“Precious Blood, ocean of divine mercy: Flow upon us! Precious Blood, most pure offering: Procure us every grace! Precious Blood, hope and refuge of sinners: Atone for us! Precious Blood, delight of holy souls: Draw us! Amen.”
~St Catherine of Siena.
Let us never underestimate the Sacred Sacrifice of Christ’s Blood poured out for us. Beyond Jesus’ human pain, lies a mystery of Mercy and Love. In this poem, I try to imagine Jesus Christ’s everlasting role in our salvation history. We have been granted an unfathomable Grace. Every mass celebrated on Earth sacramentally offers the Blood of our Father’s only begotten Son.
This poem was written for a very special and important person in my life. Before reading the poem, will you please join me in offering a blessings and prayer for them? Thank you!
Following the poem there is some scripture and a Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Christ. I’ve made this litany a part of my daily devotions – perhaps you will find it to be something you want to try or consider. It has helped me to keep the mystery of Christ’s Precious Blood front and center in my sacred imagination.
We are desperate for His Mercy. I recently read this quote from St. Faustina’s Diary from one of her locutions with Jesus that says it all:
Know, My daughter, that between Me and you there is a bottomless abyss, an abyss which separates the Creator from the creature. But this abyss is filled with My mercy. I raise you up to Myself, not that I have need of you, but it is solely out of mercy that I grant you the grace of union with Myself (Diary, 1576).
BLOOD OF WONDER POEM
“You are O God my inheritance – I have all I need…
You will show me the path to life;
Lead me onward to heaven
I’ll delight with the fullness of joy
In your presence forever
In your presence forever”
based on Psalm 16
lyrics from song by Felix Goebel-Komala
The Living path unfurls
Perfect in its stretching beginnings
Rich in piquing innocence
All is sweet and fragrant
Ordained by flowering possibilities
Ringing with orchestrating Songs of unmuteable Glories
We: Your delight
You: Our Master Host
Inciting intimate invitations
We relish our Daily Tread
Step by step we begin a finished journey
Co-creation ensues
We name
You laugh
UNTIL…
Our burgeoning tempestuous pride
lacerates your Gracious Power
We fall:
Incarcerated by dark principalities |
Seduced into cackling webs of deceit
Entranced by self-worship
Possessed with imperious visions
Insipid bowls of time
pour out fetid libations
Drenched in envy Cain seals the deal
A nefarious pact with error gains momentum
and darkness gloats
Fruits of the earth are not enough
A more Abel sacrifice is in order
Blood initiates an interred lineage
There is always one in a sea of many:
Abram[1] hearkened
He defies customs built from…
Fallacious fears
Myriad myths
Perilous promises
Sacrosanct spells
To worship the Name Above All Other Names
Stars and Sands : Heaven and Earth
notarize a new covenant
Abraham pleads his case…
A nation springs from the absurdity of Sarah’s barren hopelessness
Two summit to offer a blood sacrifice
One enshrouded in perplexing obedience
One bound in trusting fetters
Isaac is spared
His blood will not be spilled
Another Son waits in the wings
BUT the story continues…
Blood must keep spilling…
Four hundred years churn grinding monuments of mighty man gods
While another nation is careened into complacent servitude
Pharaoh’s thumbs quash Israelite babies
to quench the thirst of
dastardly deluded demiurges
Floating on waters of Merciful destiny
Jochebed answers Life’s call – she puts her fruited egg in one basket
Miriam’s heart cries in harmony with hidden hope
MOSES…
Estranged earthly royalty cannot fill his cup
An unlikely mustard seed of implanted knowingness acts
Incensed jaws of slavery stoke his ire
He will not be able to flee his calling
A stuttering survivor assumes a new post
Aaron and his Staff will do the bidding of One intent on saving His people
Indelible Nile-histic rancor brings bloodied waters
Is it enough?
No not then – – – not now
Hardened hearts herald history
Subjects of an un-Bridled cacophony of repugnant kingdoms
Reviled remorse rejects repentance
Lambs must shed their blood
To defy hatred and violence
A meal in flight is prepared
An innocent offering is shared and eaten
with smeared graces bringing refuge for the fleeing
Messengers of Death undam waves of righteous Wrath
Blood of the first born Egyptians waters fields of resounding freedom
Salvation speaks
The WORD shares His Name
It is
I AM
Forty years of desolating trust grows into enacting Law
The Promised Land
Sanctifying blessings
Yet – the people cry for a King
Giant courage – songs and lust begin a lineage
Temples rise and fall
Until the Holy of Holies is vacant
A buoyant Ark of the Covenant to weather man’s storms is removed
What is once absent will intersect time and space as a humble babe
Unconditional Love breathes on captive Israel
The Great I AM becomes Flesh and Blood…
Law subjects itself to infinite graces
I AM
the:
Bread of Life
Light of the World
Gate
Good Shepherd
Resurrection and the Life
Way, Truth, and Life
Vine
Blood soaked Earth screams with vengeance
Love rips the treasonous veil obscuring Ordered Goodness
Hapless haughty Herod hastens hellraising
Baby boy blood
for safeguarding power
maniacal spirits’ lecherous loathing demands appeasement
they cannot bear to hear His name…
Emanuel
King of Kings and Lord of Lords
First born over all creation
Light of the World
Son of Man
Prince of Peace
Son of God
Alpha & Omega
Lord of All
High Priest
Savior
Bridegroom
His din name silencing scathing shrieks of horror
This Babe of Glory must be no more
Blood takes its Precious Time
oozing from wounds of signs and wonders
A cup of passion is prepared for the One that
“is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.”[2]
(“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”)[3]
The first dark bloody thirsty cries ring out
Stephen kneels to a storm of raging stones
visions of heaven burn earth’s fragile facade
Blood sets the Church on Holy Fire
Praise be the Mighty Hand
that bends the knee of your zealous servant of Israel
Your grace being sufficient
So that he professes…
“at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.”[4]
Holy men and women pray for us…
Blood of Wonder flow with infinite Mercy upon all your people
We wait to be bathed in your Love
Make us pure for our Wedding Feast
“The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they
became blood. 5 Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say:
“You are just in these judgments, O Holy One,
you who are and who were;
6 for they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets,
and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.”
7 And I heard the altar respond:
“ Yes, Lord God Almighty,
true and just are your judgments.”[5]
[1] The biblical patriarch Abraham was originally named Abram but God changed his name (see Genesis 17:5). With his father Terah, he led his wife Sarah, his nephew Lot and their other followers from Ur into Canaan.
Source: https://www.behindthename.com/name/abraham
[2] Revelation 19: 13
[3] John 1: 1
[4] Philippians 2: 10-11
[5] Revelation 16: 4-7
[6] Miktam (Hebrew: מִכְתָּם) is a word of unknown meaning found in the headings to Psalms 16 and 56–60 in the Hebrew Bible.[1] These six Psalms, and many others, are associated with David, but this tradition is more likely to be sentimental than historical.[2] Miktamcorresponds to the Babylonian nakamu, lid, metal cover for a vessel, but efforts to derive a meaning for the term in the Psalms have not been convincing.[3] Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miktam
Psalm 16
A miktam[6] of David.
1 Keep me safe, my God,
for in you I take refuge.
2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing.”
3 I say of the holy people who are in the land,
“They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”
4 Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more.
I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods
or take up their names on my lips.
5 Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;
you make my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7 I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Litany of the Most Precious Blood
of our Lord Jesus Christ
Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Lord have mercy.
Christ hear us.
Christ graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us.
Blood of Christ, only-begotten Son of the Eternal Father, save us.
Blood of Christ, Incarnate Word of God, save us.
Blood of Christ, of the New and Eternal Testament, save us.
Blood of Christ, falling upon the earth in the Agony, save us.
Blood of Christ, shed profusely in the Scourging, save us.
Blood of Christ, flowing forth in the Crowning with Thorns, save us.
Blood of Christ, poured out on the Cross, save us.
Blood of Christ, price of our salvation, save us.
Blood of Christ, without which there is no forgiveness, save us.
Blood of Christ, Eucharistic drink and refreshment of souls, save us.
Blood of Christ, stream of mercy, save us.
Blood of Christ, victor over demons, save us.
Blood of Christ, courage of Martyrs, save us.
Blood of Christ, strength of Confessors, save us.
Blood of Christ, bringing forth Virgins, save us.
Blood of Christ, help of those in peril, save us.
Blood of Christ, relief of the burdened, save us.
Blood of Christ, solace in sorrow, save us.
Blood of Christ, hope of the penitent, save us.
Blood of Christ, consolation of the dying, save us.
Blood of Christ, peace and tenderness of hearts, save us.
Blood of Christ, pledge of eternal life, save us.
Blood of Christ, freeing souls from purgatory, save us.
Blood of Christ, most worthy of all glory and honor, save us.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
V. Thou hast redeemed us with Thy Blood, O Lord.
R. And made of us a kingdom for our God.
