The sign that our Lord willingly and devoutly gives to his people is the sign of the cross.
The sign of Jonah, whereby he dwells in the earth for three days, passing through death, and comes out the other side, the victor.
And through his death and resurrection, we are also delivered from death.
The signs that our Lord gives us in the cross are the sacraments.
By which we are brought to repentance and to the grace of God, to his friendship, and to the family of God.
The Pharisees who asked our Lord for a sign were not interested in anything that the Lord had to offer.
Our Lord came to bring repentance, grace, and forgiveness.
They were scandalized by his miracles because he worked them on the Sabbath.
They were not interested in anything that the Lord had to offer.
They were not interested in anything that the Lord had to offer.
They were not interested in anything that the Lord had to offer.
They weren't interested in the signs that he had to offer.
They were only interested in their own selfishness, their own self-preoccupation,
and in getting rid of Jesus because he stood in their way.
Today we celebrate a vote of mass in honor of Padre Pio.
Padre Pio was a sign given by God to a generation that needed to repent.
And he's still a sign for us today because we also need him.
We need to repent of our sins and find the grace of God.
Padre Pio worked miracles, many signs and wonders that people saw,
and through which they were delivered from physical ailments, difficulties in their lives,
but most of all from their sinfulness.
And it happened quite often that people would come to San Giovanni Rotondo
to find Padre Pio purely out of curiosity.
Sometimes there were people that had no faith at all
and were just there simply for the novelty of it.
They would go to Padre Pio.
Padre Pio would know their hearts and he'd send them away,
throw them out.
Some of them went away, never came back.
But many of them found themselves, so to speak,
haunted by the little friar of Pietrocina.
And after they had been sent away by Padre Pio very gruffly,
they'd enter into themselves and they'd recognize
that the real meaning of the signs associated with Padre Pio,
even the stigmata,
had nothing to do with the wonders that they involved,
but with the grace that God wished to bestow on his children.
So many of these curiosity seekers came back to Padre Pio.
and repented and received the grace of God.
They saw the sign of Padre Pio's blessed hand
absolving them from their sins
and heard the words of forgiveness,
the forgiveness of Christ.
That's the real sign that we celebrate in the sacraments
and most especially in the Eucharist,
our Lord's unconditional saving love
by which he pours himself out.
For us, and we cannot let the blood of Christ
be poured out in vain.
And that's one of the reasons that Padre Pio
sent many people away from the confessional,
because he didn't want to pour out
the blood of Christ in vain.
The blood of Christ, the body of Christ in the Eucharist
is the great sign, the great mystery of our salvation
that calls us to repentance
and to the desire to receive God's grace and forgiveness.
May we always treasure the signs
that the Lord has chosen to give us
and humble ourselves before these signs
and enter into them
because they're not merely signs of something distant.
But as we know, the sacraments
are signs instituted by Christ
that give us grace.
What they represent actually happens
as we are about to experience
when we receive our Lord in the blessed sacrament
and find his power and forgiveness
for the salvation of our lives.
The salvation of our souls
and the glory of the most holy trinity.
The salvation of our souls
and the glory of the most holy trinity.
The salvation of our souls
and the glory of the most holy trinity.