St. Patrick Catholic Community

Summer is a great time for a trip to the pool or a visit to a local festival, but it's also the perfect time to find special ways to grow in holiness as a family while everyone is home from school!
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Check out these ideas to grow in faith in the weeks we have left of summer.

Pope St. John Paul II celebrated Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati (1901-1925) as a man of the Beatitudes. Athletic and strong, he devoted himself to the weak and malformed. He was wealthy, but he lived in poverty so he could give everything to the poor. He was gregarious, but a lover of solitude. He was rambunctious, the life of every party, and a practical joker, but at prayer he was solemn, reflective and quiet.
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As a teenager, Pier Giorgio made friends of the poor in Turin's back streets and gave them whatever he had -- his money, his shoes, his overcoat. "Jesus comes to me every morning in holy Communion," he replied to a friend who asked why the hovels did not repulse him. "I repay him in my very small way by visiting the poor. The house may be sordid, but I am going to Christ."
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Pier Giorgio saw the need for social change to relieve the causes of poverty. At the university, he decided to major in mechanical engineering so that he could work with miners, who were especially disadvantaged. He was a leader in student political organizations and actively opposed Benito Mussolini and the Fascists.
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At the same time, he was the organizer of student parties, games and ski trips to the Alps, where he would lead his friends in prayer. Afterward, they relaxed and enjoyed food, wine, ci**rs and songs.
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Pier Giorgio died after a short illness at age 24. He has become the hero of contemporary young Catholics. They recognize his high Christian ideals, still held while pursuing the same pleasures that they enjoy. They gravitate to this handsome and charming saint who delighted in reciting the poetry of Dante, praying the rosary in a booming voice and spending a night in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

Our first reading from Isaiah speaks of the power and efficacy of God’s word, comparing it to the rain and snow that come down and water the earth, making the soil fertile, helping the seed to grow into a bountiful harvest that can be made into bread that nourishes.
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What we grasp from all of this is that God’s word bears fruit over time. As evangelizers, it’s important to consider that we often won’t see fruit right away when sharing God’s word with others.
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That word must take root, grow, and be cultivated. This process will take time, but the long-term fruit is worth our sustained and patient effort as we nurture relationships of accompaniment with others.

What makes someone a missionary isn’t distance or titles—it’s relationship.
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Saint Junípero Serra left his home in Spain and spent his life meeting people where they were, building communities, and sharing his faith one encounter at a time. Making him one of the most recognizable missionary Saints in North America.
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Fulton J. Sheen later echoed a similar truth: people are rarely reached by arguments alone, but often by authentic witness and friendship.
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Different centuries. Same reality.
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Evangelization doesn’t begin with crowds—it begins with a person.