Feb 22, 2023
By Fr. Joe Nassal, C.PP.S.
On Ash Wednesday, the prophet Joel proclaims, “Rend your hearts, not your garments.” Rending means tearing, as when the psalmist prayed for God to rend the heavens and come down to earth. Or, in Mark’s Gospel when Jesus steps out of the water after his baptism and “he saw the heavens torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, ‘You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.’”
So, the prophet says instead of tearing our clothes as a sign of our desire to change, our desire to repent, our desire to reclaim our true self, we are told to rend, to tear open, our hearts.
The heart, they say, is a strong muscle, and yet we know how fragile and prone to bruising and breaking our hearts are. As the poet Mark Nepo puts it, “The heart, when broken, always has this choice: to cling to the idea of what broke it; or to long like trampled grass for the heat of the sun.”
In the Responsorial Psalm today (Psalm 51), we ask God, “Create a clean heart in me.” We often associate the word “clean” as opposed to “dirty” to reflect the notion of sin and asking God to wash my heart of all the grease, grime and guilt that has accumulated over the years. To make the heart pure so no more thoughts of greed or selfishness will contaminate or corrupt the heart.
My Scripture professor in graduate school, Fr. Carroll Stuhlmueller, said “Create a clean heart in me, O God,” is better translated, “Create a safe place in me, O God.”
By asking to create a “safe heart,” we are inviting God to create within me a safe zone where I can find my truth, where I can tell the truth about myself. To ask God to open our arteries again and let the blood flood freely, pumping and pulsing without any blockages caused by resentments and regrets that at times restrict the flow of life.
As Precious Blood people, when we ask God to create a “safe heart,” we ask the Divine Surgeon to dissolve those clots that harden our hearts, that sludge of grudges we have held too long, and to open a space of forgiveness and mercy so that we may return to our true selves.
This season of Lent affords us the opportunity to examine our hearts and come home to the truth that each of us is made in God’s image and likeness, that each of us is God’s beloved. What is keeping me from embracing and living this truth? What is the sin that keeps me from loving unconditionally; the fear that keeps me from reaching out to others in love; the guilt that crowds out the grace or the shame that stalks my step?
May this season of Lent find us going often to our “inner room,” that safe place in our hearts where we can, in the words of St. Paul in the second reading, “be reconciled to God” who transforms us and reminds us yet again we are beloved. It is from this safe place that we go forth as “ambassadors for Christ,” ministers of reconciliation in a broken world.
Fr. Joe Nassal, C.PP.S., a noted author, preacher and retreat leader, also serves as vice provincial director of the United States Province.
Jan 22, 2023
A New Year’s message from our provincial director, Fr. Jeffrey Kirch, C.PP.S.
I am not one of them, but I have heard about people making New Year’s resolutions.
Usually, these are cast in the first person: I will quit smoking. I will learn a new skill.
I am here with good news: if you hope to grow in wisdom, knowledge, or fortitude in the coming year, you do not have to go it alone.
These gifts come to us through and from the Holy Spirit. Life, we hope, is a long journey of enlightenment. We want to think that we are far wiser than we were 10 or 20 or more years ago.
Was that our own doing? Some of it was, perhaps. But the farthest leaps in understanding always come to us when we plug into the power of the One who created the universe.
So if we want to use this year as a time when we see more clearly and understand more deeply, all we have to do is ask for inspiration and guidance from the Holy Spirit. And then follow the light that the Spirit always provides.
Dec 24, 2022
By Fr. Jeff Kirch, C.PP.S., Provincial Director
Francia, Francesco; The Nativity of Christ; Glasgow Museums; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/the-nativity-of-christ-83994
On behalf of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, serving the people of God around the world, I would like to wish you and your family a very merry and blessed Christmas.
“All around the world” has been on my mind. Earlier this month, I was in Rome to attend a meeting about religious life. I am still thinking about all those good men and women who minister to the people of God in so many ways.
Today they are celebrating Christmas in many ways, each according to their culture and customs. But each in awe of the newborn who changed the world for all of us.
The central truth of Christ remains the same across time and cultures. But the way that we embrace the Truth is very personal. The universal and the intimate—it is a paradox that God cares about the whole world and each one of us. God is the creator of the universe and is embodied in a child too young to walk.
Let us all join in this worldwide celebration today with a continual sense of wonder that this miracle is presented to us anew. That we see it through our own eyes, yet share the Good News with all the Earth.
Oct 21, 2022
By Fr. Ben Berinti, C.PP.S.
As we celebrate the feast day of our founder, St. Gaspar del Bufalo, the Missionaries in this country do so, for the first time, as the United States Province. That should give us a jolt of energy, since this is our invitation to rebirth, our time of renewal. And our founder was all about renewal, revival and reveling in the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ.
Ever since our founding Assembly in June 2022, I keep returning to the image of St. Gaspar as a “child of the Epiphany,” born on that feast day, and continue to contemplate what implications this could possibly have for us as we live out our commitments and covenants to the Congregation and the mission of St. Gaspar for our times.
What a glorious feast of the Church on which to be born, even if it did mean he had to bear the heavy burden of the strange names his parents bestowed upon him, Gaspar Melchior Balthazar del Bufalo Gaspar carried not only the traditional names of the Magi, but he inherited their questing spirit, their vivid imagination, their fearlessness in the face of a grueling journey, and the wonder that they displayed upon finding the incarnate Son of God.
But as much as St. Gaspar embodied the qualities of the Magi, he was not only a “child of the Magi,” but also a “child of the Shepherds.” While the Magi brought their exotic element to the wonder of the Incarnation, they were not the first witnesses to the Word Made Flesh. It was to the working, poor, unwelcome mundane shepherds that the invitation to come and worship was first proclaimed—not by a star, but rather by an angelic chorus.
And yet, these two sets of people, and what they represent in the Gospels, hold one thing in common—something important to our founder. Both the Magi and shepherds lived on the fringes of the society and culture into which the divine was incarnated. And this reality also finds its way into the heart, soul and zeal of St. Gaspar.
St. Gaspar leaves us the task of also embodying a life on the fringes, a life reaching out beyond the rigid boundaries so many want to create in our day—a mission that not only looks to the stars for big and bold dreams, but also a mission that has its feet firmly planted on the ground where the less than exotic needs of our brothers and sisters still cry out for the Word Made Flesh.
As a child of the Magi, St. Gaspar truly lived the meaning of the great feast of the Epiphany—recognizing the divine presence, especially in the Blood of Christ, dwelling within our world and us. And he not merely recognized it but responded to that revelation by offering his unique gifts for the renewal of God’s people.
May we honor our founder today and each day going forward by doing the same!
Fr. Ben Berinti, C.PP.S., is a provincial councilor with the United States Province. An author, preacher and pastor, he is in ministry in Melbourne Beach, Fla.
Mar 3, 2022
Our Lady of Zarvanytsia
Anguish and Suffering in Ukraine
from Gabino Zavala, Justice and Peace Director
As Missionaries of the Precious Blood, we join people around the world in praying for the suffering people of Ukraine. We pray for peace. As always, war is a deadly failure and is not the answer no matter what reasons the Putin-led Russian government has given. We condemn the Russian invasion and bombing of cities throughout Ukraine.
We applaud the Biden administration’s ongoing efforts to resolve the crisis through diplomacy. We condemn the use of violence by the Putin-led Russian government. We call on all involved—Russia, Ukraine, Nato—and all nations to prioritize protecting human life by promoting the cessation of hostilities.
Over a century ago Pope Benedict XV warned against the “useless slaughter” of war. Today Pope Francis and the Bishops of Ukraine echo his warning. We stand with them is saying that war is always a failure of humanity. All of us are aware of the devastating consequences of war, in which the poor, the infirm, the marginalized are always the first victims.
Our hearts are with the people of Ukraine who are in anguish as they endure the violence, suffering, and devastation that this Russian invasion has brought upon them. Our hearts should break for lives lost and people displaced from their homes. We stand with the people of Ukraine who defend their homeland and cry out for peace. Let us join our voices to the plea of Pope Francis, “War, never again!”
Statement on the War in Ukraine and Provincial Donation for Relief Efforts
from the Kansas City Province Leadership Council
As Missionaries of the Precious Blood, our charism calls us to stand with all who are marginalized and oppressed, and we stand against the use of violence to assert power and control over others. The Russian leadership’s assault on Ukraine is immoral and a total disregard for human life and liberty. We condemn this action, and we encourage others to join their voices with ours. The people of Ukraine are our brothers and sisters, and we support them with our prayers and our voices, as we call for an end to the violence. We want to offer assistance to the many Ukrainian refugees fleeing the fighting. To this end, the Kansas City Province is sending $20,000 to Catholic Relief Services for Ukrainian refugee support. Please consider supporting our Ukrainian brothers and sisters in whatever way you can. Let us continue to pray for peace throughout the world, especially in Ukraine, and that the Spirit may soften the hearts of all leaders to end aggression and violence.
Feb 23, 2021
Wondering where you can attend Mass virtually? Here’s a list of Kansas City Province parishes, and others who offer Mass online. They livestream via Facebook, so you’ll need an account to view the Masses live.
St. Mary of the Visitation, Ottumwa, Iowa, https://www.facebook.com/StMaryChurchinOttumwa/
St. Mary’s, Centerville, Iowa, https://www.facebook.com/stmaryscentervilleiowa/
St. Mary’s, Albia, Iowa https://www.facebook.com/StMarysAlbia
Most Holy Redeemer Parish, San Francisco, California https://www.facebook.com/mhrsf/
St. James Parish, Liberty, Missouri https://www.facebook.com/StJamesLibertyMO/
St. James Parish, Kansas City, Missouri https://www.facebook.com/stjamesmidtown/
