August 27, 2026

A few days ago, while I was watching Mass on Youtube and feeling a bit badly that I wasn’t there in person, suddenly in prayer I saw that Jesus gave everything, all of himself, to us. It’s not just the incredible ordeal and agony of his Crucifixion and the events leading up to it that people so often focus on, and the fact that Jesus died for our sins. It’s more than that – it’s that he did not hold anything back, he gave his whole mind, heart, body, and soul to God and also to us, to all his fellow human beings without reservation. It was all given, and there was no separate self left or held in reserve.

Have you ever gone out of your way to help your friend over and over?  Maybe you lent them money for rent, brought them soup when they were sick, picked up their kids when they had a work deadline, and in other ways helped out even when it was not convenient for you. And then one time, your car broke down and you needed a ride to the doctor, so you asked your friend. But they said, “It’s not convenient today, I’m planning to watch the football game.”  Seriously?  It’s very hurtful because it would not be hard for them to help, but it would make a big difference to you. 

That is more or less how Jesus feels when he has opened his heart completely to us, but we hold back some things from him. The whole universe is comprised of God’s presence, permeating everything and everywhere. Yet we human beings think to ourselves, I’ll give this part but I’ll keep the rest for myself. I’ll donate a little, but I need to save the rest. Some of this is realistic and practical, and there is nothing wrong with that. This is more an internal process we are talking about. It’s the illusion that there is some part of ourselves that we can keep separate from God and under our own control. And when we don’t reciprocate God’s openness and friendship and try to create separate little cocoons to crawl into, you might say God is sad, Jesus is sad. As the Jesuits teach, internally conversing with Jesus like a friend is a powerful form of prayer, and it starts with moving toward that openness of heart.

As I was seeing this in just a few moments, suddenly then in prayer I felt a sensation like blood gushing over me. As I looked further, I realized it was the blood of Jesus washing over me, from head to toe, completely washing me clean. It went on for a while. And then I saw that the soul emerges from being washed by the blood of Jesus like a newborn baby opening his or her eyes for the first time. Everything is new and fresh, free from concepts.  Past baggage is left behind, and everything is like new, a fresh start. I’m supposing that is what is means to be reborn.

Mystics have written that the blood of Jesus is purifying and washes away sins. This was the first time I encountered this sensation of being washed by the blood of Jesus, and to me it indicated a fresh start.

Amen.