The Apostolate of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus Christ recently held its First Provincial Evangelisation Outreach and Retreat at St. Leo’s Catholic Church, Ikeja. The Visionary and Leader of the group, Rev. Bro. Barnabas Nwoye, who led the programme, in an interview with MOYOSORE SALAMI, revealed how the group was birthed and its overarching mission, among other issues.  

Briefly tell us about the Apostolate of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus Christ?
I will begin by thanking God for His mercy and love, and for choosing me over these 30 years to promote the devotion to the most precious blood at this particular time. I equally thank him for remembering Africa at this time to promote this devotion all over the world. Africa has been a good place for Jesus Christ. When He was born in Palestinian land, His life was threatened and from there He ran to Egypt. So, Jesus had to stay in Africa for many years until the enemy was deleted and then He came back.
 
Now that the world is turning upside down, I believe that God has equally chosen Africa as a place to revive the greatest devotion of all time in the history of the church – devotion to the blood of Jesus, which is equally the Eucharistic devotion because Eucharist is the summit of our Christian faith. So, everything centres on the Eucharist and when you talk of the Eucharist, you talk of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. So every Mass is a pure devotion to the most precious blood. So, I thank God for this favour He has granted to the African soil from where this devotion is spreading to all over the world.
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So how did the devotion begin?
  I will begin by saying that this devotion is equally not a new devotion in the Holy Catholic Church. It is even as old as the world because after creation, one of the things that God gave to the people of the time was an instruction on the importance of blood and life. He told them that one thing they should not do is to eat an animal with its blood. That is why even up till now, in many cultures, strangling animals is forbidden.
 
From there, you see that the first voice that was raised up to God was the voice of the blood of an innocent person, Abel, when Cain killed him. God confirmed that the blood was disturbing and called Cain to ask him the whereabouts of his brother. From there, God went on to establish a covenant of blood with Abraham and Moses. In fact, the covenant of blood God established with Moses was remarkable in the sense of the Passover in the land of Egypt. The climax of the covenant was in Mount Sinai when the Decalogue was given and God instructed Moses to kill a certain number of animals and let the blood be sprinkled on the people and on the altar containing the two stone tablets as a seal of the Decalogue.
 
In the African setting, even before Christianity, blood is equally seen as the source and power of every charm. No religion can exist without an issue of blood. So, blood is a fundamental thing. That is why I said that this devotion is not a new thing either in the world or in the church.
 
In fact, in the fullness of time, the prophecies about the everlasting covenant came to pass. On Holy Thursday, Jesus took the bread after the super and said, “This is my body”; then he took the wine and said, “This is my blood” and said “Do this in memory of me.” Then the following day being Good Friday, He demonstrated the Eucharist on the cross when he poured His blood completely for the redemption of humanity. So, in the history of the church, many great saints like Saint Jasper promoted the devotion to the most precious blood in a special way.
 
But in the year 1995 when I was 15 years old, the Lord saw the need to re-awaken the devotion. From the mystical experiences I had, I believe that what our Lord is saying is that many are calling on the blood but only few adore the blood.
 
The whole thing began on July 5, 1995. I was an SS1 student then. When school closed, I decided to have some prep before returning home.  As I was on my way home, I started experiencing a sudden silence; everything became calm. As I was approaching our house, I started hearing some songs from afar; I was able to recollect one or two of these songs. Then I opened the door and looked at the crucifix, which hung directly opposite the door, and saw something like a flash on the cross. Then I saw a full-fledged human being hanging and breathing on the cross. While I was still standing, the person raised his head up, called my name three times and said these three phrases – ‘console me; adore my precious blood; I am the agonising Jesus Christ who died on the cross of Calvary for you.’ Then, he lowered His head and within a short time, everything disappeared. This whole thing happened within five minutes. I don’t know what got me transfixed; I stood at the same spot all through that experience.
 
Then I entered my room and lay on my bed, trying to think of what actually happened. Shortly, a friend came and the first thing that came out from his mouth was: ‘What type of perfume did you apply in your room? Meanwhile, I did not perceive anything because I was not even using perfume. Doubtful, he searched my bag but found nothing. After a while, he told me he was going somewhere and said I could join him later if I wished.
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The following day in the room, around some minutes to 3pm, I started hearing those songs again and the encounter happened again. After that encounter, I left the house immediately and went to a sister in my church, Sister Helen, who is now a Reverend Sister. She was then a young girl who was a member of the Charismatic Movement. I told her about the two encounters and she said that it could be evil spirits. She then gave me bible quotations that I should use to command it to depart and then noted that if it’s Jesus, nothing will change if I use the bible quotations but if not, the spirit would vanish. I memorised the bible quotations.
 
On July 7, 1995, when I started hearing the voice around some minutes to 3pm while I was lying down, all my attention was on the quotations. Then the encounter happened again. He asked me only one question this time – ‘Banabas, why can’t you console me and adore my precious blood’. I forgot all the bible quotations and didn’t even know when I said, ‘I would console you, I would adore your precious blood’. I said it with all my heart. 
 
That commitment I made has been holding me through trials that come. Any time the journey becomes so tough and I remember the commitment, I keep on moving.  What He said after I made that commitment was, ‘Listen, this journey is the Calvary way; it’s a difficult way. If you remain faithful to the end, I will save you and save many. I will renew the church through this devotion.’ He made a lot of promises.

Thirty years after, how would you measure the impact of the devotion in Christendom?
  Like the mustard seed, the devotion is growing. We are happy because God is doing the greatest miracle through this devotion. It is not the miracle of raising the dead or other miracles that people look out for today. The greatest miracle God is doing through this devotion is conversion of hearts. The devotion has triggered passion for love of God and motivated a lot of people to go into heroic acts. Through this devotion, many have found their ways back to monasteries; many young boys and girls have already decided to sacrifice their lives and go into religious callings not only in Nigeria but all over the world just by hearing the voice of the agonising Jesus. This devotion has renewed and revived more than 10 monasteries around the world. This is the greatest miracle I see. Many sinners like me come back and are earnestly seeking the Lord. So, the church is reaping the fruit.
 
Over 200 nations have come to Nigeria and consecrated their nations to the devotion to the precious blood of Jesus. They are coming to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the devotion on July 5, this year; and if you can come that day you will see me dance as David danced when the Ark of the Covenant was returned to Jerusalem. In Nigeria, for the first time, we are going to conclude the great month of July in the Holy Land of Adoration. I am happy that we are going to celebrate this event under a 74 feet plus crucifix which can be said to be the tallest crucifix in the world. So, God has done so much. I thank him for the grace of humility and protection. I believe He has made me enter the palace of His love.
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What is your message to Christendom at a time like this when the love of the world seems to wax strong?
  My message to the entire world and to Christendom is that they should know that they are precious in the eyes of God. God loves humanity. In fact, it is foolishness for man to think that he is the maker of himself. Everything that mankind is inventing today is all about the love of God and the greatness of God.  But all these things cannot be compared with one thing that God did for humanity, which is that God sent His only son to pour His blood and then purchased us. We are purchased not by silver or gold but by the most precious blood of Jesus Christ. Will any businessman who ordered a shipload of goods be happy when the ship sinks in the Atlantic Ocean while in transit? The answer is no.
 
In this world, every rational human being knows that this world is not the last place. Jesus purchased us with His blood; it will be a great loss if in the end most of the people He died for fail to become His inheritance in His kingdom. Those who understand this message, who really know that Jesus is agonising, should pray earnestly for the world that no one who knows the truth continues to do evil.
 
The problem of humanity is blindness, so we need light to see. The light that we need to see is the light of the love of God. If the light shines and we see, I believe that nobody will see the truth and continue to live in darkness. That is why there is a need for prayer that one day, like Jesus did to Saul, God will shine His light again to many sinners in the world so that they will see more and love. Augustine put it even in a very interesting way.  He said, “In eternity, we shall rest, and when we rest we see, and when we see, we love.”
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