Living Lent Like Blessed Pier Giorgio

Several years ago, two of my little nieces taught me a simple Lenten song that has since become a favorite of the adults in my morning prayer group:

"Prayer and fasting and almsgiving,
we are meant to repent.
Forty days of sacrifice,
being super extra nice,
this is Lent.  This is Lent." (Sung to the tune of Frère Jacques)

In a way, these lyrics sum up just about everything I've read describing Blessed Pier Giorgio's Lenten practices.  Actually, they sum up how he lived just about every day of his life!  The difference for those 40 days may have just been the extra intensity. 

I recently came across a comment by one of the Frassati's housemaids that has stuck in my mind.  She remembered Pier Giorgio was "always carrying around bread crumbs for his goldfish in Pollone."  Among all of the family pets, I never recalled hearing that there were goldfish.  So that is what first got my attention.  But then I couldn't stop thinking about those crumbs. Frugality was a priority in the running of the household, despite the family's level of wealth.  But Pier Giorgio would have carried around bread crumbs out of care for the fish, not out of a sense of frugality.  (I've since learned that it's not too wise to feed bread crumbs to goldfish but maybe their bread was better back in those days.)

The guy who would carry bread crumbs around for his fish is the guy who would haul a poor family's belongings through the streets in a wooden cart and the guy who would spend hours on his knees before the Blessed Sacrament and the guy who would go without food or water even on a mountain climb if it meant keeping the fast before Mass.  He embraced the two greatest commandments.  He loved God with all his heart, mind and soul; and he loved his neighbor as himself. 

At my church, you can always tell it's Lent because there are certain people who show up for daily Mass just during that timeframe and then you don't see them again until the following year.  In the case of Pier Giorgio, it would probably be hard to notice that Lent had begun for him.  His formula for a good Lent was his formula for every other day of the year: prayer + fasting + almsgiving. 

It's very humbling to compare myself to Pier Giorgio.  I can't help thinking about all the crumbs I have been carrying around.  The difference between us is that while he was giving crumbs to fish, I have too often been giving crumbs to God.  Hopefully, this Lent we can all give our very best.  The "super extra nice" part may not always be easy but it's worth a try!

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, Apostle of prayer and fasting, pray for us.

Verso l'alto!   ///cmw