{"id":24735,"date":"2009-06-21T17:05:18","date_gmt":"2009-06-21T21:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2009\/06\/seized-by-christ-saint-padre-p\/"},"modified":"2013-09-23T16:58:17","modified_gmt":"2013-09-23T20:58:17","slug":"seized-by-christ-saint-padre-p","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2009\/06\/seized-by-christ-saint-padre-p\/","title":{"rendered":"Seized by Christ, Saint Padre Pio leads the way for renewal, Pope said"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pope<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

As part of the inaugural observances for the Year of the
\nPriest, Pope Benedict made a pilgrimage to and celebrated the Sacrifice of the\u00a0Mass Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Graces at San Giovanni Rotondo, resting place\u00a0of \u00a0Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina<\/a><\/strong>. In the days following the feast of the
\nSacred Heart of Jesus and with devotion to Our Lady in mind, the Pope recalled\u00a0that the fruit of Padre Pio’s close bond with the Sacred Heart of Christ and\u00a0His mother, Mary, inspired him to found the House for the Relief of\u00a0Suffering:\u00a0 <\/span>“All his life and his\u00a0apostolate took place under the maternal gaze of the Blessed Virgin and by the\u00a0power of her intercession. Even the House for the Relief of Suffering he considered\u00a0to be the work of Mary, ‘Health of the sick.'”<\/p>\n

\"Pope<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Born Francisco Forgione, at the age 23 the obscure Capuchin\u00a0Franciscan friar was said to have received the gift of the sacred stigmata. On\u00a0Saint Pio<\/a>‘s hands and side the wounds were similar to the stigmata, or the wounds of\u00a0Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, according to Christian belief. The Pope proposed to\u00a0us another model for priests by giving the example of this friar from\u00a0Pietrelcina: “A simple man of humble origins, ‘seized by Christ<\/span>‘ (Phil 3:12)\u00a0… to make of him an elected instrument of the perennial power of his Cross:\u00a0the power of love for souls, forgiveness and reconciliation, spiritual\u00a0fatherhood, effective solidarity with the suffering<\/span>. The stigmata, that marked\u00a0his body, closely united him to the Crucified and Risen Christ.”<\/p>\n

Relating today’s gospel with the life of Saint Pio, His
\nHoliness also said to the gathered faithful:<\/p>\n

The solemn gesture of calming the stormy sea is clearly a
\nsign of the lordship of Christ over the negative powers and it induces us to think\u00a0of His divinity: “Who is He – ask the disciples in wonder\u00a0-that even the\u00a0wind and the sea obey him?” (Mk 4:41). Their faith is not yet steadfast, it is\u00a0taking shape, is a mixture of fear and trust; rather Jesus trusting abandonment\u00a0to the Father is full and pure. This is why He sleeps during the storm,\u00a0completely safe in the arms of God – but there will come a time when Jesus will\u00a0feel anxiety and fear: When His time comes, He shall feel upon himself the\u00a0whole weight of the sins of humanity, as a massive swell that is about to fall\u00a0upon Him. Oh yes, that shall be a terrible storm, not a cosmic one, but a\u00a0spiritual one. It will be Evil’s last, extreme assault against the Son of God….\u00a0In that hour, Jesus was on the one hand entirely One with the Father, fully\u00a0given over to him – on the other, as in solidarity with sinners, He was
\nseparated and He felt abandoned.<\/p>\n

Remaining united to Jesus, [Padre Pio] always had his sights\u00a0on the depths of the human drama, and this was why he offered his many\u00a0sufferings, why he was able to spend himself in the care for and relief of the
\nsick – a privileged sign of God’s mercy, of his kingdom which is coming,\u00a0indeed, which is already in the world, a sign of the victory of love and life\u00a0over sin and death. Guide souls and relieving suffering: thus we can sum up the\u00a0mission of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina: as the servant of God, Pope Paul VI said\u00a0of him.”<\/p>\n

\"Pio<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

At one point in his address the Benedict spoke to the
\nFranciscan friars and those connected with the spiritual groups linked to Saint\u00a0Pio and anyone else, the Pope affirmed: “The risks of activism and\u00a0secularization are always present, s<\/strong>o my visit was also meant to confirm\u00a0fidelity to the mission inherited from your beloved Father<\/b>. Many of you,\u00a0religious and laity, are so taken by the full duties required by the service to\u00a0pilgrims, or the sick in the hospital, you run the risk of neglecting the real\u00a0need: to listen to Christ to do the will of God<\/i>.\u00a0 When you see that you\u00a0are close to running this risk, look to Padre Pio: In his example, his\u00a0sufferings, and invoke his intercession, because it obtains from the Lord the\u00a0light and strength that you need to continue his mission soaked by love for God\u00a0and fraternal charity<\/b>.”<\/p>\n

Following Mass, the Holy Father led the faithful in the Angelus prayer (the great prayer recalling the Incarnation) calling to mind Padre Pio’s devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Benedict remarked, “To the intercession of Our Lady and St Pio of Pietrelcina I would like to entrust the Special Year for Priests, which I opened last Friday on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. May it be a privileged opportunity to highlight the value of the mission and holiness of priests to serve the Church and humanity in the third millennium!”<\/p>\n

Watch the video clip<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Another video explaining more of Padre Pio’s life<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Read the papal homily<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Read the papal address to priests and youth<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As part of the inaugural observances for the Year of the Priest, Pope Benedict made a pilgrimage to and celebrated the Sacrifice of the\u00a0Mass Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Graces at San Giovanni Rotondo, resting place\u00a0of \u00a0Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina. In the days following the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and … Continue reading Seized by Christ, Saint Padre Pio leads the way for renewal, Pope said<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,2,74],"tags":[1773,1770,1771,32081,1772,32104],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24735"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24735"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28519,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24735\/revisions\/28519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}