St Pius of Pietrelcina
On Sept. 23, the Catholic Church remembers the Italian Franciscan priest St. Pio of Petrelcina, better known as “Padre Pio” and known for his suffering, humility and miracles.
The man later known by these names was originally named Francesco Forgione, born to his parents Grazio and Maria in 1887. His parents had seven children, two of whom died in infancy. They taught the five surviving children to live their faith through daily Mass, family prayer of the rosary, and regular acts of penance.
Francesco had already decided at a young age to dedicate his entire life to God. At age 10, he felt inspired by the example of a young Capuchin Franciscan, and told his parents: “I want to be a friar – with a beard.” Francesco’s father spent time in America, working to finance his son’s education so he could enter the religious life.
On Jan. 22, 1903, Francesco donned the Franciscan habit for the first time. He took the new name Pio, a modernized Italian form of “Pius,” in honor of Pope St. Pius V. He made his solemn vows four years later, and received priestly ordination in the summer of 1910. Shortly after, he first received the Stigmata – Christ’s wounds, present in his own flesh.
Along with these mystical but real wounds, Padre Pio also suffered health problems that forced him to live apart from his Franciscan community for the first six years of his priesthood. By 1916 he managed to re-enter community life at the Friary of San Giovanni Rotondo, where he lived until his death. He handled many duties as a spiritual director and teacher, covering for brothers drafted into World War I.
During 1917 and 1918, Padre Pio himself briefly served in a medical unit of the Italian army. He later offered himself as a spiritual “victim” for an end to the war, accepting suffering as a form of prayer for peace. Once again, he received the wounds of Christ on his body. They would remain with him for 50 years, through a succession of global conflicts.
Against his own wishes, the friar’s reputation for holiness, and attending miracles, began to attract huge crowds. Some Church officials, however, denounced the priest and had him banned from public ministry in 1931. Pope Pius XI ended the ban two years later, and his successor Pius XII encouraged pilgrimages to Padre Pio’s friary.
Known for patient suffering, fervent prayer, and compassionate spiritual guidance, Padre Pio also lent his efforts to the establishment of a major hospital, the “Home to Relieve Suffering.”
Padre Pio died in 1968, and was declared a saint in 2002. Three years after his death, Pope Paul VI marveled at his simple and holy life in an address to the Capuchin Order.
“A worldwide following gathered around him ... because he said Mass humbly, heard confessions from dawn to dusk and was – it is not easy to say it – one who bore the wounds of our Lord,” Pope Paul explained. “He was a man of prayer and suffering.”
1 Timothy 6:13-16
13 Now, before God, the source of all life, and before Jesus Christ, who
witnessed to his noble profession of faith before Pontius Pilate, I
charge you
14 to do all that you have been told, with no faults or failures, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 who at the due time will be revealed by God, the blessed and only Ruler of all, the King of kings and the Lord of lords,
16
who alone is immortal, whose home is in inaccessible light, whom no
human being has seen or is able to see: to him be honour and everlasting
power. Amen
Luke 8:4-15
4 With a large crowd gathering and people from every town finding their way to him, he told this parable:
5
'A sower went out to sow his seed. Now as he sowed, some fell on the
edge of the path and was trampled on; and the birds of the air ate it
up.
6 Some seed fell on rock, and when it came up it withered away, having no moisture.
7 Some seed fell in the middle of thorns and the thorns grew with it and choked it.
8
And some seed fell into good soil and grew and produced its crop a
hundredfold.' Saying this he cried, 'Anyone who has ears for listening
should listen!'
9 His disciples asked him what this parable might mean,
10
and he said, 'To you is granted to understand the secrets of the
kingdom of God; for the rest it remains in parables, so that they may
look but not perceive, listen but not understand.
11 'This, then, is what the parable means: the seed is the word of God.
12
Those on the edge of the path are people who have heard it, and then
the devil comes and carries away the word from their hearts in case they
should believe and be saved.
13 Those on the rock are people
who, when they first hear it, welcome the word with joy. But these have
no root; they believe for a while, and in time of trial they give up.
14
As for the part that fell into thorns, this is people who have heard,
but as they go on their way they are choked by the worries and riches
and pleasures of life and never produce any crops.
15 As for
the part in the rich soil, this is people with a noble and generous
heart who have heard the word and take it to themselves and yield a
harvest through their perseverance.
Psalms 100(99):2, 3, 4, 5
2 In his pride the wicked hunts down the weak, who is caught in the schemes he devises.
3 The wicked is proud of his inmost desires, by his blasphemies the grasping spurns Lord,
4 the wicked in his arrogance does not look very far; 'There is no God,' is his only thought.
5 In all circumstances his step is assured; your judgements are above his head. His rivals? He scoffs at them all.
Lord God, give me the grace to value the relationship You offer me
Saturday September 23 2023
24th Week in Ordinary Time
St
Pius of Pietrelcina, priest
1
Tim. 6:13-16; Ps. 99:2-5;
Lk.
8:4-15 (Ps. Wk. IV)
Today’s parable in the Gospel centres on the seed and the soil, rather than on the sower. The seed is the Word of God (v. 11), and we can also take the seed as the relationship God wants to offer us.
The soil is the human heart or mind. There are different kinds of soil: the impacted soil on the path where the seed does not penetrate; there is the thin layer of soil on the rocky ground where the seed can only put down shallow roots; then there is the seed among thorns where the seed has too much competition for it to survive. And then the good soil: the gentle and generous heart or mind that perseveres patiently and bears fruit.
Is my heart resistant to being helped and loved? Is there something preventing depths in my mind or in my heart? Has my heart too many distractions or interests? Too many attractions out there?
Things that draw me outward and away from
the centre — the worries about success, popularity, and identifying myself with
my possessions? Trying to keep up with others? The anxiety to do something
worthwhile and to get somewhere?
Lord God, give me the grace to value the
relationship You offer me. Give me the resolve to choose You and displace all
my other attachments to make room for our relationship.
