St. Pio of Pietrelcina, whose Feast we celebrate today, spent his entire life in the service of God’s mercy and there was one reason he was able to do so: prayer. He was a servant of mercy, spending his life, full-time, practicing what Pope Francis has called “the apostolate of listening.” Through his ministry in the confessional, where he would at times spend 10-15 hours a day, St. Pio, also affectionately known as Padre Pio, was able to become, according to the Holy Father, “a caress of the living Father, who heals the wounds of sin and refreshes the heart with peace.”
Padre Pio never tired of welcoming and listening to the people who came to him. The reason he was able to do this is because he was always attached to” the source” – he was continuously quenched by Jesus Crucified, and so became a channel of mercy.
St. Pio was a priest of the Order of the Friars Minor Capuchin, a stigmatist, and a mystic, who lived from 1887-1968. He was beatified in 1999, and canonized in 2002 by St. John Paul II.
Let us pray. “St. Pio, teach us, we pray, humility of heart, so that we may be counted among the little ones of the Gospel to whom the Lord promised to reveal the mysteries of His Kingdom. Help us to pray without ceasing, certain that God knows what we need even before we ask Him. Obtain for us the eyes of faith that will help us recognize in the poor and suffering, the very face of Jesus. Sustain us in the hour of trouble and trial and, if we fall, let us experience the joy of your forgiveness. Grant us your tender devotion to Mary, mother of Jesus and our Mother. Accompany us on our earthly pilgrimage toward our blessed homeland, where we too, hope to arrive to contemplate forever the Glory of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
To read more: https://www.padrepio.org/
