Dear friends and family,
Sister Edna Hess • President, Sisters of the Precious Blood
Here we are in the time of Advent, Christmas and New Year’s with all the emotions, feelings and desires that surround this time, especially for us Christians. Words like peace, joy and love fill our hearts and our minds. Lights and Christmas decorations inside and outside our homes speak to this special time of year. Advent, Christmas and New Year’s offer us the opportunity to reflect on what we are waiting for and desiring in our own life, as well as for the lives of our family, our friends, our country and our world. The prophet Isaiah says:
Arise! Shine, for your light has come, the glory of the LORD has dawned upon you. Though darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds the peoples, upon you the LORD will dawn, and over you his glory will be seen. Nations shall walk by your light, kings by the radiance of your dawning.
Then you shall see and be radiant, your heart shall throb and overflow. For the riches of the sea shall be poured out before you, the wealth of nations shall come to you.
While we are busy buying gifts hopefully we are remembering the greatest gift that God has given us, His Son, Jesus, Emmanuel. Somewhere in a prominent place in our home we have put a Christmas crib to remember this great gift. Jesus invites us to be gift to others just as he was gift to the blind, the deaf and dumb, the widow, the sick and the lame. He gave of himself to everyone he met and ended His life giving His life blood for each and every one of us. What a challenge for all of us to be gift to others and not just to family, friends or those we like!
The new year is an opportunity to begin again, to continue our journey of life. It offers us the opportunity to see where 2021 has led us with the graces received as well as the things we wanted to do and didn’t. It gives us the opportunity to recommit ourselves to being a faithful follower of Jesus, to better ourselves and to better our world.
In this issue of Sharing & Caring, you will meet the Sisters who celebrated 75, 60 and 40 years as a Sister of the Precious Blood. In June 2020 we were not able to celebrate our Jubilarians because of COVID, and the same thing happened in June 2021. Finally, on the weekend of October 1-3 we were able to bring the Community together in what we called our Family Reunion. We simply enjoyed being together and celebrating the 15 Sisters who were celebrating special anniversaries in 2020 and 2021.
In this issue we are also happy to share the news of a new collaborative effort of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, the Adorers of the Blood of Christ and we Sisters of the Precious Blood here in Dayton. In order to share our Precious Blood spirituality with others, we are founding a Precious Blood Spirituality Institute to offer programs, retreats, workshops, etc. on Precious Blood spirituality. Another component will be a connection of the Precious Blood Spirituality Institute with Catholic Theological Union in Chicago where people will be able to study Precious Blood spirituality.
May each and every one of you find the Light of Christ and be the Light of Christ in your home, your work, your city or town, and in your world.