Jan 24, 2018
John Lee (far left, back row) pictured with his fellow 2017 Precious Blood Volunteers
During John Lee’s term of service as a Precious Blood Volunteer he spent a great deal of time organizing get togethers with the staff at Cristo Rey Kansas City High School where he served, setting up outings with the Precious Blood and Jesuit Volunteers, and initiated weekly sharing sessions with the Precious Blood Volunteer community in Kansas City. The experiences of helping connect people was something John wanted to continue after his service experience.
As he was wrapping up his term of service as a Precious Blood Volunteer at Cristo Rey in December he said he “brainstormed a bunch of ways I could pursue that goal and came across the idea of podcasting and felt that it could create that bridge!” He began writing, recording and producing a a podcast called “Starting With A Story.” “Starting With A Story” is a podcast that comes out on Monday mornings. John shares a wisdom story that covers topics from personal growth to life lessons to connecting with others. These stories are followed with John’s takeaways and specific parts of the story that resonate with him the most. The podcast finishes with a challenge to take on in order to improve and grow in your own lives based on the lessons from the story.
Former Precious Blood Volunteer John Lee (2017)
John will be completing his first season of “Starting with a Story” with the tenth episode. He is planning on starting work on Season 2 after a brief hiatus. His hope is to begin interviewing people about the stories they have shared with him.
You can listen to “Starting With A Story” at the podcast’s website, https://startingwithastory.com, or wherever you find your podcasts.
You can learn more about Precious Blood Volunteers at www.preciousbloodvolunteers.org.
Jan 13, 2018
To the Members, Companions, Volunteers, and Friends of the Kansas City Province of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood:
We live in a time when civil discourse has become vulgar and vindictive. On Thursday, January 11, 2018, the President of the United States of America, a nation of immigrants, used a vulgarity to characterize people from Haiti, El Salvador, and the nations of Africa. The racist remarks of the president must be condemned in the strongest terms possible. The fact that he made these remarks on the eve of the 8th anniversary of the catastrophic earthquake that caused untold suffering, death, and destruction to the people of Haiti only magnifies the hurt caused by this reprehensible remark. To say what he reportedly said as the nation prepares to honor Dr. Martin Luther King who longed for the day when his children would “not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character” scars our nation and reminds us how far we have to go to achieve Dr. King’s dream.
The Kansas City Province of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood stands with those who are treated unjustly, with those who are oppressed because of their color, creed, gender, and sexual orientation. We believe our faith based on the biblical belief that all peoples are made in the image and likeness of God must show courage in speaking out against injustice and compassion to those who are seeking shelter from the terror, poverty, and oppression in their homelands. As a worldwide community, we serve in nations the president’s cruel statement callously characterizes. Our missionaries, companions, and sister communities have served in these countries in solidarity with those who long to breathe free. This rhetoric coming from the White House has polluted the air of human decency. If the president wishes to honor Dr. King, he must apologize to the millions and millions of people he has offended—and to the world community.
As Missionaries of the Precious Blood who long for and work for the day when all peoples are drawn near in the blood of Christ, we must be courageous in denouncing hateful speech. Regardless of political persuasion or party, this kind of discourse must never be tolerated. We stand in solidarity with those seeking to come to the shores of the United States to be free of oppression, violence, and injustice to provide a future for themselves and their family. We welcome these courageous men, women, and children with open hearts, open minds, and open arms.
With peace in the blood of Christ,
Joseph F. Nassal, C.PP.S.
Provincial Director
Jan 10, 2018
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Jan 7, 2018
It might not have been my first choice of where to spend New Year’s, but Chicago was home for the first days of the New Year. This year, Fr. Steve dos Santos, Srs Patti Kramer, C.PP.S., Karen Elliot, C.PP.S., Therese Wetta, ASC, and myself were on hand to spend the week with college students at this year’s FOCCUS Student Leadership Summit (SLS). Although it was too cold to be outside, the spirit was warm and welcoming within McCormick Convention Center. Around 6,000 students, alumni, benefactors and other leaders were on hand for liturgies, various talks and training sessions. Several women and men religious were represented. We invited students to stop at the booth and to write a prayer request and place in daily calendar which will be in one of the sister’s houses and those prayers remembered daily. We also had a drawing for a FitBit, “Stepping it up for Jesus.” We had a great response to both. Each student that stopped by, also received a Precious Blood chaplet. May we continue to share our story as well as our devotion so that more may come to know us.
Fr. Timothy
Jan 5, 2018
January 5, 2018
for the Birthday of St. Gaspar
“God doesn’t want improved creatures but a new creation.”
C.S. Lewis
Dear Members, Companion, Volunteers, and Friends,
Peace be with you as we celebrate the birthday of our founder, Saint Gaspar, and the Feast of the Epiphany! I pray you savor sacred memories of spending time with loved ones during this Christmas season and have experienced warmth amid the brutally cold weather affecting so many in our country.
In the gospel on January 4, Jesus asks a pertinent question as we begin a new year. When he notices two disciples of John the Baptist following him, he turns and asks, “What are you looking for?” As the year unfolds before us, what are we looking for?
Are we looking to slow down or try to get more accomplished in our already busy lives? Are we looking to lose weight, exercise more, meditate or pray more, read more and watch less TV, spend less money but more time with family and friends? Are we looking to forgive those with whom we are estranged or seeking forgiveness from those we have hurt? Are we looking to reconcile, renew, refresh, rebound from whatever that was that happened to our world in 2017?
Are we looking to create something new? Ah, yes, there it is! Are we looking to become a new creation in the blood of Christ?
As you know, at our gathering last September, the members and companions of the Cincinnati and Kansas City Provinces agreed to become a New Creation in the United States. The Provincial Councils have appointed a New Creation Commission that will meet for the first time February 19-20, 2018. Commission members have been communicating through email, exchanging ideas, insights, and resources in preparation for the meeting. One of the members shared Richard Rohr’s meditation for Christmas Day in which he quotes Neale Donald Walsch:
Yearning for a new way will not produce it. Only ending the old way can do that.
You cannot hold onto the old, all the while declaring that you want something new.
The old will defy the new; the old will deny the new; the old will decry the new.
There is only way to bring in the new.
You must make room for it.
One way of making room for the new is to honestly answer the question Jesus asks the two disciples following him: “What are you looking for?” Are we looking to make room for the new creation being born in us? Or, are will looking to cling to old ways, tattered resentments, and nurse old wounds? What are we looking for?
In his meditation on Christmas, Rohr drew inspiration from his founder, St. Francis of Assisi, who, Rohr writes, “was a master of making room for the new and letting go of that which was tired or empty.” Our founder, St. Gaspar, was certainly open to making room for the birth of a new community as he gathered with kindred spirits and drew upon the energy and wisdom of mentors and models to found the Missionaries of the Precious Blood.
As we begin this process of becoming a new creation as a Society of Apostolic Life in the United States, we must make room in our own personal lives to become a new creation. Think about those two disciples of John who followed after Jesus. There is no indication they were unhappy with John as their teacher. But John the Baptist was always on the look out and when he sees Jesus and says, “Behold, the Lamb of God,” something stirs in the two disciples who immediately follow after Jesus.
Initially, they are not sure how to respond to the question Jesus asks, “What are you looking for?” So, they go to the default many of us use when meeting someone for the first time: “Where are you from?” Or, more precisely, “Where are you staying?” Jesus uses the line vocation directors have used ever since: “Come and see.” These two disciples make room in their calendars and more importantly in their hearts to spend the day in the place where Jesus was staying. After spending the day with Jesus, they come to the conclusion there’s no going back to their old way, to their former teacher. They have found what they were looking for.
What are we looking for? May we make some room in our lives this year for the new to be born in us because as the poet, Rainer Maria Rilke, reflects, “The future enters into us, in order to transform us, long before it happens.” For the future to enter, we must make room.
So, let’s begin by making room for one another and for each one we meet along the way who will challenge us to stretch our minds, our hearts, and our souls.
What are we looking for? To paraphrase Dom Helder Camara, “May we look for Christ in each and every person.” Have a healthy, happy, and holy year of becoming new!
With peace in the blood of Christ,
Joe Nassal, C.PP.S.
Provincial Director
Mark Your Calendars: Here are a few dates to keep in mind and in our prayer
January 15-17, 2018
Cincinnati Provincial Council Meeting
January 20-21, 2018
Florida Companions Retreat
January 23-24, 2018
KC Province Leadership Team Meeting
February 3-4, 2018
California Companions Retreat
February 14, 2018
Ash Wednesday
February 19-20, 2018
New Creation Commission Meeting
March 4-7, 2018
Nomination Retreat for Cincinnati Province
March 19-21, 2018
Cincinnati-Kansas City Provincial Councils Meet
New Creation Commission Meeting
April 1, 2018
Easter Sunday
April 4-16, 2018
Vietnam Mission Visitation
April 7, 2018
Definitive Incorporation of Four New CPPS Members
May 21-25, 2018
Cincinnati Provincial Assembly
June 11-14, 2018
41st Kansas City Provincial Assembly
