The New Wine Press, Vol 25, no 4 December 2016
[joomag width=650 height=389 title=the-new-wine-press-vol-25-no-4-december-2016 magazineId=0194650001481575186 pageNumber=1 theme=293042,151b26,ffffff,ffe358,ffffff ]
Advent Series: Hope
Join Us!
Saturdays, beginning December 3rd through December 17th
9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (you are welcome to join Saturday Mass at 4:00)
Precious Blood Center
Main Building
2130 St. Gaspar Way
Liberty, Missouri
RSVP to hospitalitycoordinator.pbc@gmail.com
December 3rd The Tender Compassion of God
Fr. Joe Nassal, C.PP.S.
Fr. Joe Nassal is the author of several books including The Conspiracy of Compassion, Rest Stops for the Soul, Premeditated Mercy, Moments of Truth, and Stations of the Crib. A Missionary of the Precious Blood, he has been engaged in retreat, renewal and reconciliation ministry since 1988. Ordained in 1982, Fr. Joe has also served in parish and peace and justice ministry and in formation, vocation and leadership for his congregation. He presently is Provincial Director of the Kansas City Province.
December 10th Those Who Wait in Hope
Gabino Zavala
Gabino Zavala is a Companion of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, Kansas City Group. Gabino serves the marginalized in his many areas of service. Gabino has served nationally in peace and justice work and is presently the Director of Peace and Justice for the Kansas City Province of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood. He is a delightful and engaging speaker.
December 17th Finding Hope in Uncertainty
Kathy Keary
Kathy Keary, a Companion of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, brings to her ministries a background in education, theology and spirituality. She has been active in adult faith and social justice formation for years. Serving as spiritual director and retreat leader she has a long history of outreach to the marginalized, in particular those challenged by poverty, homelessness, mental illness and imprisonment.
Letter from Fr. Joe, December 8, 2016
December 8, 2016
Dear Friends,
Advent greetings of hope and peace on this feast of the Immaculate Conception! God’s question to Adam and Eve in today’s reading from Genesis, “Where are you?” is a good one to ask ourselves as we journey in faith. Where are we? Here are a few happenings in the province and a few events to mark on your calendars for 2017.
Future Task Force
As you know, the Future Task Force has worked diligently this past year to organize several opportunities for members to gather and dialogue about our future together. We are very grateful to the members of the task force for their dedication and creativity in deepening our conversation in the bond of charity. In our effort to expand the membership of the Future Task Force as we prepare to widen our conversation to include the Companions in the coming year, and also to engage more members in the planning and implementation of the process leading up to next year’s Assembly in June and the Community Life Symposium in Rome in July, the Provincial Council is pleased to announce the appointments of Fathers Bill Hubmann and Timothy Armbruster, and Companion Vicky Otto to the Future Task Force. We thank Fathers Al Ebach, Lac Pham, and Mark Yates for their service on the task force. We are also grateful to Fathers John Wolf (chair) and Alan Hartway for their willingness to continue to serve on the task force.
Provincial Assembly: June 5-8, 2017
As previously announced, we are grateful to Companions Patty and Chuck Hayes for accepting the responsibility to serve as co-chairs of the 2017 Provincial Assembly that will be held June 5-8, 2017. After several years of holding our Assembly at the Church of the Annunciation in Kearney, we have decided to move the 2017 Assembly to a new venue. Our Assembly will be held at the Hilton Hotel near Kansas City International Airport.
We are most grateful for the tremendous hospitality parishioners and staff of Annunciation Parish has extended to us through the years. But we felt having our prayer and worship, our listening and learning, our food and lodging under one roof will allow for and encourage more interaction among the Assembly participants. The proximity to KCI will be convenient for those who will be flying to the Assembly. And because the hotel is located on I-29 near the airport, it is very accessible for all those who will be driving.
The focus of the 2017 Assembly will be Community Life. The Future Task Force in collaboration with the Provincial Council will coordinate the content of the Assembly. As always, we will celebrate Companion covenants and members will renew their promises made at incorporation. We will also honor those who will be celebrating significant anniversaries in 2017. Our honorees are:
Father Larry Cyr
80 Years of Incorporation
Father Bill Miller
Father Bill Delaney
60 Years of Incorporation
Father Tom Albers
Bishop Joe Charron
50 Years of Ordination
Father Joe Miller
40 Years of Ordination
Father Joe Bathke
40 Years of Incorporation
You will note that the Assembly will extend to Thursday, June 8, because all are invited to celebrate the ordination to the priesthood of Rev. Mr. Peter Tam Hoang, C.PP.S. The ordination will take place at 10:00 A.M. at St. Francis Xavier Church in St. Joseph, MO. Our brother, Bishop Joe Charron, will once again be the principal celebrant and ordain Peter Tam. Please mark your calendars and plan to join us for the Assembly and for Peter Tam’s ordination.
Precious Blood Renewal Center
Companion Kathy Keary who resigned as co-director of Companions earlier this year because of her health is feeling better. She has been helping at Precious Blood Renewal Center (PBRC) with various programs and will be giving an Advent day of prayer at the Center on December 17. Leadership is pleased to announce that Kathy will serve part-time as interim program director for PBRC.
This Saturday, December 10, our Justice and Peace Coordinator, Companion Gabino Zavala, will facilitate the second of our three Advent days of prayer at the Center. If you haven’t registered yet, please do so today!
You are also welcome to join us at PBRC on Wednesday evening, December 21, from 4:00-8:00 PM for a Winter Solstice Celebration of Light. The evening will include prayer, reflection and a guided labyrinth walk, and of course, some of Lucia Ferrara’s delicious homemade soup. If you haven’t been able to visit our labyrinth yet, this would be a wonderful opportunity to prepare our hearts more deeply for the coming celebration of Christmas.
As our Advent journey continues, may we meet in prayer often along the way, trusting in the promise the angel Gabriel made to Mary, “The Lord is with you,” belongs to all of us. Led by this promise we believe “nothing will be impossible for God.”
With hope and peace,
Joe Nassal, C.PP.S.
Provincial Director
and the Leadership Team
Fr. Joe Nassal Featured at First 2016 Advent Day of Reflection
by Kathy Keary, Kansas City Companion
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”]
Fr. Joe Nassal
On December 3rd, Precious Blood Center hosted the first of its 2016 Advent Days of Reflection. Through storytelling and faith sharing, Fr. Joe Nassal reflected on our sharing in the incarnation Jesus during Advent. God became human to show us what our best self looks like — a person of compassion. When we give or receive compassion, we bring the kingdom of God to the world. When we bring the kingdom of God into the world, we bring hope into the darkness that exists in the world.
Fr. Joe identified six ways we can bring hope and compassion into the world:
- Live in the present: embrace a faith that sees what is in front of us now. Move beyond a mindset focused on past failures and hurts or future anxieties and fears, to live one moment at a time. Let go of what we are holding on to that causes hope to wear thin.
- Keep our eyes on the road: Keep focus on what is most important. Name fears but don’t be paralyzed by them.
- Cultivate community: Community is made up of caretakers, undertakers, and risk takers. Most of us are caretakers, caring for others in community. Undertakers bury us with their negativity and sarcasm. The risk takers are people who take risks for the sake of the whole. Joseph, Mary, Zechariah, Elizabeth, Abraham, and Sarah were risk takers empowered to say, “yes,” because they were certain that they were called by God.
- Preserve perspective: It’s about the moment we gain a new perspective about what is most important in this time and place. It’s holding on to the sentiment: “Everything will be alright in the end. If it is not alright, it is not the end.”
- Embrace imperfection: Be who you are, rather than living up to others’ expectations. If we are always trying to be perfect, it makes us very judgmental of others.
- Practice kindness or compassion: Compassion is a natural expression, an expression of our best self that is learned through our woundedness.
Fr. Joe challenged us to ponder the Advent mystery — to discern what part of our life is still in darkness and discover what quality of Christ can we cultivate in our life.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
I Am Here, Lord
Xavier Mission House in Saigon celebrated the Feast of St. Francis Xavier on December 3rd. We commemorated the patron saint of our Community and of our house through evening prayer and a meal together. The members and inquirers of Hoa Hung Community as well as Sr. Hang Pham and potential future lay associates joined us. Our worship time together included focusing on St. Francis Xavier’s letter to St. Ignatius. St. Francis said, “Lord I am here! What do you want me to do? Send me anywhere you like.”
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”]
Fr. Nhan delivers food to a leper in Vietnam
[/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”]
Fr. Nhan working with lepers in Vietnam
Reflecting on St. Francis Xavier’s words, Fr. Nhan and Sr. Hang shared their recent ministry experiences of being sent this past month to An Nhon Parish of Gialai Province in the Central Highlands of Vietnam to provide food and spiritual support to 13 families living in a leper colony there. The following weekend, they gave a retreat to potential lay associates to the Adorers of the Blood of Christ at Chan Son Abbey in Don Duong District of Lam Dong Province. The theme of their retreat was, “Listen and Answer the Call.” During this retreat, Nhan and Hang discovered that our charisms of reconciliation and renewal is needed for those rejected by other religious communities. They have both shared that part of our future ministry together can be trying to bring healing to such individuals.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]