By Giacomo Manzo
«As members of the Congregation of the Precious Blood we must preach the love of Jesus Christ to the others; but he who is cold does not warm. So… the devotion to the Precious Blood will be the most secure means of coming to the love of Jesus Christ».
How true is this famous sentence of St. Gaspar del Bufalo, which so well portrays the spirit and identity of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood. I am Fr. Giacomo Manzo, a young Missionary in Italy. I had the gift of following and accompanying the journey of the laity of the UNIONE SANGUIS CHRISTI (USC), which also includes all the activities related to the press, communication and information about the missionary apostolate (Primavera Missionaria) and the study of the spirituality (Centro Studi).
As Missionaries we are called to live the ministry of the Word, of the teaching of the faith (didaché) and to do so the sign of blood is the «most eloquent way to express the supreme love of life given to others». In these years I have already been experiencing the strength and beauty of our spirituality. In the faith journey of the “ten commandments” and “seven signs” every day I marvel at the greatness of God’s work. His Word continues to spiritually nurture hearts, even of people who seem most distant. I have seen families being healed, reconciled, people finding peace and hope in the face of situations that the world would consider absolutely destructive. I have in mind the faces of men and women, young and old who have been reborn and who speak of their lives as before and after: before the “Blood of Christ” and after the “Blood of Christ.” Then again, the first person to experience this is me!
But the most resounding thing, especially for the Church of our time, is to see a great spirit of communion arising among the laypeople who grow in these routes. The Koinè experience, every first Sunday in July, has now become something fantastic, in that literal sense. I dream of a Church that lives this spirituality to the full, and because of this, I hope more and more everyone in the Church can experience the Eucharistic communion under both species, and that July 1st can once again become the feast of the Precious Blood, in which we contemplate how the greatest love given to others by sacrifice becomes the greatest joy in communion. The Blood of Christ is thus the Wine of the Feast and we Missionaries proclaim the joyful face of a renewed Church. The charism of St. Gaspar is now more than ever prophetic for our time.