Novena City! with a little help from our friends :)

Happy 4th of July! For some of you (far, far away), that might mean nothing, or very little.....For those of you closer to home in the U.S.A., it means a day off of work in honor of the red, white, and blue, not to mention hamburgers and hot dogs, corn on the cob, watermelon, and apple pie - plus fireworks! 

Ah but to those of us who are living in the Communion of Saints where far and near are relative and so are the saints (relative to us - our brothers and sisters - it's a really bad pun!!) ... today is (tada!) ---

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati day!!!

Which means this one is going out to Lizzie M, with thanks for her indomitable and contagious enthusiasm! And to a local JB who let me know of this fabulous feast, as well as telling me about the novena to our sister Therese's parents - who must be our parents too, since she is our sister! - Saints Zelie and Louis, which novena started yesterday if you are a let's-finish-the-novena-the-day-before-the-feast type person, but it starts today (alleluia!) if you are just doing your best to get out of bed in the morning and so are happy to finish on-the-feast-day. (And here's to my amazing husband who got out of bed, had breakfast, said prayers, and then went back to bed! That's an option too!)

So, first our novenas - they seem to be piling up, so let's have a quick review:

1. in anticipation of Marcel's big day, the day he ditched exile for heaven, which is coming up on July 10.....and we are on day 3 of his novena. Officially we are on day 3, but join in whenever! You can read the post below this one to discover our intentions, or simply toss yours into the basket and let's go! Here is our prayer, mainly composed of a poem written by a prisoner (of the Communists in Vietnam) who had heard stories of our little Marcel's heroism and love in the camp:

Marcel,
Along the road you have traveled,
We follow in your footsteps,
Forever committed to our sacrifice,
No matter the hardship.
Ardent peaceful blood pumps through our hearts,
With the life force that you left us.
You are on earth no more, but you will remain forever among us.

Dear Marcel, please intercede with our Heavenly Father for Karl and his family, and for Jack and his family, and for all of us and our families and our intentions! Thank you, little brother, and please kiss Jesus and Mary and Joseph and Therese for us too!!!

2. Time to start our novena to Sts. Louis and Zelie, in anticipation of their feast - July 12th.

Is that the day they (or one of them) departed exile (i.e. died, as we say, but really meaning) and entered eternal life?

No, in fact, it is THEIR WEDDING DAY!!! And yes, they wed only 3 months after they met!

So...how about we say this one for all of "nature's unclaimed treasures" as a dear priest I know once put it. This one is for the single gals, in petition that Saints Louis and Zelie will help them find their vocations, and hey, why not make it all happen in 3 months?!

Marriage to a holy and wonderful earthly spouse or betrothal to the King of kings - either one works, and both are SO beautiful. Louis and Zelie are in a unique position to know, since they wanted to be only Jesus' spouse, but He had other plans. Thank Heaven! Where would we be without their marriage, without their children, without St. Therese? Marcel and I don't even want to think about it!

So here is our prayer - to be said (a) for the next 9 days or (b) 9 times in a row right now since you know you'll forget to keep going or (c) now, once, as you read it, and may our guardian angels help us either say it again in these next days or do some other worthwhile thing (like eat apple pie and watch fireworks, our hearts singing for the joy of God's goodness all the while!).....

Saints Louis and Zélie Martin,
after having had the desire for religious life,
you heard the Lord's call to the vocation of marriage. 
You are the "incomparable parents" 
of whom your daughter St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus speaks...

You love us as your own children, with the heart of a father and the heart of a mother, because you are the friends of God, and the parents of our sister, St. Therese. 
Listen to our prayer and our requests
and intercede for us with God our Heavenly Father,
through Little Jesus,
in the grace of the Holy Spirit who is Love!

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And now, a word (or several) on Blessed Pier Giorgio! I don't know enough about him myself, which I guess we could all say about all the saints - and Heaven will be so much fun getting to know each other! But for now, here is a "brief bio" I'm borrowing from frassatiusa.org:

Pier Giorgio Michelangelo Frassati was born in Turin, Italy on April 6, 1901. His mother, Adelaide Ametis, was a painter. His father Alfredo, was the founder and director of the newspaper, “La Stampa," and was influential in Italian politics, holding positions as an Italian Senator and Ambassador to Germany.

At an early age, Pier Giorgio joined the Marian Sodality and the Apostleship of Prayer, and obtained permission to receive daily Communion (which was rare at that time).

He developed a deep spiritual life which he never hesitated to share with his friends. The Holy Eucharist and the Blessed Virgin were the two poles of his world of prayer. At the age of 17, he joined the St. Vincent de Paul Society and dedicated much of his spare time to serving the sick and the needy, caring for orphans, and assisting the demobilized servicemen returning from World War I.

He decided to become a mining engineer, studying at the Royal Polytechnic University of Turin, so he could “serve Christ better among the miners," as he told a friend.

Although he considered his studies his first duty, they did not keep him from social and political activism. In 1919, he joined the Catholic Student Foundation and the organization known as Catholic Action. He became a very active member of the People’s Party, which promoted the Catholic Church’s social teaching based on the principles of Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical letter, Rerum Novarum.  

What little he did have, Pier Giorgio gave to help the poor, even using his bus fare for charity and then running home to be on time for meals. The poor and the suffering were his masters, and he was literally their servant, which he considered a privilege. His charity did not simply involve giving something to others, but giving completely of himself. This was fed by daily communion with Christ in the Holy Eucharist and by frequent nocturnal adoration, by meditation on St. Paul’s “Hymn of Charity” (I Corinthians 13), and by the writings of St. Catherine of Siena. He often sacrificed vacations at the Frassati summer home in Pollone (outside of Turin) because, as he said, “If everybody leaves Turin, who will take care of the poor?”

In 1921, he was a central figure in Ravenna, enthusiastically helping to organize the first convention of Pax Romana, an association which had as its purpose the unification of all Catholic students throughout the world for the purpose of working together for universal peace.

Mountain climbing was one of his favorite sports. Outings in the mountains, which he organized with his friends, also served as opportunities for his apostolic work. He never lost the chance to lead his friends to Mass, to the reading of Scripture, and to praying the rosary.

He often went to the theater, to the opera, and to museums. He loved art and music, and could quote whole passages of the poet Dante.

Fondness for the epistles of St. Paul sparked his zeal for fraternal charity, and the fiery sermons of the Renaissance preacher and reformer Girolamo Savonarola and the writings of St. Catherine impelled him in 1922 to join the Lay Dominicans (Third Order of St. Dominic). He chose the name Girolamo after his personal hero, Savonarola. “I am a fervent admirer of this friar, who died as a saint at the stake," he wrote to a friend.

Like his father, he was strongly anti-Fascist and did nothing to hide his political views. He physically defended the faith at times involved in fights, first with anticlerical Communists and later with Fascists. Participating in a Church-organized demonstration in Rome on one occasion, he stood up to police violence and rallied the other young people by grabbing the group’s banner, which the royal guards had knocked out of another student’s hands. Pier Giorgio held it even higher, while using the banner’s pole to fend off the blows of the guards.

Just before receiving his university degree, Pier Giorgio contracted poliomyelitis, which doctors later speculated he caught from the sick whom he tended. Neglecting his own health because his grandmother was dying, after six days of terrible suffering Pier Giorgio died at the age of 24 on July 4, 1925.

His last preoccupation was for the poor. On the eve of his death, with a paralyzed hand he scribbled a message to a friend, asking him to take the medicine needed for injections to be given to Converso, a poor sick man he had been visiting.

Pier Giorgio’s funeral was a triumph. The streets of the city were lined with a multitude of mourners who were unknown to his family -- the poor and the needy whom he had served so unselfishly for seven years. Many of these people, in turn, were surprised to learn that the saintly young man they knew had actually been the heir of the influential Frassati family.

Pope John Paul II, after visiting his original tomb in the family plot in Pollone, said in 1989: “I wanted to pay homage to a young man who was able to witness to Christ with singular effectiveness in this century of ours. When I was a young man, I, too, felt the beneficial influence of his example and, as a student, I was impressed by the force of his testimony."

On May 20, 1990, in St. Peter’s Square which was filled with thousands of people, the Pope beatified Pier Giorgio Frassati, calling him the “Man of the Eight Beatitudes.”

His mortal remains, found completely intact and incorrupt upon their exhumation on March 31, 1981, were transferred from the family tomb in Pollone to the cathedral in Turin. Many pilgrims, especially students and the young, come to the tomb of Blessed Frassati to seek favors and the courage to follow his example.

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Wowie zowie! Not to wake you from you awed reverie, but man-oh-man, what a cool cat Pier is!

So, no novena to him (we're a little late for that this year), but how about a rousing: Pier Giorgio, pray for us!!!

And while we're at it, another tiny prayer, our favorite:

Little Jesus, draw me, we will run!!!

Happy 4th, and may the freedom and peace of God be yours!

p.s. one last prayer and a gift:

Dear Blessed Pier, 
Please help Finn get well soon, and help the doctors and his family to help him get well too!

And now the gift!! From Finn's mom, the amazing original MM - click on the bold title below and have fun!!!

The Hidden Truth about Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati