Christ shed his blood for the salvation of the whole world. In the words of the 853 Council of Quiercy quoted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church #605: “There is not, never has been, and never will be a single human being for whom Christ did not suffer.” His heart, the Sacred Heart honored on this first Friday of the month in a special way, was pierced for all and is open for all. A feast in honor of the Precious Blood of Jesus used to be celebrated on July 1 and this entire month was dedicated to it. As we thank Jesus for his self-sacrificing love today, let us ask that his Precious Blood may fall upon everyone so that they may know the love of God. We ask this as we pray for the Holy Father’s monthly intentions and reflect on words of Blessed Pope John XXIII’s 1960 encyclical about the Precious Blood.

Unlimited is the effectiveness of the God-Man's Blood -- just as unlimited as the love that impelled him to pour it out for us, first at his circumcision eight days after birth, and more profusely later on in his agony in the garden, in his scourging and crowning with thorns, in his climb to Calvary and crucifixion, and finally from out that great wide wound in his side which symbolizes the divine Blood cascading down into all the Church's sacraments. Such surpassing love suggests, nay demands, that everyone reborn in the torrents of that Blood adore it with grateful love.

The Blood of the new and eternal covenant especially deserves this worship of latria when it is elevated during the sacrifice of the Mass. But such worship achieves its normal fulfillment in sacramental communion with the same Blood, indissolubly united with Christ's Eucharistic Body. … Nourished by his Body and Blood, sharing the divine strength that has sustained countless martyrs, they will stand up to the slings and arrows of each day's fortunes -- even if need be to martyrdom itself for the sake of Christian virtue and the kingdom of God. Theirs will be the experience of that burning love which made St. John Chrysostom cry out:

Let us, then, come back from that table like lions breathing out fire, thus becoming terrifying to the Devil, and remaining mindful of our Head and of the love he has shown for us. . . This Blood, when worthily received, drives away demons and puts them at a distance from us, and even summons to us angels and the Lord of angels. . . This Blood, poured out in abundance, has washed the whole world clean. . . This is the price of the world; by it Christ purchased the Church... This thought will check in us unruly passions. How long, in truth, shall we be attached to present things? How long shall we remain asleep? How long shall we not take thought for our own salvation? Let us remember what privileges God has bestowed on us, let us give thanks, let us glorify him, not only by faith, but also by our very works.