September 7, 2025 – 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reflection by Rev. Leonard N. Peterson
Whether your job is to design a plane or design a plain dress, it is always easier when you have a model. It makes the concept not only more realistic but also quite tangible. Take the matter of following Christ in the contemporary world. Are there possible models available for that? The answer is a compelling “yes.” They are our saints.
Happening today, at a Mass in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Pope Leo IV will be canonizing two people who are just such models for us. Happily, both were young men, handsome in life; fun loving; athletic; and popular with friends. Above all, they were both courageous. They both put their friendship with Christ as their top priority. Unfortunately, each contracted a disease that took them away from us much too soon. Still, they exemplify today’s Gospel.
The first man named Pier Giorgio Frassati, who lived in Turin, Italy, and died of polio at age 24 on July 4, 1925. Pier from an early age loved his faith. He joined the St. Vincent de Paul society at his parish at age 17, which led him to love serving the poor. Often, he would do things like give his bus fare to a poor beggar and then run home in time for dinner.
His favorite hobby was mountain climbing. He would regularly organize trips into the mountains with his close friends and organize prayers, liturgies, and conversations about the Faith on the way up or down from the summit. After what would be his last climb he wrote on a photograph the words “Versa Alto” which means “To the heights.!” His remains were found incorrupt and now lie in the cathedral of Turin.
The second was named Carlo Acutis, born in London on May 3, 1991, moved to Italy where he grew up to be a happy go lucky soccer player and computer whiz, but with an early devotion to the Most Blessed Sacrament. He died of leukemia in 2006, and so, at age 15 he becomes the first saint of the millennium. He researched and created a website, which is still available, on which he documented many Eucharistic miracles up to our own time. He was faithful to daily Mass, and he also wanted to promote the Real Presence, that he called “my highway to heaven.” There is a traveling exhibit of his findings that has been on display in the United States. Carlo’s remains are also incorrupt, and you can view them in the church at Assisi.
These are just sketches of these two new saints. Much more information is available about them in books and online. The gift of these two new young saints is surely one that can inspire young Catholics and all of us at any age. We need them as models. So often we can be victims of lethargy about the Mass and the Real Presence in our churches. So good to remember that: “A good example has twice the value of good advice.”
God love you and give you, His peace.
Rev. Peterson’s Reading & Gospel Summary
Reading I: Wisdom 9: 13-18
Here is a part of Solomon’s prayer for wisdom. Despite what the Greek philosophers speculate, we humans are woefully uninformed about God and His ways.
Reading II: Philemon 9-10, 12-17
Paul asks Philemon to take back his former runaway slave Onesimus, who is now a baptized convert, and a “spiritual son” to him. Paul even goes further, asking that Philemon accept this man as a brother.
The Gospel: Luke 14: 25-33
Not even the sacredness of family loyalty should ever outweigh our commitment to Christ. That includes a willingness to abandon even close relationships to follow Him. Never should we count the cost of discipleship when we consider the cross He bore for us.