A message on the anniversary of C.PP.S. founding from our
Provincial Director Fr. Jeffrey Kirch, C.PP.S.
As we mark another year of life in our Congregation—208 years now since our founding in 1815 by St. Gaspar del Bufalo—my thoughts turn to his thoughts in those early days. How did he envision the future? How did he attract people to the new Congregation and its mission of renewing the Church and the world through the power of the Precious Blood?
Missionaries have been faithful to that mission ever since, with God’s help. We might even say that renewal and reconciliation are just as important today than in Gaspar’s day. We never have to worry about running out of work.
And the Precious Blood family does not run out of energy. Not our Missionaries, not the sisters’ congregations that are also under the banner of the Precious Blood, not our lay associates or those who faithfully support our work.
It is heartening to me to see the many ways that Missionaries carry out their ministry, and the mission of our Congregation. As provincial director, I am privileged to sit with members as they talk about their dreams, plans and preferences. As we talk, we are working together for the good of the Congregation, the good of the Church, and the good of the member. I believe that all of that can be aligned, with God’s guiding hand.
I like the way our Fr. Ben Berinti, C.PP.S., described life as a Missionary of the Precious Blood in a recent article in the Florida Catholic. Fr. Ben spoke of “the joy of being set down smack dab in the middle of daily life with real people trying to find ways to answer the call of Christ to the fullness of life he offers.
“The blood of Christ is all about LIFE…there is life in the Blood. And so, as a Missionary of the Precious Blood, I am called to lift up life and the saving work of Christ rather than to judge, criticize, offer a negative outlook, lament how terrible the world is, etc. I am called to be a positive force for life and growth, to be a person of hope and encouragement.”
Let us all be people of hope and encouragement. Let us all find life in the Precious Blood of Jesus.