The first Sunday in July: the Precious Blood of Jesus is solemnly celebrated in the Basilica of Gethsemane. The liturgical reform of Vatican II united this holy day, with pastoral wisdom, with Corpus Christi, which became the “Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ”. The solemnity of the Precious Blood, which has survived in Jerusalem, is linked to the place, the hic of every Holy Place that accompanies the steps of the pilgrims who recollect the stories from the Gospels here, in the Land where they took place. The Gospel according to Luke (Luke 22, 39-46) was proclaimed where it says explicitly that “his sweat became like drops of blood falling on the ground”, on the rock in the garden of Gethsemane.
On the Wednesday of Holy Week, when there is the pilgrimage to Gethsemane and the same piece is proclaimed, the next place on the itinerary is the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre where, in the Franciscan chapel of the apparition of Jesus to Mary, the column of the flagellation is venerated, another “place” where the blood of Christ was given and offered for us.
In his sermon, the Custos underlined, starting from the first reading (Exodus 12, 21-27) that the blood of ancient sacrifices not only recalls violence and pain but has in itself the idea of life, donation, gratuitousness and alliance, which is signed and celebrated with blood. Thus, the fact of Jesus “sweating blood” is the sign of blood that saves, the blood of a supreme sacrifice in acceptance of doing the will of the Father, to save men. The idea of blood linked to suffering must therefore be integrated with that of giving life to make an alliance and celebrate the communion between God and man. It is a gesture of supreme gratuitousness because it is given by God, because it is God himself who gives his blood, making the deep communion between God and man real, which we celebrate in the Blood of Christ… A recollection appreciated by all those who have given their own lives, at times cruelly. With a prayer to God to make us take part in this gift, in accepting the alliance that indefatigably is offered to us by the Lord.
Even the half-light of the Basilica seemed to receive these words with gratitude, letting the sunlight flood in.
MM
On the Wednesday of Holy Week, when there is the pilgrimage to Gethsemane and the same piece is proclaimed, the next place on the itinerary is the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre where, in the Franciscan chapel of the apparition of Jesus to Mary, the column of the flagellation is venerated, another “place” where the blood of Christ was given and offered for us.
In his sermon, the Custos underlined, starting from the first reading (Exodus 12, 21-27) that the blood of ancient sacrifices not only recalls violence and pain but has in itself the idea of life, donation, gratuitousness and alliance, which is signed and celebrated with blood. Thus, the fact of Jesus “sweating blood” is the sign of blood that saves, the blood of a supreme sacrifice in acceptance of doing the will of the Father, to save men. The idea of blood linked to suffering must therefore be integrated with that of giving life to make an alliance and celebrate the communion between God and man. It is a gesture of supreme gratuitousness because it is given by God, because it is God himself who gives his blood, making the deep communion between God and man real, which we celebrate in the Blood of Christ… A recollection appreciated by all those who have given their own lives, at times cruelly. With a prayer to God to make us take part in this gift, in accepting the alliance that indefatigably is offered to us by the Lord.
Even the half-light of the Basilica seemed to receive these words with gratitude, letting the sunlight flood in.
MM