Category: Monthly Devotions

Monthly Devotion: the Precious Blood

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The month of July is dedicated to the Precious Blood.

There are so many things that I could say about this, but I think I’d like to focus on the life-giving aspect of blood.

The Jewish faith, which is the early basis of our Catholic faith, holds that the life is in the blood and God gave it to make atonement through sacrifice (Leviticus 17:11). This is the context into which Jesus entered our world as God’s word incarnate, and gave Himself as the ultimate sacrifice. The significance of blood throughout the Old Testament is vital (no pun intended), and it prefigures Christ’s sacrifice, which carries that same significance. Perhaps that’s something to dive deeper into in a future post, though. Today, I’d like to look at the role of the blood in motherhood and what it can reveal to us about Christ’s Precious Blood.

When I think about blood specifically as it pertains to motherhood, there are two functions that stand out:

  1. As women, we bleed monthly (more or less). This blood is what forms the lining of the uterus. It is usually replaced at the beginning of each cycle, but that uterine blood is retained if a woman falls pregnant. The new baby, which at this point consists of a fertilised egg, is implanted into this cushion of blood, which surrounds the new life as it continues to develop inside the womb. The very beginnings of every human life require blood – blood that is not theirs.
  2. After the baby is born, many mothers take up breastfeeding. In this process, the milk is made from their blood, and for newborns, this milk contains all the nutrients required for growth and development, and even anitbodies that can help protect them from some diseases. Mothers give of their own blood in order to continue to sustain their dependent infants and help them grow.

The life-giving graces we obtain through the spilling of the Precious Blood of our Lord are elevated above our human understanding of blood, but in my reflection on this subject, a couple of parallels have emerged for me.

Jesus’ blood is necessary for us to partake in new life, just as the lining of the uterus provides the environment needed for a new baby’s life to take hold. The zygote is implanted, literally buried in this lining, so it is completely covered by it. In the lining, it is protected and begins to grow. Had Christ’s Precious Blood not been shed on the cross, we would not be washed before God and adopted into His family. His blood is on us and on our children (Mt 27:25), covering us and making it possible for us to begin our lives as God’s children.

Then, like the nourishment a baby receives from breastmilk, the blood of Jesus which we receive each time we partake in the Eucharist (who is present in body, blood, soul, and divinity no matter if the form is under the appearance of bread or wine), is spiritual nourishment. I find Christ’s title of “Good Pelican” to be particularly poignant in this regard. When there is insufficient food for her babies, a mother pelican will use her beak to take parts of her own flesh to feed to them and help them grow – though extreme, it is similar to how breastfeeding works, and is also analogous to the Lord’s own sacrifice of self. Through the gift of the Eucharist, we receive Jesus, and He takes us to Himself to change our hearts little by little, helping us attain spiritual growth. The Eucharist also provides a protective factor. You see, much like the antibodies in breastmilk can help babies fight off illness, the Eucharist washes away venial sins, helping to heal our souls of spiritual ills.

Anyway, these are just some musings, but I hope they can help us to appreciate the life we receive through the precious blood of Jesus in a new way.

Have you noticed any other parallels when it comes to the Precious Blood? Let me know your thoughts!

Until next time, let’s pray for each other. And remember, we can do Mom things through Christ who strengthens us!

Monthly Devotion: Sacred Heart of Jesus

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June is the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This is a pretty easy one to talk about to kids, because it pertains to the tender love of our Lord for us. Below is a simple language explanation of the reason for this monthly devotion.

These days, when priests give homilies, we often hear of God’s love and mercy, but this wasn’t always the case. Preachers used to emphasize God’s anger when they spoke to the faithful. But Jesus sent a message of love into the world to change this and that is why we celebrate the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Sometimes you’ll hear people, both Christian and non-Christian, talk about how God in the Old Testament is violent and angry and how the God in the New Testament is much nicer, but this simply cannot be true. The thing about God is that He is unchanging. He is the same today as He was at the very beginning, and He will be the same every day until the end of time.

If you read the Old Testament carefully, you’ll see how His chosen people turn away from Him, over and over again (and if we are honest about our own hearts, we know there are times when we choose to turn away from God, too). But even though the people keep turning away from God, He keeps giving them more chances and keeps calling them back to Himself. Time and again, God shows them His love and mercy, just like He does for us.

Was God jealous and vengeful? Yes. And He still is. He is jealous because He does not want us to worship any false gods, to lose ourselves to money, power, popularity, or people. Imagine if your best friend one day said to you “you’re not my best friend anymore, I’m going to play with someone else and forget about you”. Wanting them to play with you again is jealousy, and you feel this because you love your friend. We see His vengeance play out when He does not stop the consequences of choosing to make other things gods in our lives. He respects our choice, even though it might hurt him, and allows us to be separated from Him, which leads to spiritual death.

But God was, and is, and will always be loving and merciful too! He offers every single person a loving relationship with Himself, where He will care for us and give us eternal life. He is also willing to forgive all our sins, over and over again.

His mercy is a way to avoid His vengeance, thanks to the perfect sacrifice Jesus made. All we have to do, all we ever had to do, throughout all of history, was to trust in Him.

This month, as we remember the Sacred Heart of Jesus, let us remember that God’s love and mercy are generously being poured out for us forever. All we have to do is turn to Him to receive it.

Until next time, let’s pray for each other. And remember, we can do Mom things through Christ who strengthens us!

Monthly Devotion: May

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May is the month of Mary!

I find it so intriguing that so few words of Mary’s were recorded in the Bible. In fact, the Bible only contains four passages where we can read what she said. These words must have been mightily importantfor them to be recorded, so we must pay attention to what they tell us about God. Today, I want to take a closer look at the words she spoke at the wedding at Cana.

There they are, at a celebration. It’s a wedding! Everyone is having a great time! That’s what happens at weddings. But then Mary learns they have run out of wine -didn’t I say they were having a great time? Well, in truth, weddings back then were less of an RVSP situation, and more of a “hey, so-and-so is getting married, come celebrate!” So numbers could easily get out of hand. Anyway, upon receiving this information, she relays the message to Jesus.

I think it’s interesting that she just lets Him know there’s a problem. She doesn’t tell Him what to do, or what they need, just what is happening: that these people have run into some trouble. She knows that He knows the best way to resolve the issue; it is not her role to tell Him, as many mothers might (yes, even to their adult children), and she acts accordingly.

We, too, should be unafraid to bring Jesus our problems, in a spirit of humility, like Mary.

Jesus responds by calling her “woman”. A lot of bible scholars agree that this is more like the way we might use “ma’am” today. It is full of respect. He asks her how it concerns them. But then… He performs the miracle anyway. Jesus did this to honour his mother, all the while maintaining respect for her.

This tells us that Mary’s intercession is powerful! If you ask her to pray for you, Jesus will listen.

As well as this, with Jesus as our brother, we too must honour our spiritual mother, Mary, and heed her instructions to us. What are her instructions to us? We’ll come to that shortly.

The second phrase she says is directed at the servants (I don’t think there is any irony in that). She says, “do whatever He tells you.”

This is so telling of Mary’s nature. She is always pointing us to Jesus, and encouraging us to follow Him. When we think of Mary, she leads us to think of Jesus. Even the rosary, a gift from the Blessed Mother herself, littered with mentions of her as we ask her to pray for us, is something that makes us meditate on the life of Jesus, for 15-30 minutes, if we pray a full set of mysteries. As the Church says, ad jesum per mariam – to Jesus through Mary.

These words, then, are her instructions to us, the servants of God: “do whatever He tells you.”

As mothers, let us use this month to meditate on Mary, and learn to better imitate her. Let us humbly bring our cares and concerns to Jesus, and encourage others to do whatever He tells them.

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God,
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ!

Until next time, let’s pray for each other. And remember, we can do Mom things through Christ who strengthens us!

April Monthly Devotion

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April is the month of the Holy Spirit.

Explaining the Holy Spirit to children can be tricky – it can be tricky to explain the Holy Spirit to adults!

I think the easiest way to understand the Holy Spirit, is to focus on what it does. So we can talk about the Holy Spirit’s power to help us witness to Christ, to enlighten us, give us wisdom, and speak to us. In simple words: the Holy Spirit is God who comes to us to guide us through life. He shows us right from wrong, helps us understand God and share God’s message, guides us to make good choices, and can tell us what God wants us to do, if we listen carefully.

I have rewritten St Augustine’s prayer in the image above into simple language to share with younger children:

Dear Holy Spirit, come down and fill up my heart. Make it Your home, and shine your bright and happy light in me.

How would you explain the Holy Spirit to your little ones? Let me know in the comments! I’m interested to see all the different ways we convey God to our babies!

Until next time, let’s pray for each other. And remember, we can do Mom things through Christ who strengthens us!