"Una stilla": a reflection on the Precious Blood


The power of the blood of Jesus to redeem us from our sins is infinite. St Thomas puts it graphically by saying that one drop (una stilla) is enough to save the whole world from every crime. Here is the verse from the hymn Adoro te Devote and the unsurpassed translation by Edward Caswall:
Pie Pelicane, Jesu Domine,
Me immundum munda tuo Sanguine:
Cujus una stilla salvum facere
Totum mundum quit ab omni scelere.

O loving Pelican! O Jesus, Lord!
Unclean I am, but cleanse me in thy blood;
of which a single drop, for sinners spilt,
is ransom for a world’s entire guilt.

With him is plentiful redemption

In his reflection on the great power of one drop of the precious blood, Father Faber focuses on the copiousness of our redemption:
“The worth of one drop of the Precious Blood is simply infinite; consequently, no imaginary arithmetic of possible creations will convey any adequate idea of its overwhelming magnificence. Alas! the very copiousness of our redemption makes our view of it less clear. The very crowding of God's love causes it to have something indistinguishable about it. Who does not see that it will take us an eternity to learn Jesus, or rather that we shall never learn Him, but that the endless work of learning Him will be the gladness of our eternity?” (“The Precious blood: or, The price of our salvation”)
To help us in this path of learning, Father Faber offers a comparative example which would probably be dismissed as sentimental by the snootier sort of modernist, but is actually a good reminder to a devout Catholic, of the power of Our Lord’s precious blood:
“If all the merits, graces, gifts, and powers of our dearest Mother had been possible without the Precious Blood, they might have ascended as sweet incense before God forever, and yet in no possible duration of time could they have merited the Precious Blood. Not all these together, saints, angels, and Mary, with all their glorious holiness, growing yet more glorious in endless ages, could have bought one drop of Precious blood, or merited that mystery of the Incarnation whose wonderful redeeming power resides in the Precious Blood.”

Redemption is a real work with real effects

Other writers in their enthusiasm, have come up with a different illustration. It is sometimes said that Jesus could have redeemed us with a cut finger. While strictly true, this does not help us so much. The fact is, Our Lord did not redeem us with a cut finger, He shed His blood copiously for us on the Cross. It is helpful if we can understand why.

Before ever there was a need for redemption, God loved the world copiously. He loved Adam and Eve, and all their descendants with an infinite love. The coming of Word of God in the flesh was the means by which the blessed Trinity willed for us to be in communion with the Godhead. God the Son, sharing in our humanity, gave us His flesh and blood so that we could share in His divine life.

The devastating and evil consequence of the fall was that our human nature was so damaged that we were no longer capable of being in communion with God. This damage was real and needed a real reparation. The redemption won for us by Jesus Christ was not simply a moral example, still less a merely juridical acquittal; it was a work that had real results in our very being. If you prefer to use philosophical terminology, it was a work with ontological effect. The redemption actually changes those who have access to it through their baptism. It changes us so that we are now the kind of beings who can be in communion with the Godhead.

The work of redemption was also carried out in real world circumstances, with real fallen people reacting to the living God who walked in their midst. Given the disorder of our fallen human nature and the evil choices that were made, there was never a chance that the Hosannas of Palm Sunday would be the final triumph. It was inevitable that the Christ would face enmity of the kind that would only be satisfied with His immolation.

The greatest of all prayers

The redemption brought about by the precious blood of Christ was not the disinterested logical consequence of a cut finger; it was the full personal immersion of God made man into our world with all the love, hatred, joy and anguish that beat against it. He consciously and deliberately loved us to the uttermost and offered Himself in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world whatever the cost might be. The spiritual and psychological pain was so great the even the Son of God cried for the chalice to pass. The apology that He offered to the Father was the greatest of all prayers:
“Who in the days of his flesh, with a strong cry and tears, offering up prayers and supplications to him that was able to save him from death, was heard for his reverence.” (Heb 5:7)
It is true that one drop of the precious blood would take away the sins of the whole world but this should not be treated lightly. Our redemption was won through an arduous journey of pain and tears. God’s benevolence and generosity to us is copious, abundant and overflowing: not only did the sacrifice of Our Lord take away our sins, it changed us so that we could be in communion with God, even "co-sharers of the divine nature." (2 Pet 1:4) In bringing about this utterly undeserved benefit for us, Our Lord shed that very blood which he would give us every time we receive Holy Communion. That is why we follow St Thomas and Fr Faber in reverencing every drop of the precious blood.
“But, if we saw one drop of the Precious Blood, hanging like the least pearl of dew upon a blade of grass on Calvary, or as a dull disfigured splash in the dust of the gateway of Jerusalem, we should have to adore it with the selfsame adoration as the uncovered splendours of the Eternal.” (Fr Faber op. cit.)

Popular posts from this blog

1962 Missal pdf online

The Church Music Association of America and Jeffrey Tucker of the New Liturgical Movement have made available the 1962 Missal online in pdf format (72Mb). The file is hosted at Musica Sacra , the website of the CMAA, thanks to a generous gift from Fr Robert Skeris While you are at it, take a look at the articles clarifying the rules for music at Low Mass and music at High Mass .
Read more

Plenary indulgences not impossible

Dilexit Prior in Letters from a Young Catholic asked some useful questions today about indulgences. I thought it would be best to do a post here especially to cover the controversial question of detachment from venial sin. But first the other questions: The conditions for gaining a plenary indulgence Pope Paul VI set down a number of norms relating to indulgences at the end of Indulgentiarum Doctrina . Norm 7 states: To acquire a plenary indulgence it is necessary to perform the work to which the indulgence is attached and to fulfil three conditions: sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion and prayer for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff. It is further required that all attachment to sin, even to venial sin, be absent. If this disposition is in any way less than complete, or if the prescribed three conditions are not fulfilled, the indulgence will be only partial, except for the provisions contained in n.11 for those who are “impeded.” It is worth reading the other norms bec
Read more

Request for Novena to Blessed Pius IX

Image
A priest friend of mine is ill in hospital. He has a special devotion to Blessed Pius IX. Could I ask you, of your charity, to say a Novena for his speedy recovery. Novena In Honour of Blessed Pius IX Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, hear our prayers and glorify your servant Pius IX, who consecrated the Universal Church to you. (Our Father...) O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who declared you Immaculate. (Hail Mary...) Saint Joseph, spouse of the most pure Virgin Mary, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who declared you the Patron of the Universal Church. (Glory be...) Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Immaculate Mary, our Hope, and Saint Joseph hear our prayers and glorify your servant Pius IX , granting to us through his merits and intercessions the graces which we ardently desire: that the glory of God be revealed through Father's illness. (Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory be
Read more

Saint Gabriel

Image
The angels call for our veneration and awe as part of God’s creation. Part of the destructive modernism of the 1970s included advice to Catholic school teachers that they should not talk to children about angels. This wrought lasting damage which continues to need rectifying. We should include in our prayers a heartfelt recourse to our own Guardian Angels. The Archangel Gabriel “God is my strength” would be terrifying were he to appear to any of us. Our Lady was “troubled” at the word of Saint Gabriel and wondered at the manner of the salutation. Immediately, according to his mission, the awesome messenger explained himself. Modern retelling of the event is often reduced to the jejune “Mary said Yes to God”. In fact, she said “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word”. This conveys more accurately the flawless faith and trust of the Immaculata. In the infinitely wise providence of the Father, we now know the structure of the event in even more detai
Read more

God bless America!

Image
I wish you all a very happy Fourth of July over there in the land of the free and the home of the brave. I thought I was a bit late but then realised that it is still early evening for you. I hope you had an enjoyable day. For the video this year, here is Kate Smith IN 1938 introducing the new composition "God Bless America."
Read more