Why Body and Blood?

Why body and blood? Why these two parts of himself ? Why not neck and nose instead of body and blood? Why not toe and tongue? Wouldn't the deposit of any one of these - body, blood, neck, nose, toe or tongue - establish the real presence in the bread and wine of the most Holy Eucharist? So why did he deposit his body and his blood? Why not just one? Why not more than two? Does what he deposited even matter? Assume that the almighty God could deposit any part or parts of himself into the vessels of bread and wine of the most Holy Eucharist, why did he pick his body and his blood? Did he pick his body and his blood intentionally for some specific purpose? Or was the deposit of body and blood random, accidental, arbitrary and capricious?

19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.

20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

The body and blood of the most Holy Eucharist point to his wounds. Through his wounds his blood exited his body.

The good news of great joy was preached to us through his bloody wounds.

His bloody wounds are the mouth of God.

The vocabulary that passed through the mouth of God is limited to three (3) words: 1) his blood, 2) his life and 3) his love for us. Everybody can understand a language whose vocabulary is limited to three words.

Pay attention to the traffic that passed through and, more subtly, did not pass through his bloody wounds.

Witness the truth by watching the traffic through his bloody wounds. The traffic testifies to the identity of God.

"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" .

The Telescope

His bloody wounds are not just the badges of the evil that we did to him. They are not just memorials to the Crucifixion. When we opened bloody wounds in the body of Christ with lash, thorns, nails and spear, we built a telescope that pierces the veil that hangs between earth and heaven. When we look through the telescope to the far side of his bloody wounds, we catch a glimpse of paradise from here on earth. We see that his most sacred heart stayed filled to the brim with love for us. Not a drop - not a drop - of his love for us spilled through his bloody wounds. There are those who just look at his bloody wounds and not through them. There are those who look at them and through them. Into which category of Christian do you fall?

His Bloody Wounds are Badges of Credibility

How do We Demonstrate to the Children of Men that God Has Credibility and the Serpent has None?

His bloody wounds are badges of credibility. They are the visible evidence that he is head over heals in love with us. He earned them by loving us. They distinguish him from the serpent who is without them. They are the reason we ought to believe his testimony. A witness who loves us so much will not testify falsely against us . Love and false witness are incompatible .

His Bloody Wounds Distinguish our God from an Impostor

Our God is the God with the bloody wounds . You can tell an impostor because an impostor is without them. Many will pretend to be our God. Make them show you their bloody wounds . When they fail to do so, you will have exposed their fraud. Sanitize God - strip him of his bloody wounds - bowdlerize him of them - and we obscure the sweetness of God with a meaningless, half-baked, and insipid representation of him. Better no representation of God than an inaccurate, distorted representation of him . His bloody wounds are the narrow gate through which we squeeze our contemplation of God to get an understanding of him . His bloody wounds are the badges of his love for us. He earned them by loving us. They are the rainbow of the new covenant. They are the proof that paradise is sweet. The sweetness of paradise is the honey that draws the bees back home to the hive. Rational creatures seek the sweetness of paradise (and flee the sourness of godlessness). It is contrary to our self-interest to do otherwise. It is crazy to do otherwise. It is irrational to do otherwise.

Pulling Paradise from Heaven Down Upon our Heads Here on Earth

"What a paradise it is for a soul when the heart knows itself to be so loved by God" . Knowledge of his perfect and infinite love for us pulls paradise down from heaven upon our heads here on earth as a fireman with a hook pulls down the ceiling of a burning building. Therefore, rest your head on the pillow of his bloody wounds . His bloody wounds were a great torment to him so they could be a soft pillow for us . On the pillow of his bloody wounds, we rest our thinking about our God. Study his bloody wounds. His bloody wounds are the narrow gate through which we squeeze to acquire knowledge about our God. His bloody wounds are the rock and the root of our contemplation about our God. They are the source through which the knowledge of God springs. His bloody wounds are the only stable foundation on which we can confidently base our thinking about our God. Contemplate the Crucifixion on the near side of his bloody wounds, the Resurrection on the far side of his bloody wounds and the thread that weaves its way through his bloody wounds to tie the Crucifixion and the Resurrection together. The thread is the relationship of test and result. Our God is the God with the bloody wounds. You can tell an impostor because an impostor is without them. By contemplating his bloody wounds, you can figure out the true identity of God for yourself. Our God reveals himself to us through his bloody wounds. His bloody wounds are the mouth of God. Through them, God speaks to us and tells us who he is. Listen to him. Listen first to what the Son of God said about himself before you listen to what others have said about him. Get the truth straight from the horse's mouth.

His bloody wounds are the byproducts of the evil we did to him. We tortured and killed him. He suffered and died. His bloody wounds ought to mark the end of his life and the end of his love for us. However, his bloody wounds are ironic. Surprisingly, his love for us did not fade as we tortured him or die when we killed him. His love for us survived the evil that we did to him. Hence, his bloody wounds are the badges of his love for us. They are the basis for us to conclude that his love for us is real. Not even the evil we did to him stopped him from loving us! In the age of Adam and Eve, neither the serpent nor God earned bloody wounds by loving us. The serpent still has not. In the present age, the children of Adam and Eve have a distinct advantage over their parents. Before the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, the children of Adam and Eve did not have definitive proof of the genuineness of God's love for us. Since the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, we have definitive proof of the genuineness of God's love for us. There is no stronger evidence of the genuineness of his love for us than the fact that his love for us survived the evil we did to him . A person who claims to be God or to stand in persona Christi is an impostor unless he can show you his bloody wounds. Demand a demonstration from any claimant to divinity of his bloody wounds. Genuine love is reliable. We can depend on it. We can build our lives upon it. So, trust in the bloody wounds. Distrust the impostors without them.

[Note: Our harsh passage through the valley of tears is evidence that supports the proposition that God is an enemy not a friend. The valley of tears sucks. How evil is a God who lets us stew in the valley of tears for a lifetime? The million dollar question is this: "How do we reconcile God's love for us and our harsh passage through the valley of tears?"]

Healing His Bloody Wounds

When Adam and Eve, like foolish children, ran away from their home with God, they tore open bloody wounds in the body of Christ to flee from paradise. We broke God's heart. When we return through his bloody wounds back to our home with God in paradise, we heal them. We mend God's broken heart.