St. Giorgio Frassati. The Field Guide.

Berkeley, Monday, April 6, 2026 ~3:50 PM

It is the first time I opened up my computer at Bart. I know a computer was stolen from a friend inside of BART around 2017 or 2018.

Thoughful gifts are meaningful and it is good to react, to honor the gift, as well as the person.

Might be with first impressions, well read by the way, I received a gift of a Frassati book in November 16, 2025.

I honor reading receiving and borrowed books. At end, they give it to you for a reason, which quite often might be right, but also there are exception, which might have given without the giver haven’t read it, which is not good, or at least without a general thought of the content of the book.

There have been a few things that happened last weekend.

On Saturday, I was, potentially invited to climb a mountain in California for later in the Summer. I said potentially because I do not know if the date (meaning month) would not work. But the interesting thing was this brief conversation with this climber.

[Continued around 10:13 Pm from home, but I will write the current situation before complaining].

I have moved from the main desk, which never ended up being completely main desk. I have to move to my bedroom, which despite being a more intimate and focused space, I did not have the same set up, neither I have a desk here until late May 2021. The sounds coming from the other side of the wall are a guitar in testing, but crushing of glasses or shoots, which might be a video game, who knows. Other times was TV. So reading become difficult. It was probably a coping mechanism to stay up away until around midnight or 1 am, when the sounds stop, sometimes the sounds stop earlier, I have talked or complained about this with the person making producing the sounds, which and probably together with other variables resulted in Spring 2023 in a probably a temporal worst situation with a loud speaker and out of harmony sounds on the wall itself. Even with that I felt I have not need to move out. There are those negatives, but there are several positives from my neighbor, such us showing me the hikes, including one, which I have guided to some folks, including some yesterday. And the kindness of my neighbor when I torn my Achilles tendon.

OK. Back to topic. I need also to rush it, and it might be more about recent things. Than the book itself, but I had to honor it. I have not written a review of every book I have read, whether I liked or not, because that might be a thing like showing off. But I think I have written some learned lessons of read books time by time. Well, not reviewing my paragraph, and keeping the original text. Writing a review is helpful, because forces one to think about the learned lessons. So it is a good practice if time allows.

I was briefly explaining about a brief conversation with a climber, who has climbed and tried to climb some mountains in South America. Those were tough mountains, includes his attempts to climb the Huascaran, Aconcagua, and then something he actually did in the Patagonia. Either good knowledge, because it would be impressive to know someone who has climbed the former two. Brief, but connecting conversation. I was in a hiking climbing club in my teenager years. And back to those mountains, I recall when I was in those climbing clubs, the story of a young folk, probably older than me with 10 years, about 20 years or a bit more. His toes frozen in one of those two mountains. So they had to be cut.

Back to Frassati.

I quoted him, yesterday, while leading the hike: To the Heights or Verso l’alto (who thankfully, someone knew about).

I might relate the book structure and content with my brief posts in this blog in the novena category. I do a brief post per day. But of course, the book is much better, more elaborated, had editors, and might have better citations, including collaboration from the sister of the Saint herself, at some point, if I recall it well.

But that also makes the book to be superficial, without exploring much in depth a thought, an act, or even a fact. It is a source of brief sequences of actions. Asking for reflections, with ok background information to them, and pushing you to action. A motivational book.

Well, I learned that somehow St. Frassati was born in a privileged family. He cared for the poor. He was not afraid to honor the eucharistic on a daily basis, even if coined as a fanatic by his society circle of cool aquintances and friends.

He gave his life for his friends and his family, placing himself last. To the point that after being very sick with polio, he did not complain, and made no-one noticed, because the family was taking care and worried about grandma. He died three days after her grandma passed away, taken everyone by surprise.

Her parents have a difficult marriage. But he was a union for them.

His sister loved him. They have a great relationship. But it was tough for him after she got married a moved to somewhere else, to the aristocratic new family.

I was impressed by the miracles. One of them was not so long ago, a priest in LA torn his Achilles tendon. Asked for the interseccion of St. Giorgio Frassati and he was healed.

I assume several good things might happened, when the pure intention is at heart and we keep the saints in mind. i.e. my last two two days related to the mountains.

Another thing that impressed and actually, I wish to see because it is not the first time I heard the same thing from a Saint. When his body was exhumed, if it is the right word, I am not looking at the book, it kept a rose natural fresh color and even might be a good odor. That is impressive!

I think there are a few quotes in the last chapters, which when I was reading it I loved, but I believe I finished reading this book on the second week of March, so this post is overdue by at least three weeks, and those quotes not fresh any more.

One quote (now looking at the book) was by Vietnamese Saint Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan: “only Christian love can change hearts, not weapons and not threats… It is love that prepares the way for the announcement of the gospel. Omnia vincit amor: Love conquers everything” (p.72) Gandhi might have thought the same, as well as Mandela. The life of Saint Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan is amazing. We read a book on his life in 2021. I mentioned similar high profiles who also have been in prison under Governmental oppression.

Fr. Walter Ciszek said: “I have tried to do too much on my own and I had failed… I had never really abandoned myself to [God’s providence]… Perfection consisted simply in learning to discover God’s will in every situation and then in bending every effort to do what must be done”. (p. 72).

I need to go the market. I will correct a few typos I find, when I am back before posting. This was a sort of quick post for the topic.