Virgo Potens

2 of 2 Month of the Precious Blood of Jesus~ July 1st MORNING STAR AND AURORA THE human race has existed here on earth about 6,000 years, but it is not quite 2,000 years that heaven is open to man. What had closed it upon us? Sin. And what has re-opened the heavenly paradise to us? The Precious Blood of our dying Saviour on the Cross. The fallen angels did not receive the promise of a Redeemer and cannot avail themselves of the merits of the Precious Blood. They are lost forever. (continued below)

❀•°❀°•❀•°❀°•❀ •°❀°•❀ 1 of 3 Month of the Precious Blood of Jesus ~ July 1st PREFACE ST. CATHERINE of Siena bids us fill our memory with thoughts of the Precious Blood of Jesus. This the writer has attempted to do in the following pages. Those who thirst for the love of God and for the salvation of souls, yet feel oppressed by the consequences of their sins, and are diffident about the efficacy of their prayers, will find in the devotion to the Blood of our Redeemer a source of consolation and encouragement altogether too little known and appreciated. The Church elevates the chalice every morning at Mass for our adoration and as a propitiation for our sins, and her liturgical prayers are replete with invocations to the Precious Blood, to awaken our confidence in this Blood of the Atonement. “Having therefore, brethren, a confidence in the entering into the holies by the blood of Christ” (Heb. X, 19). Our Eucharistic Lord is glorified in the Blessed Sacrament by the devotion to His Divine Blood, trampled under foot in the Passion, but now acclaimed with joy by us, the chosen people of the New Law, as the Price of our Redemption. His Blood be upon us and upon our children for the sanctification of our souls ! THE AUTHOR. Patronage of St. Francis Xavier March 12, 1914 ❀•°❀°•❀•°❀°•❀ •°❀°•❀ (continued below)

We therefore pray Thee, help Thy servants: whom Thou has redeemed with Thy Precious Blood. (Ambrosian Hymn). “The chastisements of God are not yet at an end; still more sorrowful times are ahead; and divine justice will be placated by the devotion to the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ.” ~ St. Gaspar del Bufalo

❀•°❀°•❀•°❀°•❀ •°❀°•❀ Dear Friends, Thank you so much for visiting Virgo Potens! During the month of June, we were able to finish Section I of The Love of the Sacred Heart, Illustrated by St. Mechtilde (1922). How much we learned about the love of God for each one of us, and the beauty of His plan for our salvation. Today begins the month dedicated to the Most Precious Blood of Jesus. New postings will be drawn from Why Is Thy Apparel Red by Max Walz (1914). Re-posts will be from The Precious Blood: or, The Price of Our Salvation (1860) by Frederick William Faber, D.D. This month, they will be posted at our new channel, Christus Regnat, as well as forwarded here. May God bless you! All for Jesus and Mary! ~ Virgo Potens ❀•°❀°•❀•°❀°•❀ •°❀°•❀

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I believe in Thy love for me. An indulgence of 300 days. (Pius X, Rescript in his own hand, July 29, 1907, exhib. July 18, 1908). ~ The Raccolta (1943)

2 of 2 NOVENA to the PRECIOUS BLOOD (June 22-30) (continued from above) O Thou, who during all the days of Thy mortal life consoled so many sufferings, healed so many infirmities, raised so often a sinking courage; Thou wilt not fail to have pity on a soul who cries to Thee from the depths of her anguish! Oh, no, it is impossible! Another sigh from my heart, and from the wound in Thine own, there will flow to me, upon a wave of Thy merciful Blood, the grace so ardently desired. O Jesus, Jesus! hasten the moment when Thou wilt change my tears into joy, my sighs into thanksgivings. Holy Mary, Source of the Divine Blood! I conjure Thee not to lose this occasion of glorifying the Blood which made Thee Immaculate. Amen.

1 of 2 NOVENA to the PRECIOUS BLOOD (June 22-30) By the Voice of Thy Blood, O Jesus! I would press Thee, solicit Thee, importune Thee, though Thou seemest to reject my supplications. I will not leave Thy bleeding feet until Thou hearest me. Too many graces, too many mercies have come from Thy Blood, for me not to hope, even to the end, in its efficacy. Then, O Jesus! by the Precious Blood seven times shed for the welfare of men, by each drop of that Sacred Price of our redemption, by the tears of Thine Immaculate Mother, I conjure Thee, I supplicate Thee, hear my earnest prayer. (Mention your intentions here) (continued)

2 of 2 ACT OF CONSECRATIONu To the Sacred Heart of our Saviour Jesus Christ I, N. N., give and consecrate myself to the Sacred Heart of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, my person and my life, my actions, troubles and sufferings, desiring no longer to make use of any part of my being except to honour, love, and glorify it. My irrevocable wish is to be His alone, and to do all for love of Him, renouncing with all my heart everything which can displease Him. I take thee, O Sacred Heart, for the sole object of my love, the protector of my life, the assurance of my salvation, the remedy of my weakness and inconsistency, the repairer of all the faults of my life, and my sure asylum and refuge at the hour of my death. O Heart of goodness, be my justification towards God the Father, and turn aside the glances of His just displeasure. O Heart of Love, I place all my confidence in thee, for I fear everything from my malice and weakness, but hope everything from thy goodness. Consume in me all that may displease or resist thee. Imprint thy pure love so deeply in my heart that I may never forget or be separated from thee. I conjure thee by all thy goodness that my name may be written in thee, for I desire that all my happiness and glory in living or dying may consist in being thy slave. Amen. ~ Father Alexis LeFebvre, Month of the Sacred Heart (1869)

1 of 2 [T]oday, you will apply yourselves to recall to your minds all you have already studied of the revelations of the Heart of Jesus. Examine if you begin to understand. What does this picture say to you, with the Cross, the Crown, and the Wound of this Sacred Heart? What do the Flames say to you? Have you listened to the mysterious language of the looks, the tears, the sighs of Jesus, manifested to you in His Sacred Heart? Have you understood the sacred words by which He has declared His love, His tenderness, and above all His desires and sorrows? Have you faith in His promises? If Heaven has granted you this grace, hasten to respond to your loving Redeemer by the gift of yourself, and all that you have in the words of the Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart of our Saviour composed by the saint for one of her sisters. ~ Father Alexis LeFebvre, Month of the Sacred Heart (1869) (continued below)

2 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 30th The Heavenly Father received His Son with the greatest honour and said to Him: “I return to Thee the boundless happiness Thou didst seem to abandon in descending to the exile of the world, and I grant Thee full power to communicate the same unreservedly to all the souls whom Thou hast just now presented to Me.” Then our Lord Jesus offered to God the Father, in one offering, all the poverty, humiliations, contempt, pains, labours and other works of His sacred Humanity. It was an offering very pleasing to God; never had such a gift entered heaven. He offered to the Holy Spirit the unheard-of love that had filled His most holy Heart by spreading abroad the sweetest perfumes, the seven gifts which the Holy Spirit had poured on Him, and which He had caused to fructify so bountifully, for it is really only in Christ that the Holy Ghost has been able to make His gifts bear their fruit perfectly. ~ The Love of the Sacred Heart, Illustrated by St. Mechtilde. (1922)

1 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 30th The Lord Jesus ascending amidst an ineffable and triumphant jubilation presents Himself before God the Father. In His own person He offers to Him the souls of all the elect, not only of those who had ascended with Him, but also those who should do so later. He offered the works of each, its sufferings and its merits. Those who then were in a state of sin appeared each as they would be one day in heaven. Loving souls who suffer great things for Christ with patience shone in His Heart with a particular brilliancy, and others shone in different parts of His body. (continued below)

2 of 2 June 29th ~ FEAST of Ss. PETER and PAUL, Apostles (continued from above) . . . . The while Sion sits accursed for having once crucified her Saviour, vain is it, on the contrary, for Rome to reject the Man-God, to pour out the blood of his Martyrs like water in her streets. No crime of Rome's is able to prevail against the great fact fixed for ever at this hour : the cross of Peter has transferred to her all the rights of the cross of Jesus; leaving to the Jews the curse, she now becomes the true Jerusalem. Such being then the meaning of this day, it is not surprising that Eternal Wisdom should have willed to enhance it still further, by joining the sacrifice of Paul to that of Peter. ~ Dom Prosper Guéranger (1806-1875), The Liturgical Year, Vol. 12 (1900)

1 of 2 June 29th ~ FEAST of Ss. PETER and PAUL, Apostles Just as the power received by the Man-God from his Father and the full communication made by him of this same power to the visible Head of his Church, had but for end the consummation of glory, the one object of the Thrice-Holy God in the whole of his work; so likewise, all jurisdiction, all teaching, all ministry here below, says Saint Paul, has for end the consummation of the Saints, which is but one with the consummation of this sovereign glory; now, the sanctity of the creature, and the glory of God, Creator and Saviour, taken together, find their full expression only in the Sacrifice which embraces both Shepherd and flock in one same holocaust. It was for this final end of all pontificate, of all hierarchy, that Peter, from the day of Jesus' s Ascension, traversed the earth. (continued)

June 29th ~ FEAST of Ss. PETER and PAUL, Apostles This feast is almost entirely devoted to St. Peter, the Bishop of Rome. The great Apostle of the Gentiles is more especially honored on June 30. After the Descent of the Holy Spirit, St. Peter preached the Gospel in Judea and was cast into prison by the cruel Herod. He was miraculously delivered by an Angel and established his See first at Antioch, and then finally at Rome. That Peter established himself at Rome making it the center of the Church is evident from tradition, his first Epistle, and from data found in the catacombs and ancient churches of Rome. Like St. Paul, he died at Rome during the persecution of Nero (64-68), by being crucified head downwards. ~ St. Joseph Daily Missal, 1950

2 of 2 NOVENA to the PRECIOUS BLOOD (June 22-30) (continued from above) O Thou, who during all the days of Thy mortal life consoled so many sufferings, healed so many infirmities, raised so often a sinking courage; Thou wilt not fail to have pity on a soul who cries to Thee from the depths of her anguish! Oh, no, it is impossible! Another sigh from my heart, and from the wound in Thine own, there will flow to me, upon a wave of Thy merciful Blood, the grace so ardently desired. O Jesus, Jesus! hasten the moment when Thou wilt change my tears into joy, my sighs into thanksgivings. Holy Mary, Source of the Divine Blood! I conjure Thee not to lose this occasion of glorifying the Blood which made Thee Immaculate. Amen.

1 of 2 NOVENA to the PRECIOUS BLOOD (June 22-30) By the Voice of Thy Blood, O Jesus! I would press Thee, solicit Thee, importune Thee, though Thou seemest to reject my supplications. I will not leave Thy bleeding feet until Thou hearest me. Too many graces, too many mercies have come from Thy Blood, for me not to hope, even to the end, in its efficacy. Then, O Jesus! by the Precious Blood seven times shed for the welfare of men, by each drop of that Sacred Price of our redemption, by the tears of Thine Immaculate Mother, I conjure Thee, I supplicate Thee, hear my earnest prayer. (Mention your intentions here) (continued)

O you who are, or who fear you are, in this sad state of tepidity and indifference, hasten to have recourse to the Heart of Jesus! Pray to Him with confidence, and believe in His word; yes, you shall yet live for His glory and love; a spark of that flame which consumes His Heart shall fall upon yours, and will kindle in you that sacred fire which He came to cast on the earth, and wishes to see everywhere. ~ Father Alexis LeFebvre, Month of the Sacred Heart (1869)

2 of 2 Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 29th What wonderful words! It is not in the creation of the earth and the heavens that God has manifested the power of His love, nor in the creation of man, the masterpiece of His Hands, nor even in Mary. Love raised Thee in her arms, O Mother of God, Immaculate Virgin, full of grace, but she could not say, “In Mary I have shown all the fulness of my power.” No, it was necessary that Thou shouldst give it to Thy Son, Jesus, our Brother, and our adorable Saviour. ~ The Love of the Sacred Heart, Illustrated by St. Mechtilde. (1922)