July 4--Bl. Pier Giorgio Frasatti, Third Order Dominican

 

Pier Giorgio Frassati, in the mountains from the book A Life in Pictures by Luciana Frassati.

An ordinary man is going to be canonized! He wasn’t a cleric. He did no miracles in his lifetime. He wasn’t a visionary or a mystic. He went to school to become an engineer. He helped the poor. He was a mountain climber. He protested against injustice. He opposed Italian fascism. He is Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati. St. John Paul II said he was a “man of the Beatitudes,” “a young man filled with a joy that swept everything along with it, a joy that also overcame many difficulties in his life”. Pope Francis said: “Pier Giorgio said that he wanted to return the love of Jesus that he received in Holy Communion by visiting and helping the poor.”

Frassati (1901-1925) was the son of an agnostic newspaper publisher and an artist. He became a member of the Catholic Federation of University Students and Catholic Action in Italy as a college student and also a member of the Third Order Dominicans. “He often said: ‘Charity is not enough; we need social reform’. He helped establish a newspaper entitled Momento whose principles were based on Pope Leo XIII's Rerum novarum.” He died of polio in 1925. “His parents expected Turin's elite and political figures to come to offer their condolences and attend the funeral and expected to find many of his friends there as well. All were surprised to find the streets lined with thousands of mourners as the cortege passed out of the reverence felt for him among the people he had helped.”

Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati was an ordinary man with an extraordinary dedication to God, love, and holiness. This is the purpose of canonization, to show that God’s love can be exemplified in our normal, everyday lives by loving others extraordinarily. Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, pray for us!

July 10--Bl. Faustino Villanueva y Villanueva, Priest and Martyr

http://newsaints.faithweb.com/martyrs/Guatemala.htm

What does it mean to be a martyr? Pope Francis has beatified many martyrs, including those killed during the civil war in Guatemala from 1954-1996. Why were they martyred? The Vatican biography for their beatification states: “From 1980, a systematic persecution against the Church began, overwhelming priests, religious and lay people under the pretext that they were ‘enemies of the state’. … The ten martyrs [of Quiché] … were killed in Guatemala between 1980 and 1991 … for being committed to and protecting the dignity of the poor.”

The following is from a Spanish newspaper article: “Faustino Villanueva was born on February 15, 1931 in Yesa, where his parents were also from. He entered the apostolic school of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, in Valladolid, as a child. He professed in 1949 and was ordained a priest in 1956. He went as a volunteer to the mission of Quiché (Guatemala) in 1959, where he remained until his martyrdom, which occurred in the parish office on July 10, 1980, after twenty-one years of fruitful missionary service to the poorest. A month before he died, he wrote to his mother, reiterating his desire to remain in the mission despite the prevailing violence: ‘We cannot leave the people abandoned.’ He died machine-gunned by two young hitmen in the parish office of Joyabaj (El Quiché) on July 10, 1980.

“Those who knew him affirm that ‘he was simply good, evangelical in his non-existent flirtations with power and prestige; so charmingly familiar and unfussy; so clearly biased in favor of the marginalized indigenous, of the favorite downtrodden peasants of the Gospel; of the voiceless.... However, this evangelical Faustino Villanueva was shot mercilessly. And not by mistake. He had long been on a sinister death row list. Guilty of siding with the poor and marginalized.’”

January 22--Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children

Today is not a feast day of the Church, but rather a day set aside for prayer. Since Roe v. Wade on January 22, 1973 over 60 million babies have been aborted. The Church allows the readings of the Mass of the day or from the “Mass for Giving Thanks to God for the Gift of Human Life” with white vestments or from the “Mass for Peace and Justice” with purple vestments.

When we give thanks to God for the gift of human life, we remember that all good is due to the graciousness of God. He loves us, each one of us; the aborted baby; the mother who is undergoing tremendous suffering and stress given that our society says it is entirely her choice to do what she wants; and the abortionist who is entirely aware of the evil act that is being committed in the name of choice. We cannot condemn the souls of those who directly take innocent life; that is not for us. We pray for them that they may come to a conversion of heart and turn back to God and repent of their evil actions.

When we pray for peace and justice, we remember that God is the just judge and we pray for the marginalized, the oppressed, the poor, the destitute. The baby is the most innocent and oppressed, but the mother may also be oppressed into getting an abortion. Does she have the support she needs to bear and raise the baby? Is the father around? Why does she feel that she has to have an abortion? Is it due to the injustices of relationships that she is in? Are her parents, or her boyfriend, or husband abusing her by pushing her into this choice? Let us work and pray for justice for all, the baby and the mother and the family.

October 22—St. John Paul II (the Great), Pope

“Totally Yours”.  That was the motto of Bl. John Paul.  It described his personal consecration to the Virgin Mary.  It is from a prayer by St. Louis de Montfort who wrote extensively about Mary.  The whole prayer is translated:  “I belong entirely to you, and all that I have is yours. I take you for my all. O Mary, give me your heart.”

Now Bl. John Paul is totally ours as well.  He will be canonized April 27, 2014 along with his predecessor Bl. John XXIII.  For many growing up in the eighties, nineties, and all the way to 2005, John Paul was our pope.  He spoke to us from his heart.  He guided us through his encyclicals and teachings and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  He showed us the way to holiness by the beatification of 1,340 people and the canonization of 483 saints.  He helped us to live in faith, hope, and live by establishing World Youth Day.  He brought about a new world by helping to free Europe from communism.  He taught us dignity by his suffering and death.  He left us a legacy of a true understanding of being authentically human by giving us Theology of the Body.

Bl. John Paul gave himself utterly and completely to God and now God has given him back to us.  When we read his great social justice encyclicals, On Human Work, On Social Concern, and On the Hundredth Anniversary, we learn of the message of human dignity, solidarity, concern for the poor, and the right to life.  He wrote The Gospel of Life to warn against the culture of death that permeates our society today.  He wrote The Splendor of Truth and Faith and Reason to guide us in right thinking and the right use of philosophy.  Perhaps the greatest philosopher the papacy has ever known, he will be for many the greatest pope we have ever loved.