October 21
Saint Gaspar del Bufalo
Solemnity for CPPS
Feast for ASC
Gaspar del Bufalo was born in Rome on January 6, 1786. From his youth, motivated by apostolic zeal, he dedicated himself to the evangelization of the children of the needy, the people in the fields, the poor, the sick; with special attention to those languishing in hospices and hospitals. He became a priest of the clergy of Rome on July 31, 1808. During the Napoleonic upheavals, because of his loyalty to the Holy Father, he was exiled and then held in jail in the northern part of Italy. Returning to Rome after Napoleon’s demise, at the request of Pius VII, he, along with a group of priests, dedicated himself to the renewal of the clergy and the Christian faithful through popular missions and spiritual exercises. Imbued with a deep devotion to the blood of Christ and intending to apply more efficaciously the fruits of redemption to souls, in 1815 he founded the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Most Precious Blood. His preaching bore fruit even in the lower part of the Lazio region plagued by banditry. With his advice, he inspired and encouraged Maria de Mattias to found the Congregation of the Sisters Adorers of the Blood of Christ.
Mass
Liturgy of the Hours
Bulletin Insert of the Life of St. Gaspar
Any suggestions for the celebrations contained in the website are just that, suggestions, and are the creation of Fr. Dennis Chriszt, C.PP.S. Feel free to use, adapt or disregard them.
Suggested Intercessions
Like St. Gaspar, we bring our needs before the Lord.
- For Missionaries, Adorers, Sisters and Companions of the Precious Blood throughout the world, we pray to the Lord.
- For those called to consecrated life within those congregations, we pray to the Lord.
- For all who announce peace, bear good news and announce salvation, we pray to the Lord.
- For all who suffer outside the gate, unnoticed or forgotten, we pray to the Lord.
- For all on whom the Spirit rests, all who have been anointed, who are called to bring glad tidings to the poor, liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, we pray to the Lord.
- For all the world, may this year be acceptable to the Lord, we pray to the Lord.
Father,
hear the prayers of your people,
and help us to proclaim our salvation in the Precious Blood of Christ,
as St. Gaspar did in his time and place.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Prayer to St. Gaspar for the Church
St. Gaspar, you loved the persecuted Church
and in the name of God you accepted
disgrace and exile.|
We beg your intercession for the Church
today.
help us discern how we are to live
and promote the message of the Gospel.
United with you,
may our hearts have compassion for the
poor, the oppressed, the abandoned.
Increase our love for the Blood of Christ,
so that we also may be prepared to risk our
lives.
We thank God for your good works and
example.
Give us strength in our weakness
so that we may grow stronger in our vocation
to the honor of God and the salvation of all.
Amen.
Homily Suggestions
- The prophet, Isaiah, announces to the people of God in exile what it will be like when they finally return to the Promised Land. He describes those who proclaim such a message of hope as having beautiful feet. The people St. Gaspar preached to had not been in exile, but they might as well have been. Their land had been occupied by a foreign army. Their way of life had changed. They had, in many ways experiences the same alienation from their God. St. Gaspar, like Isaiah, raised a cry, shouted for joy, and proclaimed a message of hope that one day soon “all the ends of the earth will behold the salvation of our God.”
- The psalmist today rejoices in what God has done and calls on the people to “tell the glory among the nations.” In many ways, St. Gaspar did the same thing.
- The second reading today is meant as a message of hope and encouragement, as well as a prayer that the God who has saved us through the “Blood of the eternal covenant” might give us all the grace we need to continue to “do his will” and “carry out in [us] what is pleasing to [God] through Jesus Christ.” Just as “Jesus suffered outside the gate,” we are encouraged to go beyond the limited confines our where we usually live and work. St. Gaspar went “outside the gate,” and proclaimed the good news of our salvation in the Blood of Christ. He preached to people on the outskirts of Papal States, to the brigands and the forgotten people outside of the city of Rome where he had begun his ministry.
- Jesus used the words of the prophet Isaiah to describe his mission. It is precisely because the Spirit of the Lord is upon him, because he has been anointed by God, that he is sent to proclaim “glad tiding…, liberty…, recovery of sight…” freedom from oppression and “a year acceptable to the Lord.” St. Gaspar, too, believed that the Spirit of the Lord was upon him, that he had been anointed by God, and that he had been sent. In baptism, that same Spirit has come upon us and the Lord has anointed us to do just those same things.
- This Sunday is also World Mission Sunday, a time for all of the people of God to reflect on our call to be a Church on mission, a day to remember that we are all called to be, as Pope Francis so often reminds us, missionary disciples.
A Sample Homily
Isaiah must have had beautiful feet.
Jesus must have had beautiful feet.
Gaspar must have had beautiful feet.
For they all brought glad tidings,
“announcing peace, bearing good news,”
and “announcing salvation.”
Each, in their own way,
knew that “the Spirit of the Lord” was upon them,
that they had been anointed by God.
Each brought “glad tidings to the poor.”
Each were sent “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.”
However, today is not just about what Isaiah, Jesus or Gaspar did.
Today is also about how we, too, are called.
In baptism and confirmation,
“The Spirit of the Lord” came upon us.
In baptism and confirmation,
God “has anointed us.”
The prayer we heard
in the letter to the Hebrews is also addressed to 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 you with all that is good,
that you may do his will.
May he carry out in you what is pleasing to him through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
St. Gaspar preached to a people
who needed to hear some Good News.
They had just gone through the trials and tribulations,
the oppression and hopelessness that accompanied
the Napoleonic occupation of their homeland.
They had seen destruction and suffering,
and Gaspar brought them the hope,
and the good news that they had been redeemed
in the Blood of Christ.
Gaspar looked at the world around him
and did what he could to make it a better place.
As we celebrate his feast day,
as the Church throughout the world
celebrates World Mission Sunday,
we are all called to be ‘missionary disciples,”
by what we say and do.
The Word of God which we heard today,
the constant reminder of Pope Francis
that we all have a role to play
in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with the world,
the bread blessed and broken,
the wine poured and shared,
all encourage and strengthen us
to follow the examples of Isaiah, Jesus and Gaspar.
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