Precious Blood Companion spotlight
Jeanette Kolberg
Bis-Man, North Dakota Companion
When did you become a Precious Blood Companion?
I am blessed to have been among the first group of Precious Blood Companions in the former Kansas City Province. The Precious Blood priests serving the parish gave an invitation to “come and see” what it might be like to be a Precious Blood Companion. The invi-tation led to a journey to the Kansas City Provincial Assembly in the spring of 1990 for a Rite of Welcome for Precious Blood Companions.
How is your daily life touched by Precious Blood spirituality?
I experience spirituality and support through emails and publications, sometimes videos. I check the websites, including Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation, and look at Facebook postings. I really look forward to and appreciate Wednesday Whispers! As always, I try to meet others and continue to be a person of Precious Blood spirituality in my circle of friends and family.
Talk about a time in your life when you leaned on Precious Blood spirituality.
When I read Fr. Joe Nassal’s “Conspiracy of Compassion,” released in 1997, something broke loose in me. I was moved to write to him about some childhood trauma that I had experienced. I also wanted to thank him for sharing his story and tell him how much that meant to me.
He was so kind and caring to write back the following: “Since I’ve met you, Jeanette, I knew the Spirituality of the Blood was etched upon your soul. Now I know why.” He also wrote, “When our hearts are broken, we learn more about love. We learn to live through the suffering to the resurrection of hope, of joy, of life.” I still read this book every few years and keep Joe’s card inside the book. It’s my touchstone to the Spirituality of the Blood and one of the greatest gifts I have ever received.
I wrote one of my Covenants during the year of my nephew’s death by suicide (2014). In that grief, I truly felt what it meant to be a person washed in the Blood, searching for reconciliation in a family ripped apart. Fr. Joe Nassal was the provincial director at that time, so after he accepted my Covenant, he wrote the following.
“… I could not help but remember how my own brother’s suicide took me deeper into the mystery of God’s broken heart where I discovered — really for the first time — the richness and meaning of Precious Blood spirituality. In my brother’s suicide, I found a God who suffers with us.”
How does the Precious Blood community support your continuing spiritual growth?
This is from a letter I wrote to the Precious Blood community after my Rite of Welcome. It still holds
true today.
My prayer is one of thanksgiving for the visionary existence of Companions. Memories forever etched on my heart include the feelings of great joy and affirmation as all of you stood and applauded during the Rite of Welcome. The entire time spent with you in community was filled with the warmth of welcome and acceptance. God’s Spirit has inspired dreams for the future, and the Society of the Precious Blood has accepted the challenge to affirm those dreams in the present! As a woman, I feel especially blessed to be welcomed to a community of priests and brothers. I believe that the Blood of Christ does not discriminate between women and men but rather affirms the gift of life for all. It is a great honor to carry the name “Companion” in the joy of the spiri-tuality of the Precious Blood. You have all deeply touched and changed my life.
A recent connection of much needed renewal involved traveling to Wisconsin to spend a few days with their Companion group in September. Meeting them and sharing Eucharist with all of them warmed my heart and soul and continues to do so today. I observed that their numbers of fellow Companions are lessening, like the process we have experienced over the years. I’m praying for them and know that the Community will support them as they move through this challenge. I’m constantly encouraged by the growth of numbers of Companions and the beginnings of new groups.