The Notebook
Fr Silvester O’Flynn
Blessed Paul VI called Padre Pio a living crucifix in the 20th-Century. Perhaps God saw that something more vivid than a crucifix of wood, stone or metal was needed to engage the people of our time. And so, a young Capuchin priest in Italy was chosen by God to carry the wounds of love into a world becoming more secularistic and self-centered.
But the cross of Jesus must never be isolated from his glorious resurrection. St Paul desired to know Jesus in the power of his resurrection and to partake of his sufferings by being moulded to the pattern of his death. The Cross and the Resurrection are two parts of the one story, so the one who suffered the wounds of the passion became equally known as a wonder-worker, sharing also in the healing power of Jesus.
Why was it necessary that Jesus should suffer? Many answers have been given to that question. The answer in John’s gospel is that total, self-giving love was the reason. “Having loved those who were his in the world, he loved them to the end” (John 13:1). “No one has greater love than to lay down his life for his friend” (John 15:13). Notice how Jesus calls us friend. He is the loving friend who entered into total solidarity with every kind of human suffering.
The physical suffering endured by Jesus was brutal…scourging with whips, crowned with thorns, falling under the cross, hands and feet nailed to the cross, the dreadful thirst. He experienced the suffering of all who are victims of false accusations and a miscarriage of justice. He entered emotional suffering in the loneliness of being betrayed and denied by some of his closest associates.
He suffered family pain in seeing how the sword of sorrow pierced the heart of his mother. He even endured the dreadful darkness of feeling alienated from his Father, crying out: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34). By entering into solidarity with all kinds of suffering, Jesus is telling us that he is with us. Whatever suffering or dark valley we enter he is there before us, a friend waiting to accompany us.
Wounds of love
Padre Pio was chosen to remind us of the wounds of love that Jesus suffered. The wounds of the stigmata caused intense pain. He suffered emotionally through the problems and trials that countless people lay before him. Nor was he spared from the spiritual struggles of violent temptations against faith, hope and purity. As his ministry in the confessional snatched souls from Satan’s grasp, he was number one on the devil’s hit list.
We live in a permissive world gone very soft and self-centered. In poorer times people were more open to their need of God. Pope Francis reminds us of the wisdom of the poor: “In their difficulties they know the suffering Christ. We need to let ourselves be evangelised by them.”
God chose Padre Pio to be a living crucifix, manifesting the wounds of love that Jesus suffered.
Prayer of St Pio after Holy Communion
Stay with me, Lord, for I need your presence so that I do not forget you.
Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak and I need your strength, that I may not fall so often.
Stay with me, Lord, for you are my life, and without you, I am without fervour.
Stay with me, Lord, for you are my light, and without you, I am in darkness.
Stay with me, Lord, to show me your will.
Stay with me, Lord, so that I hear your voice and follow you.
Stay with me, Lord, for I desire to be always in your loving company.
St John Paul II canonised more saints than all his predecessors. He wrote of the lived theology of the saints. While the sins of the Church receive massive publicity, the lives of the saints reveal the great holiness and social work of the Church. Great saints are raised up by God in answer to the needs of the time. To challenge our age of secularisation, permissiveness and self-centeredness, God called Saint Pio to be a living crucifix. Jesus is the Lamb of God whose life was sacrificed to atone for the sins of the world. By his wounds we are healed.