Fr. Marvin Steffes, C.PP.S. returned to St. Edward Catholic Church to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his ordination. Fr. Steffes was the first CPPS pastor here and he served as Pastor for 12 years. He was ordained on June 1, 1958 in Carthagena, OH.
Below is what was in the parish bulletin. The Bulletin also has more pictures.
Responding to God who calls me to follow Christ by a special vocation and in your presence Father Director, trusting in God who is ever faithful, and begging the intercession of Mary, Help of Christians, of St. Gaspar, our founder, and St. Francis Xavier, our patron, I, Jeffrey Robert Keyes, of my own free will, promise fidelity to the Society of the Precious Blood in accordance with its constitutions and statutes, giving myself entirely to the service of God for the rest of my life.
At the Liturgy of Hours, the following reading from St. Gaspar’s letters was proclaimed. It was chosen because of the import of the words I have placed in bold text:
I suggest three things in particular for our consideration during these days.
First, that we examine ourselves in the light of the question which the Mellifluous Doctor (St. Bernard) was accustomed to ask his monks: Why have you come here? For what purpose are we in the Society? To cooperate with the great designs of divine Providence in the sanctification of ourselves and others; to be united in the bond of charity and to imitate more closely the life of Jesus Christ....
I am in the Society to look after the life of my soul, to offer myself for the glory of God with a holy abandonment in God himself, and to train myself in humility and obedience, all this with the purpose of knowing better his divine Will by being completely reliant upon him as I should.
The second point about which we must examine ourselves is the love that we are to show towards our Society and towards one another. We should always act according to the spirit of the Lord. ? We should act in such a manner that we, too, might have stamped upon our hearts the saying of the great St. Francis Xavier: “May my right hand be forgotten if I should forget you” (Cf. Ps 136 (137):5.) In this matter, may our love be very, very special. Let it be generous and outgoing, patient and longsuffering, judicious and vigorous.
May God grant that in the case of our Society the words following may be verified: “The blossoming vines give out their fragrance.( Song 2:13)” The cultivation of a vineyard requires skill, toil, vigilance and fruitful rain. Likewise, in the cultivation of our communities, we need special graces. These are obtained through prayer, through exerting ourselves in accomplishing good works, in being orderly and in being vigilant to gather the awaited fruit. In a marvelous way, our Prescriptions and our Rule, which cannot be too highly recommended, serve as our support.
Finally, the third point for our meditation is our activity in furthering those objectives which lead towards the glory of the Lord. This we do in seeking to give them permanence through the Associations which our Society promotes, using the means that it designates as well as the practices which it encourages. Here, let the apostle St. Paul speak. In his letters he reveals a very profound ardor for the salvation of souls and their constant perfection. The love of Christ compels us. (2 Cor 5:14) In all our trouble I am filled with consolation and my joy is overflowing.( 2 Cor 7:4)
Her Feast is February 4th.
The texts for here Mass can be found here.
There is a bunch of stuff about her in the archives.
Venerable Merlini's homily at her funeral.
From the Vatican website
God of goodness,
you chose Gaspar del Bufalo
to be a prophet to the nations,
a preacher of the good news of salvation,
and an apostle of the Precious Blood.
By his intercession
grant that we may experience
the abundant graces
which flow from the Lamb who was slain.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever.
Fr. Dennis Chriszt, CPPS originally submitted the prayer above as a possible opening prayer for the Solemnity of St. Gaspar.New Mass texts were later submitted to the Vatican for approval. They are currently only available in Latin and Italian, though the English text has been submitted and is awaiting approval.
Blessings to all on the Solemnity of the Most Precious Blood.(July 1st) In a world where little is precious or sacred, maybe it is time to reflect on the true freedom given to us in the Most Precious Blood. The following is an old article of mine, basically my homage to St. Gaspar's letter 57. I post it here to move it from my old blog and to make it available for any new readers.
...my 17th anniversary.
February 4th is also the Feast of St. Maria de Mattias.
The above picture hangs in our museum in Albano, a place I visited recently. I also had the joy of attending Maria's Canonization, an event that was completely skipped by CWN which is when I cancelled my subscription. Why subscribe to something that fails to report on the Catholic World? You can find stuff about her canonization by searching the archives of my old blog for reports.
Material about her life can be found here.
Here is the sermon that Venerable Merlini preched at here funeral.
Pope John Paul II's homily at her canonization can be found here.
...to Dayton. CPPS meeting, computer staying home, I will be back Thursday.
Today is the fifth anniversary of this memorable statement.
I cannot imagine what it must be like to minister in a new country, a country that is not your own. Still, since Wednesday I have seen it in the face of Fr. Jerard. His is such a gentle and joyful face, yet filled with wonder at all the things around him. He has been in the country for about 40 days at our center in Ohio and travelling with other members, but on Wednesday he arrived here at his new home.
Let us all welcome the Reverend Jerard Raj IradayanathanIradaya, C.PP.S., a Precious Blood Missionary who has been assigned to work among us for the next five years. He comes to us from our Indian Vicariate.
I met him on Wednesday with the Sunderaj family, and he expressed delight to be able to hear his own language in this new country. We treated him to an Indian feast at the Sunderaj house, and then brought him to the parish where the team was waiting for him. All in all it has been a full week, and soon we will get him settled, get him a drivers license, and we will be an international house ministering in an international parish.
