Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be an Olympic Champion? You know to the best at your sport, the top at your event, the finest in your field. The Olympic games going on right now in England have made me think a lot about being a champion. It goit me thinking about being an Olympic Champion - what does it feel like? What does it take ? How do you become one?. Before we go too far on that road however, let's pause and ask ourselves a related question - what does it take to be a champion in faith?
The life of faith has champions - we call them saints. They help us understand the qualities of spiritual championship, they help us comprehend what it means to be a champion. One in particular that it might be good to focus on, in the shadow of the Olympics, is Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. Athletic, articulate, accustomed to being at the service of others, Blessed Pier Giorgio is on the road to sainthood - declared Blessed by Pope John Paul II in 1990- as “The Man of the Beatitudes”, he lived his life not centered on the privilege which was his as of result of his father’s service as a senator and ambassador for Italy, but rather a life centered on responsibility. Frassati was born in 1901 and developed a deep spiritual life, regretfully not from the example of his family. He would make frequent visits to the Blessed Sacrament and would spent time reflecting on the social teaching of the church and ways that it could be applied to helping the poor. He himself took the opportunity to provide for those in need, many times taking of the little spending money he was given by his family and using it to care for those in need. Frassati also had great devotion to the Rosary and would recite it twice each day.
Yet what made Frassati a champion was not the extra ordinary actions that were a part of his life, it was the ordinary moments of his life and how he responded to them. He was dedicated to seeking to be the image of Christ, whose named He accepted at Baptism, and doing it not through extra ordinary outreaches, but by responding to the ordinary developments of his life. He saw each person who came into the path of his life as an individual whom God had placed there to be ministered to, including the many poor and sick which he care for from his own resources . In fact his early death at age 24 was due to an acute attack of poliomyelitis which doctors speculated he caught from the poor and sick which he tended. Blessed Pier Giorgio was focused not on self but others and yet founded no group, foundation or service organization to accomplish his task, it was his simple, ordinary, personal outreach and touch to those who came into his life that made him a champion Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati is a model of being a spiritual champion because he gave of himself in extra ordinary ways to ordinary moments. There is the key. He is a champion in the spiritual life because he focussed on the Eucharist as the source and summit of his life. He is a champion spiritually because his focus was not on himself winning medals, but on the crown of righteousness which comes from seeking first the kingdom of God As the Olympics continues, so too will my wonderment of olympic championships, but the more I study Pier Giorgio’s life the more I understand how he became, and what it takes, to be a true champion in this life and the next.
The life of faith has champions - we call them saints. They help us understand the qualities of spiritual championship, they help us comprehend what it means to be a champion. One in particular that it might be good to focus on, in the shadow of the Olympics, is Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. Athletic, articulate, accustomed to being at the service of others, Blessed Pier Giorgio is on the road to sainthood - declared Blessed by Pope John Paul II in 1990- as “The Man of the Beatitudes”, he lived his life not centered on the privilege which was his as of result of his father’s service as a senator and ambassador for Italy, but rather a life centered on responsibility. Frassati was born in 1901 and developed a deep spiritual life, regretfully not from the example of his family. He would make frequent visits to the Blessed Sacrament and would spent time reflecting on the social teaching of the church and ways that it could be applied to helping the poor. He himself took the opportunity to provide for those in need, many times taking of the little spending money he was given by his family and using it to care for those in need. Frassati also had great devotion to the Rosary and would recite it twice each day.
Yet what made Frassati a champion was not the extra ordinary actions that were a part of his life, it was the ordinary moments of his life and how he responded to them. He was dedicated to seeking to be the image of Christ, whose named He accepted at Baptism, and doing it not through extra ordinary outreaches, but by responding to the ordinary developments of his life. He saw each person who came into the path of his life as an individual whom God had placed there to be ministered to, including the many poor and sick which he care for from his own resources . In fact his early death at age 24 was due to an acute attack of poliomyelitis which doctors speculated he caught from the poor and sick which he tended. Blessed Pier Giorgio was focused not on self but others and yet founded no group, foundation or service organization to accomplish his task, it was his simple, ordinary, personal outreach and touch to those who came into his life that made him a champion Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati is a model of being a spiritual champion because he gave of himself in extra ordinary ways to ordinary moments. There is the key. He is a champion in the spiritual life because he focussed on the Eucharist as the source and summit of his life. He is a champion spiritually because his focus was not on himself winning medals, but on the crown of righteousness which comes from seeking first the kingdom of God As the Olympics continues, so too will my wonderment of olympic championships, but the more I study Pier Giorgio’s life the more I understand how he became, and what it takes, to be a true champion in this life and the next.