To the Heights!
(Wis.18:6-9; Heb.11:1-2; 8-19; Lk.12:32-48)
Mountain climbing is more than just trying to reach the summit. It’s also a test of your planning and perseverance.
Fitness and practice are important, too, as is carrying only what you need. It’s also critical to stay focussed on the goal, especially when the going gets tough.
Mountain climbing is a good metaphor for life because we’re all ascending towards something. But here’s the question: what are we climbing towards?
Next month, on September 7, Pope Leo XIV will be canonising Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, who was a mountaineer, both literally and spiritually. He was born in Turin, Italy, in 1901.
Pier Giorgio’s father was a wealthy businessman and the Italian ambassador to Germany, and his mother was an artist. Neither had much connection with religion, but Pier Giorgio discovered Jesus at an early age and his faith grew quickly.
As a child he started giving away things like his food and his shoes to poor people. At other times he gave away his bus money. One cold winter he gave his shoes to a homeless man and walked home barefoot.
Pier Giorgio was very sociable and loved parties, but he worried about the rise of fascism, communism and anti-Catholic persecution in Italy. So, he got actively involved in Catholic youth groups and joined the St Vincent de Paul Society when he was 17.
He loved sports, hiking and climbing, and said that mountains lifted his soul towards God. But he also climbed to the spiritual heights of holiness, by living simply, going regularly to Mass and sometimes spending all night in Eucharistic adoration. In 1922 he joined the Lay Dominicans.
Pier Giorgio once wrote: ‘The higher we go, the better we shall hear the voice of Christ.’
He regularly visited the poor in the slums of Turin, often in secret, carrying groceries or medicine on his way to his university classes. He gave away so many things – his clothes, his money, and his time – but never his joy.
Then suddenly he got sick with polio. He had caught it from the slums where he’d helped so many people. But even on his deathbed he still worried about others. Just before he died, he scribbled a note reminding a friend not to forget the medicine for someone he had been helping. He died in 1925, aged only 24.
His parents expected a quiet funeral, but when thousands arrived they were stunned. They had no idea how much their son had been doing for others.
Pier Giorgio Frassati’s life reminds us that the way to God’s Kingdom is an upward path – one that demands readiness, simplicity and plenty of love.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus says to his disciples, ‘Don’t be afraid, little flock, for it has pleased the Father to give you the Kingdom.’
Now this is significant. Jesus doesn’t say sell everything first, and then God’s Kingdom will be yours. Rather, God is already giving you his Kingdom because he loves you. Now, all you have to do is trust and love him – and then ‘Sell your possessions and give alms.’
Why? It’s because you need to let go of whatever weighs you down. Like mountain climbing, it’s much easier when you carry very little.
Then Jesus utters his famous line: ‘Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’ This is like a spiritual compass. If you want to know where your heart is, just look at your treasure. What are you clinging to? Where do you spend most of your time, energy and love? And what do you most fear losing?
Pier Giorgio found his treasure in the faces of the poor, in friendship, in the Eucharist and in the joy of the Gospel. He happily gave away his privileges to climb towards a higher goal.
Today, Jesus is telling us to be ready, like servants waiting for their master. Not because of fear, but because we love God and long to see his face.
How might we be ready? By living with humility and deep purpose, doing whatever we can for others. As Jesus says, ‘To whom much is given, much is expected.’
We’ve all been blessed in so many ways, but what are we doing with it all? Pier Giorgio was born into a wealthy family, but he poured it all out for others.
He once said: ‘Charity is not enough; we must also bring them the truth.’
At his beatification ceremony in 1990, Pope John Paul II described Pier Giorgio as a ‘man of the eight beatitudes.’ His friends called him ‘an explosion of joy.’
Today, as we continue climbing that mountain towards the heart of God, let’s lighten our packs, trim our lamps and lift up our hearts.
And let’s consider adopting Pier Giorgio’s motto: Verso l’alto! – ‘To the heights!’ [i]