We gather on this Feast Day of Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, to celebrate this extraordinary Saint.
We give thanks to God for the many ways in which God showed the power of his mercy through the ministry of Padre Pio.
We give thanks to God for the graces and favours that so many others and we ourselves have received through his intercession.
We reflect and pray on how we are called to live humbly in our own lives the model of holiness that Padre Pio showed.
As we begin our Mass, we confess and repent our own sinfulness and entrust our lives to the mercy of God.
Homily
You will remember the very interesting Gospel of yesterday’s Sunday Mass. Jesus had taken his disciples away on their own. He did not want anyone to know where he was going. He wanted to have special time with his close disciples and explain clearly to them what their following him would involve.
Jesus spoke to them about his passion, death and resurrection; he spoke about his suffering. He spoke exclusively to those who were his disciples, to those who had followed him for many years in his mission. These are the ones who had heard him teach, had seen him heal, had watched Jesus pray and had shared moments in which he revealed his innermost thoughts to them. Yet they fail to understand what Jesus was saying.
His disciples fail to understand. Even more, they reject what he has to say. They did not wish to hear Jesus speak of suffering. They did not wish even to ask him what he means when he speaks about things they do not want to hear.
What did the disciples do?
They end up talking about something that is completely the opposite of what Jesus was trying to teach them. They are so focussed on themselves and their own sense of self-importance that they begin to talk about which of them is the most important. This is not the logic of Jesus Christ. If we, either as individuals or as a Church, fail to think as Jesus did, we will inevitably allow our faith to empty itself.
The disciple of Jesus is called without compromise to follow Jesus on the way of his Cross. This was perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of Saint Pio. Pope John Paul expressed this beautifully in his homily for the Beatification of Padre Pio:
“In his body, marked by the ‘stigmata’… Padre Pio shared in the Passion with a special intensity: the unique gifts which were given to him, and the interior and mystical sufferings that accompanied them, allowed him constantly to participate in the Lord’s agonies”.
Padre Pio never put aside his calling to share in the suffering of Jesus Crucified. Pope Paul VI, some years earlier had described Padre Pio as “a man of prayer and suffering”.
Prayer and suffering. Prayer was what integrated all of Padre Pio’s spirituality. He was devoted to the Rosary, that prayer of meditation on Christ’s mysteries and suffering, in spiritual union with the Virgin Mary. In his daily Mass, which he celebrated with simplicity and great depth, he united himself intensely with the Lord’s death and resurrection.
His prayer then flourished into extraordinary charity and mercy of which we are beneficiaries. Listen to the words we will hear in the Preface of today’s Mass
“So great was the fire that burned in the heart of Saint Pio, that he shared in Christ’s passion and followed him even to the cross. To his suffering brothers and sisters, afflicted in soul and body, he displayed God’s endless mercy”.
Pope Benedict noted:
“The love that he carried in his heart and passed on to others was full of tenderness, always attentive to the real situations of people and families. Especially in the sick and the suffering, he encouraged special love for the Heart of Christ”.
Padre Pio’s caring was not simple do-goodism. His deepest concern always was that people might return to God and so might be able to experience his mercy and rediscover the beauty and joy of being Christians and of putting the Gospel into practice.
Jesus came to reveal the Father to us. He is the revelation of who God is. He did not reveal God through exercising the power that he has in a worldly way. He gave himself. He allowed himself to be handed over; rather, he gave himself up for us. This is the logic of love. Jesus came to give his life in service for others. He gave his life for us, out of love. The follower of Jesus also is called to focus on the care of the least powerful, after the model of Padre Pio.
Despite opposition and rejection along the way, Padre Pio remained faithful to the Church and her mission of union with Jesus in his passion, in bringing healing and forgiveness through the sacraments.
Let each of us examine our hearts and commit ourselves to this path of love, a path that may well involve suffering and rejection of self-importance.
Let us turn to the Lord with humble prayer. Let us see in the Cross not just negative suffering, but the sign of God’s love for us. Let us pray for all those who struggle with their faith. Let us remember those who are trapped in sin. Let us reject the power of evil in our own hearts. When we are in doubt and anxious let us turn to the intercession of Saint Padre Pio, that we may experience God’s healing strength.
May Padre Pio brings us joy and hopefulness and peace whatever our situation. May we who experience Padre Pio’s intercession respond by living the life of holiness that he lived. Amen
ENDS
