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Lessons from a Holy Man
What Today's Catholics Can Learn from Padre Pio
CHARLES M. MANGAN
ABSTRACT: What is there to glean from the life of Padre Pio? Plenty! His
enthusiasm for Jesus Christ and His Church is contagious. His love of his
"Mother in the order of grace" and his fervent desire for prayer and penance
are edifying. His frequent recourse to the sacraments and his unwavering
allegiance to the Successor of St. Peter are inspiring. His spiritual
sobriety and delight are moving. Padre Pio is unquestionably an esteemed
guide on our pilgrimage to Paradise. -
Padre Pio, the Franciscan priest who bore the wounds of Jesus Christ in an
extraordinary way, died 30 years ago this autumn. In these past three
decades, millions of persons throughout the world have invoked the
intercession of this humble Italian friar and pondered his virtuous life,
seeking to imitate his profound commitment to God.
The anecdotes and stories about Padre Pio are many and diverse, but certain
elements appear repeatedly in the scores of sketches that describe the
person and message of the holy man from San Giovanni Rotundo. Even before
his death in 1968, Padre Pio had been proposed as a model of sanctity. Pope
John Paul II, who met the famous stigmatist, has extolled his continual
attention to the Almighty and His will.
As we prepare to enter the third Christian millennium, what can we learn
from Padre Pio?
1. Prayer is essential for every Christian. Padre Pio not only practiced
intense communication with the Lord Himself but he also exhorted his
listeners to do the same. He acknowledged that prayer is indispensable for
anyone who is serious about following Christ. The spiritual life devoid of
prayer is a sham it isn't the spiritual life. Padre Pio spent long hours
in private prayer. He saw his priestly duty to pray not as a burden to be
tolerated but as a means to grow closer to His Master. This gentle but firm
spiritual giant never tired of encouraging others to set aside time for
frequent, sincere communion with the Creator. Prayer is not solely the
domain of priests; it is for all.
2. The Holy Eucharist is the treasure left behind by Christ Himself; the
Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is necessary for authentic development in
holiness. Much of Padre Pio's prayer time was spent in the presence of the
Blessed Sacrament. In concert with the long tradition of the Church, he
recognized the supreme value of being before the tabernacle and pouring out
one's heart in prayer. Padre Pio was clear with those who approached him for
counsel: There is no prayer that surpasses in efficacy the Holy Mass. "The
world would be better off without the sun than without the Holy Mass," he
would say. The re-presentation of the sacrifice of Calvary is the greatest
and most sublime activity with which any Catholic may be involved. The Mass
and the Holy Eucharist are the vehicles by which the disciple of Jesus,
properly disposed, will infallibly progress in the likeness of the Savior.
3. The Sacrament of Penance can't be overestimated in its power to
transform. Padre Pio was painfully aware that intense blindness plagued the
consciences of countless persons. He was also aware that the Sacrament of
Penance was shunned by some as "obsolete." By his thousands of hours in the
confessional as both confessor and penitent, Padre Pio taught the value of
regular Confession. To ignore Confession is to neglect the primary
instrument by which a Christian who falls into sin is reconciled to God.
Padre Pio unhesitatingly proclaimed the importance of frequent Confession.
4. The ever-virgin Mother of God loves her children and helps achieve their
real conformity to the Risen Lord. This son of St. Francis of Assisi was
strongly devoted to Our Blessed Mother. He daily prayed multiple Rosaries
and urged his steady stream of visitors to have recourse to the Madonna. She
is, after all, the most perfect pattern of the Messiah. Padre Pio entrusted
the sick in body, mind, and spirit to the care of Blessed Mary.
5. Mortification is the friend of the disciple of Jesus. Although our modern
age has little affection for self-denial, it still is applicable for all
Christians. Padre Pio's personal penances were arduous and even heroic. He
took some upon himself ("voluntary mortifications"), while others he
cheerfully accepted from the merciful hand of God ("involuntary
mortifications"). In each case, he yielded to the divine summons to carry
his cross as Jesus did. His advice to those who consulted him included the
appeal to perform self-denial not in the spirit of seeing how much one can
endure, but in pursuit of true holiness after the example of the Redeemer.
6. Loyalty to the Vicar of Christ and the Church are crucial. Padre Pio
submitted himself wholeheartedly to the judgment of the Church. When he was
informed that he was the subject of an investigation by Church authorities,
he responded with no pouting, no press conferences, no volumes replete with
fancy rejoinders to the Magisterium. In a word, he silently obeyed. Later,
when vindicated of all charges, Padre Pio didn't gloat but meekly received
the news of the outcome. He professed allegiance to the Holy Father and his
religious superiors and lived it. His fidelity to the Holy See provides a
needed example to those who are tempted to rebel against the Church.
7. A certain gravity in attending to one's responsibilities in the spiritual
life needn't cancel out the requisite joy of being a Christian. Padre Pio is
recalled as being rather stern. His was a "no nonsense" approach to the
Gospel. He wasn't beyond rebuking those who were deceptive and feigned
piety. Yet, those who knew him best attest to his utter joy in serving
Christ. Padre Pio was living proof that a serious effort to imitate Jesus
isn't meant to be an exercise in sourness. Gravity and joy aren't mutually
exclusive.
What is there to glean from the life of Padre Pio? Plenty! His enthusiasm
for Jesus Christ and His Church is contagious. His love of his "Mother in
the order of grace" and his fervent desire for prayer and penance are
edifying. His frequent recourse to the sacraments and his unwavering
allegiance to the Successor of St. Peter are inspiring. His spiritual
sobriety and delight are moving. Padre Pio is unquestionably an esteemed
guide on our pilgrimage to Paradise.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Mangan, Fr. Charles. "Lessons from a Holy Man What Today's Catholics Can
Learn from Padre Pio." Lay Witness (October, 1996).
Reprinted with permission of Lay Witness magazine.
Lay Witness is a publication of Catholic United for the Faith, Inc., an
international lay apostolate founded in 1968 to support, defend, and advance
the efforts of the teaching Church.
THE AUTHOR
Fr. Charles Mangan, a priest from the Diocese of Sioux Falls, SD, is
currently studying Mariology in Rome.
Copyright 1999 LayWitness
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The Dialogue of Saint Catherine of Siena, A Treatise on Discretion:
p. 63 Wherefore Thou gavest him memory in order to receive Thy benefits, by which he participates in the power of the Eternal Father; and intellect that he might know, seeing Thy goodness, and so might participate in the wisdom of Thine only-begotten Son; and will, that he might love that which his intellect has seen and known of Thy truth, thus participating in the clemency of Thy Holy Spirit.
p. 77 Now learn that this Bridge, My only-begotten Son, has three steps, of which two were made with the wood of the most Holy Cross, and the third still retains the great bitterness He tasted, when He was given gall and vinegar to drink. In these three steps you will recognize three states of the soul, which I will explain to thee below.
The feet of the soul, signifying her affection, are the first step, for the feet carry the body as the affection carries the soul.
Wherefore these pierced Feet are steps by which thou canst arrive at His Side, Which manifests to thee the secret of His Heart, because the soul, rising on the steps of her affection, commences to taste the love of His Heart, gazing into that open Heart of My Son, with the eye of the intellect, and finds It consumed with ineffable love…. Then the soul is filled with love, seeing herself so much loved.
Having passed the second step, the soul reaches out to the third – that is – to the Mouth, where she finds peace from the terrible war she has been waging with her sin.
On the first step, then, lifting her feet from the affections of the earth, the soul strips herself of vice; on the second she fills herself with love and virtue; and on the third she tastes peace. So the Bridge has three steps, in order that, climbing past the first and the second, you may reach the last, which is lifted on high, so that the water, running beneath, may not touch it; for, in My Son, was no venom of sin. This Bridge is lifted on high, and yet, at the same time, joined to the earth.
p. 132 The unity of these powers of the soul is so great that I cannot be offended by one without all the others offending Me at the same time…
p. 133 And I tell thee truly, that, when the soul undertakes to gather together, with the hand of free choice, her powers in My Name, then are assembled all the actions, both spiritual and temporal, that the creature can do, and free choice gets rid of sensuality and binds itself with reason. I, then, by grace, rest in the midst of them; and this is what My Truth, the Word Incarnate, meant, when He said: “When there are two or three or more gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.”
p. 134 You were all invited, generally and in particular, by My Truth, when He cried in the Temple, saying: “Whosoever thirsteth, let him come to Me and drink, for I am the Fountain of the Water of Life.” He did not say, “Go to the Father and drink,” but He said, “Come to Me.” He spoke thus, because in Me, the Father, there can be no pain, but in My Son there can be pain….Because you cannot pass this mortal life without pain, and in Me, the Father, there can be no pain, but in Him there can be pain, and therefore of Him did I make for you a Bridge.”
p. 135 I will now return to the three steps, which you must climb in order to issue from the river without drowning, and attain to the Living Water, to which you are invited, and to desire My Presence in the midst of you. For in this way, in which you should follow, I am in your midst, reposing, by grace, in your souls. In order to have desire to mount the steps, you must have thirst, because only those who thirst are invited: “Whosoever thirsteth, let him come to Me and drink.”
He who has no thirst will not persevere, for either fatigue causes him to stop, or pleasure, and he does not care to carry the vessel with which he may get the water, and neither does he care for the company, and alone he cannot go, and he turns back at the smallest prick of persecution, for he loves it not.
He is afraid because he is alone; were he accompanied he would not fear, and had he ascended the three steps he would not have been alone, and would, therefore, have been secure. You must then have thirst and gather yourselves together, as it is said, “two or three or more.” Why is it said “two or three or more”? Because there are not two without three, nor three without two, neither three nor two without more. The number one is excluded, for, unless a man has a companion, I cannot be in the midst; this is no indifferent trifle, for he who is wrapped up in self-love is solitary.
Why is he solitary? Because he is separated from My grace and the love of his neighbor, and being, by sin, deprived of Me, he turns to that which is nought, because I am He that is. So that he who is solitary, that is, who is alone in self-love, is not mentioned by My Truth and is not acceptable to Me. He says then: “If there be two or three or more gathered together in My name, I will be in the midst of them.” I said to thee that two were not without three, nor three without two, and so it is. Thou knowest that the commandments of the Law are completely contained in two, and if these two are not observed the Law is not observed. The two commandments are to love Me above everything, and thy neighbor as thyself, which two are the beginning, the middle and the end of the Law.
These two cannot be gathered together in My Name, without three, that is, without the congregation of the powers of the soul, the memory, the intellect, and the will. The memory, to retain the remembrance of My benefits and My goodness. The intellect, to gaze into the ineffable love, which I have shown thee by means of My only-begotten Son, whom I have placed as the object of the vision of your intellect, so that, in Him, you behold the fire of My charity. And the will, to love and desire me, who am your End.
When these virtues and powers of the soul are congregated together in My Name, I am in the midst of them by grace, and a man, who is full of My love and that of his neighbor, suddenly finds himself the companion of many and royal virtues. Then the appetite of the soul is disposed to thirst. Thirst, I say, for virtue, and the honor of My Name and salvation of souls, and his every other thirst is spent and dead, and he then proceeds securely without any servile fear, having ascended the first step of the affection, for the affection, stripped of self-love, mounts above itself and above transitory things, or, if he will still hold them, he does so according to My will – that is, with a holy and true fear, and love of virtue.
He then finds that he has attained to the second step—that is, to the light of the intellect, which is, through Christ crucified, mirrored in cordial love of Me, for through Him have I shown My love to man. He finds peace and quiet, because the memory is filled with My love. Thou knowest that an empty thing, when touched, resounds, but not so when it is full. So memory, being filled with the light of the intellect, and the affection with love, on being moved by the tribulations or delights of the world, will not resound with disordinate merriment or with impatience, because they are full of Me, who am every good.
Having climbed the three steps, he finds that the three powers of the soul have been gathered together by his reason in My Name. And his soul, having gathered together the two commandments, that is love of Me and of the neighbor, finds herself accompanied by Me, who am her strength and security, and walks safely because I am in the midst of her.