Suffering

         I was thinking about Padre Pio, and reading about how he not only accepted the pains of the stigmata, but that of all the pains that he had to endure. Very selfishly, I thought, “How easy it must be to accept the pains if you know they are given by God.” I immediately felt guilty for having that thought. I knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t really grasp just why it was wrong. That guilt started me on a path of thought that I believe enabled me to view how all pain and suffering can and should be endured by us.
         If you really believe that God is God. If you really believe that God loves you and is truly concerned about you. Then I hope that the following will help you with your pains, with your suffering.
         Yesterday, was Trinity Sunday, the day we celebrate three persons in one God. A mystery, yes! Can our finite minds understand it? No. We cannot understand it anymore than we can understand infinity. The glass can only hold so much liquid. Our finite minds can only hold (and understand) finite things. We, as Catholics, believe that God, a perfect Being, has three persons (aspects, If you will) the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “…he that sees me sees the Father”. -1 And later, He said, “And I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete (Comforter/Advocate…my insert), that he may abide with you for ever” -2 For ever? The Holy Spirit, also must be a person in God.
         God, our God, is a loving God. His creation of love continues even now. He loves us so much, that He sent His Son. “By this has the charity of God appeared towards us, because God has sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by him.”-3 All of these above references show the Love of God, the Persons in God, (or, if you will… aspects of God, that because of God’s perfection must take on existence , and do so separately, but one.) This digression, I feel, was necessary so that we can address the loving nature of God. God, truly does loves us, and said in very simplistic terms, can do anything. (This is not a treatise or proof about the Trinity. No amount of writing can explain the infinite.)
         At the beginning of this article, I spoke of Padre Pio’s acceptance of all the pain that he experienced. How should we, you and I, view our pain? What pains do you live with? Physical pain and suffering that stays with you every day. You feel the ache every time you move? Does someone in your family, or maybe you, yourself, have an addiction to alcohol, to drugs, to pleasure? What worries or fears consume you? What are all of the negative experiences in your life that you wish would just go away and disappear?
         If God loves us, and can bring about anything He wishes, why does He allow us to suffer, to bear these pains, to experience all these worries and cares? If we view St. Pio’s life we would see an emerging growth. The more he suffered, the more pain he endured, the more closely he became united with Jesus. He, Padre Pio, did not glory in the pain itself, but rather the acceptance of the pain was his gift back to God. It was his thank you.
         Our attitude towards God, where we allow Him to be in our lives is extremely critical for us. If He is distant to us, if we talk to Him only when we want or need something then our fears, our worries, our hurts and pains will consume us. Our life without God will revolve solely around ourselves. The more distant we hold Him, the more we will focus on the pain to ourselves. We will only see our life and the things that are good and bad for us. How can we willingly accept the pain or the hurt if we do not cherish the existence of God in our lives?
St. Pio’s words, in one of his letters to his spiritual director, say it best. “My face blushes. I know very well that the cross is a token of love, a pledge of pardon, and that a love not fed and nurtured by the cross is not true love, but rather is reduced to a fire of straw.” He continues on that he “…feels the cross weigh heavily on his heart, and many times (do not be scandalized or horrified, O father, by what I am about to say) he goes in search of a merciful Cyrene to relieve and comfort him.”-4
         Each of us is asked to establish our own love affair with God. Each of us is unique to God and He wants nothing more from us than to love Him. He allows our pains and hurts, just as He allowed the stigmata of St. Pio. The fire of our love is tested, is tempered, and is enhanced through our sufferings and pains. We may understand all of this intellectually, but until we allow this love of God, this understanding to flow deeply in our hearts we will be offering God an empty or half-filled bowl. It should help us to realize that even Padre Pio, at times, wished to find someone else to carry his cross. It is easy to say, “I must accept my sufferings.” This, however, is a task that will carry on throughout the rest of our lives, becoming easier and easier as we grow in the love of our God.

-1 John 14, 9
-2 John 14, 16
-3 John 4, 9
-4 Secrets of a Soul (Padre Pio’s Letters to his Spiritual Directors)   Pauline Books and Media

May 21, 2011: End or Opportunity?

 
          Today, is May 21, 2011. We hear and see many declarations of the world’s end. Could it end today? Certainly, it could. Could it end tomorrow? Again, we have to answer with a “yes”. It could also end a thousand years from now or any day in between. Each day has the same degree of possibility. As we hear in the Bible, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. But of that day or hour no man knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray. For ye know not when the time is.” ^-1
         Man has a fascination with the end-time. What will happen? How will it happen? What will be left? Man’s curiousity and inquisitiveness comes into play with full force, here. And yet, we should just ask ourselves, “Why do we want to know”? “Are we changing our lives for the better?” The only thing we know for sure is that time will most certainly, run out. The when should really not be important to us. What is important is what are we doing with the time available?
         Let’s suppose that you did know the exact time. What would you change? Or, maybe better said, would you change? Curiousity can be just morbid, or it can prompt reform. An anticipated fearful event is NOT enough to prompt reform. Reform can only happen through our view of our lives, and our recognition of the gap between where we are and what Jesus asks of all mankind. But even then, the reform would be nothing more than a conforming to a plan laid out by someone else.
         It is our relationship with Jesus, which sparks our feelings of love and affection to Him that can and will prompt the necessary reform. We cannot undo our past. We cannot remake our lives based on something that may happen in our lifetime. Our reform can only be brought about by our recognition of His love for us. His life, His teachings, and His death were all because of His love for us.
         Padre Pio, in his writings^-points out, “…Jesus did not measure the blood He shed for the salvation of humanity, could He possibly measure my sins in order to lose me? I do not believe so.”^-2 Our awareness of the completeness of Christ’s love for us, only that is what will prompt us to change and reform our lives. His goodness and warmth that we feel and recognize will be the mechanism which will spur us to joyously follow Him. The end time is as important as what kind of washing machine we will buy next. His love is our life.

1- Mark 13,31-33
2- Secrets of a Soul, Padre Pio’s Letters to His Spiritual Directors

God’s Touch in Our Lives

       God continuously works in our lives. We may see these times as coincidences or as something special. That decision He leaves to us. I believe, God has been working on my life, well… for all of my life. I will try to keep this short, but I cannot guarantee it, right now.
       When I was in seventh or eighth grade, the nun teaching us spoke of a person living in Italy who was a member of the Capuchin religious community. His name was Padre Pio. This was the first time I had ever heard of the name, or of the man. I told my mother that I wanted to be a Capuchin priest. And, in her wisdom, she said something like, “Of course you can, but wait until you finish high school.” I exchanged letters with someone in Italy, I don’t know who. (Oh, how I wish I knew who it had been.) Teenage years came and I quickly forgot my desire of becoming a Capuchin priest.
       My life ambled all over the place. Meandered might be a better expression. My immaturity moved me in so many directions, some very good, and some not so. I would like to say I was searching, but that would imply purposeful pursuit. It was more like a reed shaken by the wind.
       Fast forwarding to the year 2008, three years ago, I was diagnosed with bladder cancer. Shortly before this time, Padre Pio again brushed my life. My son’s father-in-law also was diagnosed with cancer. It was through him that I again heard of Padre Pio. I can’t say I really began praying to him at that time, but it did serve to remind me of my first experiences and feelings towards this holy man. (Trying to keep this short, I urge you to click here on Padre Pio to read an earlier blog which describes Padre Pio’s impact on my operation to free me of cancer.
       A brief synopsis would be: though the operation was a success a catheter bag would constantly fill up with crimson urine. This condition lasted for close to five weeks. It cleared up on the day I was supposed to go on a Padre Pio retreat. I was unable to go on the retreat because of this condition, so St. Pio came to me. God once again chose to forcefully touch my life and show me His goodness and desire for me to straighten out my life.
       Yesterday was the third anniversary of my bladder operation. Last week. I went to the University of Pennsylvania Hospital for my six month checkup. The Cat scans, the chest x-rays, the blood work, all of which had been done for the checkup everything came out negative with no new cancer growth. Cathy and I were ecstatic over the findings and both felt a tremendous worry and burden lifted. When leaving the hospital garage, the first car that we see has the license plate:        PDRE PIO.        We looked at each other incredulously. How many thousands of cars go by that hospital every day? How many cars have that license plate? THAT car passes by that hospital, by us, as we emerge from the garage. That car might have even made a wrong turn at some point, and in so doing passes by us. God DOES care for us. He is in each and every one of our lives. He really is.
       I have mentioned on many occasions in these blogs that all of us have our problems and struggles. To act like we don’t have these is an affront to our fellow man, ourselves and our God. His desire is for us to reach out to everyone. We must show everyone that He loves and is concerned about us. With God there is no coincidence. He is constantly with us, teaching us, guiding us and shaping our lives. He does not force. He merely presents us with choices, which we can lovingly accept or ignore. The choice is always ours.

Padre Pio

      Sunday morning as I was getting ready for church, I saw my Padre Pio statue on the dresser. I didn’t think much about it. But then, this thought came into my head: