To the Last Drop

“But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out.” John 19: 33-34

I helped save a life today. Maybe even more than one. How? I gave blood. And the one pint of blood taken from my body can be used to help people in surgery, or NICU babies or people involved with traumas that have lost several pints of their own blood. And you know what? It feels good to donate blood. In fact, since I am not afraid of needles, am relatively healthy, am not anemic and have the time to do it, I feel like blood donation is a moral necessity for me. To be given the ability and the chance to help save a life doesn’t come every day and so I try to give as often as I am allowed.

But if I really think about it, it doesn’t take much for me to do this. There isn’t really much sacrifice and truth be told, I still get to keep more than 90% of my blood. So my gift, while generous, is not a total gift of self. Jesus, on the other hand, spared not even one DROP of His precious blood to save not one life, but all of humanity—all who have ever lived, all who live now and all who ever will live. From the first droplets that flowed from His burst capillaries through His sweat glands in the Garden of Gethsemane to the rivers that flowed from His scourged back and nail-pierced hands and feet to the very last remaining reserve in His heart before it was pierced with the lance—Jesus gave it ALL. He held nothing back.

Jesus’ gift to you and to me was complete and it was TOTAL. He gave everything so that we might be saved from the fires of eternal damnation. So that we could live with Him forever in heaven. So that we could become what we were truly created to be. So that we could know love in every fiber of our being without end. What a God we serve! A God who would sacrifice Himself on behalf of His creation. A God who would humble Himself to become one of us. A God who would love us first and who ALWAYS initiates relationship with us. A God who gave us every bit of Himself on the cross, even to His last drop of blood. May we seek to love as He loved, to give of ourselves TOTALLY to Him and to others in return.

Dear Jesus, thank you for saving me with Your Precious Blood. Thank You for Your endless mercy. Give me the grace to respond to Your love with a total gift of myself. Amen.