In the Bible, St. Peter our first Pope commands us Christians, to go on making spiritual sacrifices to the Father, which are acceptable to Him through Jesus Christ,” you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” [1 Pet 2:5]
The Saints likewise highly recommend offering the Precious Blood of Jesus – which the Church commemorates this Month of July – to the Eternal Father. ““An offering,” says Father Faber, is “more than a prayer.” In prayer, we are the recipients, but when we make an offering, God vouchsafes to accept something from us. St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi, when in ecstasy, once exclaimed: “Every time a creature offers up the Blood by which he was redeemed, he offers a gift of infinite worth, which can be equaled by no other.” God revealed the practice of making this offering to this Saintly Carmelite nun when He complained to her that so little effort is made in this world to disarm His Divine justice against sinners. Acting upon this admonition, she daily offered the Precious Blood fifty times for the living and the dead. She did this with so much fervor that God showed her on different occasions the numerous souls who had thereby been converted or delivered from Purgatory.
From the Bible and Saints, we therefore learn that offering the Precious Blood of Jesus to the Eternal Father gains many priceless merits for us, and makes supreme satisfaction for sins. A similar concept is true of spiritually offering the Body or Heart of Jesus, or the Body and Blood of Jesus together.
The Church has Five Major Chaplets which all of us can make use of to offer spiritual sacrifices.
- The Chaplet of St. Gertrude: The principal prayer is, “Eternal Father, I offer you the Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in Union with the Holy Masses offered throughout the world this day[/month/year], for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, sinners in the Universal Church, those who are going to die today, those in my own home and family.”
- The Seven Precious Blood Offerings of St. Bridget: In this series of prayers, we offer the Precious Blood from 7 instances in Our Lord’s Holy Life, i.e. (1) His Circumcision, (2) His Agony in the Garden (3) His Scourging at the Pillar, (4) His Crowning with Thorns, (5) His Carrying of the Cross, (6) His Crucifixion and Death (7) The Piercing of His Sacred Heart.
- The Divine Mercy Chaplet: The major prayer of this chaplet is, “Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Thy Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in Atonement for our sins and those of the whole world [in Latin: the official language of the Roman Church, and a common prayer language of the Saints, it is, “Pater Aeterne, offero Tibi Corpus et Sanguinem, Animam et Divinitatem dilectissimi Filii Tui Domini Nostri Iesu Christi, in propitatione pro peccatis nostril et totius mundi” – worth praying many times over]
- The Fatima Angel Prayer: This prayer to the Holy Trinity was taught by the Angel to the three Shepherd children of Fatima: “Most Holy Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – I adore You profoundly. I offer Thee the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, to make reparation for all the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences by which He is offended. And through the Infinite Merit of His Most Sacred Heart, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I implore of Thee the conversion of poor sinners.
- The Sacred Heart daily Offering: “Eternal Father, I offer you the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with all Its Love, all Its Suffering and all Its Merits. First, to expiate the sins I have committed this day and during all the days of my life. (Glory Be). Second, to purify the good I have done poorly this day and during all the days of my life. (Glory Be). Third, to supply for all the good I ought to have done and have neglected to do this day and all the days of my life. (Glory Be).
In Conclusion:
“At another time when St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi was in ecstasy, she saw all the holy patrons of the city of Florence [accompanied by innumerable other saints], before the throne of God interceding for sinners. Their petitions, however, remained unanswered. Then the guardian Angels of the poor sinners approached, but their prayers likewise remained unheard. Next came the multitudes of the blessed to make intercession for the guilty souls. While imploring God’s mercy, they were intent at the same time upon offering to the Eternal Father the Precious Blood, and on account of the merits of the Divine Blood, their petitions were granted. Ought not these examples incite us to offer the Precious Blood frequently during the day?”
Do we desire (1) Covid to be overcome? (2) the health and safety of our family and friends? (3) peace and blessings for our family and our nation (4) the expiation of the sins of the whole world? All these and more can be attained through the Ceaseless Offering of the Precious Blood of Jesus spiritually to the Eternal Father. In Divine Mercy, Our Lord told St. Faustina, “Say without ceasing the Chaplet I have taught you” promising to show abundant Mercy to her and to all who say it, and all the dying for whom it is offered. Every day, some 300,000 souls pass into eternity. Let us resolve to offer the Precious Blood of Jesus 100 or 1000 times every day, especially for the dying of the day!
We will be rewarded for it beyond measure when it is our own turn to die and when we enter eternity!
Nishant Xavier lives in Chennai, India. He works in investment banking. He has a great desire that India will be blessed and enriched with the wealth and treasures of the Gospel and the Sacraments. He wishes to work for the uplift of the poor and so that India may become the most advanced, prosperous and successful nation in the world. You can reach out to him anytime with questions or thoughts on [email protected].