But every once and a while, I come across one who is special.
I know they're special because I feel like I know them, like I could talk to them just as if they were next to me.
Of course, it does help to be able to read their personal writings.
Most of the time these saints I find are widely known and loved, and I have to remind myself that they aren't exclusively for me, that such wonderful people must be shared.
My latest fascination is different than the usual adolescent girl type that I'm normally drawn to (Therese, Maria Goretti, Chiara Luce).
He is a boy.
The only other male saint who I've ever felt drawn to have a devotion to is JPII (and Jesus, but that's a different type of relationship altogether).
My latest obsession is no less than Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati
a.k.a. Bl. Pier Giorgio Frahottie ;)
Yes, he is a very attractive young Catholic man. There is no denying that.
But more importantly is who he was and how he lived.
I'm not going to give you a biography because I still need to read a complete one myself, but I will give you a couple incidents that I feel makes him seem so real.
Bl. Frassati's father was not a man of faith. In fact, he could be considered an atheist. He didn't understand or approve of his son's love of the Church and of Christ.
Knowing this helps me to know that even when those close to me don't get why I love Jesus so much, I shouldn't worry about what they think of me, only of what God thinks of me.
Bl. Frassati liked to have fun. He would go to parties and gamble and have fun with his friends. There was one point when he was playing a game of poker or pool or something and one of his friends asked him what he would do if he knew that the world would end very soon.
He told his friend that he would go along playing the game because God could see how perfectly content and joyful he was in that moment and wouldn't want it to be any different.
(keep in mind that I'm paraphrasing.)
When he lost bets to his friends, he would pay them what he owed, seeing as he came from a wealthy family but had no problem giving it all away.
When his friends lost bets to him, however, he would force them to go to mass or adoration with him. He would be reverently praying in a pew and his friends would be asleep in the back of the Church.
Pier and his friends formed a society purely for the purpose of playing practical jokes on people, like messing up the sheets on a priest friend's bed so that he couldn't put his feet all the way down.
Bl. Frassati loved the outdoors and the feel of the sun on his face and blood pumping through his veins.
He loved laughing out of pure joy and spending time with people who made him happy.
He loved giving all that he had away, and this eventually led him to die at the age of 24 of polio which he probably contracted from the poor he served.
Bl. Frassati lived. He lived life to the fullest and never looked back.
I ask for his intercession that I (and also whoever is reading this) could be as brave as he was and truly be who we were made to be.
And in the words of Bl. Frassati himself,
Verso L'Alto
"To the heights"
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