Burdened by broken dreams,
broken hearts, and even broken bodies, many don’t think they are living a fairy
tale. Yet, Blessed Pier Giorgio offers a joyful witness that fairy tales are not found in circumstances
but rather in relationship.
He loved her. “Pier
Giorgio fell head over heels in love with Laura Hidalgo and dreamed of making
her his life-long companion.” She was kindhearted, courageous, rich in faith
and loved the mountains as much as PG did (An Ordinary Christian, 87). Let us
“listen in” to Bl. Pier Giorgio’s conversation with his former tutor Fr.
Cojazzi as he grappled with something so many of us struggle with – romantic
relationships:
“ ‘So you’re telling me that standing between you
and this girl is your parent’s wishes. Have you thought about ignoring them?’ Father
Cojazzi asked.
“No! Never, not under any circumstance,” Pier
Giorgio responded
‘I feel I should point out that in good conscience,
you have every right to ignore your parent’s opinion, since you’re an adult,’
the priest continued.
“I realize I have that right,” Pier Giorgio
answered, ‘but I don’t feel I should exercise it.’
“Well then,” concluded the Salesian priest, ‘ you
have no choice but to renounce your feelings for her.’
Pier Giorgio lowered his head, his characteristic
gesture of agreement, and began to weep. The same young man well known for his
courage, for refusing to be intimidated by any challenge or to lose heart in
the face of disappointment now found himself with his back against a wall.” (Ibid,
88).
“When
Father Cojazzi spoke with Pier Giorgio about the difficult situation, he remembers
Pier Giorgio telling him: ‘to destroy one family in order to create another
would be absurd and is not even worth thinking about. I will pay the price, but
God’s will be done…’ Faced with his parent’s disintegrating marriage, Pier
Giorgio’s pure and generous heart led him to say, “I will pay the price.”” (91).
His hope of a romantic relationship with Laura was thwarted.
As
“Pier Giorgio kept it a secret and suffered his heartache in silence,” he wept.
While experiencing the wrenching ache of a broken heart he penned, “today, in
the struggle, I can only thank God, who in His infinite mercy desires to give
me this heartache, so that through these difficulties I might return to a more
spiritual interior life” (Ibid., 89). Bl. Pier Giorgio knew amidst the reality
of heartbreak, the ultimate fulfillment of His desires could be found in Christ
alone. Is God sufficient for you? Pier Giorgio recognized heartbreak as a means
to encounter God’s love more profoundly.
“In the words of Edith
Stein, the interior life is a person’s deepest, purest source of joy.” How do
you live the fairy tale when the end is still unwritten and the promises seem
vague, set only in typeface print in your Bible compared to a living reality? Hope
trusts that God fulfills His promise: “I will not leave you desolate” (Jn.
14:18); it calls us to imitate Christ who: “when He suffered… He trusted” (1 Peter 2:23).
Whether
you are rocking out with Easter joy or you feel like it is stuffed in your head
and hasn’t trickled down to your heart, Truth says He is the Way for our
eternal happiness, our eternal fairy tale, our eternal Love. Let us prepare for
Pentecost as He tells us: “I will ask the
Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the
Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or
know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” (Jn
14:16). Let us stand at the cross with Easter joy and triumphant hope knowing
that the Holy Spirit, who flies through the open tomb, abides exactly where we
are and proclaims “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jer 31:3).
Verso
l’alto,
K.
Coop
Yes, you got me in the
palm of your hand
Cause I don’t dance
Keep on dreaming, even it
if breaks your heart
Live your life with arms
wide open
For greater things are yet
to come
*STARTS TODAY!!!!!!
Make sure to hit up the Holy Spirit, Kids!
*The Spirit’s Road Blocks
– by Fr. Roger Landry (aka When God Says No)
“Sometimes He’ll prune
that path, shut that door. He has something else in mind. But whatever else He
has in mind; He’s going to come down and give us the grace right here. “
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