He could bilocate, that is, he could appear at two places at
once, hundreds of miles apart, in order to deliver a message, or a word of
comfort or challenge to someone. He could heal people like Our Lord, in the
Gospels. Laying his hands on the sick, they would be immediately healed. He
could even heal with his prayers. He would get a letter, and pray for that
person, and they would be healed, even if they were on the other side of the globe.
Padre Pio, like St. John Vianney, often heard confessions for ten
or twelve hours a day. He could read the hearts of the penitents, knowing their
sins before they confessed them, or if they had forgotten a particular sin, or
was too ashamed to confess a particular sin. Sometimes when he absolved the
sins of a great sinner, he would experience great agony, the pains of Jesus’ crucifixion
very deeply, a reminder that we are only able to be absolved because of what
Jesus suffered for us.
And of course, Padre Pio had the mystical stigmata, the
wounds of the Lord’s crucifixion in his hands. And he suffered greatly from
them. When asked if the stigmata were painful, Padre Pio replied, "Do you
think that the Lord gave them to me for a decoration?"
Why did God give Padre Pio these strange and marvelous
mystical phenomena? One reason was for Padre Pio’s own sanctification. God
chose him to bear a share of the cross in a unique way, to merit grace for his
own soul and the souls of others.
This is certainly a reminder that every Christian is to
embrace the suffering given to him from God, as a share in the cross of Jesus
for the salvation of the world.
Also, those amazing mystical phenemona—the bilocation,
reading of hearts, and miraculous healing—are a reminder of the amazing things
God can do in our lives when we love God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and
strength. The Lord Jesus even said that not only would we do the miraculous
works he did in his ministry, but even other things, greater things, he said.
We need to be open to God doing amazing things through us, by surrendering to
God and uniting our lives with God to the best of our ability.
Thirdly, Padre Pio’s mystical phenomena are to help the
world know that God is real and that God loves us and invites us to a share in
his own life through faith and communion with His Son.
And really, that’s the mission of Padre Pio Academy isn’t
it? To form disciples to share in the sufferings and mission of Christ, to help
you young people to love God with your whole hearts, so that you can help the
world know that God is real and calls humanity to believe in His Son.
In the old liturgical calendar today is an Ember Day. One of
the special days of penance that occur four times a year around the changing of
the seasons. Ember days are penitential in character: the priest wears
penitential purple, the gloria is omitted, there is an extra scripture reading,
which are all a little longer than a normal ferial day, there was no alleluia.
We are kneeling for a little longer throughout the mass. What a fitting day to
share with Padre Pio. For on this ember day we get to engage that activity that
made him holy, a little extra penance, a little extra prayer.
Growth in holiness, making God’s goodness and
love known to the world involves real effort. To quote Padre Pio himself,
"The life of a Christian is nothing but a perpetual struggle against self;
there is no flowering of the soul to the beauty of its perfection except at the
price of pain".
The flowering in
Padre Pio’s soul which blossomed into such tremendous holiness, came because he
willingly accepted those sufferings which came from God, he turned away from
all selfishness, and embraced God’s Divine Will. May we do the same, for the
glory of God and salvation of souls.
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