Lessons from Kobe and Pier Giorgio

For years, Kobe Bryant has helped me spread the message that holiness is possible for everyone - but not in the way you might think. 

He didn't know he was helping me, of course.  His picture, along with usually about 15 other celebrity types, is one of the first images I show whenever I give a presentation on B lessed Frassati. Someone in the audience gets a prize if they can figure out what all of the famous people have in common.  The answer has to do with their connection to the Catholic Church.

So, although many people have been surprised to recently learn that Kobe Bryant was a practicing Catholic, I wasn't.  Like probably so many of you, I have experienced great sorrow at the news of the tragic helicopter accident which claimed the lives of all on board on Sunday morning.  It's hard to think of how horrifying those last few moments would have been if they realized what was happening. It's hard to think of the parents who were with their young daughters in those last moments.  It's hard to think of the families that are left behind and the great voids that will never be filled.  But it does provide some consolation to know that Kobe and Gianna Bryant were at Mass that morning receiving the Lord in the Eucharist as they must have done so many times before.  

"Since one does not know when Death will come to take him away, it is very prudent to prepare oneself every day as if one is going to die that same day." - Pier Giorgio Frassati

Pier Giorgio was very mindful of the uncertainty of life.  Being a mountain climber and knowing how many lives the moutains claimed, he often took out life insurance before attempting a difficult peak.  He wrote that one should "sort out one's conscience" before going into the moutains because "one never knows if one will return." 

A more personal encounter really impacted his awareness of the brevity of life.  When he was 22 years old, he attended the funeral of a friend of a friend.  The condition of the body just before it was placed in the coffin caused him to reflect on how death would also come to him "within a few short years." He had no idea how right he was when he wrote those words.

He resolved that day to "try to make every day a little preparation for death, so that I shouldn’t find myself unprepared at the point of death and have to regret the beautiful years of youth, wasted from the spiritual side."

Like it did for Kobe and his companions, death came quite unexpectedly for Pier Giorgio. Because of how he lived his life, Pier Giorgio was able to say to a friend that the day of his death would be the most beautiful day - he knew it would bring him to eternal life with Christ.  If only we all could be so confident. 

Actually, we can.  In my presentation, I often use this quote from Pope Francis: "Saints are not supermen who are born perfect but ordinary people who followed God with all their heart."  This ordinariness is something I think we can all relate to, along with our imperfect lives.  We can't all be world-class athletes.  But we all have the capacity to be holy, to be saints.  It just requires a decision on our part to follow God today and tomorrow and every day after that with all our heart. 

Saint Teresa of Avila said, "If you have everything but Christ you have nothing; if you have nothing but Christ you have everything."  Have everything.  And have it today.  Tomorrow may be too late.

Blessed Pier Giorgio, guide to a deep love for Jesus, pray for us.

Verso l'alto!  ///cmw

p.s. Remember the holy souls in your prayers.  It is a wonderful spiritual work of mercy and they will be eternally grateful.