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“You Are Precious” The month of July is dedicated to the Most Precious Blood. As a Missionary of the Precious Blood, I would like to share some reflections on how this spirituality is understood by us today. I note at the outset that I define “spirituality” as a way of life. It is broader than the concept of “devotion” which might be limited to prayers and acts of piety. On the other hand, spirituality embraces all aspects of our life. A spirituality of the Blood of Christ is a multifaceted one. In this article I wish to touch upon only one of them. The starting point for this reflection will be a scripture passage from 1 Peter 1:18-19: “Now if you invoke as Father him who judges impartially according to each one’s works, conduct yourselves with reverence during the time of your sojourning, realizing that you were ransomed from your futile conduct, handed on by your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished lamb. ” I will never forget the words of Pope John Paul II in one of his first visits, to Latin America in 1979. He was speaking to the prisoners of one of those overpopulated prisons of Sao Paulo, Brazil. It was July 1st, the feast of the Most Precious Blood. His words still ring in my ears: “The Precious Blood speaks to us of the greatest joy of all: that of knowing that we are loved by God.” What a powerful phrase! And it is the essence of the message which needs to be communicated to so many of the untouchables, the marginalized, and the nobodies of our societies today. Many years later, the same John Paul II would write in his Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelium Vitae, that: There is an urgency in the need to proclaim this message in action and in words: to the spiritually blind who walk in darkness, without goals and without a sense of meaning to their lives; to the sick and elderly who often live in loneliness and who feel forgotten and left behind; to the young who adore the modern film stars, pop singers and sportsmen and women; to those who seek easy answers and quick fixes to their problems in drugs, free sex and peer pressure. To all of them we need to proclaim the truth of the Gospel that the path to true happiness and fulfillment is in love, understood as a self-emptying for others, whose most eloquent sign is Christ Crucified. The message to all is simple and yet profound: “your blood is indeed precious in God’s eyes!” How necessary this message is in our world where blood has become cheap: in a world where countless unborn babies are murdered in abortion; in a world in which street children are shot to death as they sleep on the sidewalks of Rio de Janeiro; in a world where young boys and girls are used in pedophilia rings; where drunkards asleep on the sidewalks of Guatemala City are doused with gasoline and burnt alive. The voice of their blood cries out from the earth! The message of the Blood of Christ is one that we will be able to communicate “with passion” only once we have experienced its truth ourselves. We need to sit in the shadow of the crucifix and let God embrace us in our woundedness, in our wretchedness, in our sin and infidelity. Resting in the open Heart of our compassionate God, we will find an internal fire that propels us forth to communicate the truth we ourselves have discovered: our “preciousness” as God’s sons and daughters. The movie, Dead Man Walking, relates the story of Sister Helen Prejean and her ministry in prison with those on “death row” awaiting execution. She needs to treat with many a rough individual. But her ministry is one of compassion and love. The movie portrays her ministry to a prisoner convicted of some horrendous murders. His name was Pat Sonnier. At first he wanted nothing to do with Sister Helen and was abusive in his language with her, as if he wanted to drive her away with his rudeness. In one scene, Sister Helen is telling him that despite his crime, despite the terrible pain he has caused to innocent people, he is a human being and he has a dignity that on one can take from him, since he is a son of God. To that, Pat looked up and said: “Ain’t nobody ever called me no son of God before.” And he goes on with a smile, “I’ve been called a son-of-a-you-know-what lots of times but never no son of God!” This was the turning point in the relationship between Pat and Sister Helen who then continued to minister to him and prepare him for his death. Through her patience and compassion she finally broke through to this very tough and unlikeable man, by human standards, and communicated to him the truth that he was a person endowed with dignity as he carried God’s image in himself. During this month of the Precious Blood each of us might take time to sit in the presence of the Crucified Lord to take into ourselves this essential message of the Precious Blood as we let ourselves be embraced by our loving God whose Son shed his blood on the Cross for each of us, affirming us as “precious” and beloved. Then when we get up from our meditation, we go forth as messengers of the Precious Blood, communicating this basic truth about ourselves to someone in our family, community, or workplace who might be crying to hear these words, people who need to be affirmed in their worth and dignity. “Blood of Christ, most worthy of all glory and honor, save us.” |