Padre Pio - the saint of the times!
23rd September, 2016
Eccl 3:1-11; Lk 9: 18-22
A time for everything says the Word today. There is so much discussion about time, the times and the right time - it is nothing but sticking to God's design, God's eternal design, God's timeless plan! That will set everything right.
Being people of the times in no way exempts us from being people according to God's design, because God's plan is eternal and it applies to all time. In this regard Padre Pio was a saint of the times. He was totally dedicated to doing God's will time in and time out!
Two things that stand out in Padre Pio, a man who died in out times (1968) and was canonised in our times (2002), are the willingness to turn sufferings salvific and the closeness to the Mercy of God. Not merely with the Stigmata, also because of the people around, the superiors who did not understand and the affluent who detested his choices, Padre Pio suffered extreme situations. But he made them all determined ways towards his sanctity. He is known to be the modern saint of the Confessional, because he believed firmly in the way to heaven through the confessional. The Sacrament of Reconciliation, the peak experience of God's Merciful embrace, became for Padre Pio the most used pulpit to proclaim God's love and invitation.
May Padre Pio inspire us today to grow through our sufferings and bring us close to the Merciful love of God.