By his sacred Blood we have been redeemed. Now united with him and restored, we are nourished and strengthened by his Blood in the gift of Eucharist. In the Old Testament, blood was a sign of life. In the Eucharist,  his Blood is a sharing in the Divine Life of God. We are renewed, refreshed and revived by the Blood of Jesus. This is not ordinary blood, it is the Blood of the Incarnate God. When we drink his Blood from the sacred chalice, we are doing what he himself told us at the Last Supper. As his sacred Body feeds us spiritually, so his sacred Blood, uniting us in faith and in reality to the One, True God. Through the sharing in his Blood, we are anticipating and longing for the eternal banquet that awaits us in glory. For it is by his Blood that the gates are heaven are once more open to those united with him on earth.