Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

I'm on the mailing list for "Instaurare," the quarterly magazine of Christendom College. The latest issue begins with a message from Christendom's president, Dr. Timothy T. O'Donnell, who shared with readers his thoughts for his students and faculty as they began their new academic year. He wrote about the "new evangelization" and held up "the radiant example of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati" who died in 1925 when he was only 24 and was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1990. In talking about this young saint, Dr. O'Donnell made mention of the fact that he was a member of the Apostleship of Prayer.

Blessed Pier Giorgio was clearly someone who not only prayed the "Daily Offering" but lived it. He showed us that Jesus can be met in all the events and people of our day. Here's an excerpt from a letter of his that Dr. O'Donnell quoted in his talk:

"How unfortunate are those who live without faith! To live without the faith, without this heritage to defend, without this truth to uphold by a struggle at every instance, is no longer to live but to waste one's life! for us, it is not permitted to 'just manage'; to live is our duty! A truce then with melancholia, let us lift up our hearts and go forward, always, for the triumph of Christ in the world!"

This heroic attitude led Blessed Pier Giorgio to defend the Church and to serve the poor. In doing so, as he hints in his letter, he never gave in to "melancholia" but kept a cheerful attitude that attracted people to him and to Christ. He found Jesus in friendships and fun. When we begin our day offering God our joys as well as our sufferings, we'll be ready to meet Christ in those joys and joyfully bring Him to others.

You can find out more about this young Apostle of Prayer at: http://www.frassatiusa.org/.