Life Everlasting

In the Catholic Church, the month of July is traditionally dedicated to the Most Precious Blood of Jesus Christ. This article touches upon the origin and importance of this devotion. A brief Eucharistic reflection is offered to highlight the blood offered as a sacrifice at every Mass. Finally, a parallel is drawn between the precious Blood of Jesus during His passion, as examined in the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary.
 
Biblical Roots: From the beginning, the Church regarded Christ’s Blood as inseparably tied to His Passion and Death and as the source of redemption. The Apostles (especially St. Peter and St. Paul) treat the “precious” Blood as “synonymous with Jesus’s Passion and Death, the source of redemption,” and as “a part of the Sacred Humanity” hypostatically united to the Word. For centuries following, devotion grew among the laity and clergy throughout the church.
 
Modern Origin: The July dedication was popularized in the 19th century by saints such as Gaspar del Bufalo and by Pope Pius IX in 1849. In 1960, Pope John XXIII wrote the Apostolic Letter Sanguis Christi, further inviting the faithful to fervently honor the blood of Christ as a pledge of reconciliation and peace.
 
WHY DEVOTE OURSELVES TO THE BLOOD OF CHRIST? 
There are two fundamental reasons: 
1. Through the shedding of His blood, Christ paid the ultimate and infinite price for our eternal salvation, and
2. His blood yields spiritual fruits that we can share in through Eucharistic worship.
 
LIFE EVERLASTING – THE EUCHARISTIC CONNECTION
At every Mass, especially during the month of July, we recall (and participate in) Christ’s redemptive blood through the Eucharistic prayers and consecration. The Church teaches that the saving memory of Christ’s Blood is central within the Eucharistic assembly, because the Mass includes both:

• the Church offering Christ Himself, made sacramentally present under the appearances of bread and wine;
• Presenting them to the faithful as real “communion with the blood of Christ.”

So, the devotion helps accept the Eucharistic Prayer (especially the moment of the chalice) as the sacramental action it is: not merely a symbol, but Christ’s Blood united to Christ’s Eucharistic Body (see Directory on Popular Piety and Liturgy, 2002). At this time, we can also reflect on the sacred scripture etched in the apse of our Corpus Christi Cathedral: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has life everlasting, and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:54).
 
A devotion influences the Eucharistic Prayer by encouraging the proper attitude during its key sacramental acts—adoration, thanksgiving, and communion with Christ who is truly present “under the appearances of wine.”
 
SPIRITUAL PRACTICE - THE SORROWFUL MYSTERIES
In addition to the Eucharistic encounter at the Mass, praying the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary is a simple and effective way to meditate upon the redemptive power of His precious blood. This mediation allows us to relive (step by step) the price Christ paid with His precious blood during His passion.
 
St. Pope John Paul II explained that the Rosary’s Sorrowful Mysteries were chosen to let believers relive in their hearts the Passion’s key moments—starting with Gethsemane and continuing through the sufferings that culminate at the Cross (Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 2002).
 
He also says that the sequence of meditations helps you “stand at the foot of the Cross beside Mary” and “enter with her into the depths of God’s love for man.” 

• Gethsemane: Christ experienced anguish, “sweating blood,” as he contemplated the upcoming journey of His passion. The Catechism presents Gethsemane as the place where Jesus accepts the “cup” from the Father’s hands and prays with “horror” of death—while remaining sinless and obedient (CCC 612).
• Scourging, crowning of thorns, carrying of the cross, crucifixion: The key to understanding these scenes as bloodshed by Christ is to connect (a) what the Gospels say happened to His body—flogging, thorn-piercing, blows, and bodily weakening—with (b) the Catholic understanding that Christ’s real bodily sufferings culminate in the shedding of His Precious Blood during the Passion: “the blood of the covenant… poured out for many” (CCC 613).

In summary, the Catholic devotion to the Precious Blood has a biblical origin borne by the apostles’ faith in Christ’s redeeming Blood, develops through centuries of prayer and confraternity life, and then becomes widespread through liturgical integration and papal approvals—especially in the 19th century with St. Gaspar del Bufalo. Although the separate Feast of the Precious Blood is no longer celebrated on the universal calendar, the Church still traditionally dedicates July to this devotion. Today, we continue this devotion most especially through the Eucharist and through meditations found in the rosary.