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CPPS priests, brothers and lay associates were reminded of their heritage of compassion and commitment, during the Cincinnati Provincial Assembly, May 20-23, 2013, at St. CharlesCenter in Carthagena, Ohio.
Fr. Andy O’Reilly, CPPS, led the assembly through a series of reflections on the values of St. Gaspar, and how they are still alive in the Community today. The presentations were part of the province’s celebration of 200th anniversary of the founding of the Congregation.
Missionaries “have been called to be ministers of reconciliation in a broken world. People are torn apart by violence, by conflict and division in ways too countless to mention. We have said yes to the call to open the eyes of so many looking for signs of God’s love, to open the ears of those listening for words of compassion and care and to release so many held hostage to their hopelessness,” Fr. O’Reilly said in his homily during the closing liturgy of the assembly.
“Who can say what the future will bring? What we can say is that no matter what, we are compelled to proclaim God’s love. Who can say what the future will bring? What we can say are the words of Gaspar when he was told that the danger was too great and there were too many unknowns when he was about to enter a town that needed his message of God’s love. He simply said, ‘We will not turn back now.’ We echo his words as we face the unknown future. We say with Gaspar 200 years later, ‘We will not turn back now.’
“Will there be a glorious renaissance for the Community, or a fading away—who knows, who can say? What really matters is contained in a quote from Mother Teresa: ‘God does not ask you to be successful, God asks you to be faithful.’ …
“I have a feeling that Gaspar, for all the obstacles, all the challenges, and, I suppose, the disappointment of dying before his work was done, must be amazed at the difference he made and how many people came to rediscover God’s love for them and to receive new hope over these last two hundred years just because he was faithful.
“I am sure that the Missionaries who have joined Gaspar in the joy of the kingdom and all of us who will one day have been and will be amazed at the difference we have made and will make in this world just because we did the best we could to be faithful to the call of the Blood of Christ as we heard and continue to hear that call in the people we serve.
“We look to the future: a bold, hope-filled future. We cannot say what that future will be, but we can say with faith and confidence the words that Gaspar said long ago: we will not turn back now.
Text and photo courtesy of Jean Giesige, CincinnatiProvince[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]