Homily for Memorial of St. Pius of Pietrelcina

Homily for the Memorial of
St. Pius of Pietrelcina

Sept. 23, 2022
Collect
Provincial House, New Rochelle

(from ANS)

The collect for Padre Pio references his share in the sufferings of Christ’s cross, which he experienced, as the prayer says, “by a singular grace”; and the wonders of God’s mercy shared “by means of his ministry.”

We all know that Padre Pio was a stigmatist, and so “singularly” shared in Christ’s passion.  What we might overlook is that in his early years as a friar with this charism he was misunderstood, examined by doctors, investigated, and for a time suspended from public ministry.  All that was not only an embarrassment but another form of suffering.

No one here is a stigmatist.  My surgical scars shouldn’t fool you.  But all of us share in Christ’s cross insofar as we are sometimes misunderstood or under-appreciated, and we all bear physical pain from various causes, such as illness, aching joints, just plain weariness.

Padre Pio was famous as a confessor, spending hours a day dispensing God’s mercy to the faithful.  Any of us who have spent an hour or 2 on occasion at this ministry know its physical discomforts—and the wonderful opportunity it provides to reconcile people with God and deeper their relationship with Christ; and often enuf, we’re edified by our penitents.  The mysteries of grace flow in 2 directions.

What we probably don’t know about Padre Pio is that he founded a hospital near his friary to provide another form of mercy for the poor.  That ought to encourage us, at least, to dispense the Lord’s mercy thru our compassion and kindness to our confreres, staff, and all others whom we meet.

Without our being stigmatists or hospital builders, each of us has his singular graces from God for growing in Christ and dispensing his mercy.