"In these days, when the wicked, in their hatred of the Catholic religion, make open war against it by multiplying vices and sins, zeal for God's glory ought to inflame every soul, like a holy fire, to double the triumphs of the Crucified through the application of the merits of the Precious Blood." -Ven. Gaspare Del Bufalo
Catholic Life Impr. 1908
This devotion is intimately connected with the Sacred Heart, and is one of the many forms by which we honour Jesus Christ Himself. The Eternal Word assumed human nature in order to be able to remedy the evils of the Fall of Eden. This was to be done by shedding His Precious Blood as an atonement to the offended justice of His Eternal Father. The last drop which issued from His sacred side, when pierced by the centurion's lance on Calvary's heights, showed how completely He accomplished His Divine mission. Our Blessed Redeemer was not satisfied with doing what was barely necessary, and so verified the prophecy of the Psalmist, uttered centuries before, "With Him there is plentiful redemption." Hence He instituted means to apply to individual souls the merits of His Precious Blood.
But it is in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that we are most intimately brought under the influence of this saving Blood. The Blood in the chalice is the same as that which He got from Mary in the Incarnation; the same as flowed from every pore of his Body in the agony at Gethsemane; the same as deluged the earth at the foot of the cross; and the same as that which now flows through every vein of His glorified Body in Heaven. Hence it is that we should be anxious to hear Holy Mass as often as we can. Hence, too, we ought to have the Holy Sacrifice offered for us, our families, and our deceased friends. A single Mass gives more honour and glory to God than the praises and prayers of all the Angels and Saints for all eternity, their homage being finite, that from the Precious Blood infinite.
"His Blood was wholly ours
From first to last;
His high thoughts, like sweet flowers,
A perfume cast
Around and up into His Father's throne,
That He would bear the weight of sin alone
He loving asked;
And thus He is our own, our very own,
From first to last."
Example- Bishop Grant of Southwark
Foremost amongst this good Bishop's characteristics was his great devotion to the Holy Sacrifice, and his zealous efforts to instill it into others.
His parting advice to a girl leaving the orphanage was, "Never let any earthly motive hinder you from hearing Mass when you can."
His own fidelity to this advice was remarkable. He would travel all night, get up at unusual hours, and fast almost to fainting, rather than forego the privilege of saying Mass. During one of his visitations through Berkshire, having missed the train at Reading - the last leaving for London - he was urged to spend the night there. But having appointed to say Mass at St. George's for the nuns, he was determined to get to London anyhow in time. He sought the station-master. This official declared that the cattle-train would leave at midnight, but no passengers were permitted to travel by it. Dr. Grant pleaded so earnestly that an exception was made. He procured a note to the station-master at Paddington explaining the urgency of the case, and was then stowed in a truck with calves. He reached London at 3 a.m., alighting with the cattle, to the surprise of the officials. He was stiff and chilled, but delighted with his success in being in time to say Mass for the nuns, who little suspected what it cost him. "It was impossible to look at him in the act of consecration," writes one who often served his Mass, "without feeling your faith deepened by the sight; his own faith was so intense."
In one of his pastorals he says, "Neglected Masses punish the people with unblessed homes and in multiplication of sorrows."
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