Precious Blood Renewal Center

One year after the murder of George Floyd Jr., hope can be hard to come by, but it is critical if we are to make progress, writes a historian of American and African American religion at the University of Pennsylvania.

May 6 is the National Day of Prayer, an observance established by law in 1952. God’s message of love, life, and liberty is the theme for this National Day of Prayer. Paul asks in his second letter to the Corinthians (3:1-3) if we need, as some do, letters of recommendations ? You are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by all, written not in ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tables of stone but on tablets that are hearts of flesh. The missio...n remains today. We, the believers and followers of Jesus are the messengers, the letters written with the Spirit on our hearts, and from the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. It is our prayer today and throughout 2021 that the Spirit of the Lord, pour out, pour through us across America, to fill our lives, families, churches, workplaces, education, government, arts, entertainment and media, with Biblical, not worldly, but Spirit-empowered, Spirit-filled love, life and liberty as designed and defined by our Creator and Savior. Let us pray: Divine Creator, we are clay in your hands, vessels of your plans and love. Fill us we pray, to be overflowing vessels and examples of your love, life, and liberty. We thank you for loving us and commit to showing and sharing your love. We thank you for our life, and commit to serve you in awe and respect, knowing you have put your image in all of us, and that every person is fearfully and wonderfully made. Help us to show compassion and respect to others so that they may read the message you have written on our hearts. Amen! You can find more Taize prayer services here. Potter image by mnplatypus from Pixabay

Health issues that triggered a crisis in faith became an Emmaus moment, Deacon Ken Greene tells Fr. Ron Will, CPPS, in this last installment of our Easter video series, Journey to Emmaus in Contemporary Scenes. Ken Greene, a deacon of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese who serves at St. Monica Parish in Kansas City, Missouri, tells the story of a personal crisis in faith he had recently in the midst of a serious health scare that caused him to lose some of his vision and his... car was taken away for a year. I became rather despondent over all this, Deacon Ken said. I stopped trusting in God, not believing that he would take care of me. For 16 months he was depressed. He stopped going to church. After several months, a concerned social worker intervened, persuaded him to enter counseling. The counseling challenged my thinking regarding my faith, challenged my lack of trust and belief in God, Deacon Ken told Fr. Ron. I had a lot of self-doubts, he said, but after several visits with her, I began to see myself in a more positive light. I gradually returned to church and was about to practice my ministry as a deacon. The first Sunday back as a deacon after this long hiatus, I preached on God’s mercy. It was Mercy Sunday. Preparing and preaching that message helped me come to an understanding of the relationship I have with God, he said. It helped me appreciate that God does love me and that he has always loved me. Drawing on his personal experiences of ministry, Fr. Ron talked about times when people have been moved by homilies he’s preached or prayers he’s led. While he didn’t see these as extraordinary, some individuals found them profound, life-changing even. I was shocked really that they were able to remind me of what I had said six months before. Then later, as I reflected on this, I realized that someone besides me was working during that Mass, and my heart burned within me, burned with gratitude for God’s presence working through me. I realized, he said, that God’s presence was unfolding in my presence. Watch this video and then share it with friends. Opening images obtained through the Art in the Christian Tradition (ACT) database maintained by Jean and Alexander Heard Library and the Vanderbilt Divinity Library with permission to reproduce it for non-commercial purposes.

The program will consist of religious observances from various cultures and faith traditions including Tibetan Buddhist chanting, devotional music, and much more. The Rime Center will be providing picnic food as we gather for fellowship. This year's theme is Nurturing Peace in Kansas City.

Christian spiritual masters often speak of the need to dismantle our false self to reveal our true self, or what Meister Eckhart described the living presence of God’s image implanted in the soul. Islamic texts discuss this same idea. Read Kathy Keary’s latest article.

Today is Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting, prayer and charity for Muslims. Greet your Muslim friends with a joyous Eid Mubarak! meaning Happy Eid and Blessed Celebrations!

Last week a 22-year-old poet inspired us to reembrace working for a society of peace, justice, unity and nonviolence. Kathy Keary tells us that Jesus and Buddha taught that peace in the heart precedes peace in the world. Meditation is key.

Mark's Message to a Community in Crisis; Jesus' Summons to Nonviolence

Martin Luther King Jr. Gandhi. Jesus. Buddha. They used different words, but their message was the same: Humans are meant to live together in unity and harmony and love can transform the world.

Giving young people opportunities to think positively about their future and what they want to achieve in life is very important because it shapes their identity. By Lucia Jakofcich Ferrara

Bound by our duty to work for the Kingdom of God, we are bound to improve our imperfect world. As voters, we need to look at positions and candidates who can lead us to a less imperfect world.

Accepting God’s invitation to draw close is a first step in realizing an intimate bond with our Maker. As we grow in our relationship with God, we realize that God is not far off and aloof but very much a part of our daily life. By Kathy Keary

Lucia’s Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies By Lucia Ferrara This is a recipe many visitors to Precious Blood Renewal Center have asked me about for years. Well, today, I am ready to reveal it for the first time: Lucia’s Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies. The ingredients are listed below. Watch the video to learn how I put it all together. ... Ingredients: 4 eggs 2 cups chunky peanut butter 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips 1 cupped of chopped nuts (I like walnuts) 2 cups of sugar Bake in oven at 350 Fahrenheit. Check after 12 minutes. If gooey, bake an additional 3-5 minutes until tops of cookies are set. Makes about 24 cookies. How these cookies and feed your soul These cookies are great with a cup of hot coffee or a cup of hot tea or even hot chocolate. But the best way to eat them is with friends and family. I wanted to leave you with a little bit of a reflection from this book I'm reading. It's called Rest Stops for the Soul, and it was written by one of our own Missionaries of the Precious Blood, Fr. Joe Nassal. He writes about visiting a spiritual health in store. The diet plan is simple, drink as much hope and eat as much humble pie as possible. The intake of hope will circulate through our bodies to break up those clots of compromise and caution that accumulate in our arteries and cause us to be lethargic in listless. The humble pie we eat for dessert has very few calories. It makes us feel small again. Then he goes on to say several paragraphs later: The main ingredient in both this hope and this humble pie is found in a natural herb we buy at the health food store, also owned and operated by Isaiah -- "a shoot that sprouts from the stump of Jesse" (Isaiah 11:1). In this bud that blooms are the ingredients to make us young, small and childlike again. And the remarkable thing is that it doesn't matter what age we are. We can always take this medicine, follow this diet and see how God is getting us back in shape for the journey that lies ahead. In this time of uncertainty in our world and in ourselves, I urge you to take time to sit and have a good chocolate chip cookie. Have it with tea and coffee, either by yourself or with a friend or family member. Sit and rest and feed your soul, not only with good, delicious food and desserts but feed your soul with the humility and that hope that Fr. Joe talks about in his book. This is a practice that has helped me to sit down and reflect that on my life. I hope it does that for you as well. Until next time. Ciao. [Lucia Ferrara, the Director of Hospitality at Precious Blood Renewal Center. Share your thoughts with Lucia or ask her questions using the form below or by sending an email to [email protected].]

For the final episode of our video series, The Discerning Voter: Gospel Values for This Election Season, all seven of our participants got together to discussion lessons learned over the course of the series, the aim of which was to help us prepare to go to the voting booth this November. A message that came home to Dennis Keller, a member of the Amici group of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, he said, was The gospels are about today and not about something that hap...Continue reading

Writing to the Thessalonians, St. Paul challenges us to pray without ceasing." Certainly, Kathy Keary says in her latest installment of The Contemplative Live, that does not mean that we are to be on our knees with hands folded and head bowed 24/7. So what does it mean?

Working from home while your entire family is also working or studying from home can be can be stressful, but unavoidable at this time. Finding a work-family balance and effectively managing your time has never been so important. A Family Matters column by Lucia Jakofcich Ferrara

In the latest episode of The Discerning Voter: Gospel Values for this Election Season, Fr. Ron Will, CPPS, tells a story about the time he got the Creed and the Pledge of Alliance mixed up. Quite a few years ago, I was celebrating Sunday Mass, and at the end of the homily, I walked over to the presider’s chair, and I invited the congregation to stand for the Profession of Faith, Fr. Ron recalls. I began, ‘I pledge allegiance to the flag ...’ and the congregation just un...consciously went into automatic pilot and started reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. After a paragraph, I said, ‘Stop, stop! Do you hear what you’re saying? The anecdote illustrates, Fr. Ron continued, how easy it is for us to unconsciously go along with the values of the culture, the society around us, but it takes a deliberate decision, a conscious decision to follow the values, the commitment to God. Fr. Ron told this story as he and Dennis Keller, a member of the Amici group of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, discussed the scripture passages, Matthew 22:15-21, which is known as Caesar’s Coin or Paying Taxes to the Emperor, in the latest episode of the Renewal Center’s video series reflecting on gospel values and how those values shape voter behavior during this election time. The Gospel values that Fr. Ron and Dennis identified in that Gospel passage are: We have obligations to the world We also have obligations of faith The image of God is imprinted on us (we belong to God) Are we Americans first or Christians first? We live by a higher set of standards and we bring those into the world I think the gospel sets the scene for us about the world in which we live, Dennis said. In the story we see the religious-minded Pharisees form an alliance with the non-religious Herodians to trap Jesus. They tried to make Jesus choose between endorsing payment of the Roman tax, hated by the Jewish people, or denouncing the tax, which would be an act of rebellion against the Roman rulers. With his answer, Give Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God, Jesus changes the focus of the question from taxes to our obligations as believers, Dennis said. Jesus is telling us that we live in the world and that we have obligations to the world and to how it is operated, how it is run, he said. But we also have obligations of faith, which arise, not so much from law and rationality, but from issues of the heart. We are either in love with God or we are not. And that permeates everything. And really helps us decide how to respond to the needs of society, Dennis said. See more

Experiencing difficulties coping these days? Kathy Keary asks. Drawing on the Paschal Mystery tradition can help us to own these emotions, and trust in the promise that "this too will pass." And personal growth will have likely occurred. How to ease stress, anxiety and depression in troubled times.

Today Lucia Jakofcich Ferrara makes Rueben sandwiches, with tangy sour kraut, salty corned beef perfectly pulled together by the toasted deli swirl pumpernickel and rye bread. We also talk about the dangers of "spiritual snacking."

Beginning Sept. 8 and every Tuesday until Election Day, Precious Blood Renewal Center will host a series of discussions based on the Sunday Gospels with the aim of helping us prepare to go to the voting booth this November. Fr. Ron Will, CPPS, will lead the discussions and be joined by members of the Precious Blood community. With Fr. Ron on Sept.8 will be Jean Swymeler and on Sept. 15 Gabino Zavala. A plethora of materials is available to help form the conscience of voters. ...We will take a little different approach. We will use the Sunday Mass Gospel for the week, name what we hear Jesus say to us and apply that to our lives. We want to allow the Sunday Gospels to speak to our family and work situations, and also to our political situations. Our goal is to make decisions in the voting booth that are in tune with Jesus’ values. The gospel values we examine today are Community and Healthy Relationships. Lead image Elvira Koneva | Dreamstime.com. Opening and closing music in the video is Salute to A New Beginning by the U.S. Army Herald Trumpets.

When Jesus issues an invitation, we are challenged to respond and we are challenged by God’s all-encompassing inclusivity. These were the major themes that arise when Fr. Ron Will, CPPS, and Fr. Joe Uecker , CPPS, discussed Matthew 22:1-14 in the sixth episode of our video series: The Discerning Voter Gospel Values for this Election Season. Will and Uecker discussed the Parable of the Wedding Feast to discover the core Gospel values in the living word of God and how they spe...Continue reading