Day 1
A reading from the Book of Leviticus (17:10-14)
If anyone of the house of Israel or of the aliens who reside among them eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood, and will cut that person off from the people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you for making atonement for your lives on the altar; for, as life, it is the blood that makes atonement. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel: No person among you shall eat blood, nor shall any alien who resides among you eat blood. And anyone of the people of Israel, or of the aliens who reside among them, who hunts down an animal or bird that may be eaten shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth. For the life of every creature—its blood is its life; therefore I have said to the people of Israel: You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood; whoever eats it shall be cut off.
From “Theology of the Precious Blood” by Edwin Kaiser (+1984)
Blood was important because it is the source of life. Definitely do the Scriptures teach that the "life is in the blood." The expression is more than a human convention, more than a metaphorical form of speech. On this point all the teaching of our science of biology and medicine agree with the plain word of the Scriptures. Some passages in Leviticus are particularly pertinent: If he offer a lamb before the Lord, he shall put his hand upon the head of the victim: and it shall be slain in the entry of the tabernacle of the testimony: and the sons of Aaron shall pour the blood thereof round about upon the altar (3:7-8). And forthwith Aaron, approaching to the altar, immolated the calf for his sin: and his sons brought him the blood of it: and he dipped his finger therein, and touched the horns of the altar, and poured the rest at the foot thereof (9:8-9). The reason for the use of blood appears in the prohibition of the eating of blood: Because the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you, that you may make atonement with it upon the altar for your souls, and the blood may be for an expiation of the soul . . . for the life of all flesh is in the blood: therefore I said to the children of Israel: you shall not eat the blood of any flesh at all, because the life of the flesh is in the blood, and whosoever eats it, shall be cut off (17:11-14).
Equally significant are the Old Testament types, especially if they are studied in the light of New Testament exposition and fulfillment. The relation between blood and life is especially marked in the case of the Paschal Lamb, for its blood saved the Jews from the sword of God's avenging angel which brought death to the Egyptians. The blood-sprinkling marked the First Covenant between the Chosen People and Jahweh. The parallel between this blood-sprinkling and the words of Christ at the Last Supper has been repeatedly pointed out. In all of these instances the connection between blood and life, between blood and forgiveness, is quite plain, so that St. Paul could say: "with blood almost everything is cleansed according to the Law, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness" (Hebr. 9:22). It is likewise plain that the significance of the Old Testament blood shedding lies in its relation to that bleeding unto death by which the God-man brought life to the world. The New Testament explains and perfects the Old. The texts are too numerous to quote in entirety, but the doctrine can be shown from the following: The fifth chapter of St. Paul's letter to the Romans gives very clearly the doctrine of the sin of Adam and its effects on the human race, together with the teaching on Christ's death: "Therefore . . . through one man sin entered into the world and through sin death, and thus death passed into all men because all have sinned . . . therefore as from the offense of the one man the result was unto condemnation to all men, so from the justice of the one the result is unto justification of life to all men. For just as by the disobedience of the one man the many were constituted sinners, so also by the obedience of the one the many will be constituted just." The source of this redemption is the love of God, the means is the bloody death of Christ: "But God commends his charity towards us, because when as yet we were sinners, Christ died for us . . . we are justified by his blood . . . when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son . . . ."
The constant reference to the blood, as the price of our redemption, as the source of our justification and sanctification, as the foundation of our hope, all make clear the point that we are redeemed by blood. And the reason for the shedding of blood is plain from the references to the Old Testament and from the parallel use of the term "death" for blood. The divine-human life of the Savior lay in His blood; shedding this blood meant the loss of life which was offered to God for our sins.