Precious Blood Gems (October)
October 31, 2023
October 1. Jesus is “a Spouse of blood.” He wishes for Himself all the blood of our hearts. You are right—it costs us dear to give Him what He asks. But what a joy that it does cost! It is happiness to bear our crosses, and to feel our weakness in doing so. St. Therese of Lisieux
October 2
In fashion, as a snow-white rose, lay then
Before my view the saintly multitude,
Which in his own blood Christ espous'd. Meanwhile
That other host, that soar aloft to gaze
And celebrate his glory, whom they love,
Hover'd around; and, like a troop of bees,
Amid the vernal sweets alighting now,
Now, clustering, where their fragrant labour glows,
Flew downward to the mighty flow'r, or rose
From the redundant petals, streaming back
Unto the steadfast dwelling of their joy. Dante Alighieri
October 3. One single drop of blood from Jesus, the Man-God, would have been enough to save us, because everything in him has infinite value; but, among so many other reasons, he wanted his blood to be poured out to the last drop from the piercing of his Sacred Heart, to show us the extent of his love. And it is for us all that he shed his blood. Bl. Columba Marmio
October 4. It is no wonder if Francis, whose affectionate heart had made him kin unto all created things, was by the love of Christ drawn into yet closer kinship with such as were sealed with the likeness of their Creator, and redeemed by the Blood of their Maker. He esteemed himself no friend of Christ did he not cherish the souls that He had redeemed. St. Bonaventure
October 5. I sense keenly how Your divine Blood is circulating in my heart; I have not the least doubt that Your most pure love has entered my heart with Your most sacred Blood. St. Faustina Mary Kowalska
October 6. For all this great and marvelous dispensation towards us we will give thee thanks and praise thee without ceasing in thy Church redeemed by the precious blood of thy Christ, with unclosed mouths and open faces lifting up praise and honor and confession and worship to thy living and holy and life-giving name now and ever and world without end. Anaphora of Sts. Addai and Mari
October 7. I am content and happy in all my troubles. I think there is nothing in the whole world so welcome as the most bitter cross, when it is steeped in the blood of Christ crucified and in the milk of his holy Mother. St. Louis de Montfort
October 8. Nothing is so great as that the blood of this Son should be shed for us. Greater this than both the adoption, and all the other gifts of grace, that He spared not even the Son. For great indeed is the forgiveness of sins, yet this is the far greater thing, that it should be done by the Lord's blood. St. John Chrysostom
October 9 When Christ poured out His precious blood upon the Cross, it was not a man’s blood, though it belonged to His manhood, but blood full of power and virtue, instinct with life and grace, as issuing most mysteriously from Him who was the Creator of the world. St. John Henry Newman
October 10. What a little thing it is for us to offer our lives to Jesus, when Jesus died for us: the blood shed for Jesus is our glory and comfort. St. Daniel Comboni
October 11. We pray earnestly to Him who by His bitter passion and death washed away men's sins, which are the fountainhead of discord, misery and inequality; to Him who shed His blood to reconcile the human race to the heavenly Father, and bestowed the gifts of peace. Pope St. John XXIII
October 12. When I recalled the beauty of undefiled love, its light suddenly appeared in my heart. I was ravished with its sweetness and lost my senses; I lost all perception of this life and forgot all the things of this world. But then – I don’t know how – it departed from me and left me to lament my weakness….How fortunate are those who caress your beauty and delight in it with great desire, for their souls will be sanctified by the undefiled blood and water which issue from you. St. Symeon the New Theologian
October 13. The token of our salvation is twofold, namely, a twofold outpouring, of the Blood and of the Spirit, neither can profit without the other. For the Spirit is not given except to such as believe in the Crucified; and faith avails not unless it works by love. But love is the gift of the Spirit. St. Bernard of Clairvaux
October 14. O most precious Blood of eternal life, mercy and ransom of the entire universe, drink and bath of our Souls, which continuously protect the cause of humanity before the throne of the supreme Mercy, I adore you profoundly, and wish as much as is possible for me to compensate you for the injuries and mistreatment that you continually receive from human beings, and especially from those who boldly burn to blaspheme you. Francesco Alberttni
October 15. “Daughter, I want my blood to be beneficial to you, and don’t be afraid that My mercy will fail you.” St. Teresa of Avila
October 16. The thought that there could be a place in the universe in which, for all eternity, an infinite number of souls, redeemed with the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, would never love this amiable Redeemer, afflicts me deeply. St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
October 17. I desire the bread of God, the heavenly bread, the bread of life, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and I desire the drink of God, namely his blood, which is incorriptible love and eternal life. St. Ignatius of Antioch
October 18. May we all be liberated from all dangers, through the grace and mercy and benevolence towards mankind of the One, who redeemed us with the venerable blood from His life-giving side, and delivered us from the deceit of slavery, our Lord Jesus Christ, together with whom all reverence and glory, might and magnificence is due to the Father and the Holy and Life-giving Spirit, now and forever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. St. Andrew of Crete
October 19. It would be shameful that a martyr of Christ not be allowed to drink the Blood of Christ. Pope Urban VIII about St. Isaac Jogues
October 20. Oh my Love, what happened to Your heart in the Garden! Oh, what suffering; what shedding of blood! What bitter agony, and all for me! St. Paul of the Cross
October 21. Through the Cross we enjoy the abundance of those mystic waters, which symbolize the graces issuing from the merits of the divine Blood so as to be able to promote purity of life in. ourselves and in our neighbor. St. Gaspar del Bufalo
October 22 Christ's Blood is the precious source of salvation for the world precisely because it belongs to the Word who became flesh for our salvation. Pope St. John Paul II
October 23. In the general sense of the word, redemption or repurchase is the act by which a person acquires again, by paying the required price, what he formerly possessed but no longer possesses. Thus we speak of the repurchase of a house or a piece of property, as captives and prisoners of war are ransomed. The redemption of the human race can therefore be defined as follows: It is the act by which our Savior, at the price of his own blood—an expression of his love—snatched the human race from slavery to sin and to the devil and reconciled it with God. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange
October 24. I have seen this era as one in which selfishness has made people forget their most sacred duties to their neighbors and kin -- for all of us are images of God, children of God, redeemed by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, and destined for heaven. St. Anthony Mary Claret
October 25. It was the Lord’s will that his gifts should remain with us, and that we who have been redeemed by his precious blood should constantly be sanctified according to the pattern of his own passion. St. Gaudentius of Brescia
October 26. Hail Victim of Salvation, offered for me and for all mankind on the tree of the cross. Hail, noble and precious Blood, flowing from the wounds of my crucified Lord Jesus Christ washing away the sins of the whole world. Remember, Lord, Your creature, whom You have redeemed with Your Blood. St. Ambrose of Milan
October 27. Why the shedding of the last drop of blood? For something like the same reason that there are more birds than necessary for the needed song of man, more grains of sand than are necessary for a seashore — because of the superfluity of Love. Love, which is real loves even to the point of sacrifice, in fact loves even to the end, which is the giving of one's own life. Ven. Fulton Sheen
October 28. Just as the Precious Blood merited graces for the Angels, so does it merit blessings for the stars. If they have been inhabited before we were, or are inhabited now, or will at some future time begin to be inhabited, their inhabitants, whether fallen and redeemed or unfallen and so not needing to be redeemed, will owe immense things to the Precious Blood. Frederick Faber
October 29. The Son of God was wounded in His Body, that the souls of men and women might recover salvation. From all His limbs there flowed forth Blood, that He might pour the same, as a health-giving balm, into our wounds. The grape-cluster was hung on the staff, that He might make us certain and sure of the land of promise. The cluster was pressed in the wine-press, that He might make us drunken with His love.. Johannes Tauler
October 30. Our Lord Jesus Christ made Himself empty that He might wisely draw all things to Himself. Therefore He let all the blood that was in His Body flow out, and so attracted to Himself all the compassion and grace that was in His Father’s heart, so completely and profitably as to suffice for the whole world. Meister Eckhart
October 31
"Am I a stone and not a sheep
That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy Cross
To number drop by drop Thy Blood's slow loss,
And yet not weep?
"Yet give not o'er,
But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock,
Greater than Moses, turn and look once more
And smite a rock.” Christina Rosetti