Even when the work of redemption was consummated, and Jesus had breathed forth His Soul into His Father's hands, He shed once more His Precious Blood for man. It was to mark the completeness of His Sacrifice that He thus poured forth, as it were, the last drop that still lingered in His Sacred Heart. It was a sign that He kept nothing in reserve. He proved His inexhaustible love to man by this last act, wherein which He bequeathed to man the last trace of life that still remained. O undying, unwavering love of Jesus, that loved us with an extremity of love unto the very end.

The water and the blood that issued from our Lord's side were the symbols of the two chief sacraments: the water, of Holy Baptism, and the blood, of the Blessed Eucharist. Thus it was that Christ is said, by this piercing of His side, to have laid the foundations of the Church; and as Eve, the spouse of Adam, was formed from the side of Adam, so the Church, the sacred Spouse of Christ, was formed from His side when the spear of the centurion pierced it. Pray for an intense love of Holy Church, on account of the love that Christ bears to His own true spouse.

The centurion little knew the meaning and import of his act when he pierced the side of Jesus. Tradition describes him as having some affliction of the eyes, and the blood sprinkled upon him cured his sight in a moment. At the same time grace touched his heart, and he was converted. O wondrous power of the Sacred Blood of Christ!