Have you ever heard of the Chaplet of the Precious Blood of Jesus? Did you even wonder what's the deal with Jesus' blood and why there's a prayer to it? I for one didn't know why the blood of Christ is significant, until this month.
Like most of lukewarm Catholics/Christians out there, I was not aware of this prayer before I found it on YouTube back in July 2023. Actually I saw the song version of it and when I played it one time it caused an earworm. 😆 Awesome right? Haha.
So anyway around October or November of 2023 I got curious about what it actually does if one prays this chaplet. I mean, yeah I can just sing and pray it but why, what for? This month, I finally find out more on what it's all about.
Sit back and relax dear reader, I will tell you what I learned of it. 😁
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What is The Precious Blood of Jesus?
If you have never heard of Jesus Christ then a quick online search will tell you He is the Son of God. He came down from heaven, became man via Virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit. Despite His innocence and purity, He suffered and died to free everyone of sin and death. (1 John 1:7; John 3:16) In the process, (before, during and after His crucifixion) a lot of His blood was spilled.
Through His life, death and resurrection, He became our savior. Only through Him and by accepting Jesus in our lives will we have eternal life. And so that means everything about Him saves us all, including His pure and holy blood. (Revelation 1:5)
St. Peter mentioned how we were not redeemed by anything of this world but only by the precious blood of Christ .(1 Peter 1:18-19) God loves all of humanity so much that He sacrificed His only Son just so we can all come back to Heaven with Him.
Why is it even called precious? Because it is the "Blood of the living God". (Jeremiah 10:10) Jesus is the Lamb of God, the only mediator between the one true God and mankind. (1 Timothy 2:5-6) This is why it is very powerful to pray and even offer His blood to God the Father in reparation for everyone's sins. The purest of offering is the most pleasing to Him.
History of the Devotion to Jesus and His Precious Blood
First there's the Corpus Christi Feast which started in 1246 in Belgium. All thanks to St. Juliana de Cornillon's visions from Jesus. She was assigned by Him to propagate the feast which honors the real presence of Jesus Christ (body and blood, soul and divinity) in the Eucharist.
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In 1263, blood flowed from the holy Eucharist while a priest was consecrating it during mass. He had doubted the real presence of Christ in the host beforehand and thus when red liquid started flowing he went to see the Pope. Of course Pope Urban IV had it investigated. Then he confirmed what happened to be a miracle. The consecrated host was eventually brought to the Cathedral of Orvieto (Italy), viewable by everyone to this day.
Thus in 1264 the Holy Father finally was convinced by St. Juliana and the miracle and made the Corpus Christi feast an official one. It was then celebrated in certain parts of France, Germany, Hungary and Northern Italy. However it was only when Pope Clement V confirmed it as part of canon law (Council of Vienne 1311–12) did the feast truly become universally celebrated.
But wait, there's more! A separate devotion to the precious Blood started in Spain. It was made popular and brought to Italy by Saint Gaspar de Bufalo in the 19th century.
There was a feast for this actually, every July 1st from 1849 to 1969 It was instituted by Pope Pius IX. Since then July has become the month of the Precious Blood of Christ instead.
I'm happy to say I found out that even Anglo-Catholic Christians still have this July 1st feast in their Ordo Kalendar. So, no, this is not just a Catholic thing but a core Christian belief!
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Why Should We Pray and Offer the Precious Blood of Jesus to God?
Last year I had absolutely no idea what to write in this section. 😂 Because I really had no clue whatsoever. But now even you know what makes Jesus' blood precious. So can you already say why we should offer the blood of Christ to God in prayer?
If not yet, let me share with you why I started praying it in earnest.
1. When "Offering It Up" is Hard, Do This Instead: Offer the precious Blood of Christ to God in prayer.
I tried but eventually failed to offer my health suffering to the Lord. Well it started out okay and easy but eventually it got harder as my cough and colds got worse. Haha. Guess who's not holy enough huh? 😂
Christ is the best offering to God anyway. The perfect and purest human being, the Son of God, the new Adam. In our weakness and human imperfection, we can ask for God's mercy for all thru Jesus Christ.
2. We are horribly offending God with all our sins, thus we need to pray for each other.
The devil is everywhere making us hurt each other. It is constantly deceiving and manipulating people to do evil things. All the time the evil beings whisper and cajole so we will hate God, hate ourselves and our friends, family or work colleagues, anyone. Everyday the devil makes people believe God does not exist and that Mama Mary is not the Queen of Heaven and Earth. If you believe the lies then better make amends for it.
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If we do not know how to protect ourselves from evil, if we do not know what to do to stop living in sin, then we will eventually go to hell. I have written about the lifehack anyone can do to keep the devil away but that is not enough if we do not change our own lives for the better.
Let us pray the Chaplet of the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ for the reparation of humanity's sins. You know how hard it is to live these days, pray that we may each lighten the load and save those who need to be saved.
3. We are sinful in nature and need God's help to be sanctified.
I am a sinner and have done things that have offended God. Yes I have confessed everything to my knowledge but still I feel I need to pray more. Like St. Paul, who did horrible things to early Christians, he changed when Jesus spoke to him. And yet he still felt like he was the lowest of the lows and constantly made amends.
If you still do not feel the urgency, the need to repent of our sinful ways, I tell you, many of us are out of time. People are dying and ending up in hell because nobody prays for them.
You think Earthly suffering is hard? Wait 'til you get to purgatory, or worse, hell. 😂 By then you won't have any chance to even repent at all. Sad but true. Mama Mary and Jesus through the many saints have said such for many centuries.
Thus while we have the time, let us renounce the occult activities we practice. We must stop sexual immorality. I know not everyone is able to do this yet, thus we need to pray for ourselves.
We all need to appease God's wrath because of our innumerable sins! Many of us still do not follow the 10 Commandments and insist on living in sin and are even proud of it! WTF. 😂 Thus praying the Chaplet of the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ in atonement for our own sins is good too! BUT it DOES NOT replace the sacrament of Confession so please go to a priest (or pastor) and get absolved of your sins regularly!
Let's Pray!
There are two versions of this chaplet. One includes 7 mysteries while another only has 5 mysteries. There's even a Litany of the Most Precious Blood. Whichever one you choose is fine.
Personally I pray the one with 5 mysteries. You can find many versions of the Chaplet of the Precious Blood on YouTube. My favorite is the song version. Hehe. Anyway here are some videos to get you started:
Litany of the Precious Blood:
5 mysteries chaplet:
7 mysteries chaplet:
Have you tried praying any of these yet? How's the experience? For me I feel it is really a big help for my soul's betterment. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!
XOXO,
@artgirl