July 1, 2015
Happy Feast Day to all in the Precious Blood family!
Today, our worldwide Community is be celebrating our 200-year history with a special Mass at St. John Lateran in Rome. Our Cincinnati Province is also hosting a celebration at St. Charles Center in Carthagena, Ohio. Some of our other ministry sites are also planning special celebrations today. If you can’t be with us in person at these celebrations, we ask that all of you join with us in spirit and prayer as we reflect on all that God has done for us and through us in the past 200 years.
We have talked about and planned for our bicentennial for so long that we need to take a moment to a step back in amazement that we have been around for 200 years, and at all that God has accomplished through us. The Feast of the Precious Blood is a great day to do that.
More and more, I want to encourage our Missionaries, Companions, Amici and friends of our Community to help tell the story of our Congregation. In the past, we have had a tendency to hide our light under a bushel basket. We simply went about our ministry with a single minded purpose, namely: to serve the people of God in the spirit of St. Gaspar. After 200 years of service we need to talk about who we are and why we do what we do. We have a gift to share with the larger church. As we give people a sense for the depth of our commitment to our ministry, to our Church and the Precious Blood of Jesus, there will be more people called to ministry with us as priests, brothers and Companions.
So on the Feast of the Precious Blood, emboldened by the Holy Spirit, let’s say it out loud: we’ve got a lot to be proud of. We’ve done a lot of good ministry and have a lot more to do. Let’s celebrate what those before us have handed on to us, what we are doing now and rejoice in our part in building the kingdom of God. Let us continue to be the 1,000 tongues that St. Gaspar dreamed would promote the transforming power of the Precious Blood of Jesus.
Fraternally in the Precious Blood,
Fr. Larry Hemmelgarn, C.PP.S.
Provincial Director
Editor’s note:
To see photos of C.PP.S. members and pilgrims from around the world celebrate the Feast of the Precious Blood (and our bicentennial) during a special liturgy at the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome click here.
To see photos of C.PP.S. members, family and friends at the provincial celebration of the Feast of the Precious Blood at St. Charles Center, Carthagena, click here.