Month of the Precious Blood (July 28)
July 28, 2026
Day 28
A reading from the Book of Revelation
Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the elders; they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, singing with full voice,
‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honour and glory and blessing!’
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing,
‘To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honour and glory and might
for ever and ever!’
And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’ And the elders fell down and worshipped. (Revelation 5:11-14)
‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honour and glory and blessing!’
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing,
‘To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honour and glory and might
for ever and ever!’
And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’ And the elders fell down and worshipped. (Revelation 5:11-14)
RESPONSORY
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing!” – for ever and ever.
“To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honour and glory and might -- for ever and ever!’
From the “Treatise on the Love of God” by St. Francis de Sales (+1622)
Nothing so much wounds a loving heart as to perceive another wounded with the love of it. The pelican builds her nest upon the ground, wherefore serpents often sting her young ones. Now when this happens, the pelican, as an excellent physician, with the point of her beak wounds these poor chicks all over, to cause the poison which the serpents’ sting had spread through all the parts of their bodies to flow out with the blood; and to get out all the poison she lets out all the blood, and thus consequently, permits this little pelican-brood to perish. But seeing them dead she wounds herself, and spreading her blood over them she vivifies them with a new and purer life. Her love wounded them, and forthwith by the same love she wounds herself. Never do we wound a heart with the wound of love but we ourselves are wounded with the same. When the soul sees her God wounded by love for her sake, she immediately receives from it a reciprocal wound. Thou hast wounded my heart, said the heavenly lover to the Sulamitess, and the Sulamitess cries out: Tell my beloved that I languish with love. Bees never wound without being themselves wounded to death. And we, seeing the Saviour of our souls wounded to death by love of us, even to the death of the cross,—how can we but be wounded for him, but wounded with a wound as much more dolorously amorous as his was amorously dolorous, and a wound as great as is our inability to love him as much as his love and death require?....
Our Saviour has bred us up from our tender youth, yea he formed us and received us as a loving nurse into the arms of his divine Providence, even from the instant of our conception. Not being yet, thy holy hand did make me; Scarce born, into thy arms thy love did take me. He made us his own by Baptism, and tenderly nourishes both our soul and our body with an incomprehensible love; to purchase us life he suffered death, he has fed us with his own flesh and blood. Ah! what remains then, my dear Theotimus, what conclusion are we to draw from this except that those who live should live no more to themselves but to him that died for them: that is to say, that we should consecrate all the moments of our life to the divine love of our Saviour’s death, bringing home to his glory all our prey, all our conquests, all our actions, all our thoughts, and all our affections. Let us behold him, Theotimus, this heavenly Redeemer, extended upon the cross as upon a funeral pile of honour, where he dies of love for us, yea of a love more dolorous than death itself, or a death more amorous than love itself. Ah! why do we not spiritually cast ourselves upon him to die upon the cross with him, who has truly willed to die for love of us? I will hold him, should we say, if we had the eagle’s generosity, and will never depart from him. I will die with him and burn in the flames of his love, one and the same fire shall consume this divine Creator and his poor creature. My Jesus is wholly mine, and I am wholly his: I will live and die upon his breast, nor life nor death shall ever separate me from him. Thus then is made the holy ecstasy of true love, when, we live not according to human reason and inclinations, but above them, following the inspirations and instincts of the divine Saviour of our souls.
Musical Selection
Dignus es, Dómine, accípere librum et aperíre signácula eius, quóniam occísus es et redemísti nos Deo. *In sánguine tuo. V. Fecísti enim nos Deo nostro regnum et sacerdótes. *In sánguine tuo.
You are worthy, Lord, to receive the book and open its seals, since you were slain and redeemed us for God. *By your blood. V. For you have made us a kingdom and priests for our God. *By your blood.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ4bnJpTNLE&list=OLAK5uy_nGRKUDAoTfSjS5hEbS9FaKffxhS-BGGoA&index=14
Collect
Omnipotent God,
your glory is incomprehensible,
your majesty infinite,
and your power incomparable.
Found us on the certainty of your promises,
that no matter what happens,
we may be firm in faith
and live uprightly in your church,
bought by the blood of Jesus Christ. Amen. (Book of Common Worship)