Padre Pio is certainly recognized for the incredible
phenomena associated with him…the holy stigmata, he bore the marks of Jesus’
crucifixion on his hands for 50 years, the fact that he could read people’s
souls, people would come to him in confession, and he would know their sins
before they confessed them; he was capable of bilocating—on several instances
he appeared in the United States while he was also still in Italy.
When Pope Paul VI visited Padre Pio’s tomb about five months
after he died, he said the greatness of Padre Pio is not in these extraordinary
mystical phenomena. The greatness of Padre Pio was in the fact that he was a
humble friar, who humbly celebrated Mass, heard confessions from dawn to dusk;
he was a man of suffering and prayer.
It would take him 3 hours to celebrate the Mass, as he was
so mentally and spiritually engaged in these sacred mysteries. When Mass would
begin at 4:30am, people would line up outside just to celebrate Mass with him. And
he didn’t even preach, he simply celebrated Mass with ineffable humility. Padre
Pio is said to have experienced very deeply the events of Calvary as he
celebrated, and through his humble celebration, he would bring the fruits of
the cross to the people. So great was his participation in the cross, that he
literally shared Christ’s wounds.
He was, as Paul VI said, a man of suffering and a man of
prayer. When asked if the wounds of his holy stigmata caused him suffering, he
said, “well, the Lord didn’t give them to me for decoration.” But he also
suffered the calumnies of those who were jealous of his relationship with the
Lord. In their jealousy, some of his superiors placed unjust disciplines upon
him, which he bore, humbly and quietly.
I believe like Padre Pio we are called to more devoutly
enter into the Mass, to prepare our hearts for Mass, to truly lift up our
hearts to heaven during the celebration of the Mass, to unite ourselves the
suffering Christ during the Mass, to put the Mass truly as the source and
summit of everything we do, and thank God deeply for the graces we receive from
the Mass.
Also, as Padre Pio was so deeply devoted to the Sacrament of
Confession, he heard confession often for 12 hours a day, we do well to invite
those who have fallen away from Confession to return. Not only those who have
fallen away from the Church, but there are many who receive Holy Communion sacrilegiously,
coming to Communion though they are guilty of serious sins. So many who
struggle with habitual venial sins would find great advancement in the
spiritual life from more frequent confession.
We also do well to learn from him how to bear wrongs
patiently and without complaint. There is also great spiritual growth to be had
if when we just learned to stop complaining about little things and talking
about the small wrongs done to us by others—family members or strangers.
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