Blood nourishes our life; the Blood of Christ redeems our souls forever.

Blood nourishes our life; the Blood of Christ redeems our souls.

Without the blood that sours throughout our bodies we would die.  Had Christ not given himself over with his Blood to evil men we would still be in our sins.  There has always been a quest to speak of the Blood of Christ and its redeeming quality for sin and the one attribute that we are saved through.   However, like any spiritual emphasis we hear about this Sacred Blood, which is human and divine, there must be a consensus from our finite minds to really understand the total equality that we receive when calling down the Blood of Christ on our weaknesses. 

If you watch the “Passion of the Christ” movie you’ll notice Jesus’ mother wiping up the spilled blood her son lost during the scourging at the pillar.  The emphasis that the producer, Mel Gibson, added to this horrifying scene showed how much any of us would miss by just reading a verse or two regarding this part of his torture, before the Crucifixion. 

Pilate addressed them a third time, “What evil has this man done?”  Therefore I will have him flogged and then release him.”  (Lk 32: 22).  Then he released Barabbas to them, but after he had Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified.  (Mt 27: 26).  Only in John’s Gospel do we find the most pronouncement of the Blood when we read, “So the soldier came and broke the legs of the first and then the other one who was crucified with Jesus.  But when he came to Jesus and saw he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust a lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out.”   (Jn 19: 32  34).  

We are told the blood is the Eucharist and water is our baptism, both Sacraments of the Church and this becomes the theological premise of the completion of his Passion, when he said “It is Finished.”  (Jn 19: 30).

To this day the understanding of the Real Presence of Christ is found in the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ in every morsel of the consecrated host and every drop of his Blood that never diminishes.  That is why when we call down the Blood of Christ on our every need it is the very same element that poured out through the soldier's lance.

It is not possible to exclude the human as well as the theological beliefs from the reality of the permanence of Christ from the day on the Cross to the very instant we consume the living Son of God into our humanity as his children.  

Listening to many ministers regarding the Passion of Christ leaves one important truth about his death: the Real Presence of Christ lives on in the Eucharist and is our saving grace when we believe through our faith.  Believing in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist is no longer a remembrance; it is the truth that we must hold onto as Catholics.  

Ralph B.Hathaway