…realizing that you were ransomed from your futile conduct… not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ as of a spotless, unblemished lamb.
Scripture for
reflection: Exodus 12:21-23
Then Moses summoned all the elders of
Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families
and slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the
blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of
the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until
morning. When
the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the
blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway,
and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.
St.
John Chrysostom tells us: If we wish to understand the power of Christ’s
blood, we should go back to the ancient account of its prefiguration in Egypt. Sacrifice a lamb without blemish, commanded
Moses, and sprinkle its blood on your
doors. If we were to ask him what he meant, and how the blood of an
irrational beast could possibly save men endowed with reason, his answer would
be that the saving power lies not in the blood itself, but in the fact that it
is a sign of the Lord’s blood. In those days, when the destroying angel saw the
blood on the doors he did not dare to enter, so how much less will the devil approach
now when he sees, not that figurative blood on the doors, but the true blood on
the lips of believers, the doors of the temple of Christ. It you desire further
proof of the power of this blood, remember where it came from, how it ran down
from the cross, flowing from the Master’s side. The gospel records that when
Christ was dead, but still hung on the cross, a soldier came and pierced his
side with a lance, and immediately there poured out water and blood. Now the
water was a symbol of Baptism, and blood- of the holy Eucharist. The soldier
pierced the Lord’s side, he breached the wall of the sacred temple, and I have
found the treasure and made it my own. So also with the lamb: the Jews
sacrificed the victim and I have been saved by it...Since the symbols of
baptism and the Eucharist flowed from his side, it was from his side that
Christ fashioned the Church, as he had fashioned Eve from the side of Adam… As
God then took a rib from Adam’s side to fashion a woman, so Christ has given us
blood and water from his side to fashion the Church. God took the rib when Adam
was in a deep sleep, and in the same way Christ gave us the blood and the water
after his own death. Do you understand, then 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. (Taken from Christian Prayer, the Liturgy of the Hours)
Prayer:
"PRAYER OF VICTORY IN THE BLOOD
OF JESUS" by George Jerome
Ume (Papua, New Guinea)
I praise the
wounds and the blood of the Lamb that heals the weakness of my body, that heals
the weakness of my soul, that heals the weakness of my spirit!Praise be to the blood of the Lamb in His forgiving power, in His cleansing power, in His releasing power, in His victorious power, in His renewing power, in His protecting power.
For him who believes in the power of the blood of Jesus, nothing is impossible.
I praise the blood of the Lamb that covers all my sins so that they can no longer be seen, that cleanses me from all my sins and makes me white as snow, that has power to free me from all my bondages and chains of sin, that is stronger than my own sin-infested blood and remolds me into the image of God, that is victorious over all powers that seek to oppress me, over every power of the enemy, that protects me from all the crafty attacks of the enemy, that prepares for me the bridal garment.
I praise the blood of the Lamb that makes all things new. Hallelujah! Amen. http://www.catholic-prayer-life.com/prayer-of-victory-in-the-blood-of-jesus.html
My thoughts:
As we end our reflections on the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, it
is important to remember that Christ referenced the Jewish belief that blood
meant life. He broke the bread, the sign of his body being broken on the cross,
and he gave it to them, as he gives us his body today. The blood that flowed
from his side was his life and he gives us that life in the Eucharist. “Eat my
body, drink my blood” means “Allow me to enter you”. As the blood of the lamb
protected the Israelites from death, so too does the blood of the Lamb of God
protect and deliver us from eternal death. We see in our prayer today that no
evil and no sin can stand up to the blood of the Lamb. Allow yourself to
believe that the Eucharist has turned your garments into the bridal garments,
and you have been made new. Christ waits for you to give you life. Let Him in,
and love Him in return.
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