Today is July 6, the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
We read at today’s Mass, “Brothers and sisters: May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal 6:14).
That single-hearted devotion and undivided love for Christ is at the heart of today’s Beatitude:
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
As we continue our journey with Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, we come to a virtue that truly radiated from his life — purity of heart. Pier Giorgio was known for his remarkable chastity, for his love of beauty and for a kind of spiritual integration that held everything in right order. He saw the world clearly — not through the lens of lust or ambition — but through the eyes of someone whose heart belonged entirely to God.
His mother, oddly enough, was once nervous about him going to confession. Not because she doubted his virtue, but because she feared he might invent sins he hadn’t actually committed. That’s how seriously she took the brightness of his conscience. But Pier Giorgio wasn’t naïve. He knew the battle for purity was a real one and he took it seriously.
Our daily weapon
To a group of young Catholics in Pallone, he once gave this advice: “Feed on the bread of angels, and from it you will gain the strength to fight your inner battle, the battle against passion and all adversities.”
There’s his secret. The Eucharist. Daily Communion wasn’t just a pious habit for Pier Giorgio — it was his source of strength. He drew everything from it. The fight for purity, the strength to love, the courage to serve — it all flowed from his communion with Jesus.
And so today, as we meditate on the purity of heart, let’s be honest: for many of us, that’s a tough one. But Pier Giorgio shows us that purity isn’t passivity. It’s a fight. And the Eucharist is our daily weapon. It nourishes us. It restores us. It purifies us.
Let’s ask for the grace today to love Christ with an undivided heart, to see the beauty of holiness and to feed on the Bread of Angels with faith and devotion.
O God, who in the abasement of your Son have raised up a fallen world, fill your faithful with holy joy, for on those you have rescued from slavery to sin you bestow eternal gladness. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
