Extending the Chalice

Today, we celebrate the Feast Day of St. Gaspar del Bufalo, Apostle of the Precious Blood and founder of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood.

When we met in Rome for the General Assembly, September 1-21, St. Gaspar was very much with us. We talked about him, his dreams and ambitions for his congregation, his goals and how we could help achieve them. He practically had a vote.

But in a way, he cared just as much for those of you who were not there. His vision always lay outside the city walls to people he could not see. How to reach them, how to gather them in to the embrace of Christ’s everlasting love.

That love is offered to all of us through the Precious Blood of Jesus. How often did St. Gaspar extend that chalice, whether during Mass or metaphorically through his preaching, to all who were in earshot? He did not have to know them to include them, to draw them in.

Like St. Gaspar, may our vision extend beyond our circle to those who need to hear our message of healing and redemption. Like St. Gaspar, may we offer this gift that we have been given, this Precious Blood, to those who are strangers, or, as is sometimes harder, to those we know but cannot understand and do not like. May we carry Gaspar’s dream to the four corners of the earth, and to the people next door.