Apr 30, 2018
by Rev. Bill Hubmann, C.PP.S., Kansas City Province
The word that John uses for the Spirit is Paraclete meaning the one who is called alongside. The Spirit of God stands alongside us to give strength, courage, comfort. The Spirit of God stands with us, up close and personal, that we might not grow weak or weary or falter. Paul is found praying with the holy women of Lydia’s household whom he teaches, baptizes and welcomes into the community (ekklesia-those who are called out or called together). Lydia, filled with a new spirit, ecstatically welcomes the community into her house to give of her own newfound strength, courage and comfort.
On the morning of February 14, 2018 I saw a photograph on Facebook of a tiny little girl dressed in a hospital gown, walking all alone down a hall, pushing an IV pole. The caption plaintively read: “I have no one to pray for me.” And I could not help but think how important it is that we stand with one another, support one another, pray for one another, give our strength to one another. With God’s Spirit accompanying us we companion others in need.
Fill us with your Spirit, O God, that we may stand strong together, sharing with one another our faith, hope and love.
Apr 29, 2018
by Sr. Thuy Doan, SSMO
No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
Last August, when I was on my vacation to visit my mom in Houston, I was touched by a sacrificial love of a Texas mother during the Hurricane Harvey Flood. On August 29, 2017 Colette Sulcer, a 41-year-old Texas woman, was driving in her car with her 3-year-old daughter when, suddenly, she hit high water. After she pulled into a parking lot and got out of the car, the flooding’s current carried both Sulcer and her child about a half mile. Somewhere along that distance, while keeping her daughter perched above the water, Sulcer drowned. Officer Carol Riley, a spokesperson for the Beaumont Police Department, told people, “When the baby was found, she was clinging to her mother. She did the best she could to keep her child above the water. The woman absolutely saved the child’s life.”
Sacrificial love is the highest form of love. It is selfless. Its priority is the welfare of others before oneself. Most of us experience the sacrificial love of our parents. They give up their lives, their time, and finances to their children without thinking of themselves. Sacrificial love isn’t about doing what we do well but giving more than we have to give, doing more than we know how to do, sharing more than we thought we could. Sacrificial love means investing our time, money, talents, gifts and service in our love for others. Sacrificial love means willing to empty ourselves, to give ourselves for the sake of others.
Another term for sacrificial love would be agape love. Agape love basically means to be self-sacrificing. God’s love for the whole world is a sacrificial love, a giving love, unconditional love so that we could have life. This love is shown in John 15:13, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” The greatest act of sacrificial love was when Jesus willingly sacrificed His life to free us from our bondage to sin. We must never forget that love comes from God and that God is love. Once we begin to grasp the depth of God’s love for us, then we will be able to love others in sacrificing our lives for them.
Saint Maximilian Kolbe who died for one of the prisoners in Auschwitz said, “Let us remember that love lives through sacrifice and is nourished by giving. Without sacrifice, there is no love.”
Let us remember the words of John the Apostle, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity for them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3:16-18)
Apr 28, 2018
Alia Sisson (left) with PBV Director Tim Deveney and fellow PBV Lota Ofodile
By Alia Sisson
During my time interning at the U.S. Senate in college, I had the distinguished title of “Intern 6.” While it was important work I was honored to do, I couldn’t help feeling a bit like a tiny cog in the enormous machine of American politics – easily replaced and forgotten.
My time as a volunteer at Legal Aid of Western Missouri (LAWMO) has been quite the opposite. At the time of this writing, I am over seven months into my nine months of service through the Missionaries of the Precious Blood as a Precious Blood Volunteer. From the time I began my service at Legal Aid, the most notable aspect of the work environment is the collegiality, friendliness, and inclusivity of all staff, from interns to the Executive Director.
On my first day, I was pleasantly surprised to find I would be given my own office, phone number, and email address. Not only did this make me feel valued for donating my time, but it’s indicative of the greater mission of LAWMO, which to me centers on the inherent dignity of every person. From the clients that we serve to the staff and volunteers, Legal Aid’s work is a labor of love. LAWMO attracts people with big hearts and high ambitions to help the neediest among us.
As far as the work that I do for Legal Aid, it could not be more perfect for what I was seeking from a volunteer year following my law school graduation. While there are plenty of opportunities for soul-crushing corporate, transactional work after I take the bar exam, I wanted to dedicate a year of my life to something beyond billable hours in the 9-to-5 grind. I would be hard-pressed to find something more fulfilling than helping domestic violence survivors pick up the pieces of their lives and start fresh by getting divorced from abusers and gaining custody of their kids.
Through this experience, I have been privileged to get an inside look at the justice system. For example, attending court with our clients as Legal Aid attorneys work with them to obtain full orders of protection. I have observed how the justice system intersects with children’s division, domestic violence shelters, the police, and other agencies. I have also learned a great deal of practical knowledge for when I practice law, such as drafting pleadings, interrogatories, letters, briefs, and research memoranda.
Though not every case always goes in our client’s favor, I know for a fact that the Legal Aid attorneys and paralegals are amongst the hardest working out there and always do their very best in advocating for those who do not possess the luxury of other options. I have had several clients give the most heartfelt thanks to me for the help that Legal Aid provided them. With one client even offering to clean our offices in gratitude (I politely declined), it is safe to say LAWMO makes a tremendous positive difference in the Missouri community.
I am so thankful to be the first Precious Blood Volunteer placed at Legal Aid of Western Missouri, and I hope I am not the last. Both organizations harmonize in bridging the gap between resources and need by offering a helping hand to those in poverty. It is my sincere hope that LAWMO and Precious Blood will share a bright future in collaborating to bless volunteers with the ability to serve and grow.
To learn more about serving as a Precious Blood Volunteer at Legal Aid of Western Missouri go to https://preciousbloodkc.org/legal-aid-of-western-missouri/
Apr 28, 2018
by Rev. Alfons Minja, C.PP.S., Tanzanian Province
“You are not of the world…”
One of the things that confuses many Christians is the attitude of non-Christians toward them. Most of us think that since we go to the world with the greatest and most important message in all of history that the world would applaud and cheer. For the most part, people are not waiting for that message with open arms. In fact, the Bible says that the world does not want us or our message. They hate us. Hate? That is what Jesus said “If the world hates you, know that it hated Me before it hated you.” “If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hate you.”
The more you look like Christ the more the world is going to treat you the same way it treated Him. When you don’t act, talk or think like the world does, you are going to make the crowd uncomfortable. You are not going to be “one of us.” The fact is you are not. God has “chosen you out” by His sovereign grace. This concept of a Christian living in the world, but not being of the world is a key concept to understand what it means to be a Christian.
When our secularized society demands from us and from the Church certain changes, we are simply being asked to move away from God. We, Christians, however, should be faithful to Christ and to his message. This fidelity may, quite often, mean persecution: “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you, too”.
If Jesus had kept His mouth shut and just gone around healing and feeding people, there wouldn’t have been any trouble. But He exposed their sin.
Harry Ironside told the story of the missionary in Africa. In a very backward village, he left a mirror hanging on a tree after shaving. The wife of the tribal chief came along and looked into it. She had never seen a mirror before. She asked “Who is that ugly woman?” When the missionary explained the mirror to her and told her that it was she. She got made, threw the mirror down and crushed it.
The world doesn’t want to be shown what it looks like. It makes them mad. They can’t take out their hatred on Christ, so they take it out on you. When our secularized society demands from us and from the Church certain changes, we are simply being asked to move away from God. We, Christians, however, should be faithful to Christ and to his message.
Let’s be brave and let us proclaim without any fear Christ resurrected, light and joy of all Christians!
May God bless all!
Apr 27, 2018
by Mumbi Kigutha, C.PP.S. Novice, Dayton
This I command you: love one another.
A few weeks ago, a wave of pain swept over me at reported comments by a leader about immigrants from the global south. You’d think by now, I would be desensitized to political rhetoric but this time, he hit a nerve. In the gospel Jesus reiterates what God commanded the Israelites at Mount Herob, by asking us to love one another – by asking me to love this leader. As I write this, traces of Valentines day still linger on with drugstores having huge discounts on chocolate and other niceties. This great ode to love coincided with Ash Wednesday this year, a quandary for some but also a subtle pointer in another direction. Lent is the precursor of the greatest demonstration of love in the history of humanity. Lent is a constant reminder of the gift that God has continually offered to humanity from the beginning of time.
As those entrusted with great responsibilities in the political arena continue to fail the least amongst us; as neighbors turn against one another; as separatist words – illegal, alien, them – are bandied around with every increasing frequency: our love faucets need to be turned to maximum. Only a great outpouring of love will turn hearts of stone into flesh once more. Only love will salve the wounds of those who are hurting and broken. Love begets hope and love will hasten our feet and ease our journey towards God whom our soul longs and aches for. It’s imperative that we chose love!
