July 2015: Month of the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ

July, the month of the Precious Blood of Jesus, reverences the Blood of Jesus Christ as the fountain of salvation. By it we are made clean from Original Sin and personal sins.  Blood is the life source of every creature.  The Incarnation-- when God became man-- came about because God wanted to share with us His life source.  In His Passion and Death, He gave us His Body by the shedding of His Blood. According to St. John, in the Apocalypse, mankind regained His innocence by this act:

“These that are clothed in white robes, who are they?” The Lord answers: “These are they that have washed their robes, and have made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.”  

The Precious Blood of Christ is part of the on-going healing of every soul; Christ asks us to enter into full Communion with Him. We do this in the Eucharist when we follow Jesus' command:

And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."

Dates in BOLD are Holy Days of Obligation for July:

July 1: Bl. Junipero Serra

July 2: St. Bernardino Realino

July 3: St Thomas

July 4: St. Elizabeth of Portugal

July 5: Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria

July 6: St. Maria Goretti

July 7: Bl. Ralph Milner

July 8: St. Grimbald

July 9: St. Veronica Giuliani

July 10: Bl. Emmanuel Ruiz

July 11: St. Benedict of Nursia

July 12: Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, St. John Gaulbert, Abbot

July 13: St. Henry

July 14: St. Kateri Tekakwitha

July 15: St. Bonaventura 

July 16: St. Carmen

July 17: Carmelite Nuns of Compiegne 

July 18: St. Frederick

July 19: Sixteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time, St. Arsenius the Great

July 20: St. Margaret of Antioch

July 21: St. Lawrence of Brindesi 

July 22: St. Mary Magdelene

July 23: St. Bridget of Sweden

July 24: St. John Boste

July 25: St. James the Greater

July 26: St. Anne and Joachim

July 27: St. Pantaleon

July 28: Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, St. Innocent I

July 29: St. Martha

July 30: St. Peter Chrysologus

July 31: St. Ignatius Loyola