Why Body and Blood?

Why body and blood?

Why not elbow and knee? Why not neck and nose? 

Why two items? Why not one or more than two?

Jesus's choice of body and blood was not accidental.

There is a connection between his body and his blood. What is the connection?  The wounds we opened with lash, thorns, nails and spear connect his body to his blood.  

His bloody wounds are the mouth of God. They speak to us. The language uttered through the mouth of God consists of that which passed through them and that which did not.  By that which passed through them and that which did not, God revealed his identity to us. Only by that which passed through his bloody wounds and that which did not, do we get a fair and accurate representation of God - a high fidelity, first class representation of God far superior to any representation of God made by human hands. In that passed through his bloody wounds and that which did not, the mouth of God gave us his autobiography. God poured more and better theology into his bloody wounds than into the heads of every apologist, theologian, Doctor of the Church, apostle, monk, abbot, mystic, priest, monsignor, bishop, Cardinal, Pope, hermit and saint who has ever lived or will ever live. Buckets of blood poured through the bloody wounds we opened in his body. On this cataract of blood, his very life itself was carried from his body. Yet, not a drop - not a drop - of his love for us followed the buckets of blood through the wounds. His most sacred heart stayed filled to the brim with love for us. He clung to his love for us, held tight and refused to let go. He clung with the iron grip of the drowning man tossed into the stormy sea after his ship is sunk.

His bloody wounds have two sides: 1) a near side and 2) a far side. 

On the near side of his bloody wounds is his ignominious defeat. On the near side is found the Crucifixion. Unlike the mighty God of the Jews who freed his people from the Egyptians, this puny god of the new Testament failed to free his people from the Romans. The Romans defeated him. He was a loser. The Romans impaled him on  a cross like a worm on a hook.

The connection between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection is his bloody wounds. As we pierced his body with bloody wounds, we pierced the veil between heaven and earth. The bloody wounds are a telescope through which we catch a glimpse of heaven from here on earth. When we look at them, we see the test into which we baptized him. When we look through them, we see the results of the test. The results of the test are the good news of great joy. Given the difficulty of the test, the results are very good news for us indeed.

On the far side of his bloody wounds is his glorious victory. On the far side of his bloody wounds is the Resurrection. The tyrant against whom the Son of God descended from heaven to earth to do battle was neither the Romans nor the Egyptians. The Son of God did not come to free us from either of these two tyrants. He had a bigger fish to fry. He came to free us from a far worse tyrant who has the power to transmogrify us into the most hideous and miserable of loveless beasts. This evil tyrant is within us. He instructs us, when our crosses try to bury us under their oppressive weight, to release our grip on love - to let love slip from our hearts. Without love, however, we lose any resemblance that we bear to God. Therefore, this natural human tendency must be denied. Only by denying ourselves, can we pick up and carry our crosses as we make progress through the valley of tears. Only love gives us the strength to do so.

We tortured and killed him. He suffered and died. Yet, he did not stay dead and he did not stop loving us. He emerged from the dead sill alive and sill in love with us.

That he did not stay dead is the proof that Jesus is omnipotent. Nobody emerges alive from the dead. He did.

That he did not stop loving us, however, is the proof that our conception of divinity as omnipotence is incomplete. Divinity is more than omnipotence. Divinity is also love.

The dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. 

The Crucifixion, Resurrection and the connection between them constitute the Autobiography of God. The Autobiography was not written in words but was done in deeds. What do we learn from reading God's autobiography?  We learn that the evil we did to him did not extinguish the bonfire of love that burns for us in his most sacred heart or reduce it by even the slightest degree.

In fact, God is head over heels in love with us. 

We get a sense of the magnitude of his love for us by the price he paid to produce the Crucifixion. He paid the price not from his unlimited divine resources. He paid the price from his limited human resources. He paid them all for us. He kept not a penny for himself. He has never paid more for anything else. 

We get a sense of the duration of his love for us from its indestructibility. His love for us ought to have faded as we tortured him and ought to have died when we killed him. But it did not. His love for us survived. Its survival is the proof that the duration of his love for us is forever.

That the evil we did to him did not adversely affect his love for us tells us without any ambiguity whatsoever that nothing can.

His love for us is the rock on which we can build our faith.

Therefore,  when you behold the most Holy Eucharist, do not just say, 'Look, there is the Son of God'. This misses the point by a mile. When you behold the most Holy Eucharist, joyously exclaim, 'Look, there is the Son of God and he carries his bloody wounds with him.' In the bloody wounds is the meaning of everything

.A Jesus without his bloody wounds is just omnipotence. Omnipotence is neutral - salt without its flavor (Matthew 5:13). Omnipotence demands respect nothing more. 

A Jesus with his bloody wounds is so much more. His bloody wounds are the visible tokens of his love for us. His love for us makes his omnipotence sweet. His love for us is the honey that draws the bees back home to the hive.

Omnipotence demands respect. But, love demands love. 

P.S. God instituted the sacrament of the most Holy Eucharist and not Eucharistic Adoration because he wanted the children of Adam and Eve to focus on the meaning of his bloody wounds and not merely on his real presence. In Eucharistic Adoration there is a risk of focusing on the real presence at the expense of focusing on his bloody wounds. The risk has been realized because the conversation ignores the bloody wounds. 

The Telescope

The bloody wounds that we opened in the body of Christ are the connection between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. They are so important that our most Holy Eucharist points to them. The body and the blood point to the wounds. The wounds are the connection between body and blood.

On the near side of the bloody wounds is the Crucifixion. On the near side is his ignominious defeat. We tortured and killed him. He suffered and died. The Crucifixion is the story of the evil we did to him. 

On the far side of the bloody wounds is the Resurrection. On the far side is his glorious victory. He emerged from the black hole of death still alive and still in love with us. 

The bloody wounds are a telescope through which we can look from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection and vice versa from the Resurrection to the Crucifixion. The bloody wounds pierce the veil between heaven and earth. By looking through the telescope, we catch a glimpse of heaven from here on earth. 

The Crucifixion and the Resurrection are the two chapters in the autobiography of God. The Crucifixion and the Resurrection are the diptych that the Son of God painted to reveal to the world the identity of God. Who is God? God provided the answer in the combination of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. 

That he emerged alive from the dead is the proof that Jesus is God. Nobody emerges alive from the black hole of death. He did. 

That he emerged from the dead still in love with us is the proof that there is more to God than omnipotence. Omnipotence is but one detail of divinity. There is another detail that is relevant to us. Divinity is love. Moreover, that his love for us survived the evil we did to him is the proof that his love for us is indestructible. That the evil baptism into which we immersed him did not extinguish his love for us or reduce it by even the slightest degree tells us that nothing can.

To understand the nature of God, we must look through the bloody wounds we opened in the body of Christ as though they were a telescope and behold the Crucifixion, the Resurrection and the connection between the two. Anything less distorts the nature of God.

On the near side of his bloody wounds is the sourness of godlessness. On the far side of his bloody wounds is the sweetness of paradise. The piercing and opening of the bloody wounds in the body of Christ pierced and opened the veil between heaven and earth. Through his bloody wounds goes the escape. The escape starts in godlessness, passes through his bloody wounds, and finishes in paradise

The Sign of the Cross

“A genuinely made Sign of the Cross “makes all hell tremble.””

— St. John Vianney

Let us begin our exploration of the mystery, majesty and magnificence of God with a short but powerful prayer, 'the Sign of the Cross'.

The gestures of the Sign of the Cross do not just point at the bloody wounds we opened in the body of Christ. They point through them. The bloody wounds are a telescope through which we catch a glimpse of heaven from here on earth. They pierce the veil.

If we stop short and only look at the bloody wounds, we only see the guarantee of the genuineness of the message - the verification of its veracity - its certificate of authenticity. We see that we tortured and killed him. He suffered and died. We do not see the message itself.

The revelation that the Son of God made during his visit consists of two components: 1) the message itself and 2) the guarantee of the message. 

In order to see the message itself, we must look through the bloody wounds not just at them. 

If we look through the bloody wounds, we see more - much more.  We see what God intended us to see. We see divinity in all of its glorious splendor. We see the engine that generates the sweet force that pulls us to the entrance of paradise. '

What do we see when we look through the bloody wounds?

We see that he did not stay dead and that he did not stop loving us. We see indestructibility. We see the indestructibility of the Son of God and the indestructibility of His love for us. Both the Son of God and His love for us survived the brutal baptism into which we immersed him. Life and love emerged intact and undiminished from the gauntlet of evil through which we ran the Son of God while he was human, alive, tender, vulnerable and our guest upon the earth. We put the Son of God to the test. We tortured and killed him. He suffered and died. From the fact that he did not stay dead we discovered that Jesus is God. From the fact that he did not stop loving us we discovered the divinity is love. His survival revealed His omnipotence. Death itself has no power over Him and, by virtue of Him, over us.  The survival of His love for us, however, revealed so much more - something greater and more powerful than omnipotence. The survival of His love for us revealed the very essence of divinity itself. God is love - a love that we are powerless to extinguish or reduce by even the slightest degree.

Therefore, let us re-learn this simple but powerful prayer --- that is all too often only perfunctorily said.  Make the Sign of the Cross often. Prepare places of honor for it in your daily lives.

The Bloody Wounds in His Head

Name the Father. Point to the bloody wounds we opened in the head of Jesus. Look through them as you would look through a telescope. See that the Son of God not only survived the evil into which we baptized Him but He also clung to His love for us, held tight and did not let go. He continues to love us nonetheless. God is love - a love that we are powerless to extinguish or reduce by even the slightest degree. 

Meditation:  Jesus wears the crown because He is the King of Kings. Rank in the kingdom of God is determined by love. He holds the highest rank because He has the greatest love. He loved us before He entered the gauntlet of gruesome suffering, He loved us while passing through it, and loved us no less when He emerged.

The Bloody Wounds in His Feet

Name the Son. Point to the bloody wounds we opened in the feet of Jesus. Look through them as you would look through a telescope. See that the Son of God not only survived the evil into which we baptized Him but He also clung to His love for us, held tight and did not let go. He continues to love us nonetheless. God is love - a love that we are powerless to extinguish or reduce by even the slightest degree.  

Meditation: The feet of God trod the earth, not above us as God, but on the same level as us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering. He communicated His love for us in the unambiguous language of suffering - our native tongue. Nobody signs up to dive headfirst or, for that matter, even dip his toe into the boiling cauldron of suffering unless they are insane or something important outweighs the high cost of suffering.  All creatures who suffer understand this. Suffering is a price we only willingly pay for something that is extremely dear to us. Jesus paid the price because we are extremely dear to Him. 

THE BLOODY WOUNDS IN HIS Hands

Name the Holy Spirit. Point to the bloody wounds we opened in the hands of Jesus. Look through them as you would look through a telescope. See that the Son of God not only survived the evil into which we baptized Him but He also clung to His love for us, held tight and did not let go. He continues to love us nonetheless. God is love - a love that we are powerless to extinguish or reduce by even the slightest degree.

Meditation:  Despite all of the evil we did to Him, the arms of God still remain wide open and ready to embrace us in a great bear hug of overwhelming love if we would repent, turn ourselves around and start our climb out of the inhospitable cesspool of godlessness.

THE BLOODY WOUND IN HIS Side

Say Amen. Fold your hands together to form the point of the spear that pierced the side of Jesus.  Look through the bloody wound we opened in His side as you would look through a telescope. See that the Son of God not only survived the evil into which we baptized Him but He also clung to His love for us, held tight and did not let go. He continues to love us nonetheless. God is love - a love that we are powerless to extinguish or reduce by even the slightest degree. 

Meditation:  At Calvary, buckets of blood and His very life itself spilled from the wounds we opened in His body with lash, thorns, nails and spear. However, not a drop - not a drop - of His love for us spilled. His most sacred heart continued to be filled to the brim with love for us. He and His love for us had survived. This is the good news of great joy.  At Bethlehem, the most Holy Trinity hand delivered to us a love note. At Calvary, they gave us a guarantee of its veracity.

You may be too busy to go to Mass or to Confession. You may not have enough time to say the Rosary. But what is your excuse for not making a meaningful Sign of the Cross?