(The piercing of Jesus’ side and Most Sacred Heart offers His co-mingled Blood and Water to simultaneously fulfill the Old Testament offering of atonement and expiation of sin by the once and for all outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God’s mercy, redemption and salvation. Through Our Lord’s loving sacrifice of His Body and Most Precious Blood on the Wood of the Cross, Christ consecrates and gives birth to His Sacramental Church, reaffirming His command of remembrance of the New Paschal Feast in the Eternal Liturgy of the Eucharist celebrated as the Mass of the Faithful that is to follow His Glorious Resurrection every minute of every day throughout the entire world, forevermore.)
John 19:34-37. “But one of the soldiers with a spear opened his side, and immediately there came out blood and water. And he that saw it, hath given testimony, and his testimony is true. And he knoweth that he saith true; that you also may believe. For these things were done, that the scripture might be fulfilled: ‘You shall not break a bone of him.’ And again another scripture saith: ‘They shall look on him whom they pierced.’”
“The Church is born primarily of Christ’s total self-giving for our salvation, anticipated in the institution of the Eucharist and fulfilled on the cross. ‘The origin and growth of the Church are symbolized by the blood and water which flowed from the open side of the crucified Jesus.’ (LG 3; cf. Jn 19:34.) ‘For it was from the side of Christ as he slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth the ‘wondrous sacrament of the whole Church.’ (SC 5.) As Eve was formed from the sleeping Adam’s side, so the Church was born from the pierced heart of Christ hanging dead on the cross (Cf. St. Ambrose, In Luc. 2, 85-89: PL 15, 1666-1668.)” (CCC, 766).
“It is love ‘to the end’ (Jn 13:1.) that confers on Christ’s sacrifice its value as redemption and reparation, as atonement and satisfaction. He knew and loved us all when he offered his life. (Cf. Gal 2:20; Eph 5:2, 25.) Now ‘the love of Christ controls us, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died.’ (2 Cor 5:14.) No man, not even the holiest, was ever able to take on himself the sins of all men and offer himself as a sacrifice for all. The existence in Christ of the divine person of the Son, who at once surpasses and embraces all human persons and constitutes himself as the Head of all mankind, makes possible his redemptive sacrifice for all.” (CCC, 616).
Our Father, 10 Hail Marys (contemplating the mystery), Glory Be and Fatima Prayer.
Excerpt from The Holy Family Rosary:
This conclusive Divine Offering of the Sacrifice of the Cross is in fulfillment of the sprinkling of blood and water of the sacrificial Paschal Lamb whose blood is poured out in libation for the expiation of man’s sins. Noah’s wooden Ark and the Tabernacle of the Lord given for Moses to build were both prototypes of the wood of the Holy Cross that fulfilled the offering of salvation for the deliverance from death for men of good will. This is the essential consecration of Christ’s Church for the Liturgy of the Eucharist to exist, completed by the co-mingling of Blood and Water from the piercing of Jesus’ Sacred Heart that He promised was the “Blood of the New Testament” that would be “shed for many unto remission of sins.”[1] The pouring out of Jesus’ Most Precious Blood was in satisfaction of cleansing Earth for the spilling of Abel’s blood as the Holy Water from His Side was simultaneously washing away the stain of original sin from the world; both pouring out from God’s Sacred Font – offering reconciliation – each taking the sinful hands of man in participation to fulfill. This Chalice of Salvation is poured out for the reconciliation that God’s love demanded of Melchizedek’s irrefutable offering of the unblemished Lamb.
This selfless consecration for cleansing our hearts, minds, and souls from the purity of Jesus’ Sacred Heart leads us to Christ’s ordaining reason for reconciliation, allowing us to comprehend God’s Holy Will (as two by two will have greater clarity later in His formula of forgiveness). The opening of His Side is the remaking of our souls in the image of the Spirit of God’s Son spoken at Creation when saying: “It is not good for man to be alone”[2] and consecrates the formation of His Church. As Mary is our Mother and New Eve, Christ’s Church is Wisdom’s Seat. We celebrate the fullness of this truth in the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart.
The annual Jewish sacrifice as holocaust was forever satisfied with this sacrifice and sprinkling of blood and water as was necessary to fulfill on “the parasceve of the pasch”[3] for the remission of sins. It is the universal satisfaction to God of death by Jesus, all simultaneously occurring on that one divine “Good Friday” within the One True Temple and Sanctuary of the Holy of holies on the Day of Atonement by the Jewish High Priest… namely whom we know is, was, and ever shall be no other than Jesus Christ – the Only Begotten Son of God – given Himself in fulfillment of the Law and Prophets’ expectation for us through belief. Jesus’ Sacred Body can also be seen as the revered cup that He prayed His Father would allow to pass, double-edged, to make man free.
The early Church Father St. John Chrysostom (c. 347-407) spoke of the Pasch saying: “The present time is, then, a festival day, for when he says ‘let us celebrate the festival,’ Paul does not add: ‘for Passover or Pentecost is imminent.’ No, he is pointing out that all this life is a festival for Christians by virtue of the ineffable benefits they have received. Indeed, Christians, what wonders have you not received from God? For your sakes Jesus Christ has become man; he has freed you from eternal damnation, to call you to take possession of his kingdom. With this thought in mind, how can you not be in continuous festival right through your life on earth? Poverty, sickness or the persecution which oppresses us – these should not discourage us; this present life, the Apostle tells us, is a life of rejoicing.”[4]
In an article entitled “The Sacrament of Holy Orders” written in Rome by Professor Jean Galot and posted on the Vocations Office page for the Archdiocese of Mobile (Alabama), we read that, “The two fundamental aspects of priesthood are perfectly manifest in Christ: the consecration, which involves His entire human being and His entire human existence with the sanctity of the Son of God made man, and the mission, consumed in the offering of the sacrifice of redemption and in the elevation to heavenly glory, with the gift of a new life for mankind.”
Blessed Pope John XXIII (1881-1963) wrote: “From the very outset of our pontificate, in speaking of daily devotions we have repeatedly urged the faithful (often in eager tones that frankly hinted our future design) to cherish warmly that marvelous manifestation of divine mercy toward individuals and Holy Church and the whole world redeemed and saved by Jesus Christ: we mean devotion to his Most Precious Blood… Unlimited is the effectiveness of the God-Man’s Blood – just as unlimited as the love that impelled Him to pour it out for us, first at His circumcision eight days after birth, and more profusely later on in His agony in the garden,[5] in His scourging and crowning with thorns, in His climb to Calvary and crucifixion, and finally from out that great wide wound in His side which symbolizes the divine Blood cascading down into all the Church’s sacraments. Such surpassing love suggests, nay demands, that everyone reborn in the torrents of that Blood adore it with grateful love.”[6]
Who can find fault with this – nor shout out joyfully – with great ‘Amens’?
[1] Mt. 26:28.
[2] Gen. 2:18.
[3] Jn. 19:14.
[4] Homily on 1 Corinthians, ad loc.
[5] Lk. 22:43.
[6] Apostolic Letter, On the Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ’s Most Precious Blood.