Dear friends of Gethsemane, peace to all of you.
This month of July for us is characterized by the Solemnity of the Precious Blood of Jesus which we HERE celebrate with the Pontifical Mass in the Basilica of Agony (1st July).It seems important to me to briefly mention this Mystery which allows us to reflect on the great gift of revelation and redemption.The image of blood runs throughout the Old Testament, speaks to us of the relationship of man with God, but more precisely of the salvation that God began with the people of Israel and which was then fulfilled in Jesus' Passover. In the Book of Leviticus it is said: "the blood expiates, because it is life" (Lv 17, 11). In fact, the prohibition against tasting the blood of animals already existed at that time (Lv 17) and the reason is that in the blood there is life, and life belongs only to God ... therefore God alone can decide on blood, man can only remain in communion with God by living the commandments and his Covenant. In the O.T., when this communion was obscured by sin, a sacrifice with the shedding of blood was necessary: the offering of a life, so that the covenant of man with God would return to being intact.
With Jesus, all this is fulfilled, mysteriously, definitively and wisely.He is the Lord of life, He is the one who can decide on the life of man, on His own life. And it is He who HERE decides to donate it, uniting his will to that of the Father (Mk 14:36): that is, he decides to pour out his Divine Blood in sacrifice for all. If in the A.T. whoever drank the blood of another living being, had to be put to death, here is exactly the opposite: it is this Blood that gives life. The Blood of Christ is poured out as a sacrifice (HERE in Gethsemane "sweating" in anticipation of the offering of Lk 22, 44) and for this reason the Cross is the true Altar on which the only true immolated Lamb, victim and priest, pours this Blood for all and for ever (Jn 19, 23ss).In every Eucharist, the Blood of Christ is offered as a sacrifice for us. It is the same eternal sacrifice that comes to us today.In this month, let us pray that this priceless gift may be poured into the Church, into the world and into all souls to renew the Covenant with God again and again.
