We live in an age of comfort and ease. Progress is measured in terms of quantum leaps in medical science that have prolonged human life. Hence, pain and suffering are definitely not considered pleasant topics of thought and conversation. In business, risk is managed and avoided so that stakeholders are assured of a healthy return on investment. Paradoxically, the hectic pace of business also spawns stress and illness. Worse than this, people often turn their backs to the kinder and gentler world that has become almost anachronistic in the face of cutthroat competition.
But what about those who have to live with the reality of pain and suffering that illness and other frailties of the human condition bring about? They have an iconic role model, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina (Italy).
Almost eight years ago, on 16 June 2002, declared Blessed Pio of Pietrelcina a Saint of the Catholic Church, 34 years after his death. For fifty years, he bore the wounds of Christ on his hands. He suffered quietly and nobly, regarding himself as a willing victim. Unlike Simon of Cyrene who carried Christ’s cross, he voluntarily carried his own and other people’s crosses as he endured five decades of stigmatization.
At his shrine in San Giovanni Rotondo in southeast Italy, the erstwhile Padre Pio is honored by thousands of pilgrims who find solace and inspiration in his shining example of saintly perseverance. Nestled on top of a hill with a panoramic view of the fertile plains of Mount San Angelo in Foggia, the new shrine dedicated to the memory of Saint Pio beckons to pilgrims from all over the world who want to immerse themselves in the same ambience that nurtured the sainthood of a simple man.
To understand the agony of Padre Pio’s stigmatization is to comprehend the rationale behind suffering and illness that is part of the reality of mankind’s earthly existence. But unlike ordinary mortals who have experienced sickness either in sporadic episodes strewn throughout their lives, or as a lingering or painful terminal condition, Padre Pio suffered stigmatization from age 31 to the time of his death in September 1968 at age 81.
The depth and breadth of Padre Pio’s epic struggle is best understood by reading the book, 100 Letters for You edited by an Italian priest, Father Francesco de Colacelli. The letters were written to his spiritual directors in the Capuchin order, Fathers Benedetto and Agostinho, both of San Marco, Italy and his spiritual children who corresponded with him regularly. The letters serve as a “clear and luminous mirror,” writes Father Colacelli in the preface, for gleaning Padre Pio’s spiritual heroism.
His letter to Padre Agostino on 13 February 1913 (he was only 26 years old and into the third year of his priesthood) is particularly instructive. Padre Pio writes: “Do not fear, I will make you suffer, but I will also give you the strength to suffer,” Jesus tells me continually.”
This is an article of faith that is yet to become embedded in many Christians’ consciousness. Pain and suffering are not eagerly sought but studiously avoided. In Padre Pio’s stigmatization we find a sterling example of a man who not only endured pain and suffering. He also made his personal battle a platform for glorifying the splendor of God’s grace and mercy.
He writes about the message conveyed to him by Jesus Christ:
“I want your soul to be purified and tried by a daily hidden martyrdom; do not be frightened if I allow the devil to torment you, the world to disgust you and your nearest and dearest to afflict you, for nothing will prevail against those who groan beneath the Cross for love of me and whom I have taken care to protect.”
To understand the foregoing statement, we need to realize that every day for nearly 50 years, Padre Pio found himself engaging the devil in actual combat, both physical and psychological. As he felt the pain from his wounds, he actually experienced the presence of a devil that perennially taunted and teased him.
The phrase about “your nearest and dearest to afflict you” also brings to mind Christ’s own experience in being betrayed by his dearest disciple Peter, not just once but three times, in the garden of Gethsemane before his crucifixion. We feel most aggrieved and pained when it is those closest to us --- be they parents or siblings, close relatives, direct superiors or subordinates, or business associates --- who afflict us with their infidelity, disloyalty or even sheer indifference.
The next passage in Padre Pio’s recollection evokes deep thought and reflection:
“How many times,” said Jesus to me a little while ago, “would you not have abandoned me if I had not crucified you? And again from Jesus: “Beneath the Cross one learns to love and I do not grant this to everyone, but only to those souls who are dearest to me.”
Christ was the one who was crucified, so why is it that, according to Padre Pio, the Lord says, “If I had not crucified you?” Truly, it is us who feel we have been crucified every time we are afflicted by “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” and this often drives us away from the path of faith and goodness, thereby “abandoning” the Lord in the process, or turning away from God.
In a letter to Raffaelina Cerase, one of his spiritual children, on 29 March 1914, Padre Pio points out: “The storm that rages around you and perturbs you is certainly proof of this love (of Jesus for you).” This is borne our by his own daily struggle, from which he derived abundant joy despite unspeakable pain, as he describes in this passage:
“My joy is by no means foolish, for in the combat there is a crown to be won and the better fight put up by the soul the more numerous the palms of victory. Don’t you know how the apostle St. James exhorted his brethren to rejoice when they were harassed by various storms and numerous reverses: ‘Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials.’” (James 1:2)
Indeed, Padre Pio is the champion of the spirit, who cheerfully embraced pain and suffering, as he demonstrated his solidarity with Christ.
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