Precious Blood Gems (February)
February 01, 2023
Fr. John Colacino C.PP.S.
Feb 1. The Word of God took upon himself our humanity in the Incarnation and has cleansed it through his precious blood. He has brought our humanity to the Heavenly Father and made it part of the Heavenly Father’s house and kingdom through the Ascension. The work of salvation, we are told, has been accomplished substantially! Everything essential has been secured already! Cardinal Jean Danielou
 
Feb 2. All of us who have this day received the Body and Blood of Christ in his holy and blessed sacrament have had an Epiphany and another Christmas, another manifestation and application of Christ to ourselves.  John Donne
 
Feb 3  True communion cannot be manifested or expressed without blood. That’s why I believe Christ, the model for Christians, had to seal his fidelity to our God with blood. And all those who wish to be faithful followers of Christ and of God must also authenticate their following under the seal of blood.  St. Oscar Romero
 
Feb 4  We wish nothing else except Jesus’ glory and the  salvation of souls which cost his Blood; and therefore, let us hope firmly, for all our confidence lies in the merits of the Divine Redeemer who looks upon his spouse, the Holy Church, with tender love.  St. Maria de Mattias
 
Feb 5
 
Let the motherly body of the Church
rejoice;
in celestial song
her children
are gathered into her bosom.
And by that, shameful serpent,
you are confounded,
for those your jealousy
held in its body
now shine in the blood of the son of God.
Praise therefore be to you,
King most high.
Alleluia.  St. Hildegard of Bingen
 
Feb 6. As the people and the temple were once 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
 
Feb 7  From the moment  when Jesus paid the price of our salvation with His Blood we entered into the rights of the heavenly inheritance. Bl. Columba Marmion
 
Feb 8  We ought to rejoice beyond measure. We are not only God’s but God bought us at a price greater than was ever before spent to buy a person’s freedom. We are purchased with the Lord’s own blood. St. Paulinus of Nola
 
Feb 9. The law by its shadows prefigured from of old the mystery of Christ: and of this He is Himself the witness where He said to the Jews, "If you had believed Moses, you would have believed also Me: for he wrote concerning Me." For everywhere He is set forth, by means of shadows and types, both as slain for us, as the Lamb without blame and true; and as sanctifying us by His life-giving blood. St. Cyril of Alexandria
 
Feb 10  O Lord, inebriate me so thoroughly with Your love that, if anything else but You presents itself to my sight or taste, to my hearing or any other sense, I shall consider it as nothing, so much so that I shall not take my delight, nor my glory, nor my rest except in Your Precious Blood, toward which I desire to be completely turned.  St. Bonaventure
 
Feb 11. Mary has this in common with all the faithful: that Jesus gives her his blood; she has this all her own: that he first received it from her. She has this in common with us: that this blood was poured out upon her for her sanctification; but she has this as her own: that she was its source. We can even 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.  Bishop Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
 
Feb 12  The blood of Christ is the pledge of the faithful love of God for humanity. Looking upon the wounds of the Crucified, every person, even in conditions of extreme moral misery, can say: God has not abandoned me, he loves me, he gave his life for me -- and in this way rediscover hope. May the Virgin Mary, who beneath the Cross, together with the apostle John, witnessed the testament of Jesus' Blood, help us to rediscover the inestimable riches of this grace, and to feel profound and perennial gratitude for it.  Pope Benedict XVI
 
Feb 13  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
 
Feb 14  O my Redeemer, all Your pains are my treasure and my wealth. You clothe me with Your purple, You honor me with Your crown, Your sorrows are a gift to me, Your grief sustains me, Your wounds heal me, Your Blood enriches me, Your love inebriates me. Ven. Louis of Granada
 
Feb 15.  It is not in your power to cancel your sins. That can be done only by God’s blood. To pay the penalty, there is need of an eternity—or the sufferings of Jesus Christ. Well, this Blood and these sufferings are in our own hands.  St. Claude la Colombiere
 
Feb 16. People are blind who fancy that they can trifle with the sacred passion of our Lord Jesus Christ with impunity, and with His precious blood. No, children, such cannot be the case. Johannes Tauler
 
Feb. 17  We must sacrifice ourselves to God, each day and in everything we do, accepting all that happens to us for the sake of the Word, imitating his passion by our sufferings, and honouring his blood by shedding our own. We must be ready to be crucified.  St. Gregory Nazianzen
 
Feb 18. It is through the blood of Christ that this whole Church is saved, in Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom belong glory and power for ever and ever. Amen. Origen of Alexandria 
 
Feb 19. The precious Blood of Christ is the only remedy which can open, not only our eyes, but also our heart, and make our soul understand the immensity of God’s goodness St. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi
 

Feb 20

To shame our sins He blushed in blood;
He closed His eyes to show us God;
Let all the world fall down and know
That none but God such love can show.  St. Bernard of Clairvaux
 
Feb 21 If you aren’t yet capable of dying for a brother or sister, at least let yourself be capable of sharing what you possess! Someone is hungry and in need. They may be racked with anxiety. They may be hard pressed by debts. If they have no money, do you? They are a brother or sister and you were both ransomed together and at the same price— purchased by the blood of Christ! See if you are capable of showing pity for them. You possess the world’s goods, after all.  St. Augustine of Hippo
 
Feb 22 (Ash Wednesday). It is enough for God to see us repentant; then every wound, even the most grievous and repugnant, is completely healed by the precious Blood of Jesus. Christ’s Blood is like an immense sea which has the power to cleanse and destroy the sins of all mankind, provided they are sincerely repented of.  Gabriel of Mary Magdalene
 
Feb 23. Each time we fix our gaze on the image of Christ crucified, let us contemplate that He, as the true Servant of the Lord, has accomplished His mission, giving life, spilling His blood for the pardoning of sins. And let us not allow ourselves to be drawn to the other side, by the temptation of the Evil One. As a result, if we want to be his disciples, we are called to imitate him, expending our life unreservedly out of love of God and neighbor.  Pope Francis
 
Feb 24. We must commit ourselves to derive and reflect the most vivid image of that Divine Charity with which Christ’s Blood was shed and of which that same Divine Blood was, and is a sign, an expression, a measure, and a pledge. Therefore, we always perceive in the Blood of Jesus not only the proof of His greatest Love, but also the Supreme and indisputable manifestation of the love that the Father has for humanity. St. Thomas Mary Fusco
 
Feb 25. Israel kept the symbolic Passover by night: we celebrate the true Passover by the light of day. They kept it in the evening of the day: we keep it in the evening of the world. Then the doorposts and lintels were sprinkled with blood: now it is the hearts of the faithful that are sealed with the blood of Christ.  Epiphanius of Salamis
 
Feb 26. As the Lord never fails to support every creature in its needs, so he offers us the Red Sea, a symbol and type of the mysteries of his Precious Blood. It is in that Blood that we find provisions for our welfare.  St. Gaspar del Bufalo
 
Feb 27. There is not a single soul in whom Christ is not interested. Each soul has cost him the price of his Blood. St. Josemaria Escrvia
 
Feb 28. With the eye of faith, see in your neighbor, whoever he may be, the beautiful image of God, a soul redeemed by the Blood of the Savior and destined to inherit heavenly glory.  St. Joseph Sebastian Pelczar

 

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