The “Little Way” with the Angel

On September 7^th, Pope Leo XIV canonized two young Italian laymen, both co-patrons of youth, St. Pier Giorgio Frassati who died in 1925 at the age of 24, and St. Carlo Acutis, who died in 2006 at the age of only 15 years old. St. Pier Giorgio was from a noble and well-known family; his father was a senator, ambassador and founder of the newspaper, La Stampa, which still exists today. Pier Giorgio, however, had other interests. He was involved in Catholic Action and the St. Vincent’s de Paul Society, serving the poor and advocating especially for the rights of miners. He encouraged his friends and classmates to live the faith and openly witness to it without fear, at a time when fascism under Mussolini was becoming popular and violent in Italy. He passionately loved horseback riding, rock climbing, skiing and mountaineering, but always in a spirit of faith and charity, cheerfully bearing the heaviest burdens of the trip and inviting his companions to prayer. Further, St. Pier Giorgio Frassati was a daily communicant, prayed the Rosary without fail even late into the night, made frequent and prolonged Eucharistic adoration and spent his free time and monetary resources helping in the poor quarter of the city, unbeknownst to his family. It was there that he probably contracted polio, from which he died a painful and lonely death.

Among his many friends was even the Cardinal Archbishop, who had learned to esteem his faith and courage, and wanted to come to anoint him, but his family prevented it for fear of contagion. At his funeral, 10,000 people from far and wide filled the streets to venerate his remains and pay their respects, so broadly had the fame of his charity spread. Only then did his family learn of his charitable works. His last note was to the pharmacy, asking them to fulfill a subscription for a poor invalid, which he had forgotten, and to put it to his account. Pope St. John Paul II called him a “man of the Beatitudes” because he lived not the values of this world, but the contradiction of the Cross, where the poor and the persecuted gain the Kingdom, those who mourn are comforted, and the meek inherit the earth (cf. Mt 5:3-12).

St. Carlo Acutis was also from a wealthy, non-practicing family, and found his way to the faith and a great love for God through Catholic schools and his grandparents. At the age of four, he had his first deep encounter with the Eucharist and, as he himself said, his Guardian Angel inspired him with a great desire to receive First Holy Communion, which he did at the age of 7 (early, by Italian standards). He was always open and ready to share his faith in a non-judgmental way, converting or “reverting” a significant number, including his parents and housekeeper. He was generous with the poor and homeless, living in simplicity and a spirit of poverty, so as to be able to give more, even to the point of giving away the shoes from his feet. He was known for his gentleness and considerate solicitude for his friends and schoolmates, and also for gently correcting those who were walking a dangerous path. He had a great love for Jesus in the most Holy Eucharist and for Eucharistic Adoration, which he called “his highway to heaven!” This love inspired him to design a website and placard-exhibition on Eucharistic Miracles from all over the world, completed already at the age of 14. At that time, he contracted Leukemia, from which he died in the hospital shortly thereafter, having prophesied his death beforehand to his mother. He said, “I am happy to die because I lived my life without wasting even a minute of it on anything unpleasing to God.”

The desire for holiness

How is it that these young men reached such great sanctity at such an early age? Undoubtedly, in the plan and Providence of God, they had a special call and grace, and also a mission for our times. Yet God does not work alone. These young men cooperated with the call and grace of God with determination and constancy, and above all, with love. God also has a plan for each of us, a beautiful, merciful and wonderful plan. Do we want to fulfill it, or do we have our own plans, our own priorities? (A good career, a nice house, a comfortable life?) At Baptism we received the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity along with the seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit. We received an initial holiness as the seed for our growth in supernatural love. But while God initially sanctified us without our cooperation, He wills that we collaborate (work, together with Him!) toward our perfection in charity and in His work of Redemption, saving as many souls as we can! (cf. St. Augustine in CCC 1847).

This pertains to our dignity as persons, free and intelligent beings, who are capable of choosing and loving whom we will. Thus, God wants us to freely choose to serve and love Him, to seek Him and His glory – for His sake! On the Sea of Tiberias, Jesus asked Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” (Jn 21:15). This is His question to each of us, Do you love Me? Do you choose Me over all created things, over yourself, your ego, your reputation, your desires? As St. John warns us, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols!” (1 Jn 5:21), from letting anything take the place of God in our lives. Similarly, we read in the Catechism,

The Beatitude we are promised confronts us with decisive moral choices. It invites us to purify our hearts of bad instincts and to seek the love of God above all else. It teaches us that true happiness is not found in riches or well-being, in human fame or power, or in any human achievement – however beneficial it may be – such as science, technology, and art, or indeed in any creature, but in God alone, the source of every good and of all love. (CCC 1723)

Jesus taught us to pray the Our Father as a lesson on what we are to ask of God as well as on the order of the goods we are to ask (cf. St. Thomas, Sum.Th. II-II, 83, 9). The first petition is, “…hallowed be Thy Name”, that is, may You be glorified Lord, in all that I am and do! Beyond doubt, we will certainly only gain from seeking first God and His glory (cf. Lk 12:31) – great peace, happiness, joy, love – for there is no greater joy than to love and be loved by God. But true and perfect love for God seeks first and foremost to give Him glory, to please Him, not one’s own advantage. God has loved us with this selfless love first; we need only to look upon Christ Crucified (cf. 1 Jn 4:9-10)! Do we not want to love God in this way in return, that is, for His sake? Do we not want to correspond to all the love He has showered upon us from our birth? Do we not want to fulfill His plan for our lives, to renounce our own plan if it is not according to His will – out of love for Him? All this lies behind the question, do we want to become holy?

God calls and desires each of us to reach holiness, to become Saints, and He gives us all the graces needed to do so. “By the working of grace, the Holy Spirit educates us in spiritual freedom in order to make us free collaborators in His work in the Church and in the world” (CCC 1742). By faith we are united with Christ, and He calls us to follow Him. He walks with us and gives us the light and strength through His Spirit.

He who believes in Christ becomes a son of God. This filial adoption transforms him by giving him the ability to follow the example of Christ. It makes him capable of acting rightly and of doing good. In union with his Savior, the disciple attains the perfection of charity which is holiness… (CCC 1709)

Mother Gabriele Bitterlich, a spiritual master who received the charism of Opus Angelorum, has many teachings on the spiritual life and the path to holiness, her little way of love. Pondering a few of her simple counsels for a soul whom she guided, we want to let ourselves be inspired, guided and inflamed in our zeal for God and our determination to strive for holiness.

Joy in God and thanksgiving!

When we awake in the morning, we want to begin our day with joy in God! “May the first praise of the day be dedicated to You, O Most Holy Trinity!… I wish to give YOU thanks for having given me this earthly life and for the call and capacity to serve You” (99 Prayers). Even under the weight of the Cross, we want to learn to “smile through our tears” in the certitude that “for those who love God, everything works out for the good” (Rom 8:28). Thus, with this supernatural hope we want to love and thank God for His solicitous love at every moment of our lives! Mother Gabriele writes,

God teaches us to be thankful through the light of little everyday things. Should we not be thankful when the first ray of sunshine gilds the clouds and makes us bright and cheerful? Should we not be thankful for the light of certainty that our good Angel kneels with us to adore God? Should we not let our thanks accompany us the whole day as our good companion? If only we always had clear and open eyes, how much we would have to thank GOD every day, even in the gray, difficult everyday life – and then immediately this everyday life would no longer be gray, but golden in the certainty of intimate contact with the Lord, His Mother, His Angels! (The Support, Aug. 9, 1956)

Giving thanks, we will grow in love, and through love, we will come to joy!

The most beautiful light of the Holy Spirit is love, and the most beautiful and delicate radiance around it is joy. Those who love must also be able to be joyful, for love is not only the strength to overcome all things, but also the strength to rejoice in all sincerity and simplicity over everything, even the smallest things that God gives or shows to us.

This joy in the Holy Spirit must be like a little bell before the Lord on the steps of the altar of our heart, which with every movement of love or thanks right away rings joyfully. Remember, dear, dear soul, a holy person is always loving in God, always calm in God, always joyful in God. From these three windows, he looks into the world. (Dec. 11, 1955)

Discipline and continual prayer:

If we are to become Saints, we have to work at it! St. Teresa of Avila speaks again and again of the “firm determination” necessary to grow in the life prayer and holiness. St. Paul lived in a culture like our own, where athletic competition was highly regarded. Thus, he uses this theme to motivate the young Church to self-discipline. “Every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable crown, but we, an imperishable one. Thus…I drive my body and train it” (1 Cor 9:24-27). Mother Gabriele builds on this theme, pointing to the need for continual prayer:

Whoever enters into a competition, must train hard beforehand; he must bring his spirit as well as his body to ever stricter discipline and submission, so that they both obey the will ever more quickly and unresistingly. Are we not, at the hand of our Angels, engaged in a competition far greater than any chess or sports championship? And how lightheartedly we take this training – how quickly we are satisfied with a small partial success – and yet, we should actually be training, practicing and improving our agility in the battle against ourselves and the snares of the evil one more and more. Why don’t we do it? Because we don’t think about it, because we are always distracted by everyday life. How can we counteract this? By walking in the presence of GOD, by fixing our face on the Face of GOD. How will we be reminded of this? By really trying to practice continual prayer. Let us resolve to say calmly one little prayer over and over again, a hundred times, a thousand times, e.g., “My GOD and my All!” – or: “My JESUS, mercy!” …Ever more from day to day, we will feel the blessing resulting from this, how our soul finds GOD ever more agilely, right away! (Dec. 17, 1955)

Suffering and sacrificing generously

When St. Therese of Lisieux was a child, her elder sister one day came with a basket of doll clothes and other items to give away. After Celine picked out a woolen ball, Therese simply said, “I choose all!” and took the whole basket. She drew a lesson from this regarding the generosity of love.

Later on, when the way of perfection was opened out before me, I realized that in order to become a Saint one must suffer much, always seek the most perfect path, and forget oneself. I also understood that there are many degrees of holiness, that each soul is free to respond to the calls of Our Lord, to do much or little for His Love – in a word, to choose amongst the sacrifices He asks. And then also, as in the days of my childhood, I cried out, “My God, I choose everything, I will not be a Saint by halves, I am not afraid of suffering for You, I only fear one thing, and that is to do my own will. Accept the offering of my will, for I choose all that You will.” (Story of a Soul, A 23)

If we want to grow in love, to be a Saint, we too must gear ourselves for suffering, without fear, but with great trust and generosity. In this life, before we get to heaven:

Love and suffering belong together as intimately as the two edges of a sword, as the two hands of a body, as day and night. If a person only wants to experience the light of the sun and nothing else, then he must die at nightfall. And if a person wants to experience only love and nothing else, then this love is like a mayfly that soon disappears. Who can speak of love if he has never suffered? But if in suffering we let ourselves be filled with love, then we already bear Easter morning within. (The Support, Dec. 19, 1955)

Jesus walks before us on the way of the Cross: “In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as expiation for our sins” (1 Jn 4:9-10). He gives redemptive meaning to all our suffering, when united with His own.

When, O Lord, did You not suffer during Your life on earth? …You have taught us to be happy in suffering in view of its power of expiation and redemption. You have taught us to say “yes” to the Cross, to the will to sacrifice out of love, in conformity to the will of the Father, who requires the sacrifice. You have taught us the ultimate, most holy love, exemplified it and redeemed us through it. You always go before us, You always have patience with us, You wait for us. You say with such infinite love, “Come!” (March 30, 1956)

Thus, Mother Gabriele taught that making expiation is not beyond our strength, we need only to pray more, to seek union with Jesus. In the face of suffering and the Cross, the Mother repeatedly advised not to ask why, but to respond yes, Lord.

How many “why’s” are there in our lives, great and small? And how many will never be answered here on earth. God always leaves one last thing unanswered in our lives and along our way of the Cross. For here lies the mystery. Holy faith is not only a grace, rather indeed a mystery. No psychiatrist can unravel the causes and effects of grace and scientifically incorporate it into the course of life as a human process. The same can be said of love. We will never fathom the mystery of why God loves us so much that He became Man, that He shed His last drop of Blood for us, that for our sake He subjects Himself as BREAD to so many blasphemies until the end of time. And this is such a wonderful thing, that God draws us into this mystery. Everything counts before God, every silent sigh touches this ultimate mystery of love: YOU and me! (Aug. 21, 1956)

Not to ask why is not the same as to suppress our suffering, so that later it comes up again and again as an open wound festering in our soul. Rather, through love we can learn to transform our suffering into a gift, a gift of love: “…for love of You, Lord!”

The Angel points to a tall figure. This one simply swallowed her Cross – so that it cannot be seen from without. “No one needs to know about it.” But the Lord again shakes His head lovingly and says, “This is not yet the right way.”

If you swallow a hard piece of food that remains hard inside of you, then it injures you and you will die from it. Your soul is also very soft inside. If you swallow your Cross before having softened it, you will bleed to death interiorly from it. Let your Angel counsel you!

Then, having been called by the Lord, the good Angel kneels down and says, “The good God gives the oil of healing to everyone who asks for it. The oil of healing is called: FOR LOVE OF YOU, MY LORD! First anoint your Cross five times a day in honor of the five Holy Wounds with this oil, “For love of You, Lord!”, and make sure that you do not leave a single spot on the Cross without oil. In this way, the cross will become every day softer and every day smaller. And finally, you can peacefully entrust it to your soul, for love will eventually resolve it completely. (March 7, 1956)

The Holy Angel, our Guide to Holiness

Mother Gabriele shows again and again how the Angel leads and guides us on the path to holiness. He is given to us by the immense love of God as our “bridge” to the supernatural, to eternal values. “The bridge that the Angel builds for us is a bridge of light. Indeed, he himself is light. God created him as a spirit, as a light figure, therefore light is the image and distinctive mark of his being” (Jan. 3, 1956). Above all, it is our Guardian Angel who is given to us as our guide to heaven.

The first time the Angels draw near to us is through our Guardian Angel. His light awakens in us the striving for the good, for God, the longing for love for God. Knowing that he is near brings us comfort and security. Of course, we often fail to hear his admonitions. But if we train ourselves to listen for his voice, then he will first of all teach us is reverence for God, then obedience to God and His Church, and finally, merciful love for our neighbor. Only then does he teach us the active battle against the evil one, for which we must first be armed. (Jan. 9, 1956)

Childlike Trust, Silence and Peace of Heart

In order to follow the Angel, we must have the heart of a child, believing and trusting. “Unless you turn and become like this child, you shall not enter the Kingdom of God” (Mt 18:3). A child is not afraid, because he relies not on himself, but on the wisdom, strength and love of his Father.

For there are often stones on [the soul’s] path that loom menacingly from afar, as if to say: “You will not get over us! That is beyond your strength. We will fall on you and destroy you!” But the Angel of courage only smiles and says to the soul, “Just look through me!” And through the Angel, the soul looks at God, and there God is, so great and these stones become so small, that she says to herself, “What can keep me from running to meet God like a child? These little stones? What are they compared to You? And she runs and looks to God and – the stones are already lying behind her; she has neither fallen nor been crushed. Rather, she is happy. (May 13, 1956)

Thus, while the enemy tries to agitate and fill us with fear on our path to God, the Angel teaches us silence, trust and peace of heart.

Let us consider the Seraphim with their eyes turned outward and inward, that is, they see God around them and within them; this is an example for us. Do not look inward at your own self; rather, look inward at God, the Prisoner of our love, who is waiting for us to speak with Him about everything, to ask Him for advice, to nourish Him, so to speak, with our love and let Him become ever more powerful – in the silence of our secret love, our dearest secret. (July 29, 1956)

Thus, at the essence of genuine silence is the secret of learning to “rest in God”, to speak with Him in all faith and trust.

Holiness in Everyday Life

Holiness is not accomplishing great and wonderful things, it is a state of being, and for most of us, it is gained in everyday life, in the little victories over self which escape the notice of our surroundings. The trick is to learn to recognize and gain from all these little occasions, which are worth their weight in gold.

My God! Let me see the little things of everyday life that show me the way to You, that speak of Your wonderful love for me, that make me holy in the midst of everyday life! Let me go out of myself every day and through these little lights which You have placed for me along my path to You, become interiorly silent, wide and full of longing, desiring to prove to You my love in everything, not wanting to push anything aside because it is unpleasant to me. For precisely when we say to ourselves, “This is insignificant, it’s not that important, he or she just takes him or herself too seriously…”, precisely here is a lightless space where we, yes, we should set up a light of love, help, prayer, kindness, forgiveness and taking the needs of others seriously. …We need to shut out the whisperings of the evil “counsellor” and listen to what the Cross, what the Blood of Christ, what the hands of Mary have to say to us! Your Blood, O Lord, speaks to us; we want to be fixed on Your Eyes. (Aug. 13, 1956)

And so with renewed courage and determination, let us walk this little way of love at the hand of our holy Angel, under the protection of Mary and with Jesus in our hearts. He will make Saints of us, if only we truly and actively want it, in His time, according to His will, and in His love.

Sr. Maria Basilea