Easter Reflections by the Precious Blood Family of Communities

Mar 20, 2016

Microsoft Word - Document2Each day during the 2016 Easter season, we will feature a reflection from the book, Easter Reflections by the Precious Blood Family of Communities:
Adorers of the Blood of Christ (US Region)
Missionaries of the Precious Blood (Atlantic, Cincinnati & Kansas City Provinces)
Sisters of the Most Precious Blood (O’Fallon, MO)
Sisters of the Precious Blood (Dayton, OH)
Sisters of Saint Mary of Oregon
The entire book is available for printing here.

MIRA Advocacy Day 2016

Mar 11, 2016

MIRA advocacy day 2016by Br. Daryl Charron, C.PP.S.
Missouri Immigrant and Refugee Advocates had their MIRA Advocacy Day 2016 on March 9th. It was great to see the turnout of Precious Blood folks coming to do social justice lobbying for the good of immigrants and refugees. There was a nice mix of both C.PP.S. Sisters from O’Fallon and Precious Blood Companions from the KC Province. The MIRA leadership team leading the day said they were grateful for the 80 people who were present to advocate.
MIRA Advocacy day 2016-2One of the highlights of the day for me was our Precious Blood Staff employee, Juan Martinez, sharing his story. He shared his story of maltreatment and discrimination by the Belton, MO. Law Enforcement with Representative Nick King, who represents the Liberty district. Rep. King then reassured the fifteen of us from Sacred Heart/Guadalupe Parish that if any such discrimination happens to someone we know while in his district to please call him to speak on our behalf for justice.
He was very welcoming of us and genuinely concerned about racial profiling and unjust police actions of discrimination.
This reassurance offered us by Rep. King gave us hope that immigrant legislation like HB 2273 & SB 976 will someday get passed. These bills are entitled “Fair and Impartial Policing Act.” They have four components: Prohibits anyone employed by a law enforcement agency from engaging in biased policing, Requires police-community accountability, Calls for police departments to end racial profiling, Makes available the profiling data collected by the state to hold officers and departments accountable. Please pray that this legislation passes this year.

Lectionary Catechesis: Palm Sunday, March 20, 2016

Mar 8, 2016

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By Andrey Mironov (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

By Andrey Mironov (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Note that there is a gospel reading for the procession with palms, which may have a brief homily. The readings are the same for the cycles ABC, while the gospel Passion narrative cycles through Matthew, Mark and Luke according to the year. While some feel that the passion is long enough and pause “contemplatively” rather than sharing a homily with the people, this is arguably a mistake for three reasons: the contemplative reflection is too short to be contemplative, the readings themselves and the concept of emptying sacrifice could not be more appropriate for a culture of narcissism, and this would be a missed opportunity to call people into the liturgies of Holy Week. The practices of reconciliation form a scaffolding for the entire set of readings, and this provides an excellent lens through which to take this on and focus a homily. Sin, which precipitates all this should be addressed.
Palm Sunday A Lectionary Catechesis[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

Lectionary Catechesis: Lent 5C, March 13, 2016

Mar 4, 2016

The gospel story is so well known and so many readers get fixated on whatever Jesus mysteriously wrote in the dust of the Temple pavement. Sometimes the main message of the personal encounter with Jesus is missed, but perhaps this is the binding link for the readings. If anything, the highlights of the Philippians read are key to our Lenten journey of faith. Lent moves us from repentance to the joy of forgiveness.
Lent 5 C Lectionary Catechesis