HIS LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT

 A REFLECTION FOR THE MONTH OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD

As we get older and our thoughts turn to our legacy, we start looking at the material accumulation of wealth and property we’ve acquired (if any!), and what’s going to happen to it after we’re passed on.  Sounds a bit morbid to some of you perhaps, but that’s only because you haven’t reached the right age yet.  But eventually, you too will know that the time has come to start thinking of the welfare of your surviving spouse, your children and grandchildren.  So what do we do?  We write our Last Will and Testament.

This testament can be a simple note written by hand, or a more complex legal document, filled with clauses and provisions, drawn up and witnessed by an attorney and kept in a safe place until the fateful day.  The unique thing about it is that until then, it’s not worth the paper it’s written on.  The beneficiaries of the Last Will and Testament aren’t entitled to a penny until we’re dead!  That’s why it’s such an important factor in so many murder mysteries.  The fact is, morbid or not, that in order for this document to come into effect, first, it’s author must die. 

Until that time, we can make as many changes as we want.  If we find out, for example, that one of our children has squandered all his own wealth on gambling, drugs or alcohol, we can “write him out” of the will and leave his share to another son or daughter.  If we learn that our family is being nice to us only so that they can inherit our money, we can leave all that money instead to the loyal servant who devoutly took care of us in our old age.

July is the Month of the Precious Blood, whose feast was celebrated a couple of days ago on the first of the month.  What does that have to with last wills and testaments?  Simply this: that our blessed Lord, on the night he was betrayed, took the chalice, and after giving thanks to his almighty Father, said the following words, so important for our salvation: “This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.”  This is a new testament, a modification to God’s Old Testament, one that disinherits the people of the chosen race who had been unfaithful and who on the following day would commit the ultimate crime of deicide—murdering their Lord and Saviour.  It would no longer be the Jewish people who would be the beneficiaries of the immense riches of God, namely, his grace and his salvation.  God had chosen new beneficiaries, the children of his new Church.  And he sealed this Last Will and Testament, the new and everlasting Testament, not with pen and ink, but with his own most Precious Blood.

Like any Testament, it was for a time “worthless” and of no help yet to his new beneficiaries.  Those infinite graces, even salvation itself, could not be bestowed upon them until one simple yet required stipulation was met.  The author of this Testament had to die.  It is from this death, from the very spilling of his Blood on Calvary, perpetuated in our Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, that we, the new beneficiaries of Christ’s Will, now benefit.  His Precious Blood is our inheritance, far superior than any material wealth.  His Precious Blood, received in Holy Communion, is the source of all the graces we receive, the source of our Salvation.  If we reject this our inheritance, we should never expect to enjoy its ultimate benefit, the life everlasting.