Feast of the Most Holy Lance and Nails of Our Lord

Taken from Medulla S. Thomae Aquinatis which arranges various short texts from St. Thomas Aquinas' corpus based on the liturgical year. I will be posting the day's meditation each day and will be bringing it into print once I'm through it.

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Friday after the First Sunday of Lent

Feast of the Most Holy Lance and Nails of Our Lord

One of the soldiers with a spear, opened his side, and immediately there came out blood and water. (John 19:34)

1. It deserves notice that Scripture says opened, and not wounded, because in his side the door of eternal life is opened to us. After this I looked, and lo, in heaven, an open door! (Rev 4:1) This is the door in the side of the ark through which those animals entered who were not to perish in the flood.

2. But this door is the cause of our salvation; and so, immediately there came out blood and water. This is a remarkable miracle, that blood should flow from the body of a dead person where blood congeals. We are cleansed from our sins by his blood, which is the price of our redemption.