Monthly e-newsletter giving witness to our Precious Blood Spirituality, grounded in Catholic Social Teaching and Gospel values
July 1 Feast Day Mass outside
IMG_1372_banner
graphic with outline
IMG_1423_banner
The life-giving power of the blood comes at great price
We have experienced the power of the Precious Blood. It is redeeming power; it is life-giving power; it is healing power; it is cleansing power; it is reconciling power; it is transforming power; it is a forgiving power; it is a sanctifying power; it is a protecting power and above all it is intimate, creative, loving power. This Precious Blood is the dynamic gene of our DNA that dares us to proclaim our mission in every age. Mother Brunner and her contemporaries proclaimed it through hard domestic work, day and night prayer, teaching orphans and caring for seminarians. Read More
CPPS transplanted into the new world proclaimed it through their coping with rough living conditions, hardships of travel, prayer through the night and day, service to and teaching German immigrants. Twentieth century CPPS members proclaimed it through the traditional roles of religious — prayer adjusted to the active ministry, domestic work in seminaries and convents, teaching in schools throughout the U.S., in Chile and Guatemala, nursing in areas of community need. Our lived legacy generated at great personal sacrifice testifies to the life-giving power of the Precious Blood.
The question remains: How do we harness this dynamic power of the Precious Blood to heal our fractured world today? The roughing-it of origin and frontier ministries is by-gone. We’ve stepped out of the traditional grooves of 20th century religious women. … Our sick world needs a blood transfusion. Our blood has developed the antibodies needed to combat its illness. Are we willing to give it? We will know our willingness in contemplation at the foot of the cross where we hear the whispered words of the Crucified. In quiet prayer encounter, immersed in the power of the Precious Blood, we absorb its reconciling power:
Confronting racial injustices rampant in our bruised world and sacrificing in whatever way we can to utter the overdue cry: no more.
Extending our charism through living legacies in education, especially to the poor.
Doubling our efforts to respect God’s creation enriching it for future generations.
Today, let’s each one of us retire to our quiet space and reflect on how we relate to the awesome power of the Precious Blood. What a precious price Jesus paid with his willingness to give us so great a transfusion! Let us open our hearts to the ways that we can personally participate in a needed, lifesaving transfusion for our death-bent world. Make no mistake, it will be costly. To do less is not worthy of women who call themselves Sisters of the Precious Blood.
By Sister Maryann Bremke, C.PP.S.
Retired
The above is an excerpt of the reflection Sister Maryann delivered at the Precious Blood Feast Day Mass held July 1 at Salem Heights, our central house in Dayton. In the photos above, Sisters who do not reside at Salem Heights watched the Mass on closed-circuit television; after Mass, they greeted their Sisters through closed doors.
A companion on the journey toward healing
Recent events — both the COVID pandemic and the unjust death of George Floyd — have catapulted us to perhaps feel things we never felt before; to have hard conversations with others; and, perhaps, we have evaluated our own beliefs about people of color. Perhaps we had to dig deep. If we have experienced trauma in our lives, that experience may have surfaced and caused more pain. Read More
In my ministry with families of murder I have learned a lot. At the core of healing from traumatic death is to heal the moral injury that has occurred within the surviving family member(s): the image of God and reliance on those pieces of life that one thought she/he completely understood are not there anymore. Everything about life, creed, family, hope, etc., all need to be found, rumbled with, and redefined.
I am aware of how quickly surviving families are easily triggered as folks hear of yet another person murdered. Triggers can be minor events that cause a person to recall the death event: a smell, a voice; something that touches the memory of the one who died. And, certain events may cause deep pain to resurface for survivors; survivors may experience acute mental health issues such as anxiety, panic or despair — or chronic mental health issues may intensify, including PTSD. A variety of such triggers are unfolding in our streets and on daily news reports in recent weeks:
Perhaps some families have lost a loved one who was killed by a cop.
Some families have lost loved ones, and the cops have not found the perpetrator.
For some, recent riots could trigger feelings of being unsafe, even in one’s own home. Sounds of bullets, tear gas, pellets, etc., can cause anxiety.
For some, violence occurring between two different races — or within the same race — brings back painful reminders of their loved one’s death.
Or, a survivor might feel triggered as words are passed from one to another.
Triggers do not need to make sense. They just happen, and the rest of us need to let them happen and be present and be a companion in the healing process. As a Sister of the Precious Blood, I hope to be present to survivors who share their story and companion them to be reconciled to the event that caused such pain and disruption in their lives. To assist, I use Restorative Storytelling which is a process to remember their deceased loved one not by the murder event but by how that individual lived life.
The grief process for traumatic death is about 15 years. If you encounter someone who may be responding to recent events in an unhealthy way, please listen to their story and be a companion on their journey toward healing. Most probably they have not found too many people with whom to travel.
By Sister Terry Maher, C.PP.S.
Mission integration manager, St. Mary Medical Center
Apple Valley, California
Who Is Eating in Our Garden?
The Sisters are providing a smorgasbord of sorts for multiple “families,” all within a 5-by-25-foot space next to the administrative building in Dayton. These scientifically grouped families include the organisms that we commonly refer to as pollinators — a large variety of insects and mammals — such as butterflies, moths, skippers, bees, flies, ants and birds.
One third of the foods we eat require pollination. It is critical to most plant reproduction; nearly 90% of flowering plants need this assistance from animals. The transfer of pollen from one flower to another allows for fertilization and the creation of fruit and seeds for the next generation. Favorite foods such as tomatoes, bananas, almonds and chocolate require animal pollinators in order to flourish. Read More
As pollinators such as honey bees and monarch butterflies face severe decline due to habitat loss and pesticide use, the Sisters felt it was important to plant a garden to help them out. We used all native plants which are attractive not only to the pollinators, but to the eye as well: orange blossoms of butterfly weed (a milkweed), purple spikes of blazing star, brilliant red rays of royal catchfly, white clusters of Virginia mountain mint, yellow sun bursts of St. John’s wort, blue balls of mist flower, and the delicate flowers and wispy structure of grasses.
It’s fun to watch the creatures, themselves sometimes colorful, fly, buzz, hop and crawl from plant to plant to nectar, collect pollen or to munch on leaves. We’re happy to be able to dedicate a small plot of land to boost biodiversity, strengthen the food web and give glory to God. It’s fun to watch the creatures, themselves sometimes colorful, fly, buzz, hop and crawl from plant to plant to nectar, collect pollen or to munch on leaves. We’re happy to be able to dedicate a small plot of land to boost biodiversity, strengthen the food web and give glory to God.
By Colleen Kammer
In the photo above, Colleen Kammer and staff member Sheree Neumann work in the garden.
Source and summit
For the past three years, I have worked as communications assistant for the Sisters of the Precious Blood. Before taking on that role, I knew nothing about the Congregation’s foundress, Maria Anna Brunner. I’ve enjoyed learning about her life in 19th century Switzerland: the way her deep faith guided her to tend to her neighbors’ needs, and to lead such a devoted prayer life — particularly in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament — that other women chose to join her in forming a religious community.
I thought of Mother Brunner recently, as my husband and I helped my older son, Thomas, prepare for his First Communion. There were so many things to take care of: purchasing a new suit, sending out the invitations, deciding on a menu for the party.Read More
Then COVID-19 wreaked its havoc, and there were even more things to take care of. First Communion was canceled; faith formation classes ended abruptly, as did public Masses. He grew out of the suit. We canceled the party.
In the midst of everything, I thought about Mother Brunner — and I thought of all the Sisters of the Precious Blood through the past 186 years. When the Sisters of the Precious Blood first arrived in Mercer County, Ohio, on September 24, 1846, they entered into adoration of the Blessed Sacrament that evening — a practice that continued uninterrupted for over 100 years.
From their initial journey to the U.S., through the Civil War and the Great Depression, two world wars and the turn of two centuries, the Sisters have served God faithfully, reaching out to their neighbors wherever and however they are needed — always with the Eucharist as the source and summit of their mission and their lives.
So as the new date of Thomas’ First Communion — June 13 — grew closer, I tried not to worry too much about whether the suit was perfect, or what kind of party we would have. Instead, we talked to him about Jesus. We read stories of the saints’ lives, and read the Gospels together. We searched for ways to help others during these tumultuous times. We tried our best to make sure Thomas understands that Eucharist is the beginning and end of all that we do, and all that we are.
And just after Thomas received Communion for the first time, we returned to our seats, and he leaned over and whispered: “My favorite part of Mass is going to Communion!” So, with thanks to Mother Brunner and the Sisters of the Precious Blood, maybe we are on the right path.
The life-giving power of the blood comes at great price
A companion on the journey toward healing 
Who Is Eating in Our Garden?
Source and summit