Dear brothers and sisters,
In the first reading, we heard a question: [Lord,] “who has learned your counsel, unless you
have given wisdom and sent your holy spirit from on high?” (Wis 9:17). This question comes after
two young Blesseds, Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis, were proclaimed saints, and this is
providential because in the Book of Wisdom, this question is attributed to a young man like them:
King Solomon. Upon the death of his father David, he realized that he had many things: power,
wealth, health, youth, beauty, and the entire kingdom. It was precisely this great abundance of
resources that raised a question in his heart: “What must I do so that nothing is lost?” Solomon
understood that the only way to find an answer was to ask God for an even greater gift, that of his
wisdom, so that he might know God’s plans and follow them faithfully. He realized, in fact, that only
in this way would everything find its place in the Lord’s great plan. Yes, because the greatest risk in
life is to waste it outside of God’s plan.
Jesus, too, in the Gospel, speaks to us of a plan to which we must commit wholeheartedly. He
says: “Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14:27); and again:
“none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions” (v. 33). He calls us
to abandon ourselves without hesitation to the adventure that he offers us, with the intelligence and
strength that comes from his Spirit, that we can receive to the extent that we empty ourselves of the
things and ideas to which we are attached, in order to listen to his word.
Many young people, over the centuries, have had to face this crossroad in their lives. Think
of Saint Francis of Assisi, like Solomon, he too was young and rich, thirsty for glory and fame. That
is why he went to war, hoping to be knighted and adorned with honors. But Jesus appeared to him
along the way and asked him to reflect on what he was doing. Coming to his senses, he asked God a
simple question: “Lord, what do you want me to do?” (Legend of the Three Companions, cap. II:
Fonti Francescane, 1401). From there, he changed his life and began to write a different story: the
wonderful story of holiness that we all know, stripping himself of everything to follow the Lord (cf.
Lk 14:33), living in poverty and preferring the love of his brothers and sisters, especially the weakest
and smallest, to his father’s gold, silver and precious fabrics.
How many similar saints we could recall! Sometimes we portray them as great figures,
forgetting that for them it all began when, while still young, they said “yes” to God and gave
themselves to him completely, keeping nothing for themselves. Saint Augustine recounts that, in the
“tortuous and tangled knot” of his life, a voice deep within him said: “I want you” (Confessions, II,
10,18). God gave him a new direction, a new path, a new reason, in which nothing of his life was lost.
In this setting, today we look to Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati and Saint Carlo Acutis: a young
man from the early 20th century and a teenager from our own day, both in love with Jesus and ready
to give everything for him.
Pier Giorgio encountered the Lord through school and church groups — Catholic Action, the
Conferences of Saint Vincent, the FUCI (Italian Catholic University Federation), the Dominican
Third Order — and he bore witness to God with his joy of living and of being a Christian in prayer,
friendship and charity. This was so evident that seeing him walking the streets of Turin with carts
full of supplies for the poor, his friends renamed him “Frassati Impresa Trasporti” (Frassati Transport
Company)! Even today, Pier Giorgio’s life is a beacon for lay spirituality. For him, faith was not a
private devotion, but it was driven by the power of the Gospel and his membership in ecclesial
associations. He was also generously committed to society, contributed to political life and devoted
himself ardently to the service of the poor.
Carlo, for his part, encountered Jesus in his family, thanks to his parents, Andrea and Antonia
— who are here today with his two siblings, Francesca and Michele — and then at school, and above
all in the sacraments celebrated in the parish community. He grew up naturally integrating prayer,
sport, study and charity into his days as a child and young man.
Both Pier Giorgio and Carlo cultivated their love for God and for their brothers and sisters
through simple acts, available to everyone: daily Mass, prayer, and especially Eucharistic Adoration.
Carlo used to say: “In front of the sun, you get a tan. In front of the Eucharist, you become a saint!”
And again: “Sadness is looking at yourself; happiness is looking at God. Conversion is nothing more
than shifting your gaze from below to above; a simple movement of the eyes is enough.” Another
essential practice for them was frequent Confession. Carlo wrote: “The only thing we really have to
fear is sin;” and he marveled because — in his own words — “people are so concerned with the
beauty of their bodies and do not care about the beauty of their souls.” Finally, both had a great
devotion to the saints and to the Virgin Mary, and they practiced charity generously. Pier Giorgio
said: “Around the poor and the sick, I see a light that we do not have” (NICOLA GORI, Al prezzo della
vita: L’Osservatore romano, 11 February 2021). He called charity “the foundation of our religion”
and, like Carlo, he practiced it above all through small, concrete gestures, often hidden, living what
Pope Francis called “a holiness found in our next-door neighbors” (Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete
et Exsultate, 7).
Even when illness struck them and cut short their young lives, not even this stopped them nor
prevented them from loving, offering themselves to God, blessing him and praying to him for
themselves and for everyone. One day Pier Giorgio said: “The day of my death will be the most
beautiful day of my life” (IRENE FUNGHI, I giovani assieme a Frassati: un compagno nei nostri
cammini tortuosi: Avvenire, 2 agosto 2025). In his last photo, which shows him climbing a mountain
in the Val di Lanzo, with his face turned towards his goal, he wrote: “Upwards” (Ibid). Moreover,
Carlo, who was even younger than Pier Giorgio, loved to say that heaven has always been waiting
for us, and that to love tomorrow is to give the best of our fruit today.
Dear friends, Saints Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis are an invitation to all of us,
especially young people, not to squander our lives, but to direct them upwards and make them
masterpieces. They encourage us with their words: “Not I, but God,” as Carlo used to say. And Pier
Giorgio: “If you have God at the center of all your actions, then you will reach the end.” This is the
simple but winning formula of their holiness. It is also the type of witness we are called to follow, in
order to enjoy life to the full and meet the Lord in the feast of heaven.
