December 1. Not only does Jesus look at us, he makes himself one of us; he 'takes delight in being with the children of men'; he watches over us and leads us in all our ways; he makes himself the least among us, suffers with us, for us and on behalf of us for thirty-three years, and dies through us and for us, bathing us and sanctifying all of us with his divine blood. How happy we are! (St. Charles de Foucauld)
December 2. Nature weeps and complains of the heavy burden it bears, but hereafter there will be joy in the Glory of God, when Jesus shall wipe away all tears, showing us how by His Precious Blood He bought us of His Father by paying the price of death. (Bl. John Ruysbroeck)
December 3. I am your advocate who has taken up your cause as my own. I am your guarantor who has come to pay your debts. I am your LORD who has redeemed you with my blood, not to abandon you, but to enrich you, having ransomed you at a great price. (St. Francis Xavier Bianchi)
December 4. As once the people and the temple were purified in blood and in burnt offerings, (Heb. 9.13) so now the Blood of Christ giving testimony under Pontius Pilate, (I Tim. 6.13) and being Himself the first fruits of the martyrs, the Church is built up on the blood of the saints. Then the signs and forms of lifeless animals figured forth the human tabernacle, the martyrs themselves whom they were preparing for God’s abode. (St. John Damascene)
December 5.Since our Saviour Christ died for us, and cleansed us not with the purifications of the Law but with His Own Blood, we too should offer to Him our own life and as a just debt pay that we live no more to ourselves, but repay as it were the complete consecration unto holiness of our own souls for that the Precious Blood and Death of Christ Who died for all, both saved us from all evil, and was the Giver of the spiritual circumcision, whereby we gain that we are joined to God Who is over all. (St. Cyril of Alexandria)
December 6. With his divine “fullness” but also by shedding his blood on the Cross, Christ “reconciles” and “makes peace” with all things, in heaven and on earth. (Pope St. John Paul II)
December 7. For them water flowed from the rock, for you Blood flowed from Christ; water satisfied them for a time, the Blood satiates you for eternity. (St. Ambrose of Milan)
December 8. We can say that Mary’s conception was the origin of the blood of Jesus. It is from this source that the stream began to flow, the stream of graces that flows in our veins by the sacraments and that brings the spirit of life to the whole body of the Church. As fountains lift their bubbling waters to the same height from which they have fallen, so the blood of the Savior will cause its power to be lifted up even to the conception of his Mother to honor the place from which it first flowed. (Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet)
December 9. Might it not be that all the blood spilled in vain has something to do, after all, with that ‘precious blood’ with which we have been bought and washed? (Hans. Urs von Balthasar)
December 10. With a saving patience, He who is benignant to preserve, closes His Church to none….What can be said more patient, what more merciful? Even he is made alive by Christ’s blood who has shed Christ’s blood. (St. Cyprian of Carthage)
December 11. Conquering and healing are also the two basic aspects of Christ’s chief work: his passing through death into life. From his pierced side water and blood flow into the chalice of the Church as a divine medicine to cure a sick world. (Damasus Winzen)
December 12. From the very beginning of thy life, from thy birth until thy death so hard, yes, and after death, thou didst pour out thy blood for me alone. Thou hast been at pains thus to demonstrate the ardour of thy supreme charity in the frequent outpourings of thy blood. O how manifold and beautiful has thy rose become with its many petals! Who can count them all? Count the drops of blood, shed from the most loving Jesus’ side and from his body, and you will have the number of passion roses and their petals of charity, for each drop of blood is a petal. (St. Bonaventure)
December 13. A Christian martyrdom is never an accident for saints are not made by accident. Still less is a Christian martyrdom the effect of a man's will to become a saint, as a man by willing and contriving may become a ruler of men. A martyrdom is always the design of God, for his love of men, to warn them and to lead them, to bring them back to his ways. We thank thee for thy mercies of blood, for thy redemption by blood, For the blood of thy martyrs and saints shall enrich the earth, shall create holy places. From such ground springs that which forever renews the earth. Though it is forever denied. (T .S. Eliot)
December 14. I must have a God who takes on my nature And becomes my brother and is able to suffer! You heard me, only Friend whom I love. To ravish my heart, you became man. You shed your blood, what a supreme mystery! And you still live for me on the Altar. (St. Thérèse of Lisieux)
December 15. Christ came down from heaven as our Divine physician; He knows all our weaknesses, sores, and ailments; He has studied our case most minutely, and through His own painful experience; He has made up for us sovereign remedies, in which His own Blood is the principal ingredient. (Nicholas Wiseman)
December 16. To deliver this heavenly kingdom from the hand of the enemy, The Son of God has come as Son of Man, He gave his blood as the price of deliverance. (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross/Edith Stein)
December 17. In the designs of divine Providence the Incarnation either prepares that fulness of time which heralds the coming of the year of redemption, or, from the cradle of Bethlehem, directs its steps towards the Valley of Josaphat, where the Babe of the Manger awaits the judgement to be pronounced on all the seed of Adam, redeemed by his precious blood. (Bl. Idelfonso Schuster)
December 18. The Son of God became man in order to restore all creation, in one supreme act of praise, to the One who made it from nothing. He, the Eternal High Priest who by the blood of his Cross entered the eternal sanctuary, thus gives back to the Creator and Father all creation redeemed. (Pope St. John Paul II)
December 19. Do you understand how Christ has united his bride to himself and what food he gives us all to eat? By one and the same food we are both brought into being and nourished. As a woman nourishes her child with her own blood and milk, so does Christ unceasingly nourish with his own blood those to whom he himself has given life. (St. John Chrysostom)
December 20. The innermost chamber of the human soul Is the Trinity’s favorite place to be, His heavenly throne on earth. To deliver this heavenly kingdom from the hand of the enemy, The Son of God has come as Son of Man, He gave his blood as the price of deliverance. In the heart of Jesus, which was pierced, The kingdom of heaven and the land of earth are bound together. Here is for us the source of life. (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross/Edith Stein)
December 21. Wash away, I beg you, these faults and stains with your precious blood, most kind Redeemer, and make up for my poverty by applying your merits. (St. Peter Canisius)
December 22. O how manifold and ineffable this communion! Christ became our brother, partaking of the same flesh and blood with us, and through them became like us. Through this blood he has redeemed us for himself as true servants. He has made us his friends by bestowing upon us the revelation of these mysteries. Through the partaking of this blood he has bound and betrothed us to himself as a bridegroom his bride, and become one flesh with us. (St. Gregory Palamas)
December 23. Prepare the earth for the day of light and let the soil bloom and bring forth fruit, heavenly cup of life-giving blood, ever sacrificed, never running dry all for the salvation and life of the souls in eternal rest. (St. Gregory of Narek)
December 24. Incomprehensible it is, and we can but adore, when we hear that the Almighty Being, of whom I have been speaking, "who inhabiteth eternity," has taken flesh and blood of a Virgin's veins, lain in a Virgin's womb, been suckled at a Virgin's breast, been obedient to human parents, {268} worked at a humble trade, been despised by His own, been buffeted and scourged by His creatures, been nailed hand and foot to a Cross, and has died a malefactor's death; and that now, under the form of Bread, He should lie upon our Altars, and suffer Himself to be hidden in a small tabernacle! (St. John Henry Newman)
December 25. May this divine Infant be pleased to bathe our hearts in His blood and to anoint them with His holy name, in order that the good desires which we conceive may be all purpled and perfumed therewith! (St. Francis de Sales)
December 26. [T]he blood that runs in the veins of men, the blood they shed for ‘the earthly cities,’ is the same blood that flows in the veins of the Babe in the Manger, the same that was poured out on the Cross.” The Christian sees himself in a veritable, a real eternity. (Charles Péguy)
December 27. If we walk in the light, as [God] is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (1 John 1: 7)
December 28. The Blood of the innocent Lamb will reconcile us with the eternal Father, and the holy fire of the love of God will thus purify our souls, which will become a burning furnace of charity. (Francesco Albertini)
December 29. With the light of your mind meditate on his wounds as he hangs on the cross, the wounds of him who rose again, the blood of the dying, the reward of the faithful, the ransom of the redeemer. Think how much these things are worth; weigh this in the balance of love. (Bl. Peter the Venerable)
December 30. On what principle did the Blood of His Only begotten Son delight the Father, Who would not receive even Isaac, when he was being offered by his Father, but changed the sacrifice, putting a ram in the place of the human victim? Is it not evident that the Father accepts Him, but neither asked for Him nor demanded Him; but on account of the Incarnation, and because Humanity must be sanctified by the Humanity of God. (St. Gregory Nazianzen)