Young adult faithful witness
I’m a couple of days late on this. But the Fourth of July was focused on other things, and I overlooked the feast day of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. If you’ve come here and glanced over the links over on the right, you may have wondered why the link to him….or to Flannery O’Connor…among others. They all have their reasons.
Frassati is a great role model for young adults, in every way. That’s one of the reasons he was named patron of the Toronto World Youth Day in 2002.
Young people today who are looking for a role model will find someone to identify with in this vibrant young outdoorsman who combined a deep love for Christ, a desire to serve the needy, and a mission to imbue society and politics with Christian ideals…
“Charity is not enough: we need social reform,” he used to say, as he worked for both. He also gave his time to help establish a Catholic daily newspaper Momento which was based on the principles of Pope St. Leo XIII’s encyclical on social and economic matters, Rerum Novarum…
Pier Giorgio also spent time in the countryside with friends; mountain climbing was one of his favorite sports. On these outings, however, the young friends…did not hesitate to share their religious inspiration and spiritual lives. Beneath the smiling exterior of the restless university student was concealed the amazing life of a mystic. Love for Jesus motivated his actions…
He made it a regular habit upon returning from skiing to visit the Blessed Sacrament, and attending Mass before going to the mountains. He wrote to a friend, “I left my heart on the mountain peaks and I hope to retrieve it this summer when I climb Mt. Blanc. If my studies permitted, I would spend whole days on the mountains admiring in that pure atmosphere the magnificence of God.”
He has certainly inspired a group of seminarians I know, including my son, who visited the Frassati family home on a former trip to Italy. Andrew is there again, after spending a week hiking and climbing in that exact same region around Mt. Blanc, with Frassati in mind. His impact on young adults is enduring, and amazing. Society benefits, given the lessons he left.
“In this trying time that our country is going through we Catholics and especially we students, have a serious duty to fulfill: our self-formation…
We, who by the grace of God are Catholics…must steel ourselves for the battle we shall certainly have to fight to fulfill our program and give our country, in the not too distant future, happier days and a morally healthy society, but to achieve this we need constant prayer to obtain from God that grace without which all our prayers are useless; organization and discipline to be ready for action at the right time; and finally, the sacrifice of our passion and of ourselves, because without that we cannot achieve our aim.â€
Speaking of passion and zeal, young adults and serving others….one of Andrew’s former classmates at university has started a blog to be a witness to faith in the culture. I first encountered Franz engaged in a mission to defend and uphold the teaching of the Church. That particular time it was on the tradition of celibacy and the priesthood, but he’s always ready to speak out on truth and faith.
Another fruit of Frassati’s witness.
I’m just amazed and enthused by our youth and young adults, their courage and passion for the truth, their desire to make a difference with their lives. Andrew turned that Swiss/French/Italian alpine hiking tour into something of a pilgrimage, looking at Mt. Blanc with Frassati’s eyes to see ‘the magnificence of God’ in that breathtaking atmosphere. (If he sends any digital photos, I’ll pass them along…)