WHY BLOOD?
I remember the first time I saw the blood of Pope St. John Paul II. At the time, I was a freshman in college and did not have an appreciation for many of the Church’s devotions. The Rosary? Cold, boring, and we are not even talking to Jesus! Novenas? Similarly boring and monotonous. And then, there were relics. At that time, I found relics, quite frankly, frightening. They echoed a type of barbaric and superstitious approach to faith, and I did not see how they could lead us closer to God.
But then, I met JPII. In the National Shrine of Pope St. John Paul II in Washington, D.C., there is a chapel totally devoted to the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary, which the pope added in 2002. The walls of this chapel are covered with mosaics of blues, silvers, and gold, gold and more gold. At the center of this chapel is an altar, and at the base of this altar, there stands the papal cross of St. John Paul II. It is a humble cross, unique in its simplicity and its portrayal of Christ as sunken and defeated. As echoed in our readings today, “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way.” As we are beaten down by the sufferings of life, our humble savior is bent over with us and will never leave us.
The base of this humble cross contains a vile of the saint’s blood, the largest relic I had yet encountered. Without clear reason, but by definite grace, I was compelled to pray, in the presence of a saint that would later become a close companion and instructive role model in my life. During that time of prayer, a deep peace and feeling of homecoming settled in my soul. I spent the time looking around the chapel, gazing upon the scenes of Christ’s life on earth; the joy of his Baptism and revelation of his Sonship; the hope he gave the couple at Cana, providing more than they could ever ask for; his Proclamation of his Father’s Kingdom, a paradox of suffering and joy; the revelation of his divine nature in the light of the Transfiguration; finally, the intimate gift of himself in the Institution of the Eucharist, to sustain us on our pilgrimage to Heaven.
As many of us know, the Rosary is meant to draw us into a deeper meditation on the life of Christ through the lens of his Mother. Every word spoken and breath taken by Christ reveals the hidden life of God, and, in the Cross, we are shown the unfathomable depths of His love for us. Rather than hating our bodies and our humanity, the Rosary teaches us to love it, for God Himself took on flesh; by the very fact of the Incarnation, Creation is changed forever. By this we know that the body is not only good but part of God’s divine plan in ushering in the Salvation of the world. By His own body and blood He saves us, and only in our bodies can we love Him and our neighbor as He has instructed us to do. As JPII so emphatically emphasizes in the Theology of the Body, “The body, in fact, and only the body, is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and the divine” (TOB 19.4).
And so, as my gaze came back to rest on the blood of Pope St. John Paul II, my heart gave way to the love of relics; it is only in their bodies that the saints became saints, and, at the Second Coming, it is only in our bodies that we shall live with God. We are body and soul, and it is only by death that body and soul are separated. So, while we are alive, let us “offer our bodies as a living sacrifice,” and let our lives be lights in this world. JPII, pray for us!
~Mary Therese Druffner, Discipleship Associate