Giving Good Example at Any Age

Given how much he particularly loved saints who were zealous in their witness to the faith, and how important it was to him to give good example, Pier Giorgio would surely have admired the main characters in the Mass readings for yesterday and today. 

Take a moment to read the powerful account of 90-year-old Eleazar’s death in 2 Maccabees 6:18-31.  Rather than compromise his deeply held values, Eleazar says,

“By manfully giving up my life now, I will prove myself worthy of my old age, and I will leave to the young a noble example of how to die willingly and generously for the revered and holy laws.”

The earthly reward for his courage was torture and death.  He was counting on the heavenly reward.

Eleazar’s example was not lost on the seven brothers who appear in the next chapter of 2 Maccabees.  Tempted by the king with riches and worldly pleasures, the youngest of the seven defiantly declares, “I obey the command of the law given to our fathers through Moses.” His courage earns him the brutal fate of his six brothers before him.

Millennials separate Eleazar and the seven brothers from Pier Giorgio but they all share the determination to give a holy example.  In his beautiful speech to the youth of Pollone in 1923, Pier Giorgio recommends that we “throw ourselves” into three apostolates. The first one he describes is the apostolate of good example. 

"We Catholics must strive to have our whole life guided by Christian moral law."

For Pier Giorgio, living life to the full as a devout Catholic was a 24/7 thing - not an hour-on-Sunday commitment.  Standing up for the faith earned him insults, fistfights, even arrests.  But he did it courageously, manfully, youthfully, joyfully.  

What sort of example we give is worth a bit of reflection.  In our culture, even the smallest acts of devotion may challenge our courage – things like making the sign of the Cross in the presence of others when passing a Church where Jesus is present in the Tabernacle, or praying in a restaurant before eating a meal, or showing up at work on Ash Wednesday with a smudgy black forehead. 

As Advent approaches, let’s commit to being better witnesses to those around us by our actions and in our conversations. People notice. People listen. And as the saying goes, we may be the only Bible some people ever read. 
 
Blessed Pier Giorgio, defender of truth and virtue, pray for us.


Verso l’alto! ///cmw