituted a sacramental system in which seven simple elements become the efficient signs of divine grace. Since the natural function of water is to wash, He chose it for the Sacrament of Baptism, to show us what His grace does for a soul stained by Original Sin―it washes it clean and fills it up with grace, which is symbolized by the water. Since bread is the staff of life, He chose bread to reveal how the grace of the Eucharist nourishes our souls—by feeding souls with His own flesh and grace. Oil was used by soldiers in combat, which was rubbed onto their limbs so that the enemy could not get a firm grip on them—so He chose it for the Soldiers of Christ in the Sacrament of Confirmation. The symbolism of the whole sacramental system is designed to lead us into the knowledge of what divine grace is doing in the hidden depths of our souls. It is a continuation of the divine condescension of the Incarnation and Redemption.
A Simple Garment
The spiritual significance of a simple garment is perhaps as old as human society itself. A garment has always signified something more important than itself. After the Fall God clothed our first parents, and the garments He gave them were the sign of his forgiveness. Jacob made a coat of divers colors for his favorite son, Joseph, and Anna also made a coat for her son, Samuel. A garment was also the mark of that extraordinary friendship which knit the souls of Jonathan and David: “And Jonathan stripped himself of the coat with which he was clothed and gave it to David” (1 Kings 18:4). The priestly vestments designed by God were an outward sign of the high office entrusted to the priests of the Old Law.
Genesis tells us how Jacob loved Joseph above all his other sons and, as a sign of his special love, he made a coat of divers colors for him. This particular affection which the father had for his favorite son aroused the jealousy of his brethren. They determined to do away with him and when the opportunity presented itself, they stripped him of his coat, dipped it in blood and sent it back to his father who immediately recognized it as his son’s. Could the eye of Jacob have followed his beloved son into the fields and had his arm been long enough to save him from his enemies, his love would have prevented Joseph from being sold into Egypt. The ever-vigilant eye of our Blessed Mother is always upon those who wear her Habit, and where her eye is there also is the love of her Heart to save and defend us. The might of her love follows us and whithersoever we go and wherever we dwell it is about us.
No Love or Salvation Without Blood
St. Paul says that “Christ died for us; therefore, being now justified by His Blood, shall we be saved from wrath through Him” (Romans 5:9). St. John, in his Book of the Apocalypse writes: “Jesus Christ … hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own Blood” (Apocalypse 1:5). Our whole sacramental system draws it power and efficacity from the Blood of Jesus Christ, shed for us during His Passion and Death. As Holy Scripture points out: “Christ, … neither by the blood of goats, or of calves, but by His own Blood, entered once into the holies, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and of oxen, and the ashes of a heifer being sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh: then how much more shall the Blood of Christ, Who by the Holy Ghost offered Himself unspotted unto God, cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:12-14).
Washed in the Blood of the Lamb
It is the redemptive Blood of Christ that overcomes all evil, as shown by the following Scriptural quotes. Satan was overcome by the good angels by the Blood of Lamb (Christ): “And there was a great battle in Heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels: and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in Heaven. And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world; and he was cast unto the Earth, and his angels were thrown down with him ... And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb” (Apocalypse 12:7-11). Of the saved souls it is written: “These are they who are come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Apocalypse 7:14). “Blessed are they that wash their robes in the Blood of the Lamb” (Apocalypse 22:14). Which is why St. Peter says: “You were not redeemed with corruptible things as gold or silver, but with the precious Blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19).
The Scapular, like all the other means of salvation that God has given to His Church, owes it power in general to the Passion and Death of Our Lord, and, in particular, the shedding of His most Precious and Sacred Blood. We can well imagine Our Lady having had her clothing stained to some degree with the Precious Blood of her Son—likewise, we can imagine the Scapular, as it were, in a sense, dipped in that same Precious Blood which has worked so many miracles since being shed on Calvary. The miracles of the Precious Blood spill over and flow into the miracles of the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel—and many have those miracles been and many more there will be in the future!
Miracles of the Brown Scapular
The devotion to the Brown Scapular was authorized by miracles. God uses miracles as a witness to the truth of His promises and those of His Mother. Miracles are used by God to confirm the solid foundation of the devotions that the Church proposes to the faithful. The greater the number of miracles obtained by a particular devotion, the more it draws our attention to this devotion and authenticates the truth that the practice is pleasing to God. Of all the devotions adopted by the Church, none has been confirmed by more authenticated miracles than that of the Brown Scapular.
Article 14
Bloody Prophecies
Bloody Prophecies
Converging Bloody Prophecies
In his book, Catholic Prophecy, Yves Dupont—who had researched prophecies for decades—quotes quite a few prophecies that dovetail with those of Our Lady of La Salette. As a backdrop to these prophecies, he reveals: “I have studied several hundred of these prophecies over the last thirty years or so; I have written books about them. These books, in turn, have resulted in my getting into touch with people whom I would never have heard from otherwise. Thus, I came to receive the unpublished manuscripts of a saintly French priest who died shortly afterwards; these comprised well over 1,000 pages and contained unprocurable material of immense value together with a scholarly analysis of private prophecies. This holy man was a country priest. I can imagine him in his little village for many years on end spending every evening of his solitary life assembling and analyzing this unique monument of prophetical writings, one of the few typewritten copies of which he finally sent to me” (Yves Dupont, Catholic Prophecy).
Here are some of the chief prophecies, quoted by Yves Dupont, that converge or ‘dovetail’ with the ominous prophecies of Our Lady.
Old English Prophecy: (On a tombstone at the Kirby cemetery, Essex).
“When pictures look alive, with movements free, (T.V. and movies)
When ships like fish swim beneath the sea, (Submarines)
When men outstripping birds can soar the sky, (Jets and rockets)
Then half the world deep drenched in blood shall die.
St. Hildegard (12th century)
St. Hildegard foretells that “Toward the end of the world mankind will be purified through sufferings. Before the comet comes, many nations, the good excepted, will be scourged by want and famine. By its tremendous pressure the comet will force much out of the ocean and flood many countries, causing much want and many plagues. All coastal cities will live in fear, and many of them will be destroyed by tidal waves, and most living creatures will be killed, and even those who escape will die from horrible diseases. For in none of those cities does a person live according to the laws of God.
Abbot Joachin Merlin (13th century).
“After many long sufferings endured by Christians, and after too great an effusion of innocent blood, the Lord shall give peace and happiness to the desolated nations. A remarkable Pope will be seated on the pontifical Throne under the special protection of the Angels. Holy and full of gentleness, he shall undo all wrong; he shall recover the Estate of the Church, and reunite the exiled temporal powers. Before being firmly and solidly established in the Holy See, however, there will be countless wars and violent conflicts.”
Monk Hilarion (15th century).
“The people of the peninsula of Europe will suffer by needless wars until the Holy Man comes. The Lion will come from a high mountain in the enlightened nation. Then will the people of the half-moon of the tribe of Agar overrun many nations towards midnight and commit many atrocities. They will stay three years destroying everything.”
The Venerable Bartholomew Holzhauser (17th century),
Fr. Holzhauser was in Germany, and he speaks of “The fifth period of the Church, which began around 1520, will end with the arrival of the Holy Pope and of the powerful Monarch who is called “Help From God” because he will restore everything [in Christ].
“The fifth period is one of affliction, desolation, humiliation, and poverty for the Church. Jesus Christ will purify His people through cruel wars, famines, plague epidemics, and other horrible calamities. He will also afflict and weaken the Latin Church with many heresies. It is a period of defections, calamities and extermination. Those Christians who survive the sword, plague and famines, will be few on Earth. Nations will fight against nations, and will be desolated by internecine dissensions. Are we not to fear, during this period, that the Mohammedans will come again, working out their sinister schemes against the Latin Church?
“During this period, many men will abuse of the freedom of conscience conceded to them. It is of such men that Jude, the Apostle, spoke when he said: ‘These men blaspheme whatever they do not understand; and they corrupt whatever they know naturally as irrational animals do. . . They feast together without restraint, feeding themselves, grumbling murmurers, walking according to their lusts; their mouth speaketh proud things, they admire people for the sake of gain; they bring about division, sensual men, having not the spirit.“
“During this unhappy period, there will be laxity in divine and human precepts. Discipline will suffer. These are evil times, a century full of dangers and calamities. Heresy is everywhere, and the followers of heresy are in power almost everywhere. Bishops, prelates, and priests say that they are doing their duty„ that they are vigilant, and that they live as befits their state in life. In like manner, therefore, they all seek excuses. But God will permit a great evil against His Church: Heretics and tyrants will come suddenly and unexpectedly; they will break into the Church while bishops, prelates, and priests are asleep. They will enter Italy and lay Rome waste; they will burn down the churches and destroy everything.”
Capuchin Friar (18th century).
“All priests, both secular and regular, shall be stripped of their possessions and of every kind of property. They will have to beg from lay people their food and everything necessary for their support and for the worship of God. The Pope shall die during these calamities, and the Church will be reduced to the most painful anarchy as a result. Much human blood will be shed in Italy; many cities, towns and castles shall be brought to ruins, causing the death of many people. By the Catholic clergy and people, the true and lawful Pope will be elected who shall be a man of great holiness and goodness of life.”
Bernhardt Rembordt (18th century).
“Cologne will be the site of a terrible battle. Many foreigners will be slaughtered there; both men and women will fight for their Faith. It will be impossible to prevent this horrible devastation. People will wade up to their ankles in blood.”
Jeanne le Royer (18th century).
She was a Sister of the Nativity. Jeanne was born in 1731 and became a nun in 1755. Being illiterate, she dictated her revelations to her spiritual directors.
“I had a vision: Before the Father and the Son — both seated a virgin of incomparable beauty, representing the Church, was kneeling. The Holy Ghost spread His shining wings over the virgin and the two other persons. The wounds of Our Lord seemed alive. Leaning on the Cross with one hand, He offered to His Father with the other hand the chalice which the virgin had given to Him. She supported the chalice which the Master held in the middle. The Father placed one hand on the cup and raised the other to bless the virgin.
“I noticed that the chalice was only half-filled with blood, and I heard these words spoken by the Savior at the moment of presentation: ‘I shall not be fully satisfied until I am able to fill it right up to the brim.’ I understood then that the contents of the chalice represented the blood of the early martyrs, and that this vision had reference to the last persecutions of the Christians, whose blood would fill the chalice, thereby completing the number of martyrs and predestined. For at the end of time, there will be as many martyrs as in the early Church, and even more, for the persecutions will be far more violent. Then the Last Judgment will no longer be delayed.
“I see in God that a long time before the rise of Antichrist the world will be afflicted with many bloody wars. Peoples will rise against peoples, and nations will rise against nations, sometimes allied, sometimes enemies, in their fight against the same party. Armies will come into frightful collisions and will fill the Earth with murder and carnage. These internal and foreign wars will cause enormous sacrifices, profanations, scandals, and infinite evils, because of the incursions that will be made into the Church.
“As well as that, I see that the Earth will be shaken in different places by frightful earthquakes. I see whole mountains cracking and splitting with a terrible din. Only too happy will one be if one can escape with no more than a fright; but no, I see come out of these gaping mountains whirlwinds of smoke, fire, sulphur, and tar, which reduce to cinders entire towns. All this and a thousand other disasters must come before the rise of the Man of Sin (Antichrist).”
Fr. Nectou, S.J. (18th century).
Father Nectou was Provincial of the Jesuits in the south-west of France. The priests who knew him all regarded him as a saint and a prophet. He died in 1777. The following prophecy was made around 1760.
“When those things come to pass, from which the triumph of the Church will finally arise, then will such confusion reign upon Earth that people will think God is not concerned about the world. The confusion will be so general that men will not be able to think aright, as if God had withheld His Providence from mankind, and that, during the worst crisis, the best that can be done would be to remain where God has placed us, and persevere in fervent prayers. Two parties will be formed in France which will fight unto death. The party of evil will at first be stronger, and the good side will be weaker. At that time there will be such a terrible crisis that people will believe that the end of the world has come. Blood will flow in many large cities. The very elements will be convulsed. It will be like a little General Judgment.
“A great multitude of people will lose their lives in those calamitous times, but the wicked will not prevail. They will indeed attempt to destroy the whole Church, but not enough time will be allowed them, because the frightful crisis will be of short duration. When all is considered lost, all will be found safe. This disaster will come to pass shortly after the power of England begins to wane. This will be the sign. As when the fig tree begins to sprout and produce leaves, it is a sure sign that summer is near. England in her turn will experience a more frightful revolution than that of France. It will continue long enough for France to recover her strength; then she will help England to restore peace and order.
“During this revolution, which will very likely be general and not confined to France, Paris will be destroyed so completely that twenty years afterwards fathers walking over its ruins with their children will be asked by them what kind of a place that was: to whom they will answer: ‘My child, this was a great city which God has destroyed on account of her crimes.’ Yes. Paris will certainly be destroyed: but, before this happens, such signs and portents will be seen, that all good people will be induced to flee away from it. After these most frightful events, order will be restored everywhere. Justice will reign throughout the whole world, and the counterrevolution will be accomplished. The triumph of the Church will then be so complete that nothing like it has ever been seen before. Those Christians who are fortunate enough to survive will thank God for preserving them and giving them the privilege of beholding this glorious triumph of the Church.”
Blessed Anne-Catherine Emmerich (18th & 19th centuries).
She was an Augustinian nun, born in Germany in 1774, spent a life of sufferings, and died in 1824 in her native country. She bore the stigmata of Our Lord.
Among her many visions was one on May 13th, 1820. “I saw how the local clergy grew lukewarm, and I saw a great darkness ... Then, the vision seemed to extend on every side. Whole Catholic communities were being oppressed, harassed, confined, and deprived of their freedom. I saw many churches close down, great miseries everywhere, wars and bloodshed. A wild and ignorant mob took to violent action. But it did not last long.”
Nursing Nun of Bellay (19th century).
This prophecy was written sometime between 1810 and 1830 and was entrusted to Fr. Fulgence, the Chaplain of the Trappist Monastery of Notre-Dame des Gardes, near Angers.
“Once again the madmen seem to gain the upper hand! They laugh God to scorn. Now, the churches are closed; the pastors run away; the Holy Sacrifice ceases. Woe to thee, corrupt city! The wicked try to destroy everything; their books and their doctrines are swamping the world. But the day of justice is come. Horrible times! The just and the wicked fall; Babylon is reduced to ashes. Woe to thee, city three times accursed! There was also a great battle, the like of which has never been seen before. Blood was flowing like water after a heavy rain. The wicked were trying to slaughter all the servants of the Religion of Jesus Christ. After they had killed a large number, they raised a cry of victory, but suddenly the just received help from above. A saint raises his arms to Heaven; he allays the wrath of God. He ascends the throne of Peter. At the same time, the Great Monarch ascends the throne of his ancestors. All is quiet now. Altars are set up again; religion comes to life again. What I see now is so wonderful that I am unable to express it. All these things shall come to pass once the wicked have succeeded in circulating large numbers of bad books.”
The Ecstatic of Tours (19th century).
Her name is not known. She was a nun living in Tours, in France. In the year 1882, using a nom-de-plume (pen-name), her spiritual director published her revelations in a book called La Veille de la Victoire du Christ (On the Eve of the Victory of Christ). The following excerpts come from the prophecies made in 1872 and 1873. They chiefly seem to concern France, but that is just one piece of the terrible onslaught of evil that will rock the world.
“Before the war breaks out again, food will be scarce and expensive. There will be little work for the workers, and fathers will hear their children crying for food. There will be earthquakes and signs in the sun. Towards the end darkness will cover the Earth. When everyone believes that peace is assured, when everyone least expects it, the great happenings will begin. Revolution will break out in Italy almost at the same time as in France. For some time, the Church will be without a Pope. England, too, will have much to suffer. The revolution will spread to every French town. Wholesale slaughter will take place. This revolution will last only a few months but it will be frightful; blood will flow everywhere because the malice of the wicked will reach its highest pitch. Victims will be innumerable. Paris will look like a slaughter-house. Persecutions against the Church will be even greater, but it will not last long. All churches will be closed, but only for a very short time in those towns where disturbances are least. Priests will have to go into hiding. The wicked will try to obliterate everything religious, but they will not have enough time. Many bishops and priests will be put to death. The Archbishop of Paris will be murdered. Many other priests, in Paris, will have their throats cut because they will not have time to find a hiding place. “The wicked will be the masters for one year and a few months.”
Sister Rosa Asdenti Di Taggia (19th century).
“A great revolution shall spread over all of Europe, and not only religious communities but also good lay Catholics shall have their properties confiscated. A lawless democratic spirit of disorder shall reign supreme. There shall be great confusion of people against people, and nations against nations, with clashing of arms and beating of drums. The Russians and Prussians shall come to Italy. Some bishops shall fall from the Faith, but many more will remain steadfast and suffer much for the Church. Priests and religious shall be butchered, and the Earth, especially in Italy, shall be soaked with their blood.”
Brother Louis Rocco (19th century).
“Terrible wars will rage all over Europe. God has long been patient with the corruption of morals; half of mankind He will destroy. Russia will witness many outrages. Great cities and small towns alike will be destroyed in a bloody revolution that will cause the death of half the population.”
Marie de la Faudais (19th century).
“The ocean will cast its foaming waves over the land, and the Earth will be turned into a huge graveyard. The bodies of the wicked and of the righteous will cover the face of the Earth. The famine that follows will be severe. All plant-life will be destroyed as well as three-fourths of the human race. This crisis will be sudden and the punishment will be world-wide.”
Countess Francesco de Billiante (20th century).
“I see yellow warriors and red warriors marching against Europe. Europe will be completely covered with a yellow fog that will kill the cattle in the fields. Those nations which have rebelled against the law of Christ will perish by fire. Europe will then be too large for them who survive.”
Fr. Constant Louis Marie Pel (1876–1966)
is not a name well-known, but for those who knew him he was a priest very close to God. Doctor in theology, seminary professor, founder of a convent for women and of a seminary for men, with a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, he was a personal friend of St. Padre Pio who said of him to some French pilgrims in San Giovanni Rotondo, “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a Saint in France?” Fr. Pel would spend nights on his feet in church with his forehead leaning against the Tabernacle, conversing with God in a permanent ecstasy. He died in a car accident just after Vatican II, but not before a seminarian, one of his spiritual sons, had been able to note down a prophecy of his, dating from 1945, concerning the chastisement which will strike France in particular. Here it is, quoted and abbreviated:
“My son,” said Fr. Pel, “know that with the sins of the world increasing in horror as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the Wrath of God. France being guilty of apostasy and denying its vocation will be severely chastised. East of a line stretching from Bordeaux in the south-west to Lille in the north-east, everything will be laid waste and set on fire by peoples invading from the east, and also by great flaming meteorites falling in a rain of fire upon all the earth and upon these regions especially. Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases, violent earthquakes and the re-awakening of France’s extinct volcanoes will destroy everything ... France to the west of that line will be less affected ... because of the Faith rooted in the Vendée and in Brittany ... but any of God’s worst enemies seeking refuge there from the worldwide cataclysm will be found out, wherever they hide, and put to death by devils, because the Wrath of the Lord is just and holy. Thick darkness caused by the war, gigantic fires and fragments of burning stars falling for three days and nights will cause the sun to disappear, and only candles blessed on Candlemas (February 2) will give light in the hands of believers, but the godless will not see this miraculous light because they have darkness in their souls.
“In this way, my son, three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and in certain parts of France survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another live human being ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map ... A France thus purified will become the renewed “Eldest Daughter of the Church,” because all the Cains and Judases will have disappeared in this ‘Judgment upon the Nations’”. This Judgment is not yet the end of times, but so great is the punishment due to the sins of the nations that Our Lord told Fr. Pel that the desolation at world’s end will be lesser.
Marie-Julie Jahenny (1850-1941)
was born in France and received the stigmata. From the age of twenty-three until her death, she bore the stigmata. During a five year period from 1875 she survived on Holy Communion alone. Marie-Julie predicted numerous chastisements for sin that would fall first on France then spread to the rest of the world. These include: earthquakes, unprecedented destruction through storms, failed harvests, unknown plagues that would spread rapidly, plus the cures for them, a “Blood Rain” that would fall for seven weeks, civil war in France that apparently would be started by conspirators in the government, the persecution of the Catholic Church with the total closure of all churches and religious houses, persecution and slaughter of Christians, the destruction of Paris, a “Two Day period of Darkness” that would come around a month before the “Three Days of Darkness”.
Why? O Why?
Such a tragedy would not be permitted by Christ, except as a punishment for the Church’s sins. As long as the Church remains sound, the world is comparatively safe. But let the Church be subverted, and the whole world will be plunged into a bloodbath. In the 15th century, the Church’s great sin was immorality, but Faith was alive. Then, in thee 16th century came the Reformation with its attack on the Faith, and the wars of religion. However, these attacks were mainly from outside the Church from renegade Catholics. Today, however, the Church’s sin is even greater because the Church has combined immorality with infidelity. Sins of the flesh with sins against the Faith. The punishment needs to be commensurate or proportionate to the crime.
We have to get out of our hypnotic state that imagines that life is meant to be enjoyed and we are here to have fun—each in his or her own way! “Fight the good fight of faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12), for “the life of man upon Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1) and this fight is not a virtual fight; it is not a fight in the imagination; nor a fight that existed in the past but no longer today; nor a fight that some but not all are involved in—it is a perennial fight, a universal fight, an apocalyptic fight! Your salvation rests upon whether or not you fight, whether or not you compromise, whether or not you surrender to the enemy. Our Lady of Akita warns against passivity and compromise, saying: “The Church will be full of those who accept compromises!”
Our Lord is angered by our half-heartedness, as shown by these words, spoken to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres of Quito, Ecuador (to whom Our Lady of Good Success also appeared): “If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small inveterate imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me! ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
Ours is a bloody future, yet the solution is a Bloody solution—the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. That solution is mainly found in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It reminds us of the one of the two pillars that St. John Bosco say in his famous vision of the Triumph of the Church and Two Pillars (click here). Use that Precious Blood! Go to more Masses—MANY more Masses! Pray to the Precious Blood and offer the Precious Blood as a remedy against this sinful world. Let that Precious Blood enlarge your spiritual arteries and wash away the plaque of worldliness. Yet you must really want this to happen before Christ will make it happen. We must truly beg for this before He will grant this. Half-heartedness has no place in the Heart of Jesus, nor in the heart of a true Christian. We are in the mess that we are in because of half-heartedness.
In his book, Catholic Prophecy, Yves Dupont—who had researched prophecies for decades—quotes quite a few prophecies that dovetail with those of Our Lady of La Salette. As a backdrop to these prophecies, he reveals: “I have studied several hundred of these prophecies over the last thirty years or so; I have written books about them. These books, in turn, have resulted in my getting into touch with people whom I would never have heard from otherwise. Thus, I came to receive the unpublished manuscripts of a saintly French priest who died shortly afterwards; these comprised well over 1,000 pages and contained unprocurable material of immense value together with a scholarly analysis of private prophecies. This holy man was a country priest. I can imagine him in his little village for many years on end spending every evening of his solitary life assembling and analyzing this unique monument of prophetical writings, one of the few typewritten copies of which he finally sent to me” (Yves Dupont, Catholic Prophecy).
Here are some of the chief prophecies, quoted by Yves Dupont, that converge or ‘dovetail’ with the ominous prophecies of Our Lady.
Old English Prophecy: (On a tombstone at the Kirby cemetery, Essex).
“When pictures look alive, with movements free, (T.V. and movies)
When ships like fish swim beneath the sea, (Submarines)
When men outstripping birds can soar the sky, (Jets and rockets)
Then half the world deep drenched in blood shall die.
St. Hildegard (12th century)
St. Hildegard foretells that “Toward the end of the world mankind will be purified through sufferings. Before the comet comes, many nations, the good excepted, will be scourged by want and famine. By its tremendous pressure the comet will force much out of the ocean and flood many countries, causing much want and many plagues. All coastal cities will live in fear, and many of them will be destroyed by tidal waves, and most living creatures will be killed, and even those who escape will die from horrible diseases. For in none of those cities does a person live according to the laws of God.
Abbot Joachin Merlin (13th century).
“After many long sufferings endured by Christians, and after too great an effusion of innocent blood, the Lord shall give peace and happiness to the desolated nations. A remarkable Pope will be seated on the pontifical Throne under the special protection of the Angels. Holy and full of gentleness, he shall undo all wrong; he shall recover the Estate of the Church, and reunite the exiled temporal powers. Before being firmly and solidly established in the Holy See, however, there will be countless wars and violent conflicts.”
Monk Hilarion (15th century).
“The people of the peninsula of Europe will suffer by needless wars until the Holy Man comes. The Lion will come from a high mountain in the enlightened nation. Then will the people of the half-moon of the tribe of Agar overrun many nations towards midnight and commit many atrocities. They will stay three years destroying everything.”
The Venerable Bartholomew Holzhauser (17th century),
Fr. Holzhauser was in Germany, and he speaks of “The fifth period of the Church, which began around 1520, will end with the arrival of the Holy Pope and of the powerful Monarch who is called “Help From God” because he will restore everything [in Christ].
“The fifth period is one of affliction, desolation, humiliation, and poverty for the Church. Jesus Christ will purify His people through cruel wars, famines, plague epidemics, and other horrible calamities. He will also afflict and weaken the Latin Church with many heresies. It is a period of defections, calamities and extermination. Those Christians who survive the sword, plague and famines, will be few on Earth. Nations will fight against nations, and will be desolated by internecine dissensions. Are we not to fear, during this period, that the Mohammedans will come again, working out their sinister schemes against the Latin Church?
“During this period, many men will abuse of the freedom of conscience conceded to them. It is of such men that Jude, the Apostle, spoke when he said: ‘These men blaspheme whatever they do not understand; and they corrupt whatever they know naturally as irrational animals do. . . They feast together without restraint, feeding themselves, grumbling murmurers, walking according to their lusts; their mouth speaketh proud things, they admire people for the sake of gain; they bring about division, sensual men, having not the spirit.“
“During this unhappy period, there will be laxity in divine and human precepts. Discipline will suffer. These are evil times, a century full of dangers and calamities. Heresy is everywhere, and the followers of heresy are in power almost everywhere. Bishops, prelates, and priests say that they are doing their duty„ that they are vigilant, and that they live as befits their state in life. In like manner, therefore, they all seek excuses. But God will permit a great evil against His Church: Heretics and tyrants will come suddenly and unexpectedly; they will break into the Church while bishops, prelates, and priests are asleep. They will enter Italy and lay Rome waste; they will burn down the churches and destroy everything.”
Capuchin Friar (18th century).
“All priests, both secular and regular, shall be stripped of their possessions and of every kind of property. They will have to beg from lay people their food and everything necessary for their support and for the worship of God. The Pope shall die during these calamities, and the Church will be reduced to the most painful anarchy as a result. Much human blood will be shed in Italy; many cities, towns and castles shall be brought to ruins, causing the death of many people. By the Catholic clergy and people, the true and lawful Pope will be elected who shall be a man of great holiness and goodness of life.”
Bernhardt Rembordt (18th century).
“Cologne will be the site of a terrible battle. Many foreigners will be slaughtered there; both men and women will fight for their Faith. It will be impossible to prevent this horrible devastation. People will wade up to their ankles in blood.”
Jeanne le Royer (18th century).
She was a Sister of the Nativity. Jeanne was born in 1731 and became a nun in 1755. Being illiterate, she dictated her revelations to her spiritual directors.
“I had a vision: Before the Father and the Son — both seated a virgin of incomparable beauty, representing the Church, was kneeling. The Holy Ghost spread His shining wings over the virgin and the two other persons. The wounds of Our Lord seemed alive. Leaning on the Cross with one hand, He offered to His Father with the other hand the chalice which the virgin had given to Him. She supported the chalice which the Master held in the middle. The Father placed one hand on the cup and raised the other to bless the virgin.
“I noticed that the chalice was only half-filled with blood, and I heard these words spoken by the Savior at the moment of presentation: ‘I shall not be fully satisfied until I am able to fill it right up to the brim.’ I understood then that the contents of the chalice represented the blood of the early martyrs, and that this vision had reference to the last persecutions of the Christians, whose blood would fill the chalice, thereby completing the number of martyrs and predestined. For at the end of time, there will be as many martyrs as in the early Church, and even more, for the persecutions will be far more violent. Then the Last Judgment will no longer be delayed.
“I see in God that a long time before the rise of Antichrist the world will be afflicted with many bloody wars. Peoples will rise against peoples, and nations will rise against nations, sometimes allied, sometimes enemies, in their fight against the same party. Armies will come into frightful collisions and will fill the Earth with murder and carnage. These internal and foreign wars will cause enormous sacrifices, profanations, scandals, and infinite evils, because of the incursions that will be made into the Church.
“As well as that, I see that the Earth will be shaken in different places by frightful earthquakes. I see whole mountains cracking and splitting with a terrible din. Only too happy will one be if one can escape with no more than a fright; but no, I see come out of these gaping mountains whirlwinds of smoke, fire, sulphur, and tar, which reduce to cinders entire towns. All this and a thousand other disasters must come before the rise of the Man of Sin (Antichrist).”
Fr. Nectou, S.J. (18th century).
Father Nectou was Provincial of the Jesuits in the south-west of France. The priests who knew him all regarded him as a saint and a prophet. He died in 1777. The following prophecy was made around 1760.
“When those things come to pass, from which the triumph of the Church will finally arise, then will such confusion reign upon Earth that people will think God is not concerned about the world. The confusion will be so general that men will not be able to think aright, as if God had withheld His Providence from mankind, and that, during the worst crisis, the best that can be done would be to remain where God has placed us, and persevere in fervent prayers. Two parties will be formed in France which will fight unto death. The party of evil will at first be stronger, and the good side will be weaker. At that time there will be such a terrible crisis that people will believe that the end of the world has come. Blood will flow in many large cities. The very elements will be convulsed. It will be like a little General Judgment.
“A great multitude of people will lose their lives in those calamitous times, but the wicked will not prevail. They will indeed attempt to destroy the whole Church, but not enough time will be allowed them, because the frightful crisis will be of short duration. When all is considered lost, all will be found safe. This disaster will come to pass shortly after the power of England begins to wane. This will be the sign. As when the fig tree begins to sprout and produce leaves, it is a sure sign that summer is near. England in her turn will experience a more frightful revolution than that of France. It will continue long enough for France to recover her strength; then she will help England to restore peace and order.
“During this revolution, which will very likely be general and not confined to France, Paris will be destroyed so completely that twenty years afterwards fathers walking over its ruins with their children will be asked by them what kind of a place that was: to whom they will answer: ‘My child, this was a great city which God has destroyed on account of her crimes.’ Yes. Paris will certainly be destroyed: but, before this happens, such signs and portents will be seen, that all good people will be induced to flee away from it. After these most frightful events, order will be restored everywhere. Justice will reign throughout the whole world, and the counterrevolution will be accomplished. The triumph of the Church will then be so complete that nothing like it has ever been seen before. Those Christians who are fortunate enough to survive will thank God for preserving them and giving them the privilege of beholding this glorious triumph of the Church.”
Blessed Anne-Catherine Emmerich (18th & 19th centuries).
She was an Augustinian nun, born in Germany in 1774, spent a life of sufferings, and died in 1824 in her native country. She bore the stigmata of Our Lord.
Among her many visions was one on May 13th, 1820. “I saw how the local clergy grew lukewarm, and I saw a great darkness ... Then, the vision seemed to extend on every side. Whole Catholic communities were being oppressed, harassed, confined, and deprived of their freedom. I saw many churches close down, great miseries everywhere, wars and bloodshed. A wild and ignorant mob took to violent action. But it did not last long.”
Nursing Nun of Bellay (19th century).
This prophecy was written sometime between 1810 and 1830 and was entrusted to Fr. Fulgence, the Chaplain of the Trappist Monastery of Notre-Dame des Gardes, near Angers.
“Once again the madmen seem to gain the upper hand! They laugh God to scorn. Now, the churches are closed; the pastors run away; the Holy Sacrifice ceases. Woe to thee, corrupt city! The wicked try to destroy everything; their books and their doctrines are swamping the world. But the day of justice is come. Horrible times! The just and the wicked fall; Babylon is reduced to ashes. Woe to thee, city three times accursed! There was also a great battle, the like of which has never been seen before. Blood was flowing like water after a heavy rain. The wicked were trying to slaughter all the servants of the Religion of Jesus Christ. After they had killed a large number, they raised a cry of victory, but suddenly the just received help from above. A saint raises his arms to Heaven; he allays the wrath of God. He ascends the throne of Peter. At the same time, the Great Monarch ascends the throne of his ancestors. All is quiet now. Altars are set up again; religion comes to life again. What I see now is so wonderful that I am unable to express it. All these things shall come to pass once the wicked have succeeded in circulating large numbers of bad books.”
The Ecstatic of Tours (19th century).
Her name is not known. She was a nun living in Tours, in France. In the year 1882, using a nom-de-plume (pen-name), her spiritual director published her revelations in a book called La Veille de la Victoire du Christ (On the Eve of the Victory of Christ). The following excerpts come from the prophecies made in 1872 and 1873. They chiefly seem to concern France, but that is just one piece of the terrible onslaught of evil that will rock the world.
“Before the war breaks out again, food will be scarce and expensive. There will be little work for the workers, and fathers will hear their children crying for food. There will be earthquakes and signs in the sun. Towards the end darkness will cover the Earth. When everyone believes that peace is assured, when everyone least expects it, the great happenings will begin. Revolution will break out in Italy almost at the same time as in France. For some time, the Church will be without a Pope. England, too, will have much to suffer. The revolution will spread to every French town. Wholesale slaughter will take place. This revolution will last only a few months but it will be frightful; blood will flow everywhere because the malice of the wicked will reach its highest pitch. Victims will be innumerable. Paris will look like a slaughter-house. Persecutions against the Church will be even greater, but it will not last long. All churches will be closed, but only for a very short time in those towns where disturbances are least. Priests will have to go into hiding. The wicked will try to obliterate everything religious, but they will not have enough time. Many bishops and priests will be put to death. The Archbishop of Paris will be murdered. Many other priests, in Paris, will have their throats cut because they will not have time to find a hiding place. “The wicked will be the masters for one year and a few months.”
Sister Rosa Asdenti Di Taggia (19th century).
“A great revolution shall spread over all of Europe, and not only religious communities but also good lay Catholics shall have their properties confiscated. A lawless democratic spirit of disorder shall reign supreme. There shall be great confusion of people against people, and nations against nations, with clashing of arms and beating of drums. The Russians and Prussians shall come to Italy. Some bishops shall fall from the Faith, but many more will remain steadfast and suffer much for the Church. Priests and religious shall be butchered, and the Earth, especially in Italy, shall be soaked with their blood.”
Brother Louis Rocco (19th century).
“Terrible wars will rage all over Europe. God has long been patient with the corruption of morals; half of mankind He will destroy. Russia will witness many outrages. Great cities and small towns alike will be destroyed in a bloody revolution that will cause the death of half the population.”
Marie de la Faudais (19th century).
“The ocean will cast its foaming waves over the land, and the Earth will be turned into a huge graveyard. The bodies of the wicked and of the righteous will cover the face of the Earth. The famine that follows will be severe. All plant-life will be destroyed as well as three-fourths of the human race. This crisis will be sudden and the punishment will be world-wide.”
Countess Francesco de Billiante (20th century).
“I see yellow warriors and red warriors marching against Europe. Europe will be completely covered with a yellow fog that will kill the cattle in the fields. Those nations which have rebelled against the law of Christ will perish by fire. Europe will then be too large for them who survive.”
Fr. Constant Louis Marie Pel (1876–1966)
is not a name well-known, but for those who knew him he was a priest very close to God. Doctor in theology, seminary professor, founder of a convent for women and of a seminary for men, with a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, he was a personal friend of St. Padre Pio who said of him to some French pilgrims in San Giovanni Rotondo, “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a Saint in France?” Fr. Pel would spend nights on his feet in church with his forehead leaning against the Tabernacle, conversing with God in a permanent ecstasy. He died in a car accident just after Vatican II, but not before a seminarian, one of his spiritual sons, had been able to note down a prophecy of his, dating from 1945, concerning the chastisement which will strike France in particular. Here it is, quoted and abbreviated:
“My son,” said Fr. Pel, “know that with the sins of the world increasing in horror as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the Wrath of God. France being guilty of apostasy and denying its vocation will be severely chastised. East of a line stretching from Bordeaux in the south-west to Lille in the north-east, everything will be laid waste and set on fire by peoples invading from the east, and also by great flaming meteorites falling in a rain of fire upon all the earth and upon these regions especially. Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases, violent earthquakes and the re-awakening of France’s extinct volcanoes will destroy everything ... France to the west of that line will be less affected ... because of the Faith rooted in the Vendée and in Brittany ... but any of God’s worst enemies seeking refuge there from the worldwide cataclysm will be found out, wherever they hide, and put to death by devils, because the Wrath of the Lord is just and holy. Thick darkness caused by the war, gigantic fires and fragments of burning stars falling for three days and nights will cause the sun to disappear, and only candles blessed on Candlemas (February 2) will give light in the hands of believers, but the godless will not see this miraculous light because they have darkness in their souls.
“In this way, my son, three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and in certain parts of France survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another live human being ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map ... A France thus purified will become the renewed “Eldest Daughter of the Church,” because all the Cains and Judases will have disappeared in this ‘Judgment upon the Nations’”. This Judgment is not yet the end of times, but so great is the punishment due to the sins of the nations that Our Lord told Fr. Pel that the desolation at world’s end will be lesser.
Marie-Julie Jahenny (1850-1941)
was born in France and received the stigmata. From the age of twenty-three until her death, she bore the stigmata. During a five year period from 1875 she survived on Holy Communion alone. Marie-Julie predicted numerous chastisements for sin that would fall first on France then spread to the rest of the world. These include: earthquakes, unprecedented destruction through storms, failed harvests, unknown plagues that would spread rapidly, plus the cures for them, a “Blood Rain” that would fall for seven weeks, civil war in France that apparently would be started by conspirators in the government, the persecution of the Catholic Church with the total closure of all churches and religious houses, persecution and slaughter of Christians, the destruction of Paris, a “Two Day period of Darkness” that would come around a month before the “Three Days of Darkness”.
Why? O Why?
Such a tragedy would not be permitted by Christ, except as a punishment for the Church’s sins. As long as the Church remains sound, the world is comparatively safe. But let the Church be subverted, and the whole world will be plunged into a bloodbath. In the 15th century, the Church’s great sin was immorality, but Faith was alive. Then, in thee 16th century came the Reformation with its attack on the Faith, and the wars of religion. However, these attacks were mainly from outside the Church from renegade Catholics. Today, however, the Church’s sin is even greater because the Church has combined immorality with infidelity. Sins of the flesh with sins against the Faith. The punishment needs to be commensurate or proportionate to the crime.
We have to get out of our hypnotic state that imagines that life is meant to be enjoyed and we are here to have fun—each in his or her own way! “Fight the good fight of faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12), for “the life of man upon Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1) and this fight is not a virtual fight; it is not a fight in the imagination; nor a fight that existed in the past but no longer today; nor a fight that some but not all are involved in—it is a perennial fight, a universal fight, an apocalyptic fight! Your salvation rests upon whether or not you fight, whether or not you compromise, whether or not you surrender to the enemy. Our Lady of Akita warns against passivity and compromise, saying: “The Church will be full of those who accept compromises!”
Our Lord is angered by our half-heartedness, as shown by these words, spoken to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres of Quito, Ecuador (to whom Our Lady of Good Success also appeared): “If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small inveterate imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me! ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
Ours is a bloody future, yet the solution is a Bloody solution—the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. That solution is mainly found in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It reminds us of the one of the two pillars that St. John Bosco say in his famous vision of the Triumph of the Church and Two Pillars (click here). Use that Precious Blood! Go to more Masses—MANY more Masses! Pray to the Precious Blood and offer the Precious Blood as a remedy against this sinful world. Let that Precious Blood enlarge your spiritual arteries and wash away the plaque of worldliness. Yet you must really want this to happen before Christ will make it happen. We must truly beg for this before He will grant this. Half-heartedness has no place in the Heart of Jesus, nor in the heart of a true Christian. We are in the mess that we are in because of half-heartedness.
Article 15
Listen to the Queen of Martyrs
Listen to the Queen of Martyrs
At Quito, Ecaudor, Our Lady of Good Success painted a grim picture of the bloody times we are destined to face:
“Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of customs … In the 20th century, there will be many who will not believe … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger … They will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil. Thus many souls will be deprived of innumerable graces, consolations and the strength they need to make that great leap from time to eternity” (Our Lady of Good Success).
There will be a formidable and frightful war, in which both native and foreign blood will flow, including that of secular and regular priests as well as that of other religious. This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph. This, however, will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss” (Our Lady of Good Success).
“Clamor insistently without tiring and weep with bitter tears, imploring our Celestial Father, for love of the Eucharistic Heart of my Most Holy Son and His Precious Blood, that He might take pity and bring to an end those ominous times” (Our Lady of Good Success).
“The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings and those who sacrifice themselves for the Church and their country will be counted as martyrs. In order to free men from the bondage to these heresies, those whom the merciful love of my most Holy Son has designated to effect the restoration, will need great strength of will, constancy, valor and confidence of the just. To test this Faith, there will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration” (Our Lady of Good Success).
“Oh, if only human beings and religious knew what Heaven is and what it is to possess God, how differently they would live, sparing no sacrifice in order to enter more fully into possession of it! But some let themselves be dazzled by the false glamor of honors and human greatness, while others are blinded by self-love, not realizing that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil which destroys their fervor, humility, self-renunciation and the ceaseless practice of religious virtues and fraternal charity and that child-like simplicity which makes souls so dear to my Divine Son and to me” (Our Lady of Good Success).
At La Salette, 1846, Our Lady gives more of the same:
“Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“Italy will be punished for her ambition in wanting to shake off the yoke of the Lord of Lords. And so she will be left to fight a war; blood will flow on all sides. Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten, each individual will want to be on his own and be superior to people of same identity, they will abolish civil rights as well as ecclesiastical, all order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family. The Holy Father will suffer a great deal. I will be with him until the end and receive his sacrifice” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. For a time, God will cease to remember France and Italy because the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been forgotten. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways. Men will kill each other, massacre each other even in their homes” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of arms and blasphemy. The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of customs … In the 20th century, there will be many who will not believe … During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger … They will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil. Thus many souls will be deprived of innumerable graces, consolations and the strength they need to make that great leap from time to eternity” (Our Lady of Good Success).
There will be a formidable and frightful war, in which both native and foreign blood will flow, including that of secular and regular priests as well as that of other religious. This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph. This, however, will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss” (Our Lady of Good Success).
“Clamor insistently without tiring and weep with bitter tears, imploring our Celestial Father, for love of the Eucharistic Heart of my Most Holy Son and His Precious Blood, that He might take pity and bring to an end those ominous times” (Our Lady of Good Success).
“The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings and those who sacrifice themselves for the Church and their country will be counted as martyrs. In order to free men from the bondage to these heresies, those whom the merciful love of my most Holy Son has designated to effect the restoration, will need great strength of will, constancy, valor and confidence of the just. To test this Faith, there will be occasions when all will seem lost and paralyzed. This then will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration” (Our Lady of Good Success).
“Oh, if only human beings and religious knew what Heaven is and what it is to possess God, how differently they would live, sparing no sacrifice in order to enter more fully into possession of it! But some let themselves be dazzled by the false glamor of honors and human greatness, while others are blinded by self-love, not realizing that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil which destroys their fervor, humility, self-renunciation and the ceaseless practice of religious virtues and fraternal charity and that child-like simplicity which makes souls so dear to my Divine Son and to me” (Our Lady of Good Success).
At La Salette, 1846, Our Lady gives more of the same:
“Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish. God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in every society and in every family. Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“Italy will be punished for her ambition in wanting to shake off the yoke of the Lord of Lords. And so she will be left to fight a war; blood will flow on all sides. Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten, each individual will want to be on his own and be superior to people of same identity, they will abolish civil rights as well as ecclesiastical, all order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family. The Holy Father will suffer a great deal. I will be with him until the end and receive his sacrifice” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. For a time, God will cease to remember France and Italy because the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been forgotten. The wicked will make use of all their evil ways. Men will kill each other, massacre each other even in their homes” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of arms and blasphemy. The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Article 16
Bloody Reparation
Bloody Reparation
There Can Be No Peace Without Reparation
The Flemish mystic Father Lamy – said to be "another Curé of Ars" by his bishop – was told by God that World War I "had three causes: blasphemy, Sunday labor, and the desecration of Marriage." At Fatima, the Blessed Virgin confirms this teaching, when she tells us: "war is a punishment for sin" and announces in the great Secret: "if people do not cease offending God, another worse war will begin." Consequently, World War II broke out.
Offence, But No Reparation
The whole point of the Fatima Message is designed to remove the cause of war, which is sin—“God is already so much offended!” Just before the great miracle of October 13, Our Lady had said: “People must amend their lives and ask pardon for their sins,” and then, with an even more sorrowful expression, she said: “They must not offend Our Lord any more, for He is already too much offended.”
Many years later, reflecting on these words, Sister Lucia wrote: "Of all the words spoken at this apparition, the words most deeply engraved upon my heart are those of the request made by Our Heavenly Mother: ‘Do not offend Our Lord and God any more, for He is already so much offended!’ How loving a complaint, how tender a request! Who will grant me to make it echo through the whole world, so that all the children, of our Mother in Heaven, may hear the sound of her voice!"
Jesus Insists On Reparation
Later on, in the Fatima apparitions, Jesus Himself came to tell us that the Immaculate Heart of Mary has been much offended. On December 10, 1925 Sister Lucia received a visit from the Virgin and the Child Jesus. The Most Holy Virgin put her hand on Lucia’s shoulder and showed her a Heart surrounded by thorns which she held in the other hand. At that same moment, the Child Jesus said to her: “Have compassion on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce her at every moment without there being anyone to make an act of reparation in order to take them away.”
Then the Most Holy Virgin said to her: “Look My daughter, at my Heart, surrounded with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce me at every moment, by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console me and announce, in my name, that I promise to assist at the moment of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the First Saturday of five consecutive months shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for fifteen minutes, while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me."
Bloody Beads of the Rosary
It took the drops of Jesus’ blood, falling from His body to the ground, to heal the sins of mankind and bring about the opportunity of conversion and the regaining of Heaven. Today, His Mystical Body can again shed drops of blood, which each bead of the Rosary can represent—each bead being like a drop of blood—that drop from our lips in an attempt to being about the conversion of souls and a return of the world to God.
Would You Rather Sweat or Bleed?
Praying the Rosary, to some, can seem like a heavy chore—especially if it means praying more than five decades a day! Prayer can be a penance—that is why it is often given as a penance in confession. Yet, it is still the easiest remedy—as opposed to the shedding of blood! As the quote goes: “A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood” (General George Patton). The aim of every soldier is not to have to shed his own blood—he hopes that it is the enemy’s blood that will be spilled. Likewise, Our Lady was sent from Heaven in an attempt to ward off the bloody punishments that God was prepared to inflict as punishment for the sins of the world—the alternative to shedding blood in punishment, was to be ‘sweating blood in prayer—meaning praying with an intensity, like that of Our Lord’s prayer, during His Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. The choice is ours! Reparation has to be made! It will either be the ‘cut-price’ reparation of prayer and sacrifice (as requested by the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts of Jesus and Mary), or it will be the ‘full-price’ reparation of a bloody death (which was the ominous warning of Our Lady at many of her modern-day apparitions).
The Blood of Reparation
“Woe to the inhabitants of the earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together ... Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other for more than thirty-five years. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God ... Italy will be punished for her ambition in wanting to shake off the yoke of the Lord of Lords. And so she will be left to fight a war; blood will flow on all sides ... the Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis. The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … all order and all justice would be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension would be seen, without love for country or family … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling … People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of arms and blasphemy. The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God's people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession.” (Our Lady of La Salette).
The Bloody Fruit of Liberalism
This will be the fruit of the modern era of Liberty-Fraternity-Equality! A Liberation from God! A Fraternity of Revolutionaries. An Equality with God! A bloody Liberty! A bloody Fraternity! A bloody Equality! “When liberty comes with hands dabbled in blood it is hard to shake hands with her” (Oscar Wilde).
This Liberty-Fraternity-Equality, as Our Lady of Fatima foretold, will see that “the good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, and various nations will be annihilated.” Yet as Tertullian said: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
The Bloody Reparatory Sweat of the Beads
The Rosary can heal the world’s problems, our personal problems, our neighbor’s problems, our fears, our frazzled nerves, all our troubles. Sister Lucia clearly tells us: "There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary!" All of us have plenty of problems today; even the Church is being torn apart and attacked from within and without. But it is our Rosary prayers that will assist us in staying in the Church by our faithfulness to the Rosary and the requests made by Heaven for our time and age.
The Flemish mystic Father Lamy – said to be "another Curé of Ars" by his bishop – was told by God that World War I "had three causes: blasphemy, Sunday labor, and the desecration of Marriage." At Fatima, the Blessed Virgin confirms this teaching, when she tells us: "war is a punishment for sin" and announces in the great Secret: "if people do not cease offending God, another worse war will begin." Consequently, World War II broke out.
Offence, But No Reparation
The whole point of the Fatima Message is designed to remove the cause of war, which is sin—“God is already so much offended!” Just before the great miracle of October 13, Our Lady had said: “People must amend their lives and ask pardon for their sins,” and then, with an even more sorrowful expression, she said: “They must not offend Our Lord any more, for He is already too much offended.”
Many years later, reflecting on these words, Sister Lucia wrote: "Of all the words spoken at this apparition, the words most deeply engraved upon my heart are those of the request made by Our Heavenly Mother: ‘Do not offend Our Lord and God any more, for He is already so much offended!’ How loving a complaint, how tender a request! Who will grant me to make it echo through the whole world, so that all the children, of our Mother in Heaven, may hear the sound of her voice!"
Jesus Insists On Reparation
Later on, in the Fatima apparitions, Jesus Himself came to tell us that the Immaculate Heart of Mary has been much offended. On December 10, 1925 Sister Lucia received a visit from the Virgin and the Child Jesus. The Most Holy Virgin put her hand on Lucia’s shoulder and showed her a Heart surrounded by thorns which she held in the other hand. At that same moment, the Child Jesus said to her: “Have compassion on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce her at every moment without there being anyone to make an act of reparation in order to take them away.”
Then the Most Holy Virgin said to her: “Look My daughter, at my Heart, surrounded with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce me at every moment, by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console me and announce, in my name, that I promise to assist at the moment of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the First Saturday of five consecutive months shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for fifteen minutes, while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me."
Bloody Beads of the Rosary
It took the drops of Jesus’ blood, falling from His body to the ground, to heal the sins of mankind and bring about the opportunity of conversion and the regaining of Heaven. Today, His Mystical Body can again shed drops of blood, which each bead of the Rosary can represent—each bead being like a drop of blood—that drop from our lips in an attempt to being about the conversion of souls and a return of the world to God.
Would You Rather Sweat or Bleed?
Praying the Rosary, to some, can seem like a heavy chore—especially if it means praying more than five decades a day! Prayer can be a penance—that is why it is often given as a penance in confession. Yet, it is still the easiest remedy—as opposed to the shedding of blood! As the quote goes: “A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood” (General George Patton). The aim of every soldier is not to have to shed his own blood—he hopes that it is the enemy’s blood that will be spilled. Likewise, Our Lady was sent from Heaven in an attempt to ward off the bloody punishments that God was prepared to inflict as punishment for the sins of the world—the alternative to shedding blood in punishment, was to be ‘sweating blood in prayer—meaning praying with an intensity, like that of Our Lord’s prayer, during His Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. The choice is ours! Reparation has to be made! It will either be the ‘cut-price’ reparation of prayer and sacrifice (as requested by the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts of Jesus and Mary), or it will be the ‘full-price’ reparation of a bloody death (which was the ominous warning of Our Lady at many of her modern-day apparitions).
The Blood of Reparation
“Woe to the inhabitants of the earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together ... Physical and moral agonies will be suffered. God will abandon mankind to itself and will send punishments which will follow one after the other for more than thirty-five years. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God ... Italy will be punished for her ambition in wanting to shake off the yoke of the Lord of Lords. And so she will be left to fight a war; blood will flow on all sides ... the Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis. The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … all order and all justice would be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension would be seen, without love for country or family … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling … People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of arms and blasphemy. The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God's people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession.” (Our Lady of La Salette).
The Bloody Fruit of Liberalism
This will be the fruit of the modern era of Liberty-Fraternity-Equality! A Liberation from God! A Fraternity of Revolutionaries. An Equality with God! A bloody Liberty! A bloody Fraternity! A bloody Equality! “When liberty comes with hands dabbled in blood it is hard to shake hands with her” (Oscar Wilde).
This Liberty-Fraternity-Equality, as Our Lady of Fatima foretold, will see that “the good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, and various nations will be annihilated.” Yet as Tertullian said: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
The Bloody Reparatory Sweat of the Beads
The Rosary can heal the world’s problems, our personal problems, our neighbor’s problems, our fears, our frazzled nerves, all our troubles. Sister Lucia clearly tells us: "There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary!" All of us have plenty of problems today; even the Church is being torn apart and attacked from within and without. But it is our Rosary prayers that will assist us in staying in the Church by our faithfulness to the Rosary and the requests made by Heaven for our time and age.
Article 17
Will You Resist Unto Blood? (Hebrews 12:4)
Will You Resist Unto Blood? (Hebrews 12:4)
Heart and Blood
The month of June is the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, while the month of July is the month of the Precious Blood of Jesus. June spills over into July, and July flows out of June like blood flows out of the heart. It is not by chance that we have these two dedicated months side-by-side. There is a wealth of doctrine and spiritual treasure that flows forth from the juxta-positioning of the Sacred Heart of Jesus next to the Precious Blood of Jesus.
What analogy or likeness can we put forth to show the intimate spiritual relationship that springs forth from this co-relation of the Heart and the Blood of Jesus? From a mere physical viewpoint, an immediate relationship jumps to mind—for own bodies testify to the close connection between heart and blood. The two go hand in hand, like body and soul, parents and children, etc. One needs the other; they work together.
"Blood and Guts", Courage of Heart, Shedding One’s Blood
Taken a stage further, we can speak of the courage, in the heart of soldiers, that leads them to shed their blood for their country. Even outside of war and the battlefield, in the modern battlefield of sports, the same courage of heart leads them into combat against an individual opponent or a team, that will sometimes see blood flow. The love of others, in the heart of a person, may lead them to donate their blood for the saving of lives. These are just some of the co-relations we see between heart and blood. In Our Lord, we can say that the Sacred Heart symbolizes the love He has for us and the love we should have for Him; whereas the Precious Blood symbolizes the reparation made by the Sacred Heart and the reparation we should make to the Sacred Heart. Like blood, the reparation comes from the Sacred Heart and flows back to the Sacred Heart.
Heart and Blood Medically
Heart rate and blood pressure are known as vital signs. Each vital sign must be measured separately because each result describes different information about the heart and blood vessels. The rate of the heart beat and the blood pressure are two important measurements to assess the health and wellness of the heart. Normally, the heart rate measures how fast the heart has to work in order to supply the body with oxygen and remove carbon dioxide from the blood.
A fast heart beat at rest may indicate weakened cardiac muscle that has to compensate with pumping blood faster. Unless the person is an athlete, a slow heart beat at rest, may be indicative of an enlarged heart that is straining to pump blood through an oversized organ.
The pulse rate increases during exertion of the body to meet increased oxygen demands during exercise. A healthy heart will not increase the blood pressure, but will cause the arteries to dilate and accommodate the increase of blood flow to the lungs. Known as the recovery time, the amount of time it takes for the heart rate to recover from exercise is measured in seconds to minutes. For instance, after jogging, a person with a heart rate at 120 beats per minute (BPM), recovers their normal heart rate at 77 BPM in less than a minute. Heart rate should also be evaluated by the steady rhythm and force of the beats. The healthier the heart, the faster the pulse will return to a normal resting state. Although this measurement is not completely conclusive by itself, recovery time can be used to assess fitness level of the body.
Jesus and Grace
We can quite easily draw some spiritual parallels from this co-relation of heart and blood. From the perspective of Jesus, His Heart is the reservoir of His Blood, which He sends out to His Mystical Body. The Heart is Jesus Himself, and His Blood is Divine Grace, which gives life to the Mystical Body as blood brings life to the human body. The Blood (Grace) of God is sent out to fulfill His wishes, much as God says in Isaias: “And as the rain and the snow come down from Heaven, and return no more thither, but soak the Earth, and water it, and make it to spring, and give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater. So shall My word [blood] be, which shall go forth from My mouth [heart]: it shall not return to Me void, but it shall do whatsoever I please, and shall prosper in the things for which I sent it” (Isaias 55:10-11).
Physical exertion requires that the heart to work faster and to pump greater quantities of blood (which carries the important oxygen) to all parts of the body. Likewise, spiritual exertion requires that the Sacred Heart pump more Precious Blood (which carries the important Grace) to all parts of the soul.
Spiritual Coronary Artery Disease
Coronary Artery Disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, affecting millions of Americans. Coronary Artery Disease is a narrowing of the coronary arteries, the vessels that supply blood to the heart muscle, generally due to the buildup of plaques in the arterial walls, a process known as atherosclerosis. Plaques are composed of cholesterol-rich fatty deposits, collagen, other proteins, and excess smooth muscle cells.
Let us paraphrase the above from a spiritual perspective. Jesus is the Heart and we, being members of His Mystical Body, are the arteries into which He pumps His Blood (Grace). Spiritual Coronary Artery Disease is the leading cause of the loss of souls. It is caused by a narrowing of the coronary arteries, generally due to a buildup of worldliness in the souls of the arteries, a process known as lukewarmness or tepidly. Worldliness is composed of fatty deposits of venial sins, self-love, sloth, gluttony and other cardinal sins.
Atherosclerosis (Worldliness), which usually progresses very gradually over a lifetime, thickens and narrows the arterial walls, impeding the flow of blood and starving the heart of the oxygen (grace) and vital nutrients (inspirations of God) which it needs. This can cause muscle cramp-like chest pain called angina (lukewarmness and fear of effort).
Blood clots (venial sins) form more easily on arterial walls roughened by plaque deposits (worldliness) and may block one or more of the narrowed coronary arteries completely and cause a heart attack (mortal sin). Arteries may also narrow suddenly as a result of an arterial spasm (pain resulting from making spiritual efforts). Spasms are most commonly triggered by smoking (breathing in the spirit of the world).
Although Coronary Artery Disease can be a life-threatening (soul-threatening) condition, the outcome of the disease is in many ways up to the patient. Damage to the arteries can be slowed or halted with lifestyle changes, including smoking cessation (quit breathing in the spirit of the world), dietary modifications (stop reading, watching, listening to the worldly media outlets, quit frequenting worldly parties and social gatherings) and regular exercise (Spiritual Exercises: start praying and making sacrifices; do spiritual reading and make a daily meditation and examination of conscience; start the laborious acquisition of spiritual muscles, which are the many virtues), or by medications (penances) to lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Additional goals of treatment, which may involve medication (penances) and sometimes surgery (being refused absolution by the priest, or severe Providential punishments sent by God), are to relieve symptoms, ease circulation and prolong life (save the soul).
Blood and Salvation
As Fr. Faber writes, in his book, The Precious Blood: “Salvation! What music is there in that word! To be saved! What is it to be saved? Who can tell? Eye has not seen, nor ear heard. It is a rescue, and from such a shipwreck. It is a rest, and in such an unimaginable home. It is to lie down forever in the bosom of God in an endless rapture of insatiable contentment. ‘Thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save his people from their sins’ (Matthew 1:21). Who else but Jesus can do this, and what else, even from Him, do we require but this? For in this lie all things which we can desire!”
The Blood of Christ
It is the shedding of blood that brings life and salvation. Our Lord said: “Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25). Prior to His Passion and Death, He had spoken of the importance of His Blood: “For My Flesh is meat indeed: and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me, and I in him” (John 6:56-57). At the Last Supper, on the eve of the shedding of His Blood, the Sacred Heart gave His Blood as drink: “In like manner the chalice also, after He had supped, saying: This is the chalice, the new testament in My Blood, which shall be shed for you” (Luke 22:20). “This is My blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28). After shedding His Blood in the Agony in the Garden, “His sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground” (Luke 22:44), and more bloodshed during the Scourging and Crowning with Thorns, and being nailed to the cross, finally, “one of the soldiers, with a spear, opened His side, and immediately there came out blood and water” (John 19:34).
The courage of His Sacred Heart had led to the voluntary shedding of His Precious Blood. The shedding of the Blood was a proof of the love that was in His Heart: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). He saved us “Neither by the blood of goats, or of calves, but by His own Blood” (Hebrews 9:12). The Precious Blood of Our Lord was shed on the Cross; by It Our Lord won all the graces necessary for the salvation of every human being. But we need to grasp these graces and apply them to ourselves and others. The Precious Blood is a flowing Fountain of spiritual gifts that will never run dry, but our efforts may run dry. We need to make constant efforts, remembering that: “he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13).
The month of June is the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, while the month of July is the month of the Precious Blood of Jesus. June spills over into July, and July flows out of June like blood flows out of the heart. It is not by chance that we have these two dedicated months side-by-side. There is a wealth of doctrine and spiritual treasure that flows forth from the juxta-positioning of the Sacred Heart of Jesus next to the Precious Blood of Jesus.
What analogy or likeness can we put forth to show the intimate spiritual relationship that springs forth from this co-relation of the Heart and the Blood of Jesus? From a mere physical viewpoint, an immediate relationship jumps to mind—for own bodies testify to the close connection between heart and blood. The two go hand in hand, like body and soul, parents and children, etc. One needs the other; they work together.
"Blood and Guts", Courage of Heart, Shedding One’s Blood
Taken a stage further, we can speak of the courage, in the heart of soldiers, that leads them to shed their blood for their country. Even outside of war and the battlefield, in the modern battlefield of sports, the same courage of heart leads them into combat against an individual opponent or a team, that will sometimes see blood flow. The love of others, in the heart of a person, may lead them to donate their blood for the saving of lives. These are just some of the co-relations we see between heart and blood. In Our Lord, we can say that the Sacred Heart symbolizes the love He has for us and the love we should have for Him; whereas the Precious Blood symbolizes the reparation made by the Sacred Heart and the reparation we should make to the Sacred Heart. Like blood, the reparation comes from the Sacred Heart and flows back to the Sacred Heart.
Heart and Blood Medically
Heart rate and blood pressure are known as vital signs. Each vital sign must be measured separately because each result describes different information about the heart and blood vessels. The rate of the heart beat and the blood pressure are two important measurements to assess the health and wellness of the heart. Normally, the heart rate measures how fast the heart has to work in order to supply the body with oxygen and remove carbon dioxide from the blood.
A fast heart beat at rest may indicate weakened cardiac muscle that has to compensate with pumping blood faster. Unless the person is an athlete, a slow heart beat at rest, may be indicative of an enlarged heart that is straining to pump blood through an oversized organ.
The pulse rate increases during exertion of the body to meet increased oxygen demands during exercise. A healthy heart will not increase the blood pressure, but will cause the arteries to dilate and accommodate the increase of blood flow to the lungs. Known as the recovery time, the amount of time it takes for the heart rate to recover from exercise is measured in seconds to minutes. For instance, after jogging, a person with a heart rate at 120 beats per minute (BPM), recovers their normal heart rate at 77 BPM in less than a minute. Heart rate should also be evaluated by the steady rhythm and force of the beats. The healthier the heart, the faster the pulse will return to a normal resting state. Although this measurement is not completely conclusive by itself, recovery time can be used to assess fitness level of the body.
Jesus and Grace
We can quite easily draw some spiritual parallels from this co-relation of heart and blood. From the perspective of Jesus, His Heart is the reservoir of His Blood, which He sends out to His Mystical Body. The Heart is Jesus Himself, and His Blood is Divine Grace, which gives life to the Mystical Body as blood brings life to the human body. The Blood (Grace) of God is sent out to fulfill His wishes, much as God says in Isaias: “And as the rain and the snow come down from Heaven, and return no more thither, but soak the Earth, and water it, and make it to spring, and give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater. So shall My word [blood] be, which shall go forth from My mouth [heart]: it shall not return to Me void, but it shall do whatsoever I please, and shall prosper in the things for which I sent it” (Isaias 55:10-11).
Physical exertion requires that the heart to work faster and to pump greater quantities of blood (which carries the important oxygen) to all parts of the body. Likewise, spiritual exertion requires that the Sacred Heart pump more Precious Blood (which carries the important Grace) to all parts of the soul.
Spiritual Coronary Artery Disease
Coronary Artery Disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, affecting millions of Americans. Coronary Artery Disease is a narrowing of the coronary arteries, the vessels that supply blood to the heart muscle, generally due to the buildup of plaques in the arterial walls, a process known as atherosclerosis. Plaques are composed of cholesterol-rich fatty deposits, collagen, other proteins, and excess smooth muscle cells.
Let us paraphrase the above from a spiritual perspective. Jesus is the Heart and we, being members of His Mystical Body, are the arteries into which He pumps His Blood (Grace). Spiritual Coronary Artery Disease is the leading cause of the loss of souls. It is caused by a narrowing of the coronary arteries, generally due to a buildup of worldliness in the souls of the arteries, a process known as lukewarmness or tepidly. Worldliness is composed of fatty deposits of venial sins, self-love, sloth, gluttony and other cardinal sins.
Atherosclerosis (Worldliness), which usually progresses very gradually over a lifetime, thickens and narrows the arterial walls, impeding the flow of blood and starving the heart of the oxygen (grace) and vital nutrients (inspirations of God) which it needs. This can cause muscle cramp-like chest pain called angina (lukewarmness and fear of effort).
Blood clots (venial sins) form more easily on arterial walls roughened by plaque deposits (worldliness) and may block one or more of the narrowed coronary arteries completely and cause a heart attack (mortal sin). Arteries may also narrow suddenly as a result of an arterial spasm (pain resulting from making spiritual efforts). Spasms are most commonly triggered by smoking (breathing in the spirit of the world).
Although Coronary Artery Disease can be a life-threatening (soul-threatening) condition, the outcome of the disease is in many ways up to the patient. Damage to the arteries can be slowed or halted with lifestyle changes, including smoking cessation (quit breathing in the spirit of the world), dietary modifications (stop reading, watching, listening to the worldly media outlets, quit frequenting worldly parties and social gatherings) and regular exercise (Spiritual Exercises: start praying and making sacrifices; do spiritual reading and make a daily meditation and examination of conscience; start the laborious acquisition of spiritual muscles, which are the many virtues), or by medications (penances) to lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Additional goals of treatment, which may involve medication (penances) and sometimes surgery (being refused absolution by the priest, or severe Providential punishments sent by God), are to relieve symptoms, ease circulation and prolong life (save the soul).
Blood and Salvation
As Fr. Faber writes, in his book, The Precious Blood: “Salvation! What music is there in that word! To be saved! What is it to be saved? Who can tell? Eye has not seen, nor ear heard. It is a rescue, and from such a shipwreck. It is a rest, and in such an unimaginable home. It is to lie down forever in the bosom of God in an endless rapture of insatiable contentment. ‘Thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save his people from their sins’ (Matthew 1:21). Who else but Jesus can do this, and what else, even from Him, do we require but this? For in this lie all things which we can desire!”
The Blood of Christ
It is the shedding of blood that brings life and salvation. Our Lord said: “Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25). Prior to His Passion and Death, He had spoken of the importance of His Blood: “For My Flesh is meat indeed: and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me, and I in him” (John 6:56-57). At the Last Supper, on the eve of the shedding of His Blood, the Sacred Heart gave His Blood as drink: “In like manner the chalice also, after He had supped, saying: This is the chalice, the new testament in My Blood, which shall be shed for you” (Luke 22:20). “This is My blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28). After shedding His Blood in the Agony in the Garden, “His sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground” (Luke 22:44), and more bloodshed during the Scourging and Crowning with Thorns, and being nailed to the cross, finally, “one of the soldiers, with a spear, opened His side, and immediately there came out blood and water” (John 19:34).
The courage of His Sacred Heart had led to the voluntary shedding of His Precious Blood. The shedding of the Blood was a proof of the love that was in His Heart: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). He saved us “Neither by the blood of goats, or of calves, but by His own Blood” (Hebrews 9:12). The Precious Blood of Our Lord was shed on the Cross; by It Our Lord won all the graces necessary for the salvation of every human being. But we need to grasp these graces and apply them to ourselves and others. The Precious Blood is a flowing Fountain of spiritual gifts that will never run dry, but our efforts may run dry. We need to make constant efforts, remembering that: “he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13).
Article 18
The Power of Jesus' Blood
The Power of Jesus' Blood
Jesus Testifies to the Power of His Blood
To St. Mechtilde Our Lord once revealed Himself on the altar, with hands extended and Blood streaming from His Wounds: “I show these bleeding Wounds to My Father,” He said, “to appease His wrath. He pardons when He sees the Blood.” Our Lord told Sister Mary of St. Peter: “Ask My Father for as many souls as I shed drops of Blood during My Passion.” By asking for the Precious Blood to be poured out on souls, we prevent Its being, as it were, spilled out on the ground in vain. In His mysterious Providence, God has put the salvation of others in our hands: we must ask for it, and ask fervently and often. One of the best means, of participating in the graces and blessings of the Precious Blood, is to offer It to the Eternal Father. “An offering,” says Father Faber, is “more than a prayer.” In prayer, we are the receivers, but when we make an offering, God receives something from us.
The Carmelite nun, St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi, when in ecstasy, once exclaimed: “Every time a creature offers up the Blood, by which he was redeemed, he offers a gift of infinite worth, which can be equaled by no other.” God revealed the practice of making this offering to this saintly Carmelite nun, when He complained to her that so little effort is made, in this world, to disarm His Divine justice against sinners. Acting upon this admonition, St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi offered the Precious Blood fifty times each day, for the living and the dead. She did this with so much fervor that God showed her, on different occasions, the numerous souls who had, thereby, been converted, or delivered from Purgatory.
At another time, when St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi was in ecstasy, she saw all the holy patrons of the city of Florence, accompanied by innumerable other saints, before the throne of God, interceding for sinners. Their petitions, however, remained unanswered. Then the guardian Angels of the poor sinners approached, but their prayers likewise remained unheard. Next came the multitudes of the blessed to make intercession for the guilty souls. While imploring God’s mercy, they were intent, at the same time, upon offering to the Eternal Father the Precious Blood, and, on account of the merits of the Divine Blood, their petitions were granted.
Does This Not Stir Our Blood?
Should not these examples incite us to offer the Precious Blood frequently during the day? Of course, but sadly, we are tempted to relegate the above accounts to the realm of ‘fairy-tales’ and look upon them mere stories that were made up to illustrate some aspect of Faith or Morals—like Aesop’s Fables, which are mere tales that carry with them a moral lesson. Or, at best, we say to ourselves, “All these prayers and offerings and sacrifices are the work of saints—but I am no saint! So I will simply file it away as ‘this has been read: send to archives’ and move on with my life”!
The saints were not born saints, but were mere human beings like you and I. These souls were themselves the pupils, so to speak, of the saints that they read about. They chose to act upon, not archive, what they read. In this way they grew in holiness and, eventually, became saints, or teachers, themselves. We can choose to bury the ‘talents’ that are given to us (through the examples and advice of saints), or we can work upon them and bring some profit to ourselves (cf. Parable of the Talents, Matthew chapter 25).
Confirmation and Shedding Blood
In case we inflate our stock as Catholics, let us remember the Catholics of old and let us remember the admonition of St. Paul: “For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” (Hebrews 12:4). Sin is our greatest enemy. The Catechism tells us that sin is the greatest evil in the world—even “itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny” venial sins! That is why St. Dominic Savio took, as one of his four resolutions at the time of his First Holy Communion, the resolution to avoid sin—he wrote down on paper the pledge: “Death rather than sin!” That is the attitude of a true Soldier for Christ.
Of course, St. Dominic never shed his physical blood for Christ, as did many martyrs, but he must have been wounded by the comments and attitude of many around him—especially those who did not hate sin like he hated sin. He will have bled ‘mystical’ blood in place of physical blood—much like the Sacrifice of the Mass is the re-actualization of the Sacrifice of Calvary, but in an unbloody way. St. Dominic must have ‘sweated mystical drops of blood’ many times throughout his short life in trying to follow the right path, the narrow painful path of Christ that leads to holiness and Heaven. The same is in store for us—we must shed our blood for Christ, either physically like the martyrs, or mystically like St. Dominic and all the other unmartyred saints that made it to Heaven. As Holy Scripture says: “The blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation” (Luke 11:50).
Our Lady Warns of Bloodshed
Our Lady speaks of these blood-shedding martyrdoms—whether physical or mystical—in many of her apparitions, as do many other prophecies by saints and mystics. At La Salette, Our Lady warns: “God will strike in an unprecedented way ... Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered ... The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God ... Italy will be punished for her ambition in wanting to shake off the yoke of the Lord of Lords. And so she will be left to fight a war; blood will flow on all sides. Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death ... All order and all justice would be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy would be seen” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling … Men will kill each other, massacre each other even in their homes ... Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of arms and blasphemy. The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Fighting the Good Fight
We have to get out of our hypnotic state that imagines that life is meant to be enjoyed and we are here to have fun—each in his or her own way! “Fight the good fight of faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12), for “the life of man upon Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1) and this fight is not a virtual fight; it is not a fight in the imagination; nor a fight that existed in the past but no longer today; nor a fight that some but not all are involved in—it is a perennial fight, a universal fight, an apocalyptic fight! Your salvation rests upon whether or not you fight, whether or not you compromise, whether or not you surrender to the enemy. Just as Our Lord was asked: “And who is my neighbor?” — you may well ask: “And who is my enemy?” Let Holy Scripture answer you:
The Enemy: World, Flesh, Devil
The enemy is the world, the flesh and the devil. “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “The whole world is seated in wickedness” (1 John 5:19). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world” (John 15:19).
“The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38). “For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members, to bring forth fruit unto death” (Romans 7:5). “Therefore, I myself, with the mind, serve the law of God; but, with the flesh, the law of sin” (Romans 7:25). “For the wisdom of the flesh is death; but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God” (Romans 8:6-8). “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh in its concupiscences.” (Romans 13:14).
“Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). “The devil was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him” (John 8:44). “Give not place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:27). “Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11). “He that soweth the good seed, is the Son of man. And the field, is the world. And the good seed are the children of the kingdom. And the cockle, are the children of the wicked one. And the enemy that sowed them, is the devil. But the harvest is the end of the world” (Matthew 13:37-39). “The devil cometh, and taketh the word out of their heart, lest believing they should be saved” (Luke 8:12). “For the space of forty days; and was tempted by the devil” (Luke 4:2).
To St. Mechtilde Our Lord once revealed Himself on the altar, with hands extended and Blood streaming from His Wounds: “I show these bleeding Wounds to My Father,” He said, “to appease His wrath. He pardons when He sees the Blood.” Our Lord told Sister Mary of St. Peter: “Ask My Father for as many souls as I shed drops of Blood during My Passion.” By asking for the Precious Blood to be poured out on souls, we prevent Its being, as it were, spilled out on the ground in vain. In His mysterious Providence, God has put the salvation of others in our hands: we must ask for it, and ask fervently and often. One of the best means, of participating in the graces and blessings of the Precious Blood, is to offer It to the Eternal Father. “An offering,” says Father Faber, is “more than a prayer.” In prayer, we are the receivers, but when we make an offering, God receives something from us.
The Carmelite nun, St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi, when in ecstasy, once exclaimed: “Every time a creature offers up the Blood, by which he was redeemed, he offers a gift of infinite worth, which can be equaled by no other.” God revealed the practice of making this offering to this saintly Carmelite nun, when He complained to her that so little effort is made, in this world, to disarm His Divine justice against sinners. Acting upon this admonition, St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi offered the Precious Blood fifty times each day, for the living and the dead. She did this with so much fervor that God showed her, on different occasions, the numerous souls who had, thereby, been converted, or delivered from Purgatory.
At another time, when St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi was in ecstasy, she saw all the holy patrons of the city of Florence, accompanied by innumerable other saints, before the throne of God, interceding for sinners. Their petitions, however, remained unanswered. Then the guardian Angels of the poor sinners approached, but their prayers likewise remained unheard. Next came the multitudes of the blessed to make intercession for the guilty souls. While imploring God’s mercy, they were intent, at the same time, upon offering to the Eternal Father the Precious Blood, and, on account of the merits of the Divine Blood, their petitions were granted.
Does This Not Stir Our Blood?
Should not these examples incite us to offer the Precious Blood frequently during the day? Of course, but sadly, we are tempted to relegate the above accounts to the realm of ‘fairy-tales’ and look upon them mere stories that were made up to illustrate some aspect of Faith or Morals—like Aesop’s Fables, which are mere tales that carry with them a moral lesson. Or, at best, we say to ourselves, “All these prayers and offerings and sacrifices are the work of saints—but I am no saint! So I will simply file it away as ‘this has been read: send to archives’ and move on with my life”!
The saints were not born saints, but were mere human beings like you and I. These souls were themselves the pupils, so to speak, of the saints that they read about. They chose to act upon, not archive, what they read. In this way they grew in holiness and, eventually, became saints, or teachers, themselves. We can choose to bury the ‘talents’ that are given to us (through the examples and advice of saints), or we can work upon them and bring some profit to ourselves (cf. Parable of the Talents, Matthew chapter 25).
Confirmation and Shedding Blood
In case we inflate our stock as Catholics, let us remember the Catholics of old and let us remember the admonition of St. Paul: “For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” (Hebrews 12:4). Sin is our greatest enemy. The Catechism tells us that sin is the greatest evil in the world—even “itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny” venial sins! That is why St. Dominic Savio took, as one of his four resolutions at the time of his First Holy Communion, the resolution to avoid sin—he wrote down on paper the pledge: “Death rather than sin!” That is the attitude of a true Soldier for Christ.
Of course, St. Dominic never shed his physical blood for Christ, as did many martyrs, but he must have been wounded by the comments and attitude of many around him—especially those who did not hate sin like he hated sin. He will have bled ‘mystical’ blood in place of physical blood—much like the Sacrifice of the Mass is the re-actualization of the Sacrifice of Calvary, but in an unbloody way. St. Dominic must have ‘sweated mystical drops of blood’ many times throughout his short life in trying to follow the right path, the narrow painful path of Christ that leads to holiness and Heaven. The same is in store for us—we must shed our blood for Christ, either physically like the martyrs, or mystically like St. Dominic and all the other unmartyred saints that made it to Heaven. As Holy Scripture says: “The blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation” (Luke 11:50).
Our Lady Warns of Bloodshed
Our Lady speaks of these blood-shedding martyrdoms—whether physical or mystical—in many of her apparitions, as do many other prophecies by saints and mystics. At La Salette, Our Lady warns: “God will strike in an unprecedented way ... Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together … Physical and moral agonies will be suffered ... The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God ... Italy will be punished for her ambition in wanting to shake off the yoke of the Lord of Lords. And so she will be left to fight a war; blood will flow on all sides. Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death ... All order and all justice would be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy would be seen” (Our Lady of La Salette).
“France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling … Men will kill each other, massacre each other even in their homes ... Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. People will believe that all is lost. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of arms and blasphemy. The righteous will suffer greatly. Their prayers, their penances and their tears will rise up to Heaven and all of God’s people will beg for forgiveness and mercy and will plead for my help and intercession” (Our Lady of La Salette).
Fighting the Good Fight
We have to get out of our hypnotic state that imagines that life is meant to be enjoyed and we are here to have fun—each in his or her own way! “Fight the good fight of faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12), for “the life of man upon Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1) and this fight is not a virtual fight; it is not a fight in the imagination; nor a fight that existed in the past but no longer today; nor a fight that some but not all are involved in—it is a perennial fight, a universal fight, an apocalyptic fight! Your salvation rests upon whether or not you fight, whether or not you compromise, whether or not you surrender to the enemy. Just as Our Lord was asked: “And who is my neighbor?” — you may well ask: “And who is my enemy?” Let Holy Scripture answer you:
The Enemy: World, Flesh, Devil
The enemy is the world, the flesh and the devil. “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “The whole world is seated in wickedness” (1 John 5:19). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world” (John 15:19).
“The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38). “For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members, to bring forth fruit unto death” (Romans 7:5). “Therefore, I myself, with the mind, serve the law of God; but, with the flesh, the law of sin” (Romans 7:25). “For the wisdom of the flesh is death; but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God” (Romans 8:6-8). “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh in its concupiscences.” (Romans 13:14).
“Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). “The devil was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him” (John 8:44). “Give not place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:27). “Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11). “He that soweth the good seed, is the Son of man. And the field, is the world. And the good seed are the children of the kingdom. And the cockle, are the children of the wicked one. And the enemy that sowed them, is the devil. But the harvest is the end of the world” (Matthew 13:37-39). “The devil cometh, and taketh the word out of their heart, lest believing they should be saved” (Luke 8:12). “For the space of forty days; and was tempted by the devil” (Luke 4:2).
Article 19
Symbols of the Precious Blood
Symbols of the Precious Blood
Adam is sleeping an ecstatic sleep. God opens his side, removes a rib and forms Eve, the mother of all the living. But our view transcends this action and in spirit we behold the second, the divine Adam, Christ. He is sleeping the sleep of death. From His opened side blood and water flow, symbols of baptism and the Eucharist, symbols of the second Eve, the Church, the Mother of all the living. Through blood and water Christ willed to redeem God's many children and to lead them to an eternal home.
At Jerusalem a service in Yahweh's honor is taking place on the Day of Atonement. The high priest is making his annual entrance into the holy of holies to sprinkle the blood of bucks and bulls upon the covenant in expiation for the sins of the people. The Church shows us the higher meaning of this rite. Our divine High Priest Christ on the first Good Friday entered that Holy of Holies which is not made with hands nor sprinkled with the blood of bucks and bulls; there He effects, once and for all, with His own Blood man's eternal redemption.
Holy Mother Church transports us to the end. The heavenly liturgy is in progress. The Church upon Earth is ithe Church Militant―in other words, the ‘fighting’ Church―and fighting often entails blood: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). Upon the altar is the Lamb, slain yet alive, crimsoned by His own Blood. Round about stand the countless army of the redeemed in garments washed white in the Blood of the Lamb. Hosts of the blessed are singing the new canticle of redemption: “You have redeemed us out of every tribe and tongue and nation by Your Blood.”
Now from vision to present reality. How fortunate we are to have divine Blood so near to us, to offer it to the heavenly Father for the sins of the whole world! Close to us? Yes! Close to us―especially in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, where we receive His Body and Blood in Communion; and in Confession where we are washed from our sins by His Blood, and our wounds are healed by a mystical “Blood Transfusion” of sorts, where the good Blood of Christ washes away the bad blood of sin.
Devotion to the Precious Blood is not a spiritual option, it is a spiritual obligation, and that not only for priests, but for every follower of Christ. One of the symptoms of modern society―and, sadly, even among modern Catholic society―one of the symptoms of a growing, gnawing secularism, is the lessening and the weakening of devotion to the Precious Blood. Devotion, as we know, is a composite of three elements: It is first- veneration, it is secondly- invocation, and it is thirdly- imitation. In other words, devotion to the Precious Blood of Christ, the Lamb of God who was slain, is first of all to be veneration on our part, which is a composite of knowledge, love and adoration. We are to study to come to a deeper understanding of what those two casual words, Precious Blood, really mean.
In the oldest document, outside of sacred scripture, from the first century of the Christian era―to be exact, from Pope St. Clement I, dated about 96 AD, Pope Clement writes: “Let us fix our gaze on the Blood of Christ and realize how truly precious It is, seeing that it was poured out for our salvation and brought the grace of conversion to the whole world.”
To understand the meaning of the Precious Blood we must get some comprehension of the gravity of sin, of the awfulness of offending God, because it required the Blood of the Son of God to forgive that sin. We are living in an age in which to sin has become fashionable.
This veneration of the Precious Blood, which is the first element in our devotion to the Precious Blood means that we have a deep sensitivity to the awfulness of sin. Sin must be terrible. It must be awful. It must be the most dreadful thing in the universe. Why? Because it cost the living God in human form the shedding of His Blood.
Our Lord Jesus Christ became Man in order that, by His Passion and Death and the draining of His Blood on the Cross, He might prove to us how much He, our God, loves us. May He protect us from ever running away from the sight of blood. May He strengthen our weak human wills, so that we will not only not run away from the cross, but welcome every opportunity to shed our blood in spirit in union with His Precious Blood, so that, dying to ourselves in time we might live with Him in Eternity.
At Jerusalem a service in Yahweh's honor is taking place on the Day of Atonement. The high priest is making his annual entrance into the holy of holies to sprinkle the blood of bucks and bulls upon the covenant in expiation for the sins of the people. The Church shows us the higher meaning of this rite. Our divine High Priest Christ on the first Good Friday entered that Holy of Holies which is not made with hands nor sprinkled with the blood of bucks and bulls; there He effects, once and for all, with His own Blood man's eternal redemption.
Holy Mother Church transports us to the end. The heavenly liturgy is in progress. The Church upon Earth is ithe Church Militant―in other words, the ‘fighting’ Church―and fighting often entails blood: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away!” (Matthew 11:12). Upon the altar is the Lamb, slain yet alive, crimsoned by His own Blood. Round about stand the countless army of the redeemed in garments washed white in the Blood of the Lamb. Hosts of the blessed are singing the new canticle of redemption: “You have redeemed us out of every tribe and tongue and nation by Your Blood.”
Now from vision to present reality. How fortunate we are to have divine Blood so near to us, to offer it to the heavenly Father for the sins of the whole world! Close to us? Yes! Close to us―especially in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, where we receive His Body and Blood in Communion; and in Confession where we are washed from our sins by His Blood, and our wounds are healed by a mystical “Blood Transfusion” of sorts, where the good Blood of Christ washes away the bad blood of sin.
Devotion to the Precious Blood is not a spiritual option, it is a spiritual obligation, and that not only for priests, but for every follower of Christ. One of the symptoms of modern society―and, sadly, even among modern Catholic society―one of the symptoms of a growing, gnawing secularism, is the lessening and the weakening of devotion to the Precious Blood. Devotion, as we know, is a composite of three elements: It is first- veneration, it is secondly- invocation, and it is thirdly- imitation. In other words, devotion to the Precious Blood of Christ, the Lamb of God who was slain, is first of all to be veneration on our part, which is a composite of knowledge, love and adoration. We are to study to come to a deeper understanding of what those two casual words, Precious Blood, really mean.
In the oldest document, outside of sacred scripture, from the first century of the Christian era―to be exact, from Pope St. Clement I, dated about 96 AD, Pope Clement writes: “Let us fix our gaze on the Blood of Christ and realize how truly precious It is, seeing that it was poured out for our salvation and brought the grace of conversion to the whole world.”
To understand the meaning of the Precious Blood we must get some comprehension of the gravity of sin, of the awfulness of offending God, because it required the Blood of the Son of God to forgive that sin. We are living in an age in which to sin has become fashionable.
This veneration of the Precious Blood, which is the first element in our devotion to the Precious Blood means that we have a deep sensitivity to the awfulness of sin. Sin must be terrible. It must be awful. It must be the most dreadful thing in the universe. Why? Because it cost the living God in human form the shedding of His Blood.
Our Lord Jesus Christ became Man in order that, by His Passion and Death and the draining of His Blood on the Cross, He might prove to us how much He, our God, loves us. May He protect us from ever running away from the sight of blood. May He strengthen our weak human wills, so that we will not only not run away from the cross, but welcome every opportunity to shed our blood in spirit in union with His Precious Blood, so that, dying to ourselves in time we might live with Him in Eternity.
Article 20
Stormy Weather, Rough Ride
Stormy Weather, Rough Ride
Storms Against the Church
In reading the following Gospel account, we are reminded of one of St. John Bosco’s visions—that of the Ark of the Church on the storm tossed sea and the Two Pillars. St. Matthew paints a similar picture: “The boat [Church] in the midst of the sea [the world] was tossed with the waves [the attacks by the world]: for the wind [the spirit of the world] was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus came to them walking upon the sea [like the Pillars that emerge from the sea in St. John Bosco’s vision]. And they seeing Jesus walk upon the sea, were troubled, saying: ‘It is an apparition!’ And they cried out for fear. And immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying: ‘Be of good heart: it is I, fear ye not!’ And Peter making answer, said: ‘Lord, if it be thou, bid me come to thee upon the waters!’ And Jesus said: ‘Come!’ And Peter going down out of the boat, walked upon the water to come to Jesus. But seeing the wind [persecution of the world] strong, he was afraid: and when he began to sink, he cried out, saying: ‘Lord, save me!’ And immediately Jesus, stretching forth His hand, took hold of him, and said to him: ‘O thou of little Faith, why didst thou doubt?’ And when they were come up into the boat, the wind ceased” (Matthew 14:24-32). You can read more on St. John Bosco’s vision by clicking on this link (SJB Vision).
Christ’s Manifesto of ‘Martyrdom’
The following passage is an encouragement against a natural fear, that seeks to allay the fear with a supernatural perspective: “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: better are you than many sparrows. Every one therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth―I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:28-38). But how many will do this?
Our Lord says: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth? … Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able” ( Luke 18:8; 13:24) … “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! … Not everyone that saith to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 7:13-14; 7:21).
Our Lady Echoes Our Lord
“The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings and those, who sacrifice themselves for the Church and their country, will be counted as martyrs” (Our Lady of Good Success, January 16th, 1611).
Marto the Martyr!
The Magistrate at Fatima, a freemason called Santos, tried to make Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta believe that he was taking them first to see the pastor of the local church, to consult with him, but took them instead to his house, grabbed the children out of the carriage, pushed them inside and locked them in a room, warning them: “You won’t leave this room until you tell me the secret!” They did not answer him a word. Jacinta Marto, the youngest of the three (aged 7) was the first to be taken away to be interrogated, Francisco’s words of consolation were: “If they kill us, it doesn’t matter! We’ll go straight to Heaven!” Ready and willing to be martyred, and they were aged from seven to ten years old!
Our Lady had already said to them: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort!” Our Lady of Fatima had also said: “The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated.”
In reading the following Gospel account, we are reminded of one of St. John Bosco’s visions—that of the Ark of the Church on the storm tossed sea and the Two Pillars. St. Matthew paints a similar picture: “The boat [Church] in the midst of the sea [the world] was tossed with the waves [the attacks by the world]: for the wind [the spirit of the world] was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus came to them walking upon the sea [like the Pillars that emerge from the sea in St. John Bosco’s vision]. And they seeing Jesus walk upon the sea, were troubled, saying: ‘It is an apparition!’ And they cried out for fear. And immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying: ‘Be of good heart: it is I, fear ye not!’ And Peter making answer, said: ‘Lord, if it be thou, bid me come to thee upon the waters!’ And Jesus said: ‘Come!’ And Peter going down out of the boat, walked upon the water to come to Jesus. But seeing the wind [persecution of the world] strong, he was afraid: and when he began to sink, he cried out, saying: ‘Lord, save me!’ And immediately Jesus, stretching forth His hand, took hold of him, and said to him: ‘O thou of little Faith, why didst thou doubt?’ And when they were come up into the boat, the wind ceased” (Matthew 14:24-32). You can read more on St. John Bosco’s vision by clicking on this link (SJB Vision).
Christ’s Manifesto of ‘Martyrdom’
The following passage is an encouragement against a natural fear, that seeks to allay the fear with a supernatural perspective: “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: better are you than many sparrows. Every one therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth―I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:28-38). But how many will do this?
Our Lord says: “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth? … Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able” ( Luke 18:8; 13:24) … “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! … Not everyone that saith to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father, Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 7:13-14; 7:21).
Our Lady Echoes Our Lord
“The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings and those, who sacrifice themselves for the Church and their country, will be counted as martyrs” (Our Lady of Good Success, January 16th, 1611).
Marto the Martyr!
The Magistrate at Fatima, a freemason called Santos, tried to make Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta believe that he was taking them first to see the pastor of the local church, to consult with him, but took them instead to his house, grabbed the children out of the carriage, pushed them inside and locked them in a room, warning them: “You won’t leave this room until you tell me the secret!” They did not answer him a word. Jacinta Marto, the youngest of the three (aged 7) was the first to be taken away to be interrogated, Francisco’s words of consolation were: “If they kill us, it doesn’t matter! We’ll go straight to Heaven!” Ready and willing to be martyred, and they were aged from seven to ten years old!
Our Lady had already said to them: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners? … Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort!” Our Lady of Fatima had also said: “The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated.”
Article 21
The Final Exam
The Final Exam
Final Exam
In the end times or final days of the world—which have come upon as Our Lady pointed out to Sr. Lucia of Fatima—Our Lord describes the test that God’s Providence expects us to sit and pass:
“Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves. But beware of men. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake. But when they shall deliver you up, take no thought how or what to speak: for it shall be given you in that hour what to speak. For it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you.
"The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake: but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another. Amen I say to you, you shall not finish all the cities of Israel, till the Son of man come.
“The disciple is not above the master, nor the servant above his lord ... Therefore fear them not ... Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell. Fear not therefore: better are you than many sparrows. Everyone therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven.
"Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:16-39).
So What Else Can We Expect? Jesus Said So!
Our Faith is not a board game, but a reality—at that heart of that reality we find sin, suffering, reparation and the cross. A Faith that ignores these things is an anemic Faith. The rules of the ‘reality game’ ― as reported by Matthew, Mark and Luke, say: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24) … “If any man will follow Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mark 8:34) ... “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23) … “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple!” (Luke 14:27) … “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). To which St. Paul adds: “Many walk, of whom I have told you often and now tell you weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ” (Philippians 3:18).
Talking the talk is uncomfortable, but bearable! Walking the walk is where most ‘fail to make the cut’ or ‘will fail to make the cut’. As St Paul says: Many … are enemies of the cross of Christ.” The Imitation of Christ points out: “Jesus has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross ... Do not those who always seek consolation deserve to be called mercenaries? Do not those who always think of their own profit and gain prove that they love themselves rather than Christ?” (Imitation of Christ, Book 2, chapter 11).
The Solution
The Imitation of Christ also puts forward an encouraging solution: “To many, the saying, ‘Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me’ (Matthew 16:24) seems hard, but it will be much harder to hear that final word: ‘Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire’ (Matthew 25:41). Why, then, do you fear to take up the cross when through it you can win a kingdom? In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection from enemies, in the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness, in the cross is strength of mind, in the cross is joy of spirit, in the cross is highest virtue, in the cross is perfect holiness. There is no salvation of soul nor hope of everlasting life but in the cross. Take up your cross, therefore, and follow Jesus, and you shall enter eternal life.
"He Himself opened the way before you in carrying His cross, and upon it He died for you, that you, too, might take up your cross and long to die upon it. If you die with Him, you shall also live with Him, and if you share His suffering, you shall also share His glory … The whole life of Christ was a cross and a martyrdom, and do you seek rest and enjoyment for yourself?” (Imitation of Christ, Book 2, chapter 12).
“And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). Heaven is only taken by the violent. Martyrdom is violent, but so too is Purgatory. Martyrdom, even the most prolonged, lasts nowhere as long is nowhere near as painful as Purgatory. Martyrdom is almost cheating your way into Heaven after a life of sin.
The message is clear and ALL FOUR Evangelists report the same message: “For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it” (Matthew 16:25). “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it” (Mark 8:35). “Whosoever shall seek to save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose it, shall preserve it” (Luke 17:33) “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25).
His greatest gift is the Cross! The greatest Cross is martyrdom! Martyrdom is His greatest gift to us (aside of the Holy Eucharist, of course). “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life…” (John 15:13). Sounds great, eh? In theory, maybe! In practice? Let us pray…
In the end times or final days of the world—which have come upon as Our Lady pointed out to Sr. Lucia of Fatima—Our Lord describes the test that God’s Providence expects us to sit and pass:
“Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves. But beware of men. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for My sake. But when they shall deliver you up, take no thought how or what to speak: for it shall be given you in that hour what to speak. For it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you.
"The brother also shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake: but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another. Amen I say to you, you shall not finish all the cities of Israel, till the Son of man come.
“The disciple is not above the master, nor the servant above his lord ... Therefore fear them not ... Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell. Fear not therefore: better are you than many sparrows. Everyone therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven.
"Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:16-39).
So What Else Can We Expect? Jesus Said So!
Our Faith is not a board game, but a reality—at that heart of that reality we find sin, suffering, reparation and the cross. A Faith that ignores these things is an anemic Faith. The rules of the ‘reality game’ ― as reported by Matthew, Mark and Luke, say: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24) … “If any man will follow Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mark 8:34) ... “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23) … “And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple!” (Luke 14:27) … “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). To which St. Paul adds: “Many walk, of whom I have told you often and now tell you weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ” (Philippians 3:18).
Talking the talk is uncomfortable, but bearable! Walking the walk is where most ‘fail to make the cut’ or ‘will fail to make the cut’. As St Paul says: Many … are enemies of the cross of Christ.” The Imitation of Christ points out: “Jesus has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross ... Do not those who always seek consolation deserve to be called mercenaries? Do not those who always think of their own profit and gain prove that they love themselves rather than Christ?” (Imitation of Christ, Book 2, chapter 11).
The Solution
The Imitation of Christ also puts forward an encouraging solution: “To many, the saying, ‘Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me’ (Matthew 16:24) seems hard, but it will be much harder to hear that final word: ‘Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire’ (Matthew 25:41). Why, then, do you fear to take up the cross when through it you can win a kingdom? In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection from enemies, in the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness, in the cross is strength of mind, in the cross is joy of spirit, in the cross is highest virtue, in the cross is perfect holiness. There is no salvation of soul nor hope of everlasting life but in the cross. Take up your cross, therefore, and follow Jesus, and you shall enter eternal life.
"He Himself opened the way before you in carrying His cross, and upon it He died for you, that you, too, might take up your cross and long to die upon it. If you die with Him, you shall also live with Him, and if you share His suffering, you shall also share His glory … The whole life of Christ was a cross and a martyrdom, and do you seek rest and enjoyment for yourself?” (Imitation of Christ, Book 2, chapter 12).
“And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). Heaven is only taken by the violent. Martyrdom is violent, but so too is Purgatory. Martyrdom, even the most prolonged, lasts nowhere as long is nowhere near as painful as Purgatory. Martyrdom is almost cheating your way into Heaven after a life of sin.
The message is clear and ALL FOUR Evangelists report the same message: “For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it” (Matthew 16:25). “For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall save it” (Mark 8:35). “Whosoever shall seek to save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose it, shall preserve it” (Luke 17:33) “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal” (John 12:24-25).
His greatest gift is the Cross! The greatest Cross is martyrdom! Martyrdom is His greatest gift to us (aside of the Holy Eucharist, of course). “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life…” (John 15:13). Sounds great, eh? In theory, maybe! In practice? Let us pray…
Article 22
Blood Money
Blood Money
‘Blood Money’
In a certain sense blood is money. Christ bought us back―from the consequences of sin and slavery to the devil―by paying the price or ransom with His Precious Blood: “Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as gold or silver, but with the Precious Blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19).
We do not really appreciate this price of our redemption—unless, of course, we are one day placed in a similar position where we might have to bloodily lay down our lives for Christ and our sins, not to mention the sins of the world (of which we are partially guilty if we neglect to regularly pray and sacrifice, as Our Lady of Fatima asked, for the conversion of sinners).
When the Jews were seeking the death sentence for Jesus, “the whole people said: ‘His blood be upon us and our children!’” (Matthew 27:25). Words that they lived to regret, for they would pay for shedding the Blood of Jesus by having their own blood shed in the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Christ could have quoted the words of His prophet Jeremias against the Jews: “But know ye, and understand, that if you put me to death, you will shed innocent blood against your own selves, and against this city, and the inhabitants thereof. For in truth the Lord sent me to you, to speak all these words in your hearing” (Jeremias 16:15).
Jesus Himself prophesied: “Amen I say to you there shall not be left here a stone upon a stone that shall not be destroyed … For the days shall come upon thee, and thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and straiten thee on every side, and beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee: and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone: because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation” (Matthew 24:2; Luke 19:43-44).
Over one million Jews were bloodily slaughtered by the Romans in that fateful day of reckoning! Sin doesn’t come cheap—it is easy to commit, expensive in price! Forgiveness and salvation do not come cheap―“No one thinks of how much blood it costs” (Dante, Paradise).
Blood On Our Own Heads
God threatens falsehood! “Know that thou shalt be put to death: thy blood shall be upon thy own head!” (3 Kings 2:37). The Israelites were leading very sinful lives—Isaias compares them to Sodom and Gommorha. They were sacrificing in the Temple, but also leading lives of sin in the meantime.
This is pretty much the state of the Church and the world today. God is given lip-service, while the world is loved with all the heart. Hypocritically, we praise God to high Heaven while we sin like Hell! What God speaks to sinful Israel through Isaias, His prophet, He could well address to us today, saying:
“Israel hath not known Me, and My people hath not understood. Woe to the sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a wicked seed, ungracious children: they have forsaken the Lord, they have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel, they are gone away backwards. For what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression?
"The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is sad. From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head, there is no soundness therein: wounds and bruises and swelling sores: they are not bound up, nor dressed, nor fomented with oil. Your land is desolate, your cities are burnt with fire: your country strangers devour before your face, and it shall be desolate as when wasted by enemies. And the daughter of Sion shall be left as a covert in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, and as a city that is laid waste. Except the Lord of hosts had left us seed, we had been as Sodom, and we should have been like to Gomorrha. Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrha.
“To what purpose do you offer Me the multitude of your victims, saith the Lord? I am full, I desire not holocausts of rams, and fat of fatlings, and blood of calves, and lambs, and buck goats. When you came to appear before me, who required these things at your hands, that you should walk in My courts? Offer sacrifice no more in vain: incense is an abomination to Me. The new moons, and the Sabbaths, and other festivals I will not abide, your assemblies are wicked. My soul hateth your new moons, and your solemnities: they are become troublesome to Me, I am weary of bearing them. And when you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away My eyes from you: and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear: for your hands are full of blood.
“Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evil of your devices from My eyes: cease to do perversely! Learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for the fatherless, defend the widow. And then come, and accuse Me, saith the Lord. If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool. If you be willing, and will hearken to Me, you shall eat the good things of the land. But if you will not, and will provoke Me to wrath: the sword shall devour you because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it” (Isaias 1:3-20).
Same old problem, eh? “If you be willing to listen to Me…!” Too busy having fun, no time to listen. “They have ears and hear not!” (Psalm 113:14). “And thy ears shall hear the word of one admonishing thee behind thy back” (Isaias 30:21). “And the Lord hath sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising early, and sending, and you have not hearkened, nor inclined your ears to hear” (Jeremias 25:4). But to those who are willing to listen― “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!” (Matthew 11:15)―Our Lord and Our Lady speak out:
Anemic Souls Destroy Church’s Lifeblood
“Many hearts consecrated to God in the priestly and religious state will fall into lukewarmness ... The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance … The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless Sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world. God will strike in an unprecedented way” (Our Lady of Good Success & La Salette).
We Will Pay With Our Blood!
“In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God. There will be a formidable and frightful war, in which both native and foreign blood will flow, including that of secular and regular priests as well as that of other religious ... blood will flow on all sides. Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death ... France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war ... Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian ... Blood will flow in the streets ... Men will kill each other, massacre each other even in their homes ... A general war will follow which will be appalling ... This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph ... all order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … With my Son I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father. I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger” (Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette & Akita).
Why will all these horrendous things happen? Because, as Our Lord said of Jerusalem while He still walked the Earth, “because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation!” (Luke 19:44). Or, as Sr. Lucia of Fatima reports in 1957: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them.” Truly, we have not known the hour of Our Lady’s visitation—so we shall be visited in another way!
Woe! Woe! Woe! Thrice Woe!
To the same Mother Mariana, to whom Our Lady of Good Success was appearing, Our Lord also warned Mother Mariana that the chastisement would be severe for those religious who squandered so many graces with their pride and vainglory to secure positions of power and rank. He especially condemned the lukewarm: “Alas! If men, and above all, priests and religious souls, would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small inveterate imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me.... But I will not tolerate this. Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me. I desire all or nothing — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
“The times will come,” He told her, “when doctrine will be commonly known among the learned and the ignorant. ... Many religious books will be written. But the practice of the virtues and of these doctrines will be found in only a few souls; for this reason, saints will become rare. And precisely for this reason, My priests and My religious will fall into a fatal indifference. Their coldness will extinguish the fire of divine love, afflicting My Loving Heart with these small thorns that you see ... Alas! If you could only know My intense interior suffering ... caused by the lack of correspondence to this deluge of graces with which I inundate My priests and religious and, as a consequence, by the sins that they commit!
Jesus continued: “Know, moreover, that Divine Justice releases terrible chastisements on entire nations, not only for the sins of the people, but especially for those of priests and religious persons. For the latter are called, by the perfection of their state, to be the salt of the Earth, the masters of truth and the deflectors of divine wrath. Straying from their divine mission, they degrade themselves in such a way that, before the eyes of God, they quicken the rigor of the punishments.”
Add to all this the blood that is shed in abortions. In the USA, since Roe vs. Wade in 1973, an estimated 58 million babies have been killed (aborted), Worldwide, since 1980, the number is an estimated 1,340 million babies killed. Their blood is upon the head of the world and we live in that world.
Add to the aborted babies the escalating shedding of blood through Christian persecution, civil violence and political wars—and you have not just a pool of blood crying out to Heaven for vengeance, but a veritable sea of blood!
Way Out of This Bloody Mess!
What Our Lady of Good Success said to Mother Mariana, she says to us today—if we can only break ourselves away from having fun and find time to listen and act upon what she says: “Clamor insistently without tiring and weep with bitter tears in the privacy of your heart, imploring our Celestial Father that, for love of the Eucharistic Heart of my Most Holy Son and His Precious Blood shed with such generosity and the profound bitterness and sufferings of His cruel Passion and Death, He might take pity on His ministers and bring to an end those ominous times and restore the spirit of the priests” (Our Lady of Good Success).
The Rosary, especially, has been given a power that Heaven wants to see us use. Sr. Lucia of Fatima says: The Most Holy Virgin, in these last times in which we live, has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations, that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.”
So...! What are we going to do? Click with the mouse and timidly go to the next page? Or click our fingers and ask for another beer, wine or soda? Or click the remote and turn on the TV? Or let something click in our heads that makes us get down on our knees and ‘click’ through the mysteries of the Rosary?
In a certain sense blood is money. Christ bought us back―from the consequences of sin and slavery to the devil―by paying the price or ransom with His Precious Blood: “Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as gold or silver, but with the Precious Blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19).
We do not really appreciate this price of our redemption—unless, of course, we are one day placed in a similar position where we might have to bloodily lay down our lives for Christ and our sins, not to mention the sins of the world (of which we are partially guilty if we neglect to regularly pray and sacrifice, as Our Lady of Fatima asked, for the conversion of sinners).
When the Jews were seeking the death sentence for Jesus, “the whole people said: ‘His blood be upon us and our children!’” (Matthew 27:25). Words that they lived to regret, for they would pay for shedding the Blood of Jesus by having their own blood shed in the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Christ could have quoted the words of His prophet Jeremias against the Jews: “But know ye, and understand, that if you put me to death, you will shed innocent blood against your own selves, and against this city, and the inhabitants thereof. For in truth the Lord sent me to you, to speak all these words in your hearing” (Jeremias 16:15).
Jesus Himself prophesied: “Amen I say to you there shall not be left here a stone upon a stone that shall not be destroyed … For the days shall come upon thee, and thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and straiten thee on every side, and beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee: and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone: because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation” (Matthew 24:2; Luke 19:43-44).
Over one million Jews were bloodily slaughtered by the Romans in that fateful day of reckoning! Sin doesn’t come cheap—it is easy to commit, expensive in price! Forgiveness and salvation do not come cheap―“No one thinks of how much blood it costs” (Dante, Paradise).
Blood On Our Own Heads
God threatens falsehood! “Know that thou shalt be put to death: thy blood shall be upon thy own head!” (3 Kings 2:37). The Israelites were leading very sinful lives—Isaias compares them to Sodom and Gommorha. They were sacrificing in the Temple, but also leading lives of sin in the meantime.
This is pretty much the state of the Church and the world today. God is given lip-service, while the world is loved with all the heart. Hypocritically, we praise God to high Heaven while we sin like Hell! What God speaks to sinful Israel through Isaias, His prophet, He could well address to us today, saying:
“Israel hath not known Me, and My people hath not understood. Woe to the sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a wicked seed, ungracious children: they have forsaken the Lord, they have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel, they are gone away backwards. For what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression?
"The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is sad. From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head, there is no soundness therein: wounds and bruises and swelling sores: they are not bound up, nor dressed, nor fomented with oil. Your land is desolate, your cities are burnt with fire: your country strangers devour before your face, and it shall be desolate as when wasted by enemies. And the daughter of Sion shall be left as a covert in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, and as a city that is laid waste. Except the Lord of hosts had left us seed, we had been as Sodom, and we should have been like to Gomorrha. Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrha.
“To what purpose do you offer Me the multitude of your victims, saith the Lord? I am full, I desire not holocausts of rams, and fat of fatlings, and blood of calves, and lambs, and buck goats. When you came to appear before me, who required these things at your hands, that you should walk in My courts? Offer sacrifice no more in vain: incense is an abomination to Me. The new moons, and the Sabbaths, and other festivals I will not abide, your assemblies are wicked. My soul hateth your new moons, and your solemnities: they are become troublesome to Me, I am weary of bearing them. And when you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away My eyes from you: and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear: for your hands are full of blood.
“Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evil of your devices from My eyes: cease to do perversely! Learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for the fatherless, defend the widow. And then come, and accuse Me, saith the Lord. If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool. If you be willing, and will hearken to Me, you shall eat the good things of the land. But if you will not, and will provoke Me to wrath: the sword shall devour you because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it” (Isaias 1:3-20).
Same old problem, eh? “If you be willing to listen to Me…!” Too busy having fun, no time to listen. “They have ears and hear not!” (Psalm 113:14). “And thy ears shall hear the word of one admonishing thee behind thy back” (Isaias 30:21). “And the Lord hath sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising early, and sending, and you have not hearkened, nor inclined your ears to hear” (Jeremias 25:4). But to those who are willing to listen― “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!” (Matthew 11:15)―Our Lord and Our Lady speak out:
Anemic Souls Destroy Church’s Lifeblood
“Many hearts consecrated to God in the priestly and religious state will fall into lukewarmness ... The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance … The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who, by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives, are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless Sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world. God will strike in an unprecedented way” (Our Lady of Good Success & La Salette).
We Will Pay With Our Blood!
“In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God. There will be a formidable and frightful war, in which both native and foreign blood will flow, including that of secular and regular priests as well as that of other religious ... blood will flow on all sides. Churches will be locked up or desecrated. Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death ... France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war ... Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian ... Blood will flow in the streets ... Men will kill each other, massacre each other even in their homes ... A general war will follow which will be appalling ... This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph ... all order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family … With my Son I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father. I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger” (Our Lady of Good Success, La Salette & Akita).
Why will all these horrendous things happen? Because, as Our Lord said of Jerusalem while He still walked the Earth, “because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation!” (Luke 19:44). Or, as Sr. Lucia of Fatima reports in 1957: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, because no one heeds her message; neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on with their life of virtue and apostolate, but they do not unite their lives to the message of Fatima. Sinners keep following the road of evil because they do not see the terrible chastisement about to befall them.” Truly, we have not known the hour of Our Lady’s visitation—so we shall be visited in another way!
Woe! Woe! Woe! Thrice Woe!
To the same Mother Mariana, to whom Our Lady of Good Success was appearing, Our Lord also warned Mother Mariana that the chastisement would be severe for those religious who squandered so many graces with their pride and vainglory to secure positions of power and rank. He especially condemned the lukewarm: “Alas! If men, and above all, priests and religious souls, would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small inveterate imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me.... But I will not tolerate this. Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me. I desire all or nothing — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
“The times will come,” He told her, “when doctrine will be commonly known among the learned and the ignorant. ... Many religious books will be written. But the practice of the virtues and of these doctrines will be found in only a few souls; for this reason, saints will become rare. And precisely for this reason, My priests and My religious will fall into a fatal indifference. Their coldness will extinguish the fire of divine love, afflicting My Loving Heart with these small thorns that you see ... Alas! If you could only know My intense interior suffering ... caused by the lack of correspondence to this deluge of graces with which I inundate My priests and religious and, as a consequence, by the sins that they commit!
Jesus continued: “Know, moreover, that Divine Justice releases terrible chastisements on entire nations, not only for the sins of the people, but especially for those of priests and religious persons. For the latter are called, by the perfection of their state, to be the salt of the Earth, the masters of truth and the deflectors of divine wrath. Straying from their divine mission, they degrade themselves in such a way that, before the eyes of God, they quicken the rigor of the punishments.”
Add to all this the blood that is shed in abortions. In the USA, since Roe vs. Wade in 1973, an estimated 58 million babies have been killed (aborted), Worldwide, since 1980, the number is an estimated 1,340 million babies killed. Their blood is upon the head of the world and we live in that world.
Add to the aborted babies the escalating shedding of blood through Christian persecution, civil violence and political wars—and you have not just a pool of blood crying out to Heaven for vengeance, but a veritable sea of blood!
Way Out of This Bloody Mess!
What Our Lady of Good Success said to Mother Mariana, she says to us today—if we can only break ourselves away from having fun and find time to listen and act upon what she says: “Clamor insistently without tiring and weep with bitter tears in the privacy of your heart, imploring our Celestial Father that, for love of the Eucharistic Heart of my Most Holy Son and His Precious Blood shed with such generosity and the profound bitterness and sufferings of His cruel Passion and Death, He might take pity on His ministers and bring to an end those ominous times and restore the spirit of the priests” (Our Lady of Good Success).
The Rosary, especially, has been given a power that Heaven wants to see us use. Sr. Lucia of Fatima says: The Most Holy Virgin, in these last times in which we live, has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations, that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.”
So...! What are we going to do? Click with the mouse and timidly go to the next page? Or click our fingers and ask for another beer, wine or soda? Or click the remote and turn on the TV? Or let something click in our heads that makes us get down on our knees and ‘click’ through the mysteries of the Rosary?
Article 23
The Cloud of Witnesses
The Cloud of Witnesses
Cloud of Witnesses
Let us take to heart the words of St. Paul, “Therefore, we also, having so great a cloud of witnesses over our head, laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us: looking on Jesus, the author and finisher of Faith, who having joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and now sitteth on the right hand of the throne of God. For think diligently upon Him that endured such opposition from sinners against Himself; that you be not wearied, fainting in your minds. For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin! And you have forgotten the consolation, which speaketh to you, as unto children, saying: ‘My son, neglect not the discipline of the Lord; neither be thou wearied whilst thou art rebuked by Him.’ For whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth; and He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. Persevere under discipline. God dealeth with you as with His sons; for what son is there, whom the father doth not correct? But if you be without chastisement, whereof all are made partakers, then are you bastards, and not sons!” (Hebrews 12:1-2)
The witness of these martyrs coalesces in the apocalyptic vision of the Book of the Apocalypse. Here, St. John saw the angels and saints from every nation and race, people and tongue, standing before the throne and the Lamb. They cried out, “Salvation is from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb!” When asked who they were, the answer came, “These are the ones who have survived the great period of trial; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Confer Apocalypse 7:9-17.)
The spiritual rationale which undergirds the act of martyrdom is one that each Christian must accept. In teaching the conditions for true discipleship, our Lord asserted, “If a man wishes to come after me, he must deny his very self, take up his cross, and begin to follow in my footsteps. Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would a man show if he were to gain the whole world and destroy himself in the process?” (Matthew 16:24-26). Yes, the Christian must be prepared to bear the cross of our Lord, even if it means forsaking life in this world.
In doing so, however, such a Christian will be blessed in the eyes of God. In the Beatitudes, those right attitudes of living that bring blessed union with God, the eighth beatitude is repeated, “Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice―for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Moreover, Jesus personalized this beatitude: “Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake.” Nevertheless, the point is not just the suffering here and now for the Faith, but the courageous perseverance which gives way to everlasting life: “Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven” (Confer Matthew 5:10-12).
This spiritual rationale is reflected beautifully in the testimony of the martyrs of our early Church during the time of Roman persecution. For example, St. Ignatius of Antioch (d. 110), who was the third bishop of Antioch following St. Evodius (who had succeeded St. Peter the Apostle), and who had been a student of St. John the Apostle, was condemned by the Emperor Trajan and sentenced to being devoured by beasts in the arena. On the way to Rome where he would die, he wrote seven letters, including one to the Romans, in which he reflected on his pending death: “Allow me to be eaten by the beasts, which are my way of reaching God. I am God’s wheat, and I am to be ground by the teeth of wild beasts, so that I may become the pure bread of Christ,” and later “Neither the pleasures of the world nor the kingdoms of this age will be of any use to me. It is better for me to die in order to unite myself to Christ Jesus than to reign over the ends of the earth. I seek Him who died for us; I desire Him who rose for us. My birth is approaching…” (Letter to the Romans).
Another great witness to the faith during this time was St. Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna, who was a friend of St. Ignatius and who had also been a student of St. John the Apostle and had been consecrated a bishop by him. For refusing to offer sacrifice to the Roman gods and to acknowledge the divinity of the Emperor, St. Polycarp was condemned to death by burning at the stake at the age of eighty-six during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. As the pyre was about to be lit, St. Polycarp prayed, “I bless you for having judged me worthy from this day and this hour to be counted among your martyrs…. You have kept your promise, God of faithfulness and truth. For this reason and for everything, I praise you, I bless you, I glorify you, through the eternal and heavenly High Priest, Jesus Christ, your beloved Son. Through Him, who is with you and the Holy Spirit, may glory be given to you, now and in the ages to come. Amen.” (The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp).
In defense of the martyrs, Tertullian (d. 250) later wrote in his Apology, “Crucify us, torture us, condemn us, destroy us! Your wickedness is the proof of our innocence, for which reason does God suffer us to suffer this. When recently you condemned a Christian maiden to a panderer rather than to a panther, you realized and confessed openly that with us a stain on our purity is regarded as more dreadful than any punishment and worse than death. Nor does your cruelty, however exquisite, accomplish anything: rather, it is an enticement to our religion. The more we are hewn down by you, the more numerous do we become. The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians!”
Without question, despite the worst persecutions, the Church has continued to survive and to grow, due greatly to the courageous witness and prayers of the holy martyrs.
Let us take to heart the words of St. Paul, “Therefore, we also, having so great a cloud of witnesses over our head, laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us: looking on Jesus, the author and finisher of Faith, who having joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and now sitteth on the right hand of the throne of God. For think diligently upon Him that endured such opposition from sinners against Himself; that you be not wearied, fainting in your minds. For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin! And you have forgotten the consolation, which speaketh to you, as unto children, saying: ‘My son, neglect not the discipline of the Lord; neither be thou wearied whilst thou art rebuked by Him.’ For whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth; and He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. Persevere under discipline. God dealeth with you as with His sons; for what son is there, whom the father doth not correct? But if you be without chastisement, whereof all are made partakers, then are you bastards, and not sons!” (Hebrews 12:1-2)
The witness of these martyrs coalesces in the apocalyptic vision of the Book of the Apocalypse. Here, St. John saw the angels and saints from every nation and race, people and tongue, standing before the throne and the Lamb. They cried out, “Salvation is from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb!” When asked who they were, the answer came, “These are the ones who have survived the great period of trial; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Confer Apocalypse 7:9-17.)
The spiritual rationale which undergirds the act of martyrdom is one that each Christian must accept. In teaching the conditions for true discipleship, our Lord asserted, “If a man wishes to come after me, he must deny his very self, take up his cross, and begin to follow in my footsteps. Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would a man show if he were to gain the whole world and destroy himself in the process?” (Matthew 16:24-26). Yes, the Christian must be prepared to bear the cross of our Lord, even if it means forsaking life in this world.
In doing so, however, such a Christian will be blessed in the eyes of God. In the Beatitudes, those right attitudes of living that bring blessed union with God, the eighth beatitude is repeated, “Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice―for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Moreover, Jesus personalized this beatitude: “Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake.” Nevertheless, the point is not just the suffering here and now for the Faith, but the courageous perseverance which gives way to everlasting life: “Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven” (Confer Matthew 5:10-12).
This spiritual rationale is reflected beautifully in the testimony of the martyrs of our early Church during the time of Roman persecution. For example, St. Ignatius of Antioch (d. 110), who was the third bishop of Antioch following St. Evodius (who had succeeded St. Peter the Apostle), and who had been a student of St. John the Apostle, was condemned by the Emperor Trajan and sentenced to being devoured by beasts in the arena. On the way to Rome where he would die, he wrote seven letters, including one to the Romans, in which he reflected on his pending death: “Allow me to be eaten by the beasts, which are my way of reaching God. I am God’s wheat, and I am to be ground by the teeth of wild beasts, so that I may become the pure bread of Christ,” and later “Neither the pleasures of the world nor the kingdoms of this age will be of any use to me. It is better for me to die in order to unite myself to Christ Jesus than to reign over the ends of the earth. I seek Him who died for us; I desire Him who rose for us. My birth is approaching…” (Letter to the Romans).
Another great witness to the faith during this time was St. Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna, who was a friend of St. Ignatius and who had also been a student of St. John the Apostle and had been consecrated a bishop by him. For refusing to offer sacrifice to the Roman gods and to acknowledge the divinity of the Emperor, St. Polycarp was condemned to death by burning at the stake at the age of eighty-six during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. As the pyre was about to be lit, St. Polycarp prayed, “I bless you for having judged me worthy from this day and this hour to be counted among your martyrs…. You have kept your promise, God of faithfulness and truth. For this reason and for everything, I praise you, I bless you, I glorify you, through the eternal and heavenly High Priest, Jesus Christ, your beloved Son. Through Him, who is with you and the Holy Spirit, may glory be given to you, now and in the ages to come. Amen.” (The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp).
In defense of the martyrs, Tertullian (d. 250) later wrote in his Apology, “Crucify us, torture us, condemn us, destroy us! Your wickedness is the proof of our innocence, for which reason does God suffer us to suffer this. When recently you condemned a Christian maiden to a panderer rather than to a panther, you realized and confessed openly that with us a stain on our purity is regarded as more dreadful than any punishment and worse than death. Nor does your cruelty, however exquisite, accomplish anything: rather, it is an enticement to our religion. The more we are hewn down by you, the more numerous do we become. The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians!”
Without question, despite the worst persecutions, the Church has continued to survive and to grow, due greatly to the courageous witness and prayers of the holy martyrs.
Article 24
Destroying Blood and Saving Blood
Destroying Blood and Saving Blood
Destroying Blood
“Thus therefore saith the Lord: ‘In this thou shalt know that I am the Lord: behold I will strike with the rods that is in my hand, the water of the river, and it shall be turned into blood. And the fishes that are in the river shall die, and the waters shall be corrupted, and the Egyptians shall be afflicted when they drink the water of the river!’ The Lord also said to Moses: ‘Say to Aaron, “Take thy rod, and stretch forth thy hand upon the waters of Egypt, and upon their rivers, and streams and pools, and all the ponds of waters, that they may be turned into blood: and let blood be in all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and of stone!”‘ And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord had commanded: and lifting up the rod he struck the water of the river before Pharao and his servants: and it was turned into blood. And the fishes that were in the river died: and the river corrupted, and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river, and there was blood in all the land of Egypt” (Exodus 7:17-21).
Saving Blood
“And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: ‘Speak ye to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, and say to them: “Let every man take a lamb by their families and houses … and it shall be a lamb without blemish, a male, of one year … and the whole multitude of the children of Israel shall sacrifice it in the evening!” And they shall take of the blood thereof, and put it upon both the side posts, and on the upper door posts of the houses … And I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and will kill every firstborn in the land of Egypt both man and beast: and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. And the blood shall be unto you for a sign in the houses where you shall be: and I shall see the blood, and shall pass over you: and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I shall strike the land of Egypt!’
“And Moses called all the ancients of the children of Israel, and said to them: ‘Go take a lamb by your families, and sacrifice the Phase. And dip a bunch of hyssop in the blood that is at the door, and sprinkle the transom of the door therewith, and both the door cheeks: let none of you go out of the door of his house till morning. For the Lord will pass through striking the Egyptians: and when he shall see the blood on the transom, and on both the posts, he will pass over the door of the house, and not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses and to hurt you!
“And the children of Israel going forth did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. And it came to pass at midnight, the Lord slew every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharao, who sat on his throne, unto the firstborn of the captive woman that was in the prison, and all the firstborn of cattle. And Pharao arose in the night, and all his servants, and all Egypt: for there was not a house wherein there lay not one dead” (Exodus 12:1-30).
Agreement Sealed With Blood
Blood is the ‘ink’―so to speak―of God’s covenant with man: “And God said to Moses: ‘Come up to the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abiu, and seventy of the ancients of Israel, and you shall adore afar off! And Moses alone shall come up to the Lord, but they shall not come near; neither shall the people come up with him!’ So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice: ‘We will do all the words of the Lord, which he hath spoken!’ And Moses built an altar at the foot of the mount, and sacrificed victims of calves to the Lord. Then Moses took half of the blood, and put it into bowls: and the rest he poured upon the altar. And taking the book of the covenant, he read it in the hearing of the people: and they said: ‘All things that the Lord hath spoken we will do, we will be obedient!’ And he took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people, and he said: ‘This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words!’” (Exodus 24:1-8).
“Thus therefore saith the Lord: ‘In this thou shalt know that I am the Lord: behold I will strike with the rods that is in my hand, the water of the river, and it shall be turned into blood. And the fishes that are in the river shall die, and the waters shall be corrupted, and the Egyptians shall be afflicted when they drink the water of the river!’ The Lord also said to Moses: ‘Say to Aaron, “Take thy rod, and stretch forth thy hand upon the waters of Egypt, and upon their rivers, and streams and pools, and all the ponds of waters, that they may be turned into blood: and let blood be in all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and of stone!”‘ And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord had commanded: and lifting up the rod he struck the water of the river before Pharao and his servants: and it was turned into blood. And the fishes that were in the river died: and the river corrupted, and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river, and there was blood in all the land of Egypt” (Exodus 7:17-21).
Saving Blood
“And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: ‘Speak ye to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, and say to them: “Let every man take a lamb by their families and houses … and it shall be a lamb without blemish, a male, of one year … and the whole multitude of the children of Israel shall sacrifice it in the evening!” And they shall take of the blood thereof, and put it upon both the side posts, and on the upper door posts of the houses … And I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and will kill every firstborn in the land of Egypt both man and beast: and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. And the blood shall be unto you for a sign in the houses where you shall be: and I shall see the blood, and shall pass over you: and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I shall strike the land of Egypt!’
“And Moses called all the ancients of the children of Israel, and said to them: ‘Go take a lamb by your families, and sacrifice the Phase. And dip a bunch of hyssop in the blood that is at the door, and sprinkle the transom of the door therewith, and both the door cheeks: let none of you go out of the door of his house till morning. For the Lord will pass through striking the Egyptians: and when he shall see the blood on the transom, and on both the posts, he will pass over the door of the house, and not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses and to hurt you!
“And the children of Israel going forth did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. And it came to pass at midnight, the Lord slew every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharao, who sat on his throne, unto the firstborn of the captive woman that was in the prison, and all the firstborn of cattle. And Pharao arose in the night, and all his servants, and all Egypt: for there was not a house wherein there lay not one dead” (Exodus 12:1-30).
Agreement Sealed With Blood
Blood is the ‘ink’―so to speak―of God’s covenant with man: “And God said to Moses: ‘Come up to the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abiu, and seventy of the ancients of Israel, and you shall adore afar off! And Moses alone shall come up to the Lord, but they shall not come near; neither shall the people come up with him!’ So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice: ‘We will do all the words of the Lord, which he hath spoken!’ And Moses built an altar at the foot of the mount, and sacrificed victims of calves to the Lord. Then Moses took half of the blood, and put it into bowls: and the rest he poured upon the altar. And taking the book of the covenant, he read it in the hearing of the people: and they said: ‘All things that the Lord hath spoken we will do, we will be obedient!’ And he took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people, and he said: ‘This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words!’” (Exodus 24:1-8).
Article 25
The Precious Blood Progressively Revealed
The Precious Blood Progressively Revealed
The principle of progressive revelation is simply this: God has chosen to reveal His truths to mankind sequentially. Thus, the great doctrines of the faith are generally introduced early in the Old Testament, later developed more fully by the prophets, and then by our Lord Jesus in His earthly ministry, and finally seen in their fullest form in the New Testament, in the light of the interpretation and teaching of the apostles.
In Leviticus chapter 17 the principle of progressive revelation is very clearly demonstrated in several ways. First, it can be seen in the progressive way in which God revealed the sins of the Israelites to them. Only at this point has God exposed the pagan dimensions of the sacrifices which the Israelites had been offering all along in the open field (cf. vv. 5-7). God did not reveal this sin until He had the solution for it, a sacrificial system which He had designed.
Second, we can see the principle of progressive revelation at work in the way God has progressively revealed the preciousness of blood in His plan of redemption. Early in Genesis, God took the shed blood of Abel seriously (Gen. 4), and later, after the flood, God gave more exacting commands regarding blood-shedding (Gen. 9:1-6). In the life of these Israelites camped at the base of Mt. Sinai, God used the shed blood of the Passover lamb to distinguish His people from the Egyptians, who were visited by the death angel (Exod. 12). Now, in Leviticus, Israel’s conduct with regard to handling blood is even more carefully prescribed, with very serious consequences for any violation.
While the importance of shed blood was once only to be learned by inference, now the principle of the preciousness of blood is stated more clearly than ever before (cf. Lev. 17:11, 14). The Old Testament will continue to clarify and expand on the value of shed blood for atonement (cf. Isa. 53), and in the New Testament the matter will come into full focus, in the light of the atonement which God has provided for man in the shed blood of Jesus Christ. As Peter put it, “Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (1 Pet. 1:18-19). Here, Peter does not compare the precious blood of Christ to gold or silver; he contrasts it with these supposedly “precious” metals. He places gold and silver in the category of “perishable things,” which infers to us that the blood of Christ is imperishable, and thus of eternal value. We know, of course, that this is the case, for in heaven it will be the shed blood of the Lamb of God which is still valued for saving sinners:
… Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood (Apocalypse.1:5).
And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. And He came, and He took it out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are Thou to take the book, and to break its seals; for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Apocalypse 5:6-9).
A matter as important as the atoning work of Christ was so vital, so important, so precious, that God long beforehand began to prepare men for its coming to pass. Thus we find the preciousness of blood and the principle of atonement revealed very early in the Pentateuch, and then clarified throughout the remainder of biblical revelation.
This leads me to a very important application: The principle of progressive revelation provides us with a vital clue to the importance of any teaching.
Because the atoning work of Christ was so important, so precious, God began to reveal the underlying principles very early in time. I believe that the same thing can be said for any doctrine that is truly vital, truly important, truly precious.
I would hope that you could readily and enthusiastically agree with this principle that important doctrines should have a long history of being progressively revealed. And yet the practice of many violates this principle. Think about it for a moment. What characterizes those truths about which some become most enthusiastic, and which they are so eager to proclaim to others? Let me suggest a few of the characteristics of revelation which is eagerly sought and taught:
(a) That truth which is new and novel, which does not have a long track record. Often these truths are packaged and sold under the guise that “God has, in these last days, revealed some new and wonderful truths.” Rather than feeling the need to apologize for this novelty, these false teachers look down upon those in the past as less enlightened than they. This excuses their teaching from having to conform either to biblical revelation or from the church’s understanding of it through the history of the church. In the Book of Acts we see this desire for “newness” in the philosophers of Athens (Acts. 17:19-21).
(b) That truth which is obscure, which is not clearly taught, and thus not recognized and accepted by most evangelical Christians. Rather than having to explain the fact that few accept their teaching, the false teachers look down upon those who haven’t “seen the truth” as unspiritual and less enlightened. In the days of the New Testament churches, this took the form of gnosticism. Also in Paul’s letters to Timothy there was the warning against speculative teaching.
(c) That truth which conforms to one’s evil lifestyle, and which enables the “believer” to follow his own appetites and evil desires. Strangely enough, the “new doctrines” which are seen by the spiritual elite and missed by the masses, are those truths which justify the sins of its followers. Paul warns of those who will have itching ears, who will gather people who preach to their preferences (2 Tim. 4:3-4). Peter likewise warns of those who teach in a way that enables and encourages men to indulge in the flesh (cf. 2 Pet. 2:18-19).
Let us learn from the principle of progressive revelation that those truths which are vital and most valuable are those which have been taught in greater and greater clarity throughout the entire Bible. Let those matters which are scarcely mentioned not be major concerns or undue subjects for our curiosity.
In addition, the principle of progressive revelation provides us with the key to quickly discerning one’s orthodoxy: ONE OF THE BEST TESTS OF ORTHODOXY IS TO DETERMINE WHAT VALUE ONE PLACES ON THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST.
The doctrine of the preciousness of shed blood develops in its full bloom in the New Testament by declaring that the most precious substance of all is the shed blood of Christ. Thus, anyone who denies the preciousness of the blood is not true to the faith of the Bible, and thus denies saving faith as well. We do not need to know everything which a certain sect teaches (although they are eager to teach us), we only need to know what they make of Christ’s blood. Is it alone what atones for our sins? Here is one of the touchstones for orthodoxy. This question may not flush out all heretics, but it will expose most of them, if answered honestly.
In Leviticus chapter 17 the principle of progressive revelation is very clearly demonstrated in several ways. First, it can be seen in the progressive way in which God revealed the sins of the Israelites to them. Only at this point has God exposed the pagan dimensions of the sacrifices which the Israelites had been offering all along in the open field (cf. vv. 5-7). God did not reveal this sin until He had the solution for it, a sacrificial system which He had designed.
Second, we can see the principle of progressive revelation at work in the way God has progressively revealed the preciousness of blood in His plan of redemption. Early in Genesis, God took the shed blood of Abel seriously (Gen. 4), and later, after the flood, God gave more exacting commands regarding blood-shedding (Gen. 9:1-6). In the life of these Israelites camped at the base of Mt. Sinai, God used the shed blood of the Passover lamb to distinguish His people from the Egyptians, who were visited by the death angel (Exod. 12). Now, in Leviticus, Israel’s conduct with regard to handling blood is even more carefully prescribed, with very serious consequences for any violation.
While the importance of shed blood was once only to be learned by inference, now the principle of the preciousness of blood is stated more clearly than ever before (cf. Lev. 17:11, 14). The Old Testament will continue to clarify and expand on the value of shed blood for atonement (cf. Isa. 53), and in the New Testament the matter will come into full focus, in the light of the atonement which God has provided for man in the shed blood of Jesus Christ. As Peter put it, “Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (1 Pet. 1:18-19). Here, Peter does not compare the precious blood of Christ to gold or silver; he contrasts it with these supposedly “precious” metals. He places gold and silver in the category of “perishable things,” which infers to us that the blood of Christ is imperishable, and thus of eternal value. We know, of course, that this is the case, for in heaven it will be the shed blood of the Lamb of God which is still valued for saving sinners:
… Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood (Apocalypse.1:5).
And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. And He came, and He took it out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are Thou to take the book, and to break its seals; for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Apocalypse 5:6-9).
A matter as important as the atoning work of Christ was so vital, so important, so precious, that God long beforehand began to prepare men for its coming to pass. Thus we find the preciousness of blood and the principle of atonement revealed very early in the Pentateuch, and then clarified throughout the remainder of biblical revelation.
This leads me to a very important application: The principle of progressive revelation provides us with a vital clue to the importance of any teaching.
Because the atoning work of Christ was so important, so precious, God began to reveal the underlying principles very early in time. I believe that the same thing can be said for any doctrine that is truly vital, truly important, truly precious.
I would hope that you could readily and enthusiastically agree with this principle that important doctrines should have a long history of being progressively revealed. And yet the practice of many violates this principle. Think about it for a moment. What characterizes those truths about which some become most enthusiastic, and which they are so eager to proclaim to others? Let me suggest a few of the characteristics of revelation which is eagerly sought and taught:
(a) That truth which is new and novel, which does not have a long track record. Often these truths are packaged and sold under the guise that “God has, in these last days, revealed some new and wonderful truths.” Rather than feeling the need to apologize for this novelty, these false teachers look down upon those in the past as less enlightened than they. This excuses their teaching from having to conform either to biblical revelation or from the church’s understanding of it through the history of the church. In the Book of Acts we see this desire for “newness” in the philosophers of Athens (Acts. 17:19-21).
(b) That truth which is obscure, which is not clearly taught, and thus not recognized and accepted by most evangelical Christians. Rather than having to explain the fact that few accept their teaching, the false teachers look down upon those who haven’t “seen the truth” as unspiritual and less enlightened. In the days of the New Testament churches, this took the form of gnosticism. Also in Paul’s letters to Timothy there was the warning against speculative teaching.
(c) That truth which conforms to one’s evil lifestyle, and which enables the “believer” to follow his own appetites and evil desires. Strangely enough, the “new doctrines” which are seen by the spiritual elite and missed by the masses, are those truths which justify the sins of its followers. Paul warns of those who will have itching ears, who will gather people who preach to their preferences (2 Tim. 4:3-4). Peter likewise warns of those who teach in a way that enables and encourages men to indulge in the flesh (cf. 2 Pet. 2:18-19).
Let us learn from the principle of progressive revelation that those truths which are vital and most valuable are those which have been taught in greater and greater clarity throughout the entire Bible. Let those matters which are scarcely mentioned not be major concerns or undue subjects for our curiosity.
In addition, the principle of progressive revelation provides us with the key to quickly discerning one’s orthodoxy: ONE OF THE BEST TESTS OF ORTHODOXY IS TO DETERMINE WHAT VALUE ONE PLACES ON THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST.
The doctrine of the preciousness of shed blood develops in its full bloom in the New Testament by declaring that the most precious substance of all is the shed blood of Christ. Thus, anyone who denies the preciousness of the blood is not true to the faith of the Bible, and thus denies saving faith as well. We do not need to know everything which a certain sect teaches (although they are eager to teach us), we only need to know what they make of Christ’s blood. Is it alone what atones for our sins? Here is one of the touchstones for orthodoxy. This question may not flush out all heretics, but it will expose most of them, if answered honestly.
Article 26
The Preciousness of the Blood Must Not Be Defiled!
The Preciousness of the Blood Must Not Be Defiled!
The Preciousness of Blood in God’s Sight
The Israelite of old learned from Leviticus, as nowhere else up to that point in time, the preciousness of blood to God. How much greater value does blood take on for the New Testament saint, whose blessings are all a result of the shed blood of Jesus Christ. As Harrison summarizes the matter,
The blood is the life of the flesh (Leviticus 17:11), and it is through the atoning blood of Christ that the believer receives redemption (1 Peter 1:18-19), forgiveness (Ephesians 1:7), justification (Romans 5:9), spiritual peace (Colossians 1:20), and sanctification (Hebrews 13:12).
Blood is not precious in its own right, but because it is equated with life. The principle conveyed first in the Book of Leviticus (chapter 17) is that “the life is in the blood.” Pressing this matter further, then, we can safely conclude that God values life as precious. Blood is the instrument through which atonement is made, which spares the life of the sinner. Life is thus precious to God, as well it can be for it was God who created all life (Genesis, chapters 1 & 2).
If blood (and, as we have seen, life) is precious, then there are several areas of application. The first application is that God values all life. Let the abortionist take note! Let those who talk about “quality of life” beware. God is the giver of life; Satan, through sin, seeks to destroy it. Let us prove to be on God’s side by seeking to save life, rather than to destroy it.
Pressing the fact that God values all life to its personal level, we can say with great conviction, God values your life. God values your life much more highly than you do. The measure of the value which God has placed on your life is the price which He was willing to pay to save it: the precious blood of His only Son, Jesus Christ. According to this standard, God has placed infinite value on your life. May you and I value our life in the light of the value God has ascribed to it.
Further, knowing the value which God has assigned to life enables us to better grasp the evil of sin, which seeks to destroy life by producing death. Sin can only be appraised in the light of its ultimate result—death, and death can only be evaluated in the light of its opposite —life. How ugly sin is in the light of the value of the life which it seeks to destroy.
If We Truly Treasure the Blood of Christ, We Will Not Defile it
The preciousness of the blood of Christ is a very pertinent factor in the life of the Christian. Peter maintains that the preciousness of the blood is to be the Christian’s motivation for purity—for avoiding profaning the price of our redemption. In other words, to resist the goal for which the blood of Christ was shed is to profane the price which was paid to realize this goal: purity and holiness. Put differently, the degree to which the blood of Christ is precious is also the measure of the penalty for profaning it.
The regulations which God gave to the Israelites in chapter 17 of the Book of Leviticus were intended to prevent the profaning the blood of living creatures. It should be granted, then, that what is precious should not be profaned. Are there ways in which the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is profaned? I believe so.
First, the believer profanes the blood of Christ by persisting in the very sins from which the precious blood was intended to cleanse us. Listen to these most sobering words from the Book of Hebrews:
How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? … It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb. 10:29, 31).
A second way in which the Christian can profane the precious blood of Christ is by a disregard for the Lord’s Table, or by misconduct in the remembrance of the Lord’s death. You will recall that in the 11th chapter of 1 Corinthians, the misconduct of the Corinthian saints was described. The result was that some were judged by sickness and some by death (1 Cor. 11:30). The reason given by Paul was that the saints did not “judge the body rightly” (v. 29). A part of this was surely that the blood, as symbolized in the wine (of which some drank too much, v. 21), was disregarded and thus profaned.
Not only is misconduct at the Lord’s Table profaning the blood of Christ, but also absence from the Lord’s Table. There are many who view communion as a ritual at best to be endured, and then only occasionally. The New Testament saints remembered the Lord daily (Acts 2:42, 46), and later it was weekly (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthinas 11, 16:2). Those who consistently fail to commemorate the Lord’s death not only disobey the command of our Lord (Luke 22:19-20), but they profane the blood He has shed by valuing it so little that they fail to commemorate His death as He has instructed us. Forget your anniversary and you get a taste of what such neglect conveys to your loved one. Neglect the Lord’s Table, in the light of what we have learned of the blood, and profane His blood.
There is essentially but one way in which non-Christians profane the blood of Jesus Christ, and that is by esteeming it of so little worth that they seek acceptance with God on the basis of their own works, in place of the atonement, in which Christ shed His own blood. Imagine standing before the judgment seat of God (the Great White Throne) and having God ask you but one question, the answer to which determines whether you spend eternity in Heaven or in Hell. The question, most assuredly, will be this: “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THE BLOOD SHED BY MY SON?”
God cares nothing for what you have to offer, but only for what He Himself has offered you, His only begotten Son: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). How dare any man think he could offer God anything for his own redemption, when God has paid the price in full, as the cost of the blood of His Son.
If you have never claimed the blood of Christ for your own salvation, as payment for your sins, I urge you to do so now. If you would hesitate, let me leave you with this solemn thought. Every man will have to give an account for the blood of Christ. Those who accept it as God’s atoning gift will spend all eternity giving praise to God and to the Lamb for that blood. And those who reject it will have these words with which to identify, the words of those who, at the trial of our Lord, called forth to Pilate as they rejected Him as their Messiah, “His blood be upon us and upon our children” (Matthew 27:25). These words will haunt ever unbeliever for all eternity, for those who reject the blood of Christ as their atonement, will find it to be their accuser.
The Israelite of old learned from Leviticus, as nowhere else up to that point in time, the preciousness of blood to God. How much greater value does blood take on for the New Testament saint, whose blessings are all a result of the shed blood of Jesus Christ. As Harrison summarizes the matter,
The blood is the life of the flesh (Leviticus 17:11), and it is through the atoning blood of Christ that the believer receives redemption (1 Peter 1:18-19), forgiveness (Ephesians 1:7), justification (Romans 5:9), spiritual peace (Colossians 1:20), and sanctification (Hebrews 13:12).
Blood is not precious in its own right, but because it is equated with life. The principle conveyed first in the Book of Leviticus (chapter 17) is that “the life is in the blood.” Pressing this matter further, then, we can safely conclude that God values life as precious. Blood is the instrument through which atonement is made, which spares the life of the sinner. Life is thus precious to God, as well it can be for it was God who created all life (Genesis, chapters 1 & 2).
If blood (and, as we have seen, life) is precious, then there are several areas of application. The first application is that God values all life. Let the abortionist take note! Let those who talk about “quality of life” beware. God is the giver of life; Satan, through sin, seeks to destroy it. Let us prove to be on God’s side by seeking to save life, rather than to destroy it.
Pressing the fact that God values all life to its personal level, we can say with great conviction, God values your life. God values your life much more highly than you do. The measure of the value which God has placed on your life is the price which He was willing to pay to save it: the precious blood of His only Son, Jesus Christ. According to this standard, God has placed infinite value on your life. May you and I value our life in the light of the value God has ascribed to it.
Further, knowing the value which God has assigned to life enables us to better grasp the evil of sin, which seeks to destroy life by producing death. Sin can only be appraised in the light of its ultimate result—death, and death can only be evaluated in the light of its opposite —life. How ugly sin is in the light of the value of the life which it seeks to destroy.
If We Truly Treasure the Blood of Christ, We Will Not Defile it
The preciousness of the blood of Christ is a very pertinent factor in the life of the Christian. Peter maintains that the preciousness of the blood is to be the Christian’s motivation for purity—for avoiding profaning the price of our redemption. In other words, to resist the goal for which the blood of Christ was shed is to profane the price which was paid to realize this goal: purity and holiness. Put differently, the degree to which the blood of Christ is precious is also the measure of the penalty for profaning it.
The regulations which God gave to the Israelites in chapter 17 of the Book of Leviticus were intended to prevent the profaning the blood of living creatures. It should be granted, then, that what is precious should not be profaned. Are there ways in which the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is profaned? I believe so.
First, the believer profanes the blood of Christ by persisting in the very sins from which the precious blood was intended to cleanse us. Listen to these most sobering words from the Book of Hebrews:
How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? … It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb. 10:29, 31).
A second way in which the Christian can profane the precious blood of Christ is by a disregard for the Lord’s Table, or by misconduct in the remembrance of the Lord’s death. You will recall that in the 11th chapter of 1 Corinthians, the misconduct of the Corinthian saints was described. The result was that some were judged by sickness and some by death (1 Cor. 11:30). The reason given by Paul was that the saints did not “judge the body rightly” (v. 29). A part of this was surely that the blood, as symbolized in the wine (of which some drank too much, v. 21), was disregarded and thus profaned.
Not only is misconduct at the Lord’s Table profaning the blood of Christ, but also absence from the Lord’s Table. There are many who view communion as a ritual at best to be endured, and then only occasionally. The New Testament saints remembered the Lord daily (Acts 2:42, 46), and later it was weekly (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthinas 11, 16:2). Those who consistently fail to commemorate the Lord’s death not only disobey the command of our Lord (Luke 22:19-20), but they profane the blood He has shed by valuing it so little that they fail to commemorate His death as He has instructed us. Forget your anniversary and you get a taste of what such neglect conveys to your loved one. Neglect the Lord’s Table, in the light of what we have learned of the blood, and profane His blood.
There is essentially but one way in which non-Christians profane the blood of Jesus Christ, and that is by esteeming it of so little worth that they seek acceptance with God on the basis of their own works, in place of the atonement, in which Christ shed His own blood. Imagine standing before the judgment seat of God (the Great White Throne) and having God ask you but one question, the answer to which determines whether you spend eternity in Heaven or in Hell. The question, most assuredly, will be this: “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THE BLOOD SHED BY MY SON?”
God cares nothing for what you have to offer, but only for what He Himself has offered you, His only begotten Son: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). How dare any man think he could offer God anything for his own redemption, when God has paid the price in full, as the cost of the blood of His Son.
If you have never claimed the blood of Christ for your own salvation, as payment for your sins, I urge you to do so now. If you would hesitate, let me leave you with this solemn thought. Every man will have to give an account for the blood of Christ. Those who accept it as God’s atoning gift will spend all eternity giving praise to God and to the Lamb for that blood. And those who reject it will have these words with which to identify, the words of those who, at the trial of our Lord, called forth to Pilate as they rejected Him as their Messiah, “His blood be upon us and upon our children” (Matthew 27:25). These words will haunt ever unbeliever for all eternity, for those who reject the blood of Christ as their atonement, will find it to be their accuser.
Article 27
Martyrdom of Persecution
Martyrdom of Persecution
Not all the faithful who suffer for Christ also die for Christ. Opposition to the Christian faith and way of life does not always end in violent death for the persecuted victims.
Consequently, it is well to distinguish between what may be called "martyrdom of blood" and "martyrdom of opposition", which is bloodless indeed, but no less--and sometimes more--painful to endure.
Not all the victims of persecution die at the hands of a godless government. Millions more are ostensibly free to walk the streets and live in a home. Yet they are, in effect, deprived of every human liberty to practice their religion and to serve Christ according to their Faith. If they teach their children catechism, the parents are prevented from enjoying such privileges as decent living quarters or any kind of skilled job. If they are seen attending church, they are first warned, then threatened, and finally penalized – even to the loss of their possessions.
So the sorry tale goes on, and has been going on for years, in spite of the conspiracy of silence in our American press.
But that is not the whole picture. We need to shake ourselves into awareness that our country is going through persecution. It is no less real for being subtle, and no less painful for being perpetrated in the name of democracy.
What does that mean? It means that any priest or religious, any married or single person in America who wishes to sincerely and fully live up to his Catholic commitment, finds countless obstacles in his way and experiences innumerable difficulties that accumulatively demand heroic fortitude to overcome and withstand.
All we have to do is place the eight beatitudes in one column and the eight corresponding attitudes of our culture in another column, and compare the two. Where Christ advocates poverty, the world despises the poor and canonizes the rich. Where Christ praises gentleness, the world belittles meekness and extols those who succeed by crushing anyone who stands in their way. Where Christ encourages mourning and sorrow for sin, the world revels in pleasure and the noise of empty laughter. Where Christ promises joy only to those who seek justice and holiness, the world offers satisfaction in the enjoyment of sin. Where Christ bids us forgive and show mercy to those who have offended us, the world seeks vengeance and its law courts are filled with demands for retribution. Where Christ blesses those who are pure of heart, the world scoffs at chastity and makes a god of sex. Where Christ tells the peaceful that they shall be rewarded, the world teaches just the opposite in constant rebellion and violence and massive preparation for war. And where Christ teaches the incredible doctrine of accepting persecution with patience and resignation to God’s will, the world dreads nothing more than criticism and rejection; and human respect which means acceptance by society, is the moral norm.
On the bloody side, our century has had more Christians who were martyred for Christ than in all the centuries from Calvary to nineteen hundred included. To this day, innumerable Catholics are dying for their Faith at the hands of Muslims who are told by the Koran to either convert Christians from their idolatry of adoring the man Jesus as though he were God, or put them to death. But our focus here is on this country. Call it an unbloody martyrdom. But have no doubt that to live an authentic Catholic life in America today is to live a martyr’s life.
Only heroic bishops and heroic priests, heroic religious, heroic fathers and mothers, heroic faithful, will survive the massive persecution of the Catholic Church in our country today. It is called the Land of Liberty. But the only liberty that is given freedom is the liberty to do your own will. Pro-choice is not just a clever phrase. It is the hallmark of a culture in which millions have chosen to do what they want and make life humanly impossible for those who choose to do what God wants.
Consequently, it is well to distinguish between what may be called "martyrdom of blood" and "martyrdom of opposition", which is bloodless indeed, but no less--and sometimes more--painful to endure.
Not all the victims of persecution die at the hands of a godless government. Millions more are ostensibly free to walk the streets and live in a home. Yet they are, in effect, deprived of every human liberty to practice their religion and to serve Christ according to their Faith. If they teach their children catechism, the parents are prevented from enjoying such privileges as decent living quarters or any kind of skilled job. If they are seen attending church, they are first warned, then threatened, and finally penalized – even to the loss of their possessions.
So the sorry tale goes on, and has been going on for years, in spite of the conspiracy of silence in our American press.
But that is not the whole picture. We need to shake ourselves into awareness that our country is going through persecution. It is no less real for being subtle, and no less painful for being perpetrated in the name of democracy.
What does that mean? It means that any priest or religious, any married or single person in America who wishes to sincerely and fully live up to his Catholic commitment, finds countless obstacles in his way and experiences innumerable difficulties that accumulatively demand heroic fortitude to overcome and withstand.
All we have to do is place the eight beatitudes in one column and the eight corresponding attitudes of our culture in another column, and compare the two. Where Christ advocates poverty, the world despises the poor and canonizes the rich. Where Christ praises gentleness, the world belittles meekness and extols those who succeed by crushing anyone who stands in their way. Where Christ encourages mourning and sorrow for sin, the world revels in pleasure and the noise of empty laughter. Where Christ promises joy only to those who seek justice and holiness, the world offers satisfaction in the enjoyment of sin. Where Christ bids us forgive and show mercy to those who have offended us, the world seeks vengeance and its law courts are filled with demands for retribution. Where Christ blesses those who are pure of heart, the world scoffs at chastity and makes a god of sex. Where Christ tells the peaceful that they shall be rewarded, the world teaches just the opposite in constant rebellion and violence and massive preparation for war. And where Christ teaches the incredible doctrine of accepting persecution with patience and resignation to God’s will, the world dreads nothing more than criticism and rejection; and human respect which means acceptance by society, is the moral norm.
On the bloody side, our century has had more Christians who were martyred for Christ than in all the centuries from Calvary to nineteen hundred included. To this day, innumerable Catholics are dying for their Faith at the hands of Muslims who are told by the Koran to either convert Christians from their idolatry of adoring the man Jesus as though he were God, or put them to death. But our focus here is on this country. Call it an unbloody martyrdom. But have no doubt that to live an authentic Catholic life in America today is to live a martyr’s life.
Only heroic bishops and heroic priests, heroic religious, heroic fathers and mothers, heroic faithful, will survive the massive persecution of the Catholic Church in our country today. It is called the Land of Liberty. But the only liberty that is given freedom is the liberty to do your own will. Pro-choice is not just a clever phrase. It is the hallmark of a culture in which millions have chosen to do what they want and make life humanly impossible for those who choose to do what God wants.
Article 28
Martyrdom of Witness
Martyrdom of Witness
We still have one more type of martyrdom to reflect on, and it is, in a way, the most pervasive of all because no follower of Christ can escape it. This is the martyrdom of witness.
What do we mean by martyrdom of witness and how does it differ from the other two? It differs from them in that, even in the absence of active opposition--the imitation of Christ must always face passive opposition. From whom? From those who lack a clear vision of the Savior or who, having had it, lost their former commitment to Christ. All that we have seen about the martyrdom by violence applies here too, but the method of opposition is different.
Here the firm believer in the Church’s teaching authority; the devoted servant of the papacy; the convinced pastor who insists on sound doctrine to his flock; the dedicated religious who want to remain faithful to their vows of authentic poverty, honest chastity, and sincere obedience; the firm parents who are concerned about the religious and moral training of their children and are willing to sacrifice generously to build and care for a Christian family--natural or adopted--such persons will not be spared also active criticism and open opposition. But they must especially be ready to live in an atmosphere of coldness to their deepest beliefs.
Sometimes they would almost wish the opposition were more overt and even persecution would be a welcome change. It is the studied indifference of people whom they know and love, of persons in their own natural or religious family, of men and women whose intelligence they respect and whose respect they cherish.
This kind of apathy can be demoralizing and, unless it finds relief, can be devastating.
To continue living a Christ-like life in this kind of environment is to practice the martyrdom of witness. Why witness? Because it means giving testimony to our deep religious convictions although all around us others are giving their own example to the contrary.
It means giving witness twice over: once on our own behalf as the outward expression of what we internally believe and once again on behalf of others whose conduct is not only different from ours but contradicts it.
Wherein lies the martyrdom? It lies in the deprivation of good example to us on the part of our contemporaries, and in the practice of Christian virtue in loneliness, because those who witness what we do are in the majority―numerically or psychologically―and we know they are being challenged and embarrassed by the testimony. We witness to them, indeed, but they are not pleased to witness who we are, what we stand for, what we say, or what we do.
Notwithstanding all of this, however, it behooves us to look at the positive side of the picture. We must remind ourselves that this witness of ours is not so sterile as we may suppose; quite the contrary. Although we may be, or at least feel, often quite alone, we are not alone at all. Not infrequently our severest critics can become our strongest admirers. In any case, witness that we give by living up to the conviction of our Faith is surely demanding on human nature. That is why we call it martyrdom. But it is a witness to the truth and God’s grace is always active in the hearts of everyone whose path we cross.
If we would know the power of this martyrdom of witness we have only to read the annals of the early Church. The handful of believers whom Peter baptized on Pentecost Sunday were as a drop in the immense culture surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. Yet see what happened. This small group of convinced faithful were able, in less than three hundred years, to turn the tide of paganism in the Roman Empire. For a long time they were deprived even of the basic civil rights accorded other citizens. They were often hunted like animals, and the catacombs tell us that they had to hide when celebrating the Liturgy and hide the tombs of their revered dead.
But their patience and meekness finally prevailed. Yes, but only because it was supported by unbounded courage, born not of their own strength, but of the power that Christ promised to give all His followers that shall witness to His name everywhere. This promise is just as true today. All that we need is to trust in the Spirit Whom we possess, and never grow weary in giving testimony to the grace we received.
This is what Christ was talking about when He told us not to hide our virtues but to allow them to be publicly seen, like a candle on a candlestick or a city on a mountaintop. We should not be afraid that by such evidence of our good works we shall be protected from vainglory by the cost in humiliation that witnessing to a holy life inevitably brings. There will have to be enough death to self and enough ignoring of human respect to keep us from getting proud in our well-doing. God will see to that. On our part, we must be willing to pay the price of suffering in doing good, which is another name for being a living martyr, that is, a courageous witness to the life of Christ in the world today.
What do we mean by martyrdom of witness and how does it differ from the other two? It differs from them in that, even in the absence of active opposition--the imitation of Christ must always face passive opposition. From whom? From those who lack a clear vision of the Savior or who, having had it, lost their former commitment to Christ. All that we have seen about the martyrdom by violence applies here too, but the method of opposition is different.
Here the firm believer in the Church’s teaching authority; the devoted servant of the papacy; the convinced pastor who insists on sound doctrine to his flock; the dedicated religious who want to remain faithful to their vows of authentic poverty, honest chastity, and sincere obedience; the firm parents who are concerned about the religious and moral training of their children and are willing to sacrifice generously to build and care for a Christian family--natural or adopted--such persons will not be spared also active criticism and open opposition. But they must especially be ready to live in an atmosphere of coldness to their deepest beliefs.
Sometimes they would almost wish the opposition were more overt and even persecution would be a welcome change. It is the studied indifference of people whom they know and love, of persons in their own natural or religious family, of men and women whose intelligence they respect and whose respect they cherish.
This kind of apathy can be demoralizing and, unless it finds relief, can be devastating.
To continue living a Christ-like life in this kind of environment is to practice the martyrdom of witness. Why witness? Because it means giving testimony to our deep religious convictions although all around us others are giving their own example to the contrary.
It means giving witness twice over: once on our own behalf as the outward expression of what we internally believe and once again on behalf of others whose conduct is not only different from ours but contradicts it.
Wherein lies the martyrdom? It lies in the deprivation of good example to us on the part of our contemporaries, and in the practice of Christian virtue in loneliness, because those who witness what we do are in the majority―numerically or psychologically―and we know they are being challenged and embarrassed by the testimony. We witness to them, indeed, but they are not pleased to witness who we are, what we stand for, what we say, or what we do.
Notwithstanding all of this, however, it behooves us to look at the positive side of the picture. We must remind ourselves that this witness of ours is not so sterile as we may suppose; quite the contrary. Although we may be, or at least feel, often quite alone, we are not alone at all. Not infrequently our severest critics can become our strongest admirers. In any case, witness that we give by living up to the conviction of our Faith is surely demanding on human nature. That is why we call it martyrdom. But it is a witness to the truth and God’s grace is always active in the hearts of everyone whose path we cross.
If we would know the power of this martyrdom of witness we have only to read the annals of the early Church. The handful of believers whom Peter baptized on Pentecost Sunday were as a drop in the immense culture surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. Yet see what happened. This small group of convinced faithful were able, in less than three hundred years, to turn the tide of paganism in the Roman Empire. For a long time they were deprived even of the basic civil rights accorded other citizens. They were often hunted like animals, and the catacombs tell us that they had to hide when celebrating the Liturgy and hide the tombs of their revered dead.
But their patience and meekness finally prevailed. Yes, but only because it was supported by unbounded courage, born not of their own strength, but of the power that Christ promised to give all His followers that shall witness to His name everywhere. This promise is just as true today. All that we need is to trust in the Spirit Whom we possess, and never grow weary in giving testimony to the grace we received.
This is what Christ was talking about when He told us not to hide our virtues but to allow them to be publicly seen, like a candle on a candlestick or a city on a mountaintop. We should not be afraid that by such evidence of our good works we shall be protected from vainglory by the cost in humiliation that witnessing to a holy life inevitably brings. There will have to be enough death to self and enough ignoring of human respect to keep us from getting proud in our well-doing. God will see to that. On our part, we must be willing to pay the price of suffering in doing good, which is another name for being a living martyr, that is, a courageous witness to the life of Christ in the world today.
Article 29
Martyrdom Today
Martyrdom Today
Martyrdom is fine and dandy, quite romantic, very exhilarating and exciting when we read about it in the lives of others―but if and when it should come to us, arrive on our doorstep, knock on our door―what then? Is that ever likely to happen? You bet it is! In fact, the 20th century had more martyrs for Christ than previous centuries. It seems martyrdom is on the rise, becoming more popular―or should we say becoming more necessary!
Our Lady, in her modern day apparitions that refer to the time in which we are now living, speaks of the inevitability of martyrdom: “The end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family …
“The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God … The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... The righteous will suffer greatly … Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated ... The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many of them will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings, and those who sacrifice themselves for the Church and their country will be counted as martyrs … At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent!
Numbers Decrease―But They Will Increase
As the fifth century (the 400s) came to a close, it had been 16 generations since the Ascension of Our Lord into Heaven. Some scholars estimate that the world, at the end of the 4th century and at the start of the Middle Ages, was 20% (1 out 5) Christian and 30% (3 out of 10) under evangelization or evangelized. Holy Scripture had been translated into 13 languages. The total martyrs since AD 33 was estimated at being 2,102,000 or 2.1 million that is 1% (1 out of 100) of all Christians since the Church began, which translates into 4,400 martyrdoms per year.
By 600, there had been 19 generations since Christ and the Western world was still about 20% Christian, with around 33% evangelized, and Holy Scripture translated into 14 languages. The total martyrs since the Church began was estimated at 2,197,000 (about 0.5%, or 1 in 200 of all Christians who ever lived), which comes to around 3,800 martrydoms each year since the time of Christ.
By the year 700, or 22 generations after Christ, the Western world is still around 20% Christian. The Church had
evangelized approximately 29% of the known world. The total number of martyrs since Christ was estimated to be 2,423,000 (about 0.5%, or 1 in 200 of all Christians who ever lived) which translated to an average of 2,300 per year since the time of Christ. As time went on, and more and more of the Western world was evangelized and baptized, the numbers of martyrs decreased.
This shedding of blood, is especially and increasingly likely today, since we are living in the most heroic age of martyrs in the history of Christianity. Countless millions of Christians who believe in the Precious Blood are proving their love for Him by their sufferings. Many, over the last 120 years, have shed and are shedding their blood physically. What a privilege! Yes, what a privilege if we were called to shed our blood physically in the Name of, and out of love for Christ!
We may well be called, some time in the future, to the grace of martyrdom. But even if it is not God’s Will that we shed our blood for Christ, to manifest our love for Him physically, let us make sure, absolutely sure, that we let no opportunity go by without shedding our blood spiritually. And that, my friends, no matter what our state of life, no matter what our vocation may be, if we are Christians, we are meant to shed our blood!
Washed Clean by Blood
“I saw a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne, and in sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hand … And one of the ancients answered, and said to me: ‘These that are clothed in white robes, who are they? And whence came they?’ And I said to him: ‘My Lord, thou knowest!’ And he said to me: ‘These are they who are come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb!’” (Apocalypse 7:9, 13-14).
“For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin!” (Hebrews 12:4). The Catechism tells us that sin is the greatest evil in the world—even “itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny” venial sins! That is why St. Dominic Savio took, as one of his four resolutions at the time of his First Holy Communion, the resolution to avoid sin—he wrote down on paper the pledge: “Death rather than sin!” That is the attitude of a true Soldier for Christ.
The Bloody Prophets
Jeanne le Royer (18th century), was a Sister of the Nativity. Jeanne was born in 1731 and became a nun in 1755. Being illiterate, she dictated her revelations to her spiritual directors.
“I had a vision: Before the Father and the Son … The wounds of Our Lord seemed alive. Leaning on the Cross with one hand, He offered to His Father with the other hand the chalice … I noticed that the chalice was only half-filled with blood, and I heard these words spoken by the Savior at the moment of presentation: ‘I shall not be fully satisfied until I am able to fill it right up to the brim.’ I understood then that the contents of the chalice represented the blood of the early martyrs, and that this vision had reference to the last persecutions of the Christians, whose blood would fill the chalice, thereby completing the number of martyrs and predestined. For at the end of time, there will be as many martyrs as in the early Church, and even more, for the persecutions will be far more violent.”
The Nursing Nun of Bellay (19th century). This prophecy was written sometime between 1810 and 1830 and was entrusted to Fr. Fulgence, the Chaplain of the Trappist Monastery of Notre-Dame des Gardes, near Angers.
“Once again the madmen seem to gain the upper hand! They laugh God to scorn. Now, the churches are closed; the pastors run away; the Holy Sacrifice ceases. The wicked try to destroy everything … The just and the wicked fall … Blood was flowing like water after a heavy rain. The wicked were trying to slaughter all the servants of the Religion of Jesus Christ. After they had killed a large number, they raised a cry of victory, but suddenly the just received help from above. A saint raises his arms to Heaven; he allays the wrath of God. He ascends the throne of Peter.”
The Ecstatic of Tours (19th century) was a nun living in Tours, in France. In the year 1882, using a nom-de-plume (pen-name), her spiritual director published her revelations in a book called La Veille de la Victoire du Christ (On the Eve of the Victory of Christ). The following excerpts come from the prophecies made in 1872 and 1873. They chiefly seem to concern France, but that is just one piece of the terrible onslaught of evil that will rock the world.
“Before the war breaks out again, food will be scarce and expensive ... Then, when everyone least expects it, the great happenings will begin. Revolution will break out … Wholesale slaughter will take place. This revolution will last only a few months, but it will be frightful! Blood will flow everywhere because the malice of the wicked will reach its highest pitch. Victims will be innumerable. Paris will look like a slaughter-house. Persecutions against the Church will be even greater, but it will not last long. All churches will be closed … Priests will have to go into hiding. The wicked will try to obliterate everything religious, but they will not have enough time. Many bishops and priests will be put to death … Many priests will have their throats cut, because they will not have time to find a hiding place. The wicked will be the masters for one year and a few months.”
Sister Rosa Asdenti Di Taggia (19th century): “A great revolution shall spread over all of Europe, and not only religious communities, but also good lay Catholics shall have their properties confiscated. A lawless democratic spirit of disorder shall reign supreme. There shall be great confusion of people against people … Some bishops shall fall from the Faith, but many more will remain steadfast and suffer much for the Church. Priests and religious shall be butchered, and the Earth shall be soaked with their blood.”
The Bloody Tragedy Leads to a Bloody Triump
Such a tragedy would not be permitted by Christ, except as a punishment for the Church’s sins. As long as the Church remains sound, the world is comparatively safe. But let the Church be subverted, and the whole world will be plunged into a bloodbath. In the 15th century, the Church’s great sin was immorality, but Faith was alive. Then, in the 16th century came the Reformation with its attack on the Faith, and the wars of religion. However, these attacks were mainly from outside the Church from renegade Catholics. Today, however, the Church’s sin is even greater, because the Church has combined immorality with infidelity. Sins of the flesh with sins against the Faith. The punishment needs to be commensurate or proportionate to the crime.
We have to get out of our hypnotic state that imagines that life is meant to be enjoyed and we are here to have fun—each in his or her own way! “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12), for “the life of man upon Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1) and this fight is not a virtual fight; it is not a fight in the imagination; nor a fight that existed in the past but no longer today; nor a fight that some but not all are involved in—it is a perennial fight, a universal fight, an apocalyptic fight! Your salvation rests upon whether or not you fight, whether or not you compromise, whether or not you surrender to the enemy. Our Lady of Akita warns against passivity and compromise, saying: “The Church will be full of those who accept compromises!”
Our Lord is angered by our half-heartedness, as shown by these words, spoken to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres of Quito, Ecuador (to whom Our Lady of Good Success also appeared): “If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small inveterate imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me! ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
Ours is a bloody future, yet the solution is a Bloody solution—the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. That solution is mainly found in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It reminds us of the one of the two pillars that St. John Bosco say in his famous vision of the Triumph of the Church and Two Pillars. Use that Precious Blood! Go to more Masses—MANY more Masses! Pray to the Precious Blood and offer the Precious Blood as a remedy against this sinful world. Let that Precious Blood enlarge your spiritual arteries and wash away the plaque of worldliness. Yet you must really want this to happen before Christ will make it happen. We must truly beg for this before He will grant this. Half-heartedness has no place in the Heart of Jesus, nor in the heart of a true Christian. We are in the mess that we are in because of half-heartedness.
Our Lady, in her modern day apparitions that refer to the time in which we are now living, speaks of the inevitability of martyrdom: “The end of the 19th century and especially in the 20th century, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... During this epoch the Church will find herself attacked by terrible assaults from the Masonic sect … These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government, will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities … All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism and vice of all kinds. They will abolish civil rights, as well as ecclesiastical rights. All order and all justice will be trampled underfoot and only homicides, hate, jealousy, lies and dissension will be seen, without love for country or family …
“The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! … The Church will yield to large persecution, a time of darkness and the Church will witness a frightful crisis ... Churches will be locked up or desecrated … and altars sacked … The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God … The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way … Priests and religious orders will be hunted down, and made to die a cruel death … Men will kill each other, massacre each other, even in their homes … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling. Nothing will be seen but murder, nothing will be heard but the clash of weapons and blasphemy ... Blood will flow on all sides ... The righteous will suffer greatly … Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated ... The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many of them will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings, and those who sacrifice themselves for the Church and their country will be counted as martyrs … At the blood, the tears and prayers of the righteous, God will relent!
Numbers Decrease―But They Will Increase
As the fifth century (the 400s) came to a close, it had been 16 generations since the Ascension of Our Lord into Heaven. Some scholars estimate that the world, at the end of the 4th century and at the start of the Middle Ages, was 20% (1 out 5) Christian and 30% (3 out of 10) under evangelization or evangelized. Holy Scripture had been translated into 13 languages. The total martyrs since AD 33 was estimated at being 2,102,000 or 2.1 million that is 1% (1 out of 100) of all Christians since the Church began, which translates into 4,400 martyrdoms per year.
By 600, there had been 19 generations since Christ and the Western world was still about 20% Christian, with around 33% evangelized, and Holy Scripture translated into 14 languages. The total martyrs since the Church began was estimated at 2,197,000 (about 0.5%, or 1 in 200 of all Christians who ever lived), which comes to around 3,800 martrydoms each year since the time of Christ.
By the year 700, or 22 generations after Christ, the Western world is still around 20% Christian. The Church had
evangelized approximately 29% of the known world. The total number of martyrs since Christ was estimated to be 2,423,000 (about 0.5%, or 1 in 200 of all Christians who ever lived) which translated to an average of 2,300 per year since the time of Christ. As time went on, and more and more of the Western world was evangelized and baptized, the numbers of martyrs decreased.
This shedding of blood, is especially and increasingly likely today, since we are living in the most heroic age of martyrs in the history of Christianity. Countless millions of Christians who believe in the Precious Blood are proving their love for Him by their sufferings. Many, over the last 120 years, have shed and are shedding their blood physically. What a privilege! Yes, what a privilege if we were called to shed our blood physically in the Name of, and out of love for Christ!
We may well be called, some time in the future, to the grace of martyrdom. But even if it is not God’s Will that we shed our blood for Christ, to manifest our love for Him physically, let us make sure, absolutely sure, that we let no opportunity go by without shedding our blood spiritually. And that, my friends, no matter what our state of life, no matter what our vocation may be, if we are Christians, we are meant to shed our blood!
Washed Clean by Blood
“I saw a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne, and in sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hand … And one of the ancients answered, and said to me: ‘These that are clothed in white robes, who are they? And whence came they?’ And I said to him: ‘My Lord, thou knowest!’ And he said to me: ‘These are they who are come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb!’” (Apocalypse 7:9, 13-14).
“For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin!” (Hebrews 12:4). The Catechism tells us that sin is the greatest evil in the world—even “itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny” venial sins! That is why St. Dominic Savio took, as one of his four resolutions at the time of his First Holy Communion, the resolution to avoid sin—he wrote down on paper the pledge: “Death rather than sin!” That is the attitude of a true Soldier for Christ.
The Bloody Prophets
Jeanne le Royer (18th century), was a Sister of the Nativity. Jeanne was born in 1731 and became a nun in 1755. Being illiterate, she dictated her revelations to her spiritual directors.
“I had a vision: Before the Father and the Son … The wounds of Our Lord seemed alive. Leaning on the Cross with one hand, He offered to His Father with the other hand the chalice … I noticed that the chalice was only half-filled with blood, and I heard these words spoken by the Savior at the moment of presentation: ‘I shall not be fully satisfied until I am able to fill it right up to the brim.’ I understood then that the contents of the chalice represented the blood of the early martyrs, and that this vision had reference to the last persecutions of the Christians, whose blood would fill the chalice, thereby completing the number of martyrs and predestined. For at the end of time, there will be as many martyrs as in the early Church, and even more, for the persecutions will be far more violent.”
The Nursing Nun of Bellay (19th century). This prophecy was written sometime between 1810 and 1830 and was entrusted to Fr. Fulgence, the Chaplain of the Trappist Monastery of Notre-Dame des Gardes, near Angers.
“Once again the madmen seem to gain the upper hand! They laugh God to scorn. Now, the churches are closed; the pastors run away; the Holy Sacrifice ceases. The wicked try to destroy everything … The just and the wicked fall … Blood was flowing like water after a heavy rain. The wicked were trying to slaughter all the servants of the Religion of Jesus Christ. After they had killed a large number, they raised a cry of victory, but suddenly the just received help from above. A saint raises his arms to Heaven; he allays the wrath of God. He ascends the throne of Peter.”
The Ecstatic of Tours (19th century) was a nun living in Tours, in France. In the year 1882, using a nom-de-plume (pen-name), her spiritual director published her revelations in a book called La Veille de la Victoire du Christ (On the Eve of the Victory of Christ). The following excerpts come from the prophecies made in 1872 and 1873. They chiefly seem to concern France, but that is just one piece of the terrible onslaught of evil that will rock the world.
“Before the war breaks out again, food will be scarce and expensive ... Then, when everyone least expects it, the great happenings will begin. Revolution will break out … Wholesale slaughter will take place. This revolution will last only a few months, but it will be frightful! Blood will flow everywhere because the malice of the wicked will reach its highest pitch. Victims will be innumerable. Paris will look like a slaughter-house. Persecutions against the Church will be even greater, but it will not last long. All churches will be closed … Priests will have to go into hiding. The wicked will try to obliterate everything religious, but they will not have enough time. Many bishops and priests will be put to death … Many priests will have their throats cut, because they will not have time to find a hiding place. The wicked will be the masters for one year and a few months.”
Sister Rosa Asdenti Di Taggia (19th century): “A great revolution shall spread over all of Europe, and not only religious communities, but also good lay Catholics shall have their properties confiscated. A lawless democratic spirit of disorder shall reign supreme. There shall be great confusion of people against people … Some bishops shall fall from the Faith, but many more will remain steadfast and suffer much for the Church. Priests and religious shall be butchered, and the Earth shall be soaked with their blood.”
The Bloody Tragedy Leads to a Bloody Triump
Such a tragedy would not be permitted by Christ, except as a punishment for the Church’s sins. As long as the Church remains sound, the world is comparatively safe. But let the Church be subverted, and the whole world will be plunged into a bloodbath. In the 15th century, the Church’s great sin was immorality, but Faith was alive. Then, in the 16th century came the Reformation with its attack on the Faith, and the wars of religion. However, these attacks were mainly from outside the Church from renegade Catholics. Today, however, the Church’s sin is even greater, because the Church has combined immorality with infidelity. Sins of the flesh with sins against the Faith. The punishment needs to be commensurate or proportionate to the crime.
We have to get out of our hypnotic state that imagines that life is meant to be enjoyed and we are here to have fun—each in his or her own way! “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called” (1 Timothy 6:12), for “the life of man upon Earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1) and this fight is not a virtual fight; it is not a fight in the imagination; nor a fight that existed in the past but no longer today; nor a fight that some but not all are involved in—it is a perennial fight, a universal fight, an apocalyptic fight! Your salvation rests upon whether or not you fight, whether or not you compromise, whether or not you surrender to the enemy. Our Lady of Akita warns against passivity and compromise, saying: “The Church will be full of those who accept compromises!”
Our Lord is angered by our half-heartedness, as shown by these words, spoken to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres of Quito, Ecuador (to whom Our Lady of Good Success also appeared): “If men would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small inveterate imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me! ... But I will not tolerate this! Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing! — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!”
Ours is a bloody future, yet the solution is a Bloody solution—the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. That solution is mainly found in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It reminds us of the one of the two pillars that St. John Bosco say in his famous vision of the Triumph of the Church and Two Pillars. Use that Precious Blood! Go to more Masses—MANY more Masses! Pray to the Precious Blood and offer the Precious Blood as a remedy against this sinful world. Let that Precious Blood enlarge your spiritual arteries and wash away the plaque of worldliness. Yet you must really want this to happen before Christ will make it happen. We must truly beg for this before He will grant this. Half-heartedness has no place in the Heart of Jesus, nor in the heart of a true Christian. We are in the mess that we are in because of half-heartedness.
Article 30
The Age of Martyrdom
The Age of Martyrdom
Our Age Is ‘THE’ Age
Our Lord said that without Him, we could do nothing (John 15:5). Without the Precious Blood of Christ we can never be martyrs in this Age of Martyrdom. What are we saying? We are saying that the present time (20th and 21st centuries) is the Age of Martyrs par excellence. Ours is THE Age of Martyrs.
We are inclined to think that martyrs are those ancient men and women in the first centuries of the Church whom we commemorate by name in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, when we say, “We honor the apostles and martyrs,” and then name after the apostles, “Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius, Cyprian, Lawrence, Chrysogonus, John and Paul, Cosmas and Damian.”
Unless we pinch ourselves and make ourselves wake up to reality, we imagine martyrs to be commonly associated with the distant history of the Church, and certainly not with our own times. What a miscalculation!
Just the Facts, Ma’am! Just the Facts!
A conservative estimate places the total number of martyrs, who died for Christ up to the liberation edict of Constantine in 313 AD, at around 100,000. We call that period of ‘massive’ persecution the Age of Martyrs. Yet, the number of Christians who have died for their faith since 1900 is several million. In the Sudan alone, during the 1950s, over two million Catholics were starved to death by the Muslims, because they refused to deny that Mary is the Mother of God since her Son is the Ibn Allah, the Son of God. There have been more Christian martyrs, since 1900, than in all of the preceding centuries from Calvary to 1900 put together.
The Greatest Proof
The Church considers martyrdom as an exceptional gift and as the fullest proof of love. By martyrdom a disciple is transformed into an image of his Master, by freely accepting death for the salvation of the world, as well as his conformity to Christ in the shedding of his blood. Although few persons, relatively speaking, are presented such an opportunity, nevertheless all must be prepared to confess Christ before men. “Everyone therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33). They must be prepared to make this profession of Faith even in the midst of persecutions, which will never be lacking to the Church, in following the way of the cross.
Greatest Sufferings in the Last Days
However, just as the principal sufferings came to Christ towards the end of His life, so too will the principal sufferings come to the Mystical Body of Christ towards the end of time. Ominously, Sr. Lucia of Fatima says: “The Most Holy Virgin has made me understand that we are in the last times of the world. She has told me that the devil is about to wage a decisive battle with the Virgin, and a decisive battle is a final battle, in which one side wins, the other side loses. Also, starting with the present time, we belong either to God or we belong to the demon; there is no middle ground” (Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, 1957).
Therefore, it is hardly surprising that Our Lady speaks of tremendous persecutions, calamities, upheavals, catastrophes and chastisements for our times. “The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings and those who sacrifice themselves for the Church and their country will be counted as martyrs” (Our Lady of Good Success) … “The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer” (Fatima) … “
The End and the Means to the End
When God gives anyone a task, He also gives them the means to be able to accomplish it. If God asks for martyrdom, He will give the grace to be able to go through with it. Yet, God will not give us that grace until we need it. It is good for our humility and spirituality to be not just a little scared, but very scared—it makes us turn to God when we see that we have not the courage for this; it makes us pray harder; it makes us realize the price of sin and salvation.
If martyrdom is the end of many, then Our Lady is means for all. “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you” (Our Lady of Fatima, 1917). “The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by My Son. Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved … I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger” (Our Lady of Akita, 1973).
Already, centuries before, the Blessed Virgin revealed to St. Bridget: “I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the gate of entrance for sinners to God; neither is there living on earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion; for everyone, if he receives nothing else through my intercession, receives the grace of being less tempted by evil spirits than he otherwise would be. No one, therefore, who is not entirely accursed [by which is meant the final and irrevocable malediction pronounced against the damned], is so entirely cast-off by God, that he may not return and enjoy His mercy, if he invokes my aid. I am called by all the Mother of Mercy, and truly the mercy of God towards men has made me so merciful towards them.” And then she concluded by saying: “Therefore, he shall be miserable, and forever miserable in another life, who in this life, being able to do so, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners.”
Our Lord said that without Him, we could do nothing (John 15:5). Without the Precious Blood of Christ we can never be martyrs in this Age of Martyrdom. What are we saying? We are saying that the present time (20th and 21st centuries) is the Age of Martyrs par excellence. Ours is THE Age of Martyrs.
We are inclined to think that martyrs are those ancient men and women in the first centuries of the Church whom we commemorate by name in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, when we say, “We honor the apostles and martyrs,” and then name after the apostles, “Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius, Cyprian, Lawrence, Chrysogonus, John and Paul, Cosmas and Damian.”
Unless we pinch ourselves and make ourselves wake up to reality, we imagine martyrs to be commonly associated with the distant history of the Church, and certainly not with our own times. What a miscalculation!
Just the Facts, Ma’am! Just the Facts!
A conservative estimate places the total number of martyrs, who died for Christ up to the liberation edict of Constantine in 313 AD, at around 100,000. We call that period of ‘massive’ persecution the Age of Martyrs. Yet, the number of Christians who have died for their faith since 1900 is several million. In the Sudan alone, during the 1950s, over two million Catholics were starved to death by the Muslims, because they refused to deny that Mary is the Mother of God since her Son is the Ibn Allah, the Son of God. There have been more Christian martyrs, since 1900, than in all of the preceding centuries from Calvary to 1900 put together.
The Greatest Proof
The Church considers martyrdom as an exceptional gift and as the fullest proof of love. By martyrdom a disciple is transformed into an image of his Master, by freely accepting death for the salvation of the world, as well as his conformity to Christ in the shedding of his blood. Although few persons, relatively speaking, are presented such an opportunity, nevertheless all must be prepared to confess Christ before men. “Everyone therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33). They must be prepared to make this profession of Faith even in the midst of persecutions, which will never be lacking to the Church, in following the way of the cross.
Greatest Sufferings in the Last Days
However, just as the principal sufferings came to Christ towards the end of His life, so too will the principal sufferings come to the Mystical Body of Christ towards the end of time. Ominously, Sr. Lucia of Fatima says: “The Most Holy Virgin has made me understand that we are in the last times of the world. She has told me that the devil is about to wage a decisive battle with the Virgin, and a decisive battle is a final battle, in which one side wins, the other side loses. Also, starting with the present time, we belong either to God or we belong to the demon; there is no middle ground” (Lucia to Fr. Fuentes, 1957).
Therefore, it is hardly surprising that Our Lady speaks of tremendous persecutions, calamities, upheavals, catastrophes and chastisements for our times. “The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of the Faith and practice virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings and those who sacrifice themselves for the Church and their country will be counted as martyrs” (Our Lady of Good Success) … “The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer” (Fatima) … “
The End and the Means to the End
When God gives anyone a task, He also gives them the means to be able to accomplish it. If God asks for martyrdom, He will give the grace to be able to go through with it. Yet, God will not give us that grace until we need it. It is good for our humility and spirituality to be not just a little scared, but very scared—it makes us turn to God when we see that we have not the courage for this; it makes us pray harder; it makes us realize the price of sin and salvation.
If martyrdom is the end of many, then Our Lady is means for all. “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you” (Our Lady of Fatima, 1917). “The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by My Son. Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved … I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger” (Our Lady of Akita, 1973).
Already, centuries before, the Blessed Virgin revealed to St. Bridget: “I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the gate of entrance for sinners to God; neither is there living on earth a sinner who is so accursed that he is deprived of my compassion; for everyone, if he receives nothing else through my intercession, receives the grace of being less tempted by evil spirits than he otherwise would be. No one, therefore, who is not entirely accursed [by which is meant the final and irrevocable malediction pronounced against the damned], is so entirely cast-off by God, that he may not return and enjoy His mercy, if he invokes my aid. I am called by all the Mother of Mercy, and truly the mercy of God towards men has made me so merciful towards them.” And then she concluded by saying: “Therefore, he shall be miserable, and forever miserable in another life, who in this life, being able to do so, does not have recourse to me, who am so compassionate to all, and so earnestly desire to aid sinners.”
Article 31
The Queen of Martyrs
The Queen of Martyrs
A consoling thought is that the Precious Blood of Christ came from the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary. It was what Our Lady furnished on her part at the moment of the Incarnation, as we read in The Mystical City of God, by the Venerable Mary of Agreda: “Having conferred with herself and with the heavenly messenger Gabriel, about the grandeur of these high and divine mysteries, her purest soul was absorbed and elevated in admiration, reverence and highest intensity of divine love. By the intensity of these movements and supernal affections, her most pure heart, as it were by natural consequence, was contracted and compressed with such force, that it distilled three drops of her most pure blood, and these, finding their way to the natural place for the act of conception, were formed by the power of the divine and Holy Spirit, into the body of Christ our Lord. Thus the matter, from which the most holy humanity of the Word for our Redemption is composed, was furnished and administered by the most pure heart of Mary and through the sheer force of her true love. At the same moment, with a humility never sufficiently to be extolled, inclining slightly her head and joining her hands, she pronounced these words, which were the beginning of our salvation: ‘Be it done unto me according to thy word’ (Luke 1:31). At the pronouncing of this ‘fiat’― so sweet to the hearing of God and so fortunate for us―in one instant, four things happened. First, the most holy Body of Christ our Lord was formed from the three drops of blood furnished by the heart of most holy Mary” (Venerable Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God).
Mary is styled Queen of Martyrs, though she was not, as they were, deprived of her life by violence; yet who could dispute her right to the title? Love is strong as death, and we know that to those who love no anguish is greater than that of seeing one dearer to them than life itself in grief and suffering. How often have we heard the cry wrung from a devoted, unselfish heart under such circumstances: “If it were myself, I should not mind: it would be far easier to bear it myself,” and we know that in very truth it would be so.
And who has ever loved as Mary loved Jesus? Not only was He her Child, her precious, peerless Son, but He was her very God. Judge then what His sufferings must have been to her great heart. To see His love despised, His teaching set at naught, to hear His name reviled, and witness the violence done to His sacred Person, what must have all this been to Mary? Truly the sword reached to her very soul, and well might she exclaim: “Is there any sorrow like unto mine?” “My sorrow is above all sorrow, my heart mourneth within me.”
“Deliver, O Lord, my soul from the sword; my only one from the hand of the dog” (Psalm 21). “O my Son, my Son, who would grant me that I might die for Thee?” (2 Kings 18).
How was it that her heart broke not beneath the strain? It was because she had more work to do on earth. She had to live on and suffer more, for the sake of the infant Church, for the sake of the countless children of whom she had become the mother during those three dark hours on Calvary, many of whom by their ingratitude and reckless waste of the graces won for them by the Precious Blood of her Son, would pierce her heart with a thousand darts, thus giving her more and more right to the title of Queen of Martyrs.
Thus, in a sense, Our Lady gave her blood for Christ at the start of His life on Earth. She also mystically shed her blood in a bloodless martyrdom during the Passion of Death of Christ. She will also be there at our martyrdom—whether it be bloody or bloodless; quick or drawn-out.
Mary is styled Queen of Martyrs, though she was not, as they were, deprived of her life by violence; yet who could dispute her right to the title? Love is strong as death, and we know that to those who love no anguish is greater than that of seeing one dearer to them than life itself in grief and suffering. How often have we heard the cry wrung from a devoted, unselfish heart under such circumstances: “If it were myself, I should not mind: it would be far easier to bear it myself,” and we know that in very truth it would be so.
And who has ever loved as Mary loved Jesus? Not only was He her Child, her precious, peerless Son, but He was her very God. Judge then what His sufferings must have been to her great heart. To see His love despised, His teaching set at naught, to hear His name reviled, and witness the violence done to His sacred Person, what must have all this been to Mary? Truly the sword reached to her very soul, and well might she exclaim: “Is there any sorrow like unto mine?” “My sorrow is above all sorrow, my heart mourneth within me.”
“Deliver, O Lord, my soul from the sword; my only one from the hand of the dog” (Psalm 21). “O my Son, my Son, who would grant me that I might die for Thee?” (2 Kings 18).
How was it that her heart broke not beneath the strain? It was because she had more work to do on earth. She had to live on and suffer more, for the sake of the infant Church, for the sake of the countless children of whom she had become the mother during those three dark hours on Calvary, many of whom by their ingratitude and reckless waste of the graces won for them by the Precious Blood of her Son, would pierce her heart with a thousand darts, thus giving her more and more right to the title of Queen of Martyrs.
Thus, in a sense, Our Lady gave her blood for Christ at the start of His life on Earth. She also mystically shed her blood in a bloodless martyrdom during the Passion of Death of Christ. She will also be there at our martyrdom—whether it be bloody or bloodless; quick or drawn-out.