Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood: May grace and peace be yours in abundance. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.(1 Peter 1:1-9)
RESPONSORY
The price of your redemption was not something of fleeting value like gold or silver, but the costly shedding of the blood of Christ, the lamb without blemish. – Through him, in the one Spirit, we can approach the Father.
The blood of Jesus Christ washes away all our sins. – Through him, in the one Spirit, we can approach the Father.
From the “Dialogues” of St. Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi (+1607)
The first fruit, my daughter (she speaks in the Person of the Eternal Father), of my union is the inheritance I cause the soul to enjoy by means of the Incarnate Word, the Spirit breathing in human hearts; and this inheritance I am myself. Though the Word has shown it to you in a shadowy way, when, dwelling here below amongst you, he was asked by the mother of the sons of Zebedee, that one might sit at His right and the other at His left, and He answered her that they knew not what they asked, and that it was not his to give the right or the left, showing thereby the greatness of this inheritance, because they did not and could not understand it:Nescitis quid petatis. “You know not what you ask”(Matt 20: 22); and because it was so great that his own humanity could not give it. And do you know how this immense inheritance can be acquired? It can be acquired by you, in virtue of the Incarnate Word, by the sprinkling and infusion of his Blood. This outpouring he made copiously on the cross, and makes it now at my right, whilst by the channels of the Sacraments, the grace he merited, is infused into you and communicated by this Blood. And take notice, daughter, that this infusion produces in you many and various effects.
First, it causes to bud, then it nourishes, inebriates, transforms, and glorifies. It causes the lilies of jocundity to blossom around a beautiful fountain, and among these lilies the Word hides and feeds:Qui pascitur inter lilia.“Who feeds among the lilies”(Cant 2:16); breathing into the souls, his brides, an ardent feeling of love, whereby he constantly infuses into them the virtues and graces, so that some are always drowning and dying, for love, therein, while some survive in the same Blood. A soul dies to herself for love, living only for me and in me, and seeking nothing in all her operations but my honor and the salvation of the creatures; all of which proceeds from charity. Others die also all along the way; for, by the infusion of this Blood they remain so absorbed in God that they are as if dead, and, ceasing from all works, they attend but to commune with and enjoy me, and, though still here below, they are absorbed in the sublime and divine contemplation. The fountain is of blood and water; of water, to cleanse ; of blood, to embellish; and from the water and the blood they receive that most sweet odor which is afterwards felt everywhere:Christi bonus odor sumus.“We are the good odor of Christ”(2 Cor. 2:15).
Musical Selection
Dómine Jesu Christe, salus et vita moriéntium, qui hóminem pérditum redemísti. *Propter quem tuum pretiósum sánguinem mortis exsolvísti prétium. V. Memor esto congregatiónis tuae, quam possedísti ab inítio, pro qua non dubitábas mánibus tradi nocéntium, ut hóminem liberáres a morte. *Propter quem tuum. V. Glória Patri qui próprio Fílio non pepércit, glória eius Unigénito, pro nobis morti trádito, et Spirítui Sancto. *Propter quem tuum.
Lord Jesus Christ, salvation and life of the dying, you redeemed lost man, *on whose account you paid the price of death, your precious blood. V. Be mindful of your assembled worshippers, whom you have held as your own from the beginning. For them you did not hesitate to be delivered into the hands of the wicked, so that you might free man from death. *On whose account. V. Glory be to the Father. who did not spare His own son, glory to His only-begotten Son, who was consigned to death for our sake, and glory to the Holy Spirit. *On whose account
Collect
Almighty and eternal God, you have appointed your only-begotten Son the Redeemer of the world, and willed to be appeased by his Blood. Grant we beg of you, that we may worthily adore this price of our salvation, and through its power be safeguarded from the evils of the present life, so that we may rejoice in its fruits forever in heaven. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.(Feast of the Precious Blood; Traditional)