+ In
the gospel passage today Jesus tells his disciples how he must endure many
sufferings and be crucified; our saint for today, Padre Pio
was the first priest to receive the stigmata of the Lord’s Passion: proof
positive that Jesus did in fact undergo these things for us and for our salvation. Pio was born in 1887 in Pietrelcina,
Benevento (Naples), Italy. As a boy he was a shepherd. At age 15 he entered the
novitiate of the Capuchin friars in Morcone, Italy and joined the order at age
19. He suffered several health problems, and at one point his family thought he
had tuberculosis. He was ordained at age 22 on August 10, 1910.
While praying before a cross,
he received the stigmata on September 20, 1918, the first priest ever to be so
blessed. He later became a point of pilgrimage for both the pious and the
curious. He would hear confessions by the hour, reportedly able to read the
consciences of those who held back. Reportedly he was able to bilocate,
levitate, and heal by touch. He founded the House
for the Relief of Suffering in 1956, a hospital which serves 60,000 people
a year. In the 1920’s he started a series of prayer groups that continue today
with over 400,000 members worldwide.
Padre Pio died on September
23, 1968, and was canonized in June 2002 by his own personal friend Pope John
Paul II. His canonization miracle involved the cure of the 7 year old son of a
doctor at the hospital he founded, who was admitted with fatal meningitis on
June 20, 2000. The boy’s mother and some Capuchin friars from Padre Pio’s
monastery prayed through the night. In the morning the boy’s condition improved
suddenly. When the boy woke from a coma he said that he had seen an elderly man
with a white beard and a long, brown habit, who said to him: “Don’t worry, you
will soon be cured.” The miracle was approved by the Congregation and Pope John
Paul II on December 20, 2001
Whether we bear the marks of
Christ’s Passion, visibly or invisibly we are all called upon to bear them one
way or another. It is only this way that we can truly understand what Jesus did
for us, how much he loved us, and how much he wants us to love and get along
with one another. We are God’s family. May we today act as such, as we honor
one of our brothers who simply loved God back and tried to spread that love to
as many as he could in a very special way.
St.
Pio, pray for us!
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