Stay Awake!

There’s a lot of talk these days about being “woke” but it’s not an entirely new concept.  In fact, we will hear in the readings for the first Sunday of Advent that Jesus is urging us to stay awake.  There’s a difference, of course, between the cultural use of the word and the scriptural use.

From the scriptural standpoint, we could say that Pier Giorgio Frassati was very “woke.” In Matthew 24:44, Jesus tells us we must be prepared, “for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come."  Pier Giorgio understood this by the time he was just 22.  In a letter to a friend he writes,

“I will 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.”

Yes, he was definitely woke.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of spiritual waste in our culture right now.  Just consider the number of young people who have already left the Church combined with how few of them still believe in the Real Presence.  For so many, it’s not a matter of staying awake but being awakened in the first place.  Far too many Catholics are in a dark slumber like King Théoden waiting for a Gandalf to come into their lives and bring them to their senses.

But hope is never lost as Sunday's first reading from Isaiah reminds us:
“In days to come,
the mountain of the LORD's house
shall be established as the highest mountain
and raised above the hills.
All nations shall stream toward it;
many peoples shall come and say:
‘ Come, let us climb the LORD's mountain,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may instruct us in his ways,
and we may walk in his paths.’"

As I read those words, I have a clear image of Blessed Pier Giorgio waving at us and saying “Come, let us climb the Lord’s mountain!”  How he would love for us to make that awesome spiritual ascent with him! Not just a few of us, but all of us.

It is the mission of FrassatiUSA to waken and inspire as many as possible to strive for the highest heights of holiness.  My daily prayers are full of gratitude for every person who has supported this effort for so many years and I wish I could share every testimony of the impact getting to know Blessed Frassati has had on so many lives.  Please keep this mission in your Advent prayers. If you can help us with a financial gift, it would be greatly appreciated.  With your help, we ride to Gondor and beyond as the battle for souls rages on.

Verso l'alto!  ///cmw