It is through the outpouring of the Precious Blood of Christ on the Cross that the world has been given salvation. We ourselves are recipients of the mercy of God, which we recall so beautifully every time we pray the “O Blood and Water” Prayer, also known as the 3 o’clock Hour Prayer.
Dear Marian Helpers and Members of our Marian Family,
Traditionally, July has been associated with the Precious Blood of Jesus because, in the old calendar, 1st July was celebrated as the Feast of the Precious Blood. This feast is now combined with Corpus Christi, officially named “The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.”
Nonetheless, July remains a month especially dedicated to prayer, devotion, and intercession through the Precious Blood.
Medieval artists often used the image of a pelican feeding her young to represent the Precious Blood. People believed that a mother pelican pierces her breast to feed her starving young with her own blood. In St. Thomas Aquinas’s Eucharistic hymn Adoro Te Devote, he calls Jesus Pie Pelicane, or “Loving Pelican.”
It is through the outpouring of the Precious Blood of Christ on the Cross that the world has been given salvation. We ourselves are recipients of the mercy of God, which we recall so beautifully every time we pray the “O Blood and Water” Prayer, also known as the 3 o’clock Hour Prayer.
I encourage you to incorporate this small prayer into your daily prayer life, if you do not already do so.
In her Diary, St. Faustina writes that Jesus told her this prayer is especially powerful for obtaining the grace of conversion for ourselves and for others and, by extension, for our communities and countries as well:
Call upon My mercy on behalf of sinners; I desire their salvation. When you say this prayer, with a contrite heart and with faith on behalf of some sinner, I will give him the grace of conversion. This is the prayer: “O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of Mercy for us, I trust in You” (Diary, 186-187).
The founder of the Marian Fathers, St. Stanislaus Papczyński, whose feast day we celebrated on 18 May, often wrote about the Precious Blood of Jesus. Reminding his readers of the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life won through the Passion of Christ, this holy priest encouraged us to thank the Lord not only for the shedding of His Blood, but also that He has seen fit to wash us clean through so great a gift.
Whenever we receive Holy Communion, we are recipients of that same Precious Blood, which increases grace within us, imparts to us the love of God, and strengthens us for service and prayer, helping us not only to hold onto our faith but to put it into action.
In our chapel here in West Ealing, London, we will be praying a Novena to the Precious Blood of Jesus in thanksgiving for so great a gift and for all the intentions entrusted to us by our members and benefactors. I invite you to send us your prayer intentions and petitions and to join us spiritually in this novena as well.
Just a quick note regarding the Novena (and indeed all of our Novenas and newsletters). I have heard from several people that they would like to send in their prayer intentions but feel unable to do so because they cannot make a donation. Here at the Divine Mercy Apostolate, we will never ever turn away someone’s prayer requests simply because they are unable to donate. It is our honour, privilege, and duty to pray for you and your loved ones.
If someone is able to support our ministry financially, we are deeply grateful for that generosity. But even if a person is unable to donate, we are thankful for your prayers and honoured that you would entrust your needs, concerns and intentions to us. May the Precious Blood of Jesus be poured out upon us and upon our world.
May the Precious Blood of Jesus bring healing of body, mind, soul, and spirit, grant us the grace of conversion and final perseverance, and protect us from all that is contrary to the will and plan of God.
May God bless you now and always!
Fr Alex Pumphrey, MIC
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Contact Father Alex at info@divinemercy.org.uk
Please send us your prayer intentions! (click here). We will place them at the foot of our altar in the Divine Mercy Apostolate’s Chapel here in West Ealing, London and will remember them in our daily Chaplets of Divine Mercy.
