Pilgrims prepare to depart for World Youth Day

A group of 19 Frassati Catholic students will depart on July 23 for World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland, the first group to attend a World Youth Day from the school. Students will visit the Jasna Gora monastery in Poland, tour Krakow in the footsteps of St. John Paul II, and visit Auschwitz and Wadowice over the course of their 12-day pilgrimage. 

This will be the third World Youth Day for Sister Anna Laura, O.P., chair of the Frassati Catholic Ethics & Culture Department and one of the leaders for the trip.

“I have had the privilege of attending two World Youth Days, one in Toronto and the other in Cologne, and I am so excited that our students will have this powerful experience also," said Sister Anna Laura. "World Youth Day is all about joy. It's almost impossible to describe the joyful spirit that pervades the city that hosts World Youth Day. It’s a joy that comes from a deep experience of encountering the Lord and knowing that He has created you out of infinite love and given you a special mission. During the week-long experience that is World Youth Day, our students will be with a million other young people from all over the world who are like themselves: seeking the meaning of life that can only be found in Christ. This is a tremendous grace for our students— to experience being part of the universal Church and to know that they are not alone on their journey of faith. This grace will be a source of strength for them throughout their lives.”

This World Youth Day presents a unique opportunity for students from Frassati Catholic, as the incorrupt relics of Blessed Pier Giorgio will be present. 

“Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati’s body will be flown from Turin to Krakow so that the youth of the world can venerate his relics and ask for his prayers,” said Sister Anna Laura. “What a gift for the Frassati Catholic High School students! We will pray for the entire Frassati Catholic community, asking Pier Giorgio to intercede for all of us and obtain the graces each of us need. Pier Giorgio is such an outstanding role model for World Youth Day pilgrims because he shows us that the source of true happiness and peace is found in friendship with Jesus. His example is an eloquent testimony to the reality that such a divine friendship makes possible a life of heroic virtue—a life of total self-giving.”

Pope Francis, in his Message for the Thirty-first World Youth Day 2016, mentions the importance of Blessed Pier Giorgio for young people:  "I think of the example of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. He said, “Jesus pays me a visit every morning in Holy Communion, and I return the visit in the meagre way I know how, visiting the poor”. Pier Giorgio was a young man who understood what it means to have a merciful heart that responds to those most in need. He gave them far more than material goods. He gave himself by giving his time, his words and his capacity to listen. He served the poor very quietly and unassumingly. He truly did what the Gospel tells us: “When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret” ( Mt 6:3-4). Imagine that, on the day before his death when he was gravely ill, he was giving directions on how his friends in need should be helped. At his funeral, his family and friends were stunned by the presence of so many poor people unknown to them. They had been befriended and helped by the young Pier Giorgio."
 
The theme of this year’s World Youth Day is “Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7). Pope Francis has stressed the importance of the Beatitudes saying, “Look, read the Beatitudes: that will do you good!” (cf. Meeting with the youth from Argentina gathered in the Cathedral of São Sebastião, 25 July 2013).

“Each World Youth Day is unique,” said Sister Anna Laura, “but I think this World Youth Day will be extraordinary and have special graces. It is being held during the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy; the theme is “Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy”; it is in the ‘land of mercy’, the land of St. Faustina who the Lord called the Secretary of Divine Mercy; it is where St. Maximillian Kolbe and St. Edith Stein gave witness of the power of merciful love to overcome evil; and it is the homeland of Pope St. John Paul II who began the World Youth Days and who I think will be with us in a special way.”

About Frassati Catholic High School: Founded in 2013, Frassati Catholic High School serves the families and parishes in the north Houston area of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. Administered by the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation from Nashville, TN, Frassati Catholic High School prepares students to walk on the path of true happiness through a robust college-preparatory curriculum rooted in the Catholic faith. The school currently serves freshman through senior students. For more information about Frassati Catholic High School, contact Kyle Smith, director of communications, at 832-616-3227.