What wondrous love is this,
O my soul, o my soul.
What wondrous love is this,
O my soul.

Isaiah must have had beautiful feet.
Jesus must have had beautiful feet.
St. Gaspar, whose feast we celebrate today,
must have had beautiful feet.

They all brought “glad tidings,
announcing peace, bearing good news,
announcing salvation, and saying…
‘Your God is king!’”

They all “announce[d] salvation, day after day,”
told “his glory among the nations;
among all peoples, his marvelous deeds.”

What wondrous love is this,
O my soul, o my soul.

“The Spirit of the Lord was upon [them],
because [God] had anointed [them]
to bring glad tidings to the poor…
to proclaim liberty to captives…
to let the oppressed go free.”

What wondrous love is this,
O my soul, o my soul.

I felt as if I had beautiful feet upon the mountain
back in December of 2002.
I was in a small town in Italy
to see how the Missionaries of the Precious Blood there
were following in the footsteps of St. Gaspar
as they preached parish missions
by sending teams of Missionaries into towns
all around the country.

The mission was three weekends
and every day in between.

One day during the second week,
I somehow got separated from the rest of the preaching team.
I thought that we were supposed to meet at the Cathedral.
I looked around,
but no one else was there.

So I decided to head for the sisters’ house
which was several blocks away,
and we had met there once before.

I was wearing a black cassock
and a mission cross,
when the local barber came out of his shop,
kissed the mission cross
and then kissed my hands.
Then he said,

“Gracie, gracie, filio de San Gaspare,”
which means “Thank you, thank you, son of St. Gaspar.”
Then he told me that he had been born in Soninno,
and that they would never forget what St. Gaspar had done for them.

About two hundred years ago,
the village of Soninno was the capital of banditry.
The men of the town had been freedom fighters
when the soldiers of Napoleon occupied
the Papal States,
what is now most of central Italy.
They harassed and attacked the French soldiers
who came near their town.
But after Napoleon was defeated
and the French soldiers were gone,
they used those same skills
to attack and rob those traveling down those same roads.

The Pope had had enough.
He sent emissaries to demand that they cease and desist,
but they refused and continued on their evil ways.
So, the Pope, who was also the local king
decided that Soninno needed to be destroyed.
But before the soldiers were sent,
St. Gaspar asked if he try something.
He would go to Soninno and preach.
While many in the Papal court laughed
and thought that the idea was ridiculous,
the Pope agreed to let him try.

So, Gaspar headed to Soninno.
Upon arriving in town,
he heard that most of them men  were hiding in the caves nearby.

So St. Gaspar preached into the darkness,
not knowing how the men would respond.
The next morning,
he discovered all of their weapons
in a pile just outside of the place where he was staying.

I wish I knew what he said that day,
but whatever it was,
he convinced the men to lay down their weapons
and change their lives.

And two hundred years later,
several citizens of Soninno were kissing my hands
because no one could forget what St. Gaspar had done.

What wondrous love is this,
O my soul, o my soul.
What wondrous love is this,
O my soul.

Isaiah, Jesus and Gaspar had all preached
the love and mercy of God
to people who desperately needed to hear such good news.

Today,
whether we are sons of St. Gaspar or not,
we are called to do the same,
to remember that in the waters of baptism
the “Spirit of the Lord” came upon us,
anointed us
and sent us “to bring glad tiding to the poor.”

What wondrous love is this,
O my soul, o my soul.

I am here today
because I heard that good news.
I suspect that many of you are here today
for the very same reason.
You come to St. Charles
to hear glad tiding
and to experience a time “acceptable to the Lord.”

And I pray that
“Today, this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”

I pray that you will be
in your everyday lives
messengers of mercy
and men and women of good will
to all your family, friends and neighbors.

Then,
like Isaiah, Jesus and Gaspar,
your feet will be beautiful on the mountains,
and you and all you meet will know the blessings that come from God alone.

What wondrous love is this,
O my soul, o my soul.
What wondrous love is this,
O my soul.