As we continue our Saintly Summer series, today we reflect on Saint Pius X—a humble man from Northern Italy who became Pope during one of the most turbulent times in history. Just as the world was on the brink of World War I, he reminded the Church and the world of a powerful truth: “To restore all things in Christ.” Pius X believed true restoration begins with beauty—the beauty of knowing Jesus Christ. His papacy focused on reviving Eucharistic devotion, making it accessible to the young, and encouraging frequent reception of the Eucharist. He also placed the Blessed Virgin Mary at the heart of this renewal, trusting in her example of fearless surrender to God’s will. Saint Pius X shows us that in times of confusion or crisis, returning to the beauty of Christ is the only way forward.

Jolt of Faith – Full Text
Saintly Summer: Saint Pius X: Restoring Beauty Through Christ | Jolt of Faith, 8/21

As we continue with our series today, thinking about the saints that are given to us by the church,we arrive at Saint Pius the Tenth. Saint Pius the Tenth actually became the Pope.He was born in Northern Italy. He became the Pope early on in the 1900s.And this time in the world was a very turbulent time, as we know, it was the time leading up to World War One.When Pius the Tenth died, actually, that was the year that World War One began in 1914.Now Pius the Tenth, when he began his papacy, he proclaimed that the world was forgetting about God, that the world had forgotten about Christ.And so his papal motto was restore all things in Christ. And his central theme was that the only way we can restore all things in Christ is if we can remember the absolute beauty of a relationship with Jesus, because beauty is what’s at the center of restoration.The reason why we restore something is because we recognize that it has lost its original beauty.And so Pius the Tenth had three principal ways that in his papacy,he was going to go about this reconstruction. The first way was through the Holy Eucharist.There was two major things that he did that have impacts on us today.Number one was that he allowed people to receive the whole Eucharist from a younger age.It used to be that you couldn’t receive the whole Eucharist until you were about the age of eighteen,but he lowered the age to as low as seven or eight years old.Secondly, he made it possible to receive the whole Eucharist with frequency, not just maybe on more important feast days of the church, but even to the point of allowing some people to receive the Eucharist every single day,which all of us can do today.And he also put the Blessed Virgin Mary at the center of everything because she was just the greatest model for us of what it means to receive the beauty of Christ.When the angel Gabriel came to Mary, he said, do not be afraid.And in the same way, Jesus Christ comes to us to make our hearts beautiful when he says,do not be afraid. This was the method of Pope Pius the Tenth, and he did well. And even today, we have great Eucharistic devotion because of the strength of this Pope.Not a homily, not a sermon, just that Jolt of Faith we all need.