SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD FALL AFRESH ON ME.
SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD FALL AFRESH ON ME.
MELT ME, MOLD ME, FILL ME, USE ME.
SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD FALL AFRESH ON ME.

The Spirit of the living God had fallen upon Jesus.
His feet must have been beautiful,
for he had brought glad tiding,
announcing salvation,
and saying to Zion, “Your God is King!”

SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD FALL AFRESH ON ME.

The Spirit of the living God had fallen upon Gaspar.
His feet, too, must have been beautiful
as he preached to people throughout central Italy.

SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD FALL AFRESH ON ME.

Twenty years ago,
when Barry Fischer was general,
he arranged for me to see how the Italian Province
used teams of preachers,
priests and sisters,
in the preaching of Parish Missions.
So, I met several of our Italian Missionaries
and we headed to Palestrina for three weekend
and everything in between.
Each day we preached at least three times,
once in the morning, once in the afternoon
and once in the evening.
We also spent at least four hours each day
visiting people in their homes.
One day, during the second week of the mission,
we had agreed to meet in front of the Cathedral
after our siesta
to prepare for our afternoon home visits.

When I arrived at the front of the Cathedral,
no one was there.
So I went around the back where we had met on another occasion.
When I could not find anyone there,
I began walking toward the convent
where we had also met once before during the mission.
As I headed down the street,
wearing a cassock and mission cross,
a barber came out of his barber shop,
stopped me,
kissed the corpus on the mission cross
and then kissed my hands.
Then he said, “Grazie, grazie, figlio di san Gaspare!”
which means, “Thank you, thank you, son of St, Gaspar!”
Then he told me that he had been born in Soninno
and said that he would never forget.
A similar thing happened two more times that afternoon
as I walked alone through the streets of Palestrina.

Many of us know the story of Gaspar’s preaching in Soninno,
but for those who do not it goes something like this.
During the French occupation of the Papal States,
the men of Soninno were freedom fighters,
practicing what would later be called guerrilla warfare,
attaching the French whenever they could.
After the French were defeated
and withdrew from their occupied lands
the men of Soninno took up a new occupation.
Instead of attacking the French,
they began to attack their fellow citizens of the Papal States,
especially those who had money.
Soninno became known as a center of brigandage,
and the government of the Papal States sought to stamp it out.
After failing in their attempts to do,
a decree was issued that Soninno would be destroyed
and that all the women and children should flee the city before that happened.
When St. Gaspar heard of this,
he petitioned the Holy Father for permission to try another tactic.
He would go to Soninno and preach.
When he arrived in Soninno,
most of the men were hiding in the caves
in the mountains around the town,
so he preached into the caves,
not knowing if he was being heard or not.
But after his preaching,
the men of Soninno laid down their weapons,
surrendered to the authorities of the Papal States,
and the town and its people were spared.

And almost two hundred years later,
several people who had been born in Soninno
were kissing my hands,
all because of what St. Gaspar had done so long ago!
How beautiful upon the mountains
were the feet of him who brought glad tiding,
announcing peace,
bearing good news,
and announcing salvation.

SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD FALL AFRESH ON ME.

I only wish we could all preach in such a way
as the prophet Isaiah did.
I wish we knew exactly what St. Gaspar had said that day
as he preached into the caves around Soninno.
But I know this,
in the waters of baptism
the Spirit of the living God fell upon us all.
The Spirit of the Lord anointed us
to bring glad tiding to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.
As we celebrate this Solemnity of St. Gaspar,
let us pray that this scripture passage may be fulfilled in our hearing.

SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD FALL AFRESH ON US.
SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD FALL AFRESH ON US.
MELT US, MOLD US, FILL US, USE US.
SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD FALL AFRESH ON US.