We are redeemed in the Blood of Christ.
We are washed in love.
Sent by the Blood, stained by the Blood,
we are servants of the Blood of Christ!

 

These word,
though only written about thirty years ago,
could easily have been sung
by St. Gaspar del Bufalo.

He, like Isaiah in our first reading,
brought glad tidings,
announced peace,
bore good news,
and announced salvation.

Like the people of Israel,

We re invited to shout for joy,
to break into Song together,
for the Lord comforts his people,
and all the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God!

 

We are redeemed in the Blood of Christ.

We are washed in love.

 

Like the author to the Letter to the Hebrews,
St. Gaspar proclaimed
that Jesus consecrated the people by his own Blood.

Throughout his ministry he reminded people
that here we have no lasting city,
but we seek the one that is to come.
He invited the people of his day,
and he invites us today
to continually offer God
a sacrifice of praise.

And St. Gaspar prays for us:
“May the God of peace,
who brought up from the dead
the great shepherd of the sheep
by the Blood of the eternal covenant,
Jesus our Lord,
furnish us with all that is good,
that we may do his will.”
He prays in heaven with the author of the Letter to the Hebrews:

“May God carry out in you
what is pleasing to God through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory for ever and ever.
Amen.”

 

Sent by the Blood, stained by the Blood,
we are servants of the Blood of Christ!

 

And like the prophet Isaiah,
whom Jesus quotes in today’s gospel,

St. Gaspar could also say,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me 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.”

 

We are redeemed in the Blood of Christ. 
We are washed in love.
Sent by the Blood, stained by the Blood,
we are servants of the Blood of Christ!

 

Today, as we celebrate the Solemnity of St. Gaspar,
we do not only look to the past.
We do not only look at Gaspar’s life and ministry.

We are also invited to look at the present moment
in the life of the Church
and of our world.

We are invited to have the feet of those who bring glad tidings.
We are invited to rejoice in what God has done
and in what God is doing
in our lives and in the world around us.
We are invited continually offer praise to God.

 

We are redeemed in the Blood of Christ.

We are washed in love.

 

Like Isaiah, Jesus and Gaspar,
we are invited to say
and to make the words of the Gospel
come to fulfillment in our lives.

We are invited to remember that the Spirit of the Lord is upon us,
to recall that we, too, have been anointed by God
to bring glad tidings to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives
and to make this a time acceptable to the Lord
by what we say and do.

Though we may not be great preachers like St. Gaspar,
we are called each day to proclaim
that we have been saved through the Blood of the Cross
and that all God’s people have been sent by the Blood
and stained by the Blood.

The blessings we have received are to be shared,
because we are washed in love,
and are sent as servants of the Blood of Christ!

 

We are redeemed in the Blood of Christ.
We are washed in love.
Sent by the Blood, stained by the Blood,
we are servants of the Blood of Christ!