In May of 1990, John Paul II beatified Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. He went on to call him “A man of the beatitudes” and a man of the century. When we look at the beatitudes, it can be easy to see they are just the weak justifying their lowliness, but what Pier Giorgio Frassati shows is that the Beatitudes reveal a fullness of Life! Frassati was said to have been a man full of life, full of cheerfulness and full of love. In his positio it was commended that he had a boisterous and exerherant cheerfulness, but yet it was never disrespectful of his holiness.” His cheerfulness never lead him to disrespect or separate himself from his religion. He was a man who defined himself and lives according to new values. He shows that the beatitudes are about living the fullness of life, not less. He shows in human terms how to live them out.
What the beatitudes and pier Giorgio show, is that the commandments of God and the life offered to God is not a no or avoidance of things, but a yes to true life. They are words of promise and direction, and that every person in every situation can be a disciple and thus can find joy. They speak of how being a disciple brings life:
Blessed are the poor: The Persian had taxed the Isrealites so they saw themselves as poor. It was then seen as those who hold nothing over God. The things of this world are fickled and if God is the highest there is no chance of disappointment
Weeping, there are two kinds of mourning one has no hope but the other comes from encountering truth. We learn to love again, we have hearts soften to the needs of others.
Those who hunger and thirst are those on the look out, they are not content with the way things are. Like hunger, they have an inner sensitivity to to see heave and know God’s ways in this world.
Hated by the world The world demands conformity and it hates when we resist its values.
Above all, like Pier Giorgio, when we love we see God. We ascend sometimes as we descend, its about getting closer to Jesus that brings us to heaven.
The Woes are all about being sad for those who are locked into only outward appearances. They want us to see that like the first reading and the psalms, we must press deep to reach the fullness of life. Pier Giorgio said “Verso L’Alto” to the heights because he wanted to not be satisfied with a shallow life and a shallow faith.
When we stop with the immediacies of this world, we can always find and will be disappointed. Only by reaching the heights of heaven will we never be disappointed and thus never unhappy.