Just As I Am

"Just As I Am" is by Fernando Ortega off of his latest CD, "Come Down O Love Divine".  Fernando had performed this hymn as a young artist, but this was a new melody and arrangement for this his latest project.  The music and the lyrics are stunning and soul moving.  They also have a similarity to the words St. Therese chose in the longer version of her Offering to Merciful Love.

Fernando dedicated the song to Billy Graham and there is a section in the song when we hear briefly from Billy Graham.  Here are the lyrics:

I waited and waited for God
He turned and He heard me
He lifted me out of the mud
His own hand secured me
The Lord is my strength
I will not be confounded
So I have focused my face like a flint
I'll not be ashamed
Lord I come

Just as I am
Without one plea
But that Your blood
Was shed for me

Take the days that remain in my life
Lord, let me serve You
While there is breath on my lips
I would proclaim You
I long for Your return
I long to see You face to face
I long to join the eternal song
Communion of all the saints

Just as I am
Without one plea
But that Your blood
Was shed for me

From St. Therese's Offering to Merciful Love (long version)
Since You loved me so much as to give me Your only Son as my Savior and my Spouse, the infinite treasures of His merits are mine. I offer them to You with gladness, begging You to look upon me only in the Face of Jesus and in His heart burning with Love. . . . 

After earth's Exile, I hope to go and enjoy You in the Fatherland, but I do not want to lay up merits for heaven. I want to work for Your Love alone with the one purpose of pleasing You, consoling Your Sacred Heart, and saving souls who will love You eternally.

In the evening of this life, I shall appear before You with empty hands, for I do not ask You, Lord, to count my works. All our justice is stained in Your eyes. I wish, then, to be clothed in Your own Justice and to receive from Your Love the eternal possession of Yourself. I want no other Throne, no other Crown but You, my Beloved!

We can only confess that Jesus is Lord (see 1 Corinthians 12:3) or call God, "Abba", Father (see Galatians 4:6) in the Holy Spirit.  Our faith itself, our confession of faith, our realization that Jesus is Lord, and through the shedding of his Precious Blood we have the Holy Spirit to teach us to call out Abba--Our Father, all of it is gift.  Lord, make us truly thankful!

We will show up empty handed just like St. Therese, Great Saint that she is!

We know we have nothing to boast of

that our hope of salvation came from God, Our Father, 

not sparing his only Son, 

and that Son in obedience and love

became incarnate of a woman, 

full of grace, conceived without sin because of God her Savior, 

and this Son, revealed his Father to us,

taught us to pray, Our Father, 
taught us how to love, how to show mercy and compassion, 

how to forgive, he suffered betrayal, humiliation, bodily and soul wrenching torment, 

and then laid his life down for us his friends, 

and every drop of his Precious Blood ran from his pierced side, His Sacred Heart.  Jesus, I do Trust in You.  Jesus I thank you that you thirst for me.  Increase my thirst, increase my love for you.

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb!"  And all the angels stood round the throne and round the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God for ever and ever! Amen."  Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, clothed in white robes, and whence have they come?"  I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.  (Revelation 7:9-14)

Mother Catherine Aurelia, Ora Pro Nobis!

Mother Catherine Aurelia, who established the order of the Adorers of the Precious Blood in Canada, died on this date in 1905. Since July is the month dedicated to Precious Blood that Jesus shed for us and since Mother Aurelia will be happy to pray with us for an increase in fervor and devotion to that Blood, I wanted to post this today:

The feast of the Precious Blood was introduced and appointed for the entire Church by Pope Pius IX in 1849. He assigned the first Sunday in July as its proper date. Its institution was to perpetuate the memory of the triumph of the French army in vanquishing the enemies of the Church who had driven the Pope from Rome, and to acknowledge that it was due to divine intervention that this had been possible. Pope Pius X changed the date of the feast to the first day of July.

"Blessed are they that wash their robes in the Blood of the Lamb." Apol. 21:14 The reasons for honoring the most precious Blood of our Lord are noteworthy. The dignity and sublimity of this sacred Blood, and Its participation in the divine and human calling and mission of Christ render It an object of adoration. The continual effectiveness and redemptive activity of this Blood, which is an essential part of the sacred humanity and, consequently, hypostatically united to the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, also make it deserving of homage. Finally, Christ continually offers this Blood at Holy Mass; it is His Blood that cleanses the soul in Baptism and in Penance; and this Blood strenthens and sanctifies the soul in the other Sacraments.

What does the Precious Blood of Christ have to do with the Immaculate Conception? The idea of the preservation of Mary from all sin was vigorously debated by theologians during the Middle Ages, but was clarified more and more under the authority of the popes. Thus the dogma announced by Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1854, had already been universally accepted as such in the seventeenth century. Mary is preserved free from sin, mankind is rescued; she is without spot or stain, we are cleansed; the Precious Blood protected her, for others the Precious Blood obtains pardon.

The blood of Jesus Christ which was shed for mankind's redemption; a symbol of the sacrifice and suffering of Jesus. The early Fathers say that the Church was born from the pierced side of Christ, and that the sacraments were brought forth through His blood.

Soul of Christ, sanctify me!
Body of Christ, save me!
Blood of Christ, inebriate me!
Water from the side of Christ, wash me!
Passion of Christ, strengthen me!
O good Jesus, hear me; within Thy wounds, hide me;
permit me not to be separated from Thee;
from the malignant enemy, defend me;
in the hour of my death call me and bid me come to Thee,
that with Thy saints, I may praise Thee, forever and ever. Amen.

INDULGENCED PRAYER
Hail, saving Victim, offered on the gibbet of the cross for me and for the whole human race. Hail, precious blood, flowing from the wounds of our crucified Lord Jesus Christ and washing away the sins of the whole world. Remember, O Lord, Thy creature that Thou hast redeemed by Thy precious blood.

Indulgence of 60 days, once a day, at the elevation during Mass. Leo XIII, June 30, 1893
O SACRAMENT most holy! O Sacrament divine! All praise and all thanksgiving be every moment Thine!
Indulgence of 100 days, once during each Mass, when said at the elevation of both species. Pius VII, Dec. 7, 1819
Most Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, shed, in order to obtain mercy for all men, behold us prostrate before Thee; flow upon us abundantly. Behold our heads, our hands, our wills, our understandings, our memories, our thoughts, our affections, our work, our senses, interior and exterior; wash all because all is soiled; purify all because all is corrupt; cure all because all is diseased. Change us by Thy adorable virtue that we may unite ourselves to Thee, O infinite Purity! Purify us, adorn us, save us, and crown us. Amen.
O Precious Blood of Jesus, wash and purify all sinners!
O Precious Blood of Jesus, may Thy powerful voice drive away from us and from our dwellings the scourges merited by our sins!
O Precious Blood of Jesus, through Thee, may the Glory of God be repaired!
O Eternal Father, I most ardently beg, through the Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, the cessation of the evils which afflict the Church, the destruction of heresies, and the rapid propagation of the faith in infidel countries. Amen
MONASTERY OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD; Oregon

The Heart of the Precious Blood ". . . Wear this with confidence; it will continually say to you, 'Do not fear; the Blood of Jesus is protecting you.' Yes; in Holy Communion the Precious Blood penetrates your soul, gives you strength to overcome the difficulties on your way to Calvary, and assures you of victory."
Words of Mother Catherine-Aurelia - Foundress of the Institute of the Precious Blood.


http://www.seatofwisdom.com/JulyAugSept.html

The Blood Of The Lamb

Today is a grace filled day. Not only do we celebrate the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, but the month of July also is the month dedicated to His Most Precious Blood. As I reflected on what this means to some extent, for I will never be able to wrap my earth~bound mind around it completely, I began to see the deep connection between these two feasts. The precious blood of Christ that spilled from His own human, Sacred Heart~all I can see in that is His profound love for each of us.
This thought was made even clearer and became more humbling when I read a transcript of a  conference given by Fr. John Hardon. In his opening remarks, he explains what Christ being the Lamb of God means for us, that because Jesus was God and without sin, the only way He was capable of dying was to be slain; He would not otherwise have died a mortal death because He was sinless! I am not sure this is something we often realize or reflect on, at least I haven't until reading Father's words.
Today is also the First Friday of the month (more grace!)which is part of the devotion to the Sacred Heart. As we celebrate today's feasts with grateful and joyful hearts, let us also perhaps meditate on Jesus' Passion and Death~the Lamb of God who was slain not because of His sin, for He was sinless, but ours. During His Passion and Death He shed every last drop of His Precious Blood from His Sacred Heart for love of you and me.
Here is a brief excerpt from Father Hardon's conference:

Is Jesus as the Lamb of God. He is the Lamb of God not only because He sacrificed Himself, He is the Lamb of God because He continues sacrificing sacred heart precious bloodHimself in an unbloody way in every Mass He offers. And while His sacrifice is completed, ours must go on...Having said that, Father Gerald identifies the second primary foundation for the imitation of Christ as the Precious Blood of Jesus. The moment we say that Christ is the Lamb of God and explain that the Lamb of God was slain for our redemption, having further recognized and this is crucial - we further recognize that Christ, though Man, would not have died naturally because, unlike us, He was not a sinner. His death had to be inflicted outside of Himself. In a word, the Lamb of God - watch the verb - had to be slain in order to die. Moreover, Christ being the sinless Lamb of God, having no sin on His soul which would have deserved death, his mortal Body, mortal because He wanted it to be mortal, could only die by the Blood separating from that Body. Christ's Body was deprived of its Soul when the Blood left the Body. All of this, therefore, is locked up in realizing that Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who by shedding His Blood, redeemed the world. 

Read more of the conference here.