I've had a little Olympic fever this year and have really enjoyed watching a lot of the different competitions. The big story, of course, has been the amazing athletic performance of swimmer Michael Phelps who has become the greatest athlete in Olympic history by virtue of his gold medal count. Each time I see him being interviewed, I think about how close he is in age to Pier Giorgio at the time of his death. And I wonder how close he is to Pier Giorgio in his love for God. Not to judge him or lessen his physical accomplishments in any way. I just keep thinking how awesome it would be if, in one of his many post-victory interviews, he would give credit to God who created him and endowed him with his physical gifts. What a platform for reaching young people around the world.
The way I see it, there's gold and then there's gold. In the past few weeks, someone else has reached the heights but won't be getting Olympic gold or even a fraction of the media attention. You may have read recently that Pope Benedict has approved the second miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Damien Molokai. He was a young priest who volunteered to work in a leper colony and then later died from leprosy himself at the age of 49. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1995 and now the path is cleared for his canonization. This is the sort of gold that will not rust or corrode. This is the gold worth striving for.
The way I see it, there's gold and then there's gold. In the past few weeks, someone else has reached the heights but won't be getting Olympic gold or even a fraction of the media attention. You may have read recently that Pope Benedict has approved the second miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Damien Molokai. He was a young priest who volunteered to work in a leper colony and then later died from leprosy himself at the age of 49. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1995 and now the path is cleared for his canonization. This is the sort of gold that will not rust or corrode. This is the gold worth striving for.
4 comments:
This is slightly off topic, but I think this is the best place to post this.
Just now I was looking at the website of the Poor Clare nuns of Perpetual Adoration in Arizona. Five nuns from Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Alabama traveled to Arizona and are currently working on building a new monastery there due to an abundance of vocations. This order being dear to me since Mother Angelica, who founded EWTN, also founded the order's Alabama Monastery, I decided to check out what the new Arizona monastery would look like. Out of curiosity (and perhaps some urging from a certain "big brother" of mine in heaven xP) I went to look at the sketches for the stain glass windows that are being made. Lo and behold, they're putting one in of Pier Giorgio! I can totally see him standing next to me with this big smile on his face (and probably laughing some) as I started freaking out in excitement when I saw this.
Beneath the window will be a "Eucharistic quote" from him. I'm guessing it'll be from the speech he made to the youth in Pollone, the one where he says "I encourage you on the strength of my soul to approach the Eucharistic table as often as possible..."
Also, he will be sharing his window- or rather, there will be one window divided into two sections: Pier Giorgio on one side and St. Gianna Beretta Molla on the other. here's the link to the page:
http://www.desertnuns.com/Dreams%20to%20Reality/medieval_stainedglass.htm
Anyway, I don't know how much it will mean to you guys, but I know I'm SUPER excited. As I said before, the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration (PCPA's) have been near and dear to my heart ever since I started watching EWTN a few years back. So for me, this is a major triumph for Pier Giorgio!!! Verso l'alto!!!!!!
Whoah, something went wacky there. I had three posts of the same thing. Oh well, I deleted two of them so now it's fine. Hehe.
Post a Comment