“This is He that came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. There are three who give testimony in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy ghost; and these three are one. And there are three that give testimony on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three are one.
Gradual from the Feast of the Most Precious Blood (I John 5: 6, 7–8, 9)
Alleluia, alleluia. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater. Alleluia.”
Today if you shall hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your hearts.
Holy Church begins Her night Office of this Sunday with these impressive words of the royal prophet.
We celebrate and relive the Passion of Our Blessed Lord at every Mass. At Easter this is most apparent, and on Passion Sunday we recognise the sacrifice which is about to take place on Easter Sunday itself. The mystery we celebrate is the sacrifice on Calvary. Following on from Easter week are the Feasts of Corpus Christi and the Most Precious Blood, where we celebrate the Body and Blood of Christ respectively. These latter feasts are devoted to Passion of Our Blessed Lord too. “What else can this mean, but that the preceding solemnities have by no means exhausted the mystery?”[1] Indeed, it is on the subject of the Most Precious Blood that I wish to speak.
The Incarnation is the beginning of the mystery, for in that moment is contained “the trinity of the generator above, of the generant below, and the generated—or: the Holy Spirit, the Holy Virgin and the God-Man. It is at the same time the formula of sacred magic in general, because it expresses the mystery of the union of divine will and human will in the element of blood.”[2] We have written before on the importance the Incarnation in relation to the Blood of Christ. Suffice to say we mention again, the relation of the Sacred Heart, a vessel that contains the Precious Blood, to the Holy Grail which also represents the Word of God, and therefore we say with René Guénon that this is the “Heart of the Incarnate Word, the spiritual Sun and Center of the World”, a place where the Divine and Human wills unite. For as Christ is the Logos or Word, and blood is the vital essence, then Christ’s Blood is the vital essence of the Logos. The Holy Grail, which contains Christ’s Blood, is at once a vessel (Old French grasale) and a book (gradale or graduale).[3]
A human being is unique, he has an I, he is a person. Esoterically, blood is the physical organ of the human I. Yet the person is born incomplete, he has possibilities to fulfil. It is our duty, or destiny, is to actualize those possibilities through the development of personality and character.[4] Traditionally the highest state of being, and man participates in multiple states of being, is represented by a cross. Isn’t also curious that in the Christian faith, the principle symbol is the Cross, by which Christ is sacrificed for us?[5] It “very clearly represents the manner of achievement of this realization by the perfect communion of all the states of the being, harmoniously and conformably ranked, in integral expansion, in the double sense of “amplitude” and “exaltation”.”[6]
To summarise, by the unity of the Spirit, the water, and the blood, Christ redeems us on the Cross. Esoterically this is for us a guide to achieve the same unity. The blood is the person, the Spirit is the generative force from above, and the water is the action in which we are still and receptive to the Divine Will. As a mirror, as a stone that sinks to the bottom, as a clear lake without ripple. If we unify our “I” we can realise the unity of the horizontal and vertical as in the Cross taking us to a higher state of being. Christ wants us to participate in these mysteries, for if we receive the testimony of men, how much more ought we receive the testimony of God which is greater?[7]
Addendum
I am glad to be inspired to write something on the Precious Blood, more specifically on the Feast of the Most Precious Blood, not only because of its value to teach us esoteric pathways, but also for my personal life, and for the mysteries it draws our attention to, namely the Circumcision of Our Blessed Lord, the Agony in the Garden, the Scourging at the Pillar, the Crowning of Thorns, the Way of the Cross and ultimately the Crucifixion on Calvary with the Piercing of the Sacred Heart. It is providential that this appears now as we enter Lent. It is a perfect opportunity to meditate on these inexhaustible mysteries.
[1] Dom Prosper Guéranger, O.S.B., Commentary from The Liturgical Year.
[2] Valentin Tomberg, Meditations on the Tarot.
[3] See René Guénon, ‘The Symbolism of the Grail’ in Studies in Comparative Religion, Vol. 15, nos. 3 & 4, No. 10.
[4] See Cologero Salvo, The Human Person.
[5] Who didst establish the salvation of mankind on the tree of the Cross: that whence death rose, thence also life might rise again, and that he who overcame by a tree, by a tree also might be overcome: through Christ our Lord. – From The Preface of the Holy Cross, which is used at the Feast of the Most Precious Blood.
[6] René Guénon, The Symbolism of the Cross, p.10. (If you find Guénon difficult try the liturgy and Scriptures, they are more poetic).
[7] “But one of the soldiers with a spear opened His side, and immediately there came out blood and water. And he that saw it hath given testimony, and his testimony is true.” – John 19:34
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