A Time to Pray

We are just a few days away from the start of the wonderful "Novena in the Year of St. Paul Remembering Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati on his 108th Birthday." Hopefully, by now, you have had a chance to read through the novena and invite some friends to pray it with you. (All of the prayers can be downloaded from the FrassatiUSA website. Click here.) The novena begins on Saturday, March 28th, so spread the word!

The novena was prepared by Fr. Tom Rosica, head of Canada's Salt and Light TV. I know from firsthand experience that Fr. Rosica is a big fan of Pier Giorgio's. He has spearheaded many World Youth Day activities in honor of Pier Giorgio and has contributed so much to the promotion of his spirituality in Canada and beyond.

Be forewarned that this novena is a challenging one. It is easy to lapse into an almost automatic or robotic prayer mode, rattling off prayers without even stopping to think of a single word. This novena calls for contemplation and action. The meditations on the writings of St. Paul are really a wonderful opportunity for us to take advantage of the special graces offered during this Jubilee Year in honor of St. Paul before it ends in June. The novena also provides concrete actions we can take to go from just praying to really living out our faith. In this way, we can truly follow the example set for us by Pier Giorgio.

People often ask me where things stand in the cause for Pier Giorgio's canonization. The answer is always the same: "We need a miracle!" This opportunity to pray a novena in honor of Pier Giorgio, united with so many around the world who are doing the same thing, is a tremendous opportunity to ask God for that miracle. So, please add this intention to those you will bring to Pier Giorgio during the novena.

And many thanks to Ada Rivera for pointing out the coverage of the novena by Zenit. Click here to read the story.

Blessed Pier Giorgio...pray for us!