Fr. Steve Rodrigues,
OFM Cap
St. Padre Pio, the famous stigmatist and miracle worker of the 20th century, is still used in our own century by God to work miracles, to save souls, to bring peace, joy and healing to our life. Keeping this in mind, the Goa Archdiocesan theme for the pastoral year 2019-2020 is ‘go and do likewise’ as this simple Capuchin friar, known for bilocation and levitation teaches us and the world of today how to be a Good Samaritan.
When we think of the story of the Good Samaritan in the Gospel of Luke, we think about someone who assisted an injured person left on the side of the road. Why did the Samaritan assist the man? He did so because he saw a need. He saw a person suffering and his heart wouldn’t allow him to pass that person by like the others had. The Samaritan knew that he had the ability to do something to help the man, he could get him to a place where he could heal and recover. It didn’t matter to him that the victim (a Jew) was from a different place or had a different faith. He saw suffering and he helped.
St. Pio of Pietrelcina saw people suffering too and, like the Good Samaritan, he couldn’t pass by either. There are countless examples of this that are well documented throughout his life.
One of his closest assistants, Fr Alessio Parente often referred to his friend as Padre Pio, the Good Samaritan because he saw how much his friend suffered in prayer for others. St. Pio was so overwhelmed with requests for prayers that he ultimately had to ask for help in writing letters back to the huge number of people corresponding with him.
Despite his grueling schedule that left him with little time to rest, he couldn’t turn his head to look away from those suffering who were desperately reaching out to him for help.
Of course, Padre Pio knew a lot about suffering and that probably made him sympathetic to those he encountered. Even in his youth, Padre Pio was sickly and even had to return home for a while when he was studying for the priesthood so he could try to get well. He rarely complained but instead always offered his suffering in union with our suffering Christ.
Later, he received the ultimate reminder of what our Lord endured when Padre Pio received the stigmata. He bore all five wounds of Christ and suffered tremendously for them for 50 years. He knew suffering well and wanted to do anything he could to spare others from it.
His pain was only surpassed by his great faith and belief that the Eucharist contained everything that was needed in life.
He once said, “It would be easier for the world to exist without the sun than without the Holy Mass.”
Padre Pio was also an unlikely candidate to become a great saint and yet hundreds of thousands of people have been helped by his intercession. Many times, he was not even physically present with a person and yet they described him perfectly when recounting when their healing took place.
St. Pio was always very careful to direct the appreciation where it should be and that was to God. He knew he was simply an instrument of God’s mercy.
It was not only the physical suffering he witnessed that moved Padre Pio. Countless people approached St. Pio to hear their confession. St. Pio would often spend most of the day, without food or rest, in the confessional to accommodate the crowds waiting in line. His intense prayer life is another way he alleviated people’s suffering as it was well known that he promised God that he would never pray for himself. So the hours and hours he spent in prayer were always for the needs and sufferings of others, even though he suffered constantly.
And although few records are kept since the canonization, personal accounts show that many people still receive cures through his intercession. He certainly made good on his promise to keep working for the suffering even after his death (‘I will do more for you when I am in Heaven.’)
One of St. Pio’s greatest lessons for us today is that if we are close to Jesus and never walk away from the suffering we see, God will work through us to do amazing things to relieve suffering as well. In our world of today, could you not be a good Samaritan?
