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Good morning father Angelo!

I’m a diocesan seminarian, currently in my third year of Theology.

I would like to ask you for some clarifications about the significance and value of a”daily” consecration, i.e. the one to the Most Precious Blood of Jesus. What commitments does it entail, other than a constant renewal of baptismal vows?

Sadly, these things are hardly mentioned and I’m not very informed about this topic.

Thank you very much, I’ll remember you in my prayers.

May God bless you and your ministry.

My dear friend,

1. A consecration is an estrangement  from any profane means  in order to dedicate life as a whole to the worship of God. Every Christian is consecrated to this end through Baptism. From that moment on, he commits to living his entire life “as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God” (Romans 12, 1).

There is no need for the consecration to be continuously renewed. It would be impossible. Instead, it is required just the will to live this way.

And thanks to this will, often renewed, one should acquire the mentality to constantly offer himself to God in “spiritual worship” (Romans 12, 1).

2. The renewal of baptismal vows is surely directed toward this end, and the Church asks to repeat it at the beginning of the year and in the Easter Vigil. Nonetheless, many of the faithful commendably renew this will at the beginning of each day with this prayer: “O my God, I adore you, and I Love you with all my heart.

I thank you for having created me, having saved me by your grace, and for having preserved me during the night. I offer you all my prayers, works, joy and sufferings of this day. Grant that they may be all according to your will and for your greater glory. Keep me from all sin and evil, and may your grace be with me always and with those I love. Amen.”

3. There also are many other consecrations: they don’t replace the baptismal consecration, but they’re rooted in it and are intended to make us live it in a particular way. The consecration to Our Lady is particularly well known: Mary is welcomed in our lives, following the indication given by Jesus on the cross, and we entrust ourselves to her; through her Heart, she will offer our actions and prayers to the Lord.

This consecration is usually renewed by reciting the rosary. In fact, through this prayer one can ponder the life of Jesus from the point of view of Mary, thank Him for the event meditated with the heart of Mary and ask for grace by virtue of her merits.

4. Namely, you asked what the consecration to the most precious Blood of Our Lord involves. 

The Blood of Christ reminds us of two central moments in Scripture.

The night Israel came out of Egypt, the Israelites had to paint their habitations with the Blood of the Lamb.

Thanks to that sign, a prefiguration of the Blood of Christ, the Jews were freed from The Exterminating Angel.

Well, the Blood of Christ, when invoked upon us, has an even greater power. It frees us from all evil.

5. The second moment happened on the Calvary.

Here the Blood of Christ wets the earth. That blood was foreshadowed by the blood of Abel: felt upon the earth, it cried to Heaven. In fact, God said to Cain: “your brother’s blood cries out to me from the soil” (Genesis 4, 10).

Well, we are given a Blood which is much more eloquent and powerful than that of Abel. It can get us everything: every remission and grace.

This is why in the Epistle to the Hebrews we can read: “No, you have approached… the sprinkled blood that speaks more eloquently than that of Abel” (Hebrews 12, 22.24).

6. Therefore, the consecration to the most precious Blood of Jesus means offering all of our actions and prayers to the praise of that divine Blood, so that it will free, purify and sanctify us; for us and for the Church as a whole it’s like a river that irrigates, fertilizes and nourishes trees that will keep on being fruitful.

7. If we want this consecration to be incisive in our lives we can recite this daily prayer: Eternal Father, I offer you through the most pure hands of Mary the Blood that Jesus shed with love in his passion and offers on the daily eucharistic sacrifice.

I also offer you all my prayers, actions and sufferings of this day according to the intentions of the Divine Victim, in atonement for my sins, for the conversion of sinners, for the Souls of purgatory and for the need of our Holy Church. I especially offer it for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff.

8. We can also commit ourselves by reciting often throughout the day this short prayer: Eternal Father, I offer you the Precious Blood of Jesus in atonement for our sins, in supplication for the holy souls in Purgatory and for the needs of the Holy Church.

Or we can include the offering of the most precious Blood in the prayer that is repeated before every decade of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy: Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.

9. As you can see, it is worthwhile to carry out other consecrations with the baptismal one in order to root ourselves more in the willingness to offer our whole life to the Lord, just as He offered his life for us.

I wish you every good in your journey towards the priesthood.

I bless you and will pray to the Lord for you.

Father Angelo