By Roy Rasmussen | For On Mission
The liturgical calendar of the Church devotes July to the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, but honoring the Precious Blood of Our Lord throughout the year can help us draw closer to him every day.
Here is a look at why Catholics honor the Precious Blood this month and how to incorporate this Eucharistic devotion into your own spirituality.
Why we honor the Precious Blood in July
Just as St. Margaret Mary Alacoque popularized the June dedication to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the 17th century, July became associated with the Precious Blood in the 19th century through the influence of St. Gaspar del Bufalo, Pope Pius VII and Blessed Pope Pius IX.
These Church leaders were concerned with re-evangelizing Italy in the wake of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era. After the French Army helped Pius IX regain control of Rome on June 30, 1849, the pope declared that the feast of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ would commemorate this victory by falling on the following Sunday, the first Sunday of July.
Subsequent popes moved this to July 1 and elevated the feast’s ranking to what today we would call a solemnity. Pope St. John XXIII maintained this ranking and published an apostolic letter, “On Promoting Devotion to the Most Precious Blood.”
He emphasized “the unbreakable bond which must exist between the devotions to the Most Holy Name and Most Sacred Heart of Jesus…and devotion to the incarnate Word’s Most Precious Blood” and referred to the tradition celebrating July as the “month devoted to honoring Christ’s Blood.”
Pope St. Paul VI removed the feast from the General Roman Calendar in 1969 due to the number of other solemnities and feasts already commemorating the Precious Blood, but preserved it as a votive Mass.
Meanwhile, the tradition of honoring the Precious Blood throughout July remains a devout practice.
What the Church teaches about the Precious Blood
The liturgical calendar of the Church emphasizes the Precious Blood because of its relationship to core Catholic teachings and practices:
- We believe that when God became man in the person of Jesus Christ, he took on real flesh with a real heart and real blood.
- The Precious Blood flowed between the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
- By shedding his Precious Blood, Jesus sacrificed himself to make satisfaction for the sins of mankind and pour out God’s mercy.
- As atonement for sin, the Precious Blood serves as the instrument of God’s grace, shared with us in the sacraments, including Baptism, which washes us in his Blood, and the Eucharist, which nourishes us with his Blood.
- Catholics call upon the saving power of the Precious Blood when using sacramentals such as holy water and exorcism.
- Christ’s sacrifice of his Blood serves as the model for Catholic moral practice, calling us to imitate his sacrifice in service to God and our neighbor.
Accordingly, many devotions reference the Precious Blood, as Pope St. John XXIII noted of the Sacred Heart. To take some related examples, the Five Holy Wounds where Christ bled are recalled in the Sign of the Cross and the five large beads of the Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet.
How we honor the Precious Blood in the liturgy
We encounter the Most Precious Blood directly in the Mass. Some may wonder, why is it that sometimes only priests drink from the cup, while other times the laity also drink?
Bishop David Ricken addressed this in his 2024 “Pastoral Instruction for the Diocesan Practice of Holy Communion Under Both Kinds,” prompted by reflections on issues raised by the interruption of public Mass during the COVID pandemic.
Bishop Ricken explains that, historically, the Church has limited distribution of the cup for doctrinal, practical and liturgical reasons.
On the doctrinal side, Catholics believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in both the Eucharistic bread and wine, which theologians refer to as the two “species” or “kinds” of the Eucharist. When you receive the consecrated host, you receive Jesus, including his Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.
If you drink from the cup as well, you’re receiving the Eucharist under a second species, which is a great blessing, but there’s still only one Jesus, not two. To prevent misunderstandings and denials of these teachings fostered by groups such as the Nestorians and Utraquists, the Church has issued periodic clarifications on these matters and imposed varying degrees of restriction on lay distribution of the Precious Blood since the 1415 Council of Constance.
Practically, it’s relatively easier to spill the Precious Blood than to drop a consecrated host, and it’s harder to purify.
Finally, liturgically, the Church elevates certain Masses that give special honor to the Lord’s divinity, Incarnation, Passion and Eucharistic Real Presence, such as the Christmas and Easter vigils and Corpus Christi. During such celebrations, the Diocese of Green Bay allows and encourages distribution of the Precious Blood to the laity.
This limited distribution fosters appreciation for the Precious Blood, reminding us not to take the Lord’s sacrifice for granted.
How you can develop devotion to the Precious Blood
Here are some simple yet powerful ways to incorporate the power of the Most Precious Blood into your spiritual life:
- Receiving the Lord’s Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the kind of the bread with an intention of honoring the Precious Blood or making reparation for sins against the Precious Blood.
- Attending Eucharistic adoration while contemplating the Precious Blood.
- Making a confession and receiving the grace that flows from the Precious Blood.
- Praying the Rosary and meditating on the role the Precious Blood plays in the mysteries.
- Doing Lectio Divina meditation on Scriptures that mention the Precious Blood of Jesus.
- Honoring the Precious Blood during Friday and First Friday fasts and devotions.
- Praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and meditating on the relationship between the Five Holy Wounds and the Precious Blood.
- Reciting the Litany of the Most Precious Blood.
- Praying the Precious Blood prayer from the Chaplet of the Most Precious Blood: “Most Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, save us and the whole world.”
These devotions can be incorporated into the Five Alive practices recommended by Bishop Ricken to promote Eucharistic devotion.
Use this July to cultivate your devotion to the Most Precious Blood and draw closer to its source in the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Read more here from Bishop Ricken’s pastoral instruction letter on distribution of holy Communion: www.gbdioc.org/the-bishop/bishop-ricken-pastoral-letters/
Read more here from Pope John XXIII’s papal encyclical on devotion to the Precious Blood: www.papalencyclicals.net/john23/j23pb.htm