My reflection from Give Us this Day:
“Padre Pio, a capuchin friar of peasant background, spent virtually his entire life in a monastery in southern Italy. In most respects he was indistinguishable from his fellow friars. But for some mysterious purpose padre Pio was set apart. For the thousands of pilgrims who flock to hear him say mass, or to have him hear their confessions, or simply to rest their gaze on his bandaged hands, he was living proof for the existence of God.
Like Saint Francis, Pio was a stigmatic; he bore on his hands, feet, and sideshow the wounds of Christ. These mysterious open wounds, for which there was no natural explanation, appeared on his body in 1910 and remained until some months before his death. He was credited with thousands of miracles and enjoyed other extraordinary gifts, including the ability to ‘read the hearts’ of penitence. It was even said that he had the rare gift of bilocation – the ability to be in more than one
place at once. In other words, he was endowed with the full repertoire of supernatural gifts typically a scribed to medieval saints – though he was a man living in the glare of modern skepticism.”
“Pray, hope, and don’t worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer.” Saint Pio