THE
P RTAL
January 2019
Page 21
Devotion to the
Precious Blood of
Our Lord Jesus Christ
A review by Fr Simon Ellis
F
r Michael Woodgate - author of a number of books, including ‘The
priest’s guide to hearing confessions’ - has gifted the church a beautiful little book that comprises a history
of devotion to the Precious Blood together with some much-needed devotional prayers.
Woodgate begins by reviewing the devotion to the
precious blood in scripture, which isn’t a bad place to
start, of course, for obvious reasons, but this also enables
us to find common ground with evangelicals, and those,
for example grounded in the theology of Charles Wesley,
who wrote of the precious blood in his famous hymn
“O for a thousand tongues to sing” and the Salvation
Army, whose motto is “blood and fire”. Woodgate
also mentions devotion to the Precious Blood in the
Anglican Communion, mentioning the Society of the
Precious Blood at Burnham Abbey as an example. All
these ecumenical considerations are important before
Woodgate considers the sacramental dimension.
Here Woodgate offers his most simple, yet profound
conclusion, the words of Pius Parsch, in the Postscript:
“Now from vision to present reality. How fortunate we
are to have divine Blood so near to us, to offer it to the
heavenly Father for the sins of the whole world! Why,
we are even permitted to drink it!” This may, of course,
be provocative, as, alas, most Catholic Churches do
not permit the faithful to drink it! May this booklet be
an encouragement to the faithful to ask why they are
not permitted to drink it?
Woodgate offers us encouragement to build up our
own devotion to the Precious Blood, providing us with
a number of prayers drawn from the tradition: Collects,
George Herbert’s poems, Catherine of Siena’s constant
prayer, prayers of Thomas Aquinas and Sister Faustina,
a rosary of the Precious Blood and various chaplets.
The meat of the book considers three things and one
wouldn’t be surprised if the devotion to the precious
blood in Bruges was of prime importance. Here
Woodgate writes devotionally but with intelligence:
“One of the prayer cards given to pilgrims in the
Basilica at Bruges wisely speaks of the shrine as
being a place where Christ’s sacrifice is so intensely
commemorated. It thus avoids making any claim
to the relic’s authenticity or otherwise, but in no
way minimises the devotion offered to Our Lord’s
redeeming blood for so many centuries.”
Second, there is the text of reflections on the Most
Precious Blood from Pope Leo XIII, where he writes
that devotion to the Precious Blood calls to mind
baptism, through which the divine Blood purifies
our souls, and reminds us of penance and the other
sacraments, because “you have redeemed us with your
Blood, you have made us a kingdom, and priests to
serve our God” (Apocalypse 5:9-10). Whereas all other
devotions are aids to Catholic piety, writes Pope Leo,
this devotion is its foundation.
Finally, martyrdom. Pope Benedict XVI, in his
sermon in 2010 at The Metropolitan Cathedral of the
Precious Blood at Westminster reminded us that the
mystery of Christ’s Precious Blood is represented by
the martyrs of every age, who drank from the cup
which Christ himself drank, and whose blood, shed in
union with his sacrifice, gives new life to the Church.
Those martyrs, he reminds us, are still being made to-
day – in great numbers. He concluded:
In this cathedral of the Most Precious Blood…. I ask
you to unite yourselves ever more fully to the Lord,
sharing in his sacrifice on the Cross and offering him
that “spiritual worship” (Romans 12.1) which embraces
every aspect of our lives.
Devotion to the Precious Blood of Christ
by Michael Woodgate
Published by the Catholic League
ISBN: 978-0-9928497-1-9 Price: £4
- available from Westminster Cathedral
Bookshop, Most Precious Blood, Borough,
London Bridge or The Catholic League,
c/o 27 Moor Lane, Newby, Scarborough
YO12 5SL - [email protected]