[00:00] In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, today we celebrate the Feast of St. Pio. St. Padre Pio is a feast in our order because of the connection of Padre Pio with our Institute and its founding. Of course, St. Padre Pio is a gift in our time, and he is a wonderful example of one

[00:33] who united himself to the suffering of Christ. Padre Pio was a Capuchin. He was stationed for most of his time in San Giovanni Rotondo at the friary there, and of course, he is known for so many of his mystical experiences and gifts that he had. The reading of hearts, in which he could already tell people their sins, and when they admitted sins in confession, he would tell them what they left out, or if they left one out on

[01:05] purpose, he would rebuke them for having not confessed certain sins that they should have confessed. Padre Pio also, with this, had other mystical gifts. Of course, he is considered to be the first priest who had the stigmata, the wounds of Christ. He also had the gift of prophecy, on one occasion, of course, telling Pope John Paul that he

[01:38] would one day be the head of the Church, the Pope, and he had other mystical experiences. He had a great devotion to the holy angels, and could see his guardian angel, and would be visited by guardian angels of people. He would tell people, "Send your angel with your message," and friars would notice his being tired in the morning, and he replied that he had been kept all night by people's angels coming with their prayer requests and so forth.

[02:12] And he had a great devotion to the holy souls of purgatory. He offered his sufferings for both the conversion of sinners and the holy souls of purgatory, and he said that as many souls from purgatory of the deceased would come to the friary as the living, and so he had a constant experience of being visited by souls from purgatory asking for prayers in his intercession so that they could be released. One of his models was, or one of his phrases was to, "We must empty purgatory with our prayers,

[02:48] we must empty purgatory with our prayers." And several times he encountered souls from purgatory in the friary, I mean, he would see these souls from purgatory and would offer his prayers for them. And he had, of course, a tender love of Our Lady, saying, often telling people to love the Madonna and to pray the rosary, that the rosary is the weapon, he would say, the rosary is the weapon, and to love the Madonna and to make her loved.

[03:23] And he had a childlike devotion to Our Lady. And of course, he had an extreme devotion to Christ in the Eucharist, in the Blessed Sacrament and in the Holy Mass, celebrating Mass with such great tenderness and love and reverence. Other mystical gifts, of course, was his gift of bilocation that he, it is recorded that he bilocated on several occasions, even appearing to an American pilot outside his plane during World War II in the sky, telling him, the pilot, not to bomb his city, and the pilot

[03:58] going afterwards to visit Padre Pio and being converted. All these mystical gifts, all these experiences, and I admitted, I forgot out that he, of course, would sometimes be physically abused by the devil, that the devil would physically attack him and beat him up, and he would be found oftentimes on his floor with a pool of blood. And one occasion, there was a pillow under his head, and they asked how that pillow got

[04:31] there, the friars, and he responded that Our Lady had put the pillow under his head. But even these attacks of the devil, he offered it up for the conversion and salvation of souls, and the devil was so enraged because Padre Pio would spend long hours in the confessional, hearing confessions, just reinforcing how important that sacrament of confession is for the forgiveness of sins. And his guardian angel even helped him in the confessional when a man from Texas went

[05:03] to visit San Giovanni Rotondo, he wanted to go to confession to Padre Pio, and they told him that they were sorry, but Padre Pio doesn't speak English, and being a Texan, he would not be deterred. And so he stayed in line, and he actually went to confession to Padre Pio. And when they came out, they asked him, well, what happened, because the Padre doesn't speak English? And he said, not only did he speak English to me, he spoke with a Texan accent. Padre Pio had later revealed that his guardian angel translated for him in the confession.

[05:38] But with all these mystical gifts, we know that this is not what made Padre Pio a saint. It was his humility, his obedience, his great trust in God. Even in the midst of the physical suffering, spiritual sufferings that he underwent, he had a great trust in God, and offered himself for the conversion of souls, the salvation of souls. One of his, of course, most famous sayings is a saying that we can all take heart in.

[06:10] "Pray, hope, and don't worry." This is one of his famous sayings, "Pray, hope, and don't worry." We pray when we go through difficulties in life, trials of life. We hope, knowing in God's mercy and His greatness and His help, and the final one, don't worry. God does not want us to worry. We're not to worry. God does not want us to lose that peace, which has Christ as its source. And so, and of course, Padre Pio teaches us to unite ourselves to the suffering of Christ,

[06:44] that our time on earth is short, and I think Padre Pio was 81 years old when he died on this day in 1968. He was 81 years old. And those long years of suffering over, and now he shares forever the great glory in heaven. He said he would not enter heaven until all his spiritual children were there. Of course, he's in heaven, the Church canonized him, but it's just his, it was more to the fact of his great love for his spiritual children, wanting to help them to heaven.

[07:20] So we can ask Padre Pio today to help us on our path to heaven, to help us to not be discouraged when the cross is heavy, to not give up when we face trials and difficulties in life, and to see that all these things are permitted by God to help us in our conformity to Christ crucified, and that we may offer these sufferings, these trials for the conversion and salvation of souls, and that we may bring as many souls to heaven in the short time we have. So let Padre Pio pray for us today, and may we imitate him in our union with Christ and

[07:54] His great love and devotion to Mary, our mother. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.