St. Theresa of Avila, Model for the New Evangelization

We talk about the New Evangelization quite a bit here on Open Wide the Doors, because it was something near and dear to Blessed John Paul II’s heart. Fortunately, the New Evangelization isn’t just some concept we read about, that we have to figure out on our own. We can look to models, like Blessed John Paul II and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati.

St. Teresa of Avila, whose memorial we celebrate today, is another model for the New Evangelization. This summer, Pope Benedict XVI wrote:

The ultimate goal of Teresa’s reform and the creation of new monasteries in a world lacking spiritual values was to protect apostolic work with prayer…Today too, as in the sixteenth century, in the midst of rapid transformation, it is important that trusting prayer be the heart of the apostolate, so that the redeeming message of Jesus Christ may sound out clearly and dynamically.

St. Teresa of Avila, “evangelized unhesitatingly, showing tireless ardor, employing methods free from inertia and using expressions bathed in light.” Today let us ask her to pray for us as participators in the New Evangelization!

The feast of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

Certainly, at a superficial glance, Frassati's lifestyle, that of a modern young man who was full of life, does not present anything out of the ordinary. This, however, is the originality of his virtue, which invites us to reflect upon it and impels us to imitate it. In him faith and daily events are harmoniously fused, so that adherence to the Gospel is translated into loving care for the poor and the needy in a continual crescendo until the very last days of the sickness which led to his death. His love for beauty and art, his passion for sports and mountains, his attention to society's problems did not inhibit his constant relationship with the Absolute. Entirely immersed in the mystery if God and totally dedicated to the constant service of his neighbor: thus we can sum up his earthly life!

…Today's celebration invites all of us to receive the message which Pier Giorgio Frassati is sending to the men and women of our day, but especially to you young people, who want to make a concrete contribution to the spiritual renewal of our world, which sometimes seems to be falling apart and wasting away because of a lack of ideals. By his example he proclaims that a life lived in Christ's Spirit, the Spirit of the Beatitudes, is "blessed", and that only the person who becomes a "man or woman of the Beatitudes" can succeed in communicating love and peace to others. He repeats that it is really worth giving up everything to serve the Lord. He testifies that holiness is possible for everyone, and that only the revolution of charity can enkindle the hope of a better future in the hearts of people.

               -Blessed John Paul II, Beatification Mass of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

In his Wednesday catechesis last week, Pope Benedict XVI said that deep joy is the fruit of imitating God’s Son. Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati was full of that joy, and he carried it with him as he served the poor, spent time with friends, and knelt in front of the altar. Like the “Man of the Beatitudes,” we should kindle our relationships with God and carry the fruits of that intimacy with us, wherever we go.

Blessed Pier Giorgio, Pray for Us!