Anyone with doubts about the effectiveness of traditional Catholic prayer and relics need only look at Pope John Paul II — whose life, as it turns out, was even more prayerful, self-sacrificing, and mystical that previously related.
Submitted by Doria2
Satan went beyond all the limits of deception when he went to Father Pio pretending to be a penitent. This is the Father Pio’s testimony:
“One day, while I was hearing confessions, a man came to the confessional where I was. He was tall, handsome, dressed with some refinement and he was kind and polite. He started to confess his sins, which were of every kind: against God, against man and against the morals. All the sins were obnoxious!
I was disoriented, in fact for all the sins that he told me, but I responded to him with God’s Word, the example of the Church, and the morals of the Saints. But the enigmatic penitent answered me word for word, justifying his sins, always with extreme ability and politeness. He excused all the sinful actions, making them sound quite normal and natural, even comprehensible on the human level.
He continued this way with the sins that were gruesome against God, Our Lady, the Saints, always using disrespectful round-about argumentation. He kept this up even with with the foulest of sins that could be conjured in the mind of a most sinful man. The answers that he gave me with such skilled subtlety and malice surprised me.
I wondered: who is he? What world does he come from? And I tried to look at him in order to read something on his face. At the same time I concentrated on every word he spoke, trying to discover any clue to his identity.
But suddenly; through a vivid, radiant and internal light I clearly recognized who he was. With a sound and imperial tone I told him, “Say long live Jesus, long live Mary!”
As soon as I pronounced these sweet and powerful names, Satan instantly disappeared in a trickle of fire, leaving behind him an unbearable stench.”
(Don Pierino is a priest and one of the father Pio’s spiritual sons who were present at the same time.)
Dr. Wanda Poltawska was a specialist in family issues, and made important contributions to Wojtyla’s early thought on family matters. [6] Many of her ideas were incorporated in his first non-fiction book Love and Responsibility in 1960, and eventually influenced Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae. [7] Much later, after Wojtyla had become Bishop of Krakow, she assisted him in founding an Institute for the Family at the curia.
Though still a young man, Karol Wojtyla had lost both of his parents and his brother, and had no real family of his own. But his loneliness was assuaged by the deepening of his friendship with the Poltawskas. The couple’s own family life had been enriched with children, and eventually Wanda and Andrei were blessed with four young ones. Wojtyla was so close to them that they grew up calling him their “uncle.”
As the years progressed, he earned two doctorates, became a university professor, and eventually was nominated auxiliary bishop of Krakow. Then, while participating in the Second Vatican Council in Rome, he received the tragic news from his adopted family that Wanda had been diagnosed with an intestinal tumor. The doctors had decided to operate, and if the growth were cancerous, she was given only eighteen months to live. [8] They also told her that there was a ninety-five percent chance that the tumor was malignant.
When the news that his close friend and collaborator had been hospitalized reached Bishop Wojtyla, he immediately began to ask for prayers from his fellow priests, friends, and religious sisters. Wojtyla prayed intensely that further tragedy would not strike this woman, who had endured five cruel years in a concentration camp. Dr. Poltawska was only forty years old, and her four children still needed her. The Polish bishop’s thoughts soon turned to a man he had not seen for fifteen years, a man whose sanctity and prayers he greatly respected.
Rome, Italy, Aug 9, 2010 / 09:49 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A gold reliquary containing Padre Pio relics was the apparent object of thieves’ interest on Sunday evening. Sacrilege has been ruled out by a Capuchin spokesperson, as the attempt was likely for the gold, not the relics themselves. Embedded in the altar of a chapel in the San Giovanni Rotondo cemetery in Italy is a glass and gold reliquary that contains some hair, wrappings that would have covered the saint’s pierced side, and a pair of gloves, reported Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper.
SAN GIOVANNI ROTONDO, Italy, APRIL 20, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The body of St. Pio of Pietrelcina was moved from its 42-year resting spot in the shrine of San Giovanni Rotondo to a new church inaugurated by Benedict XVI when he visited the spot last year.
The remains of St. Pio of Pietrelcina (1887-1968), commonly known as Padre Pio, were moved Monday. His religious order chose the date to coincide with the fifth anniversary of Benedict XVI’s election as Pope and the opening of their 126th provincial chapter.
The new Church of St. Pio of Pietrelcina offers more space for pilgrims and easier access to the disabled. Padre Pio’s tomb is the third most visited Catholic site in the world, after the Vatican and the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.
If the devil has the audacity to tempt Jesus, do you think he will avoid you? He will try everything in his power to get us to commit a sin and then he will rejoice. He will lie and tell us that our sinful action “isn’t that bad”. He will tell us that the action will feel good. He will say that it won’t hurt anybody. Don’t listen to him, as he’s nothing more than a liar.
While it’s important to fear the devil, it’s equally important to remember that he can’t make us do anything. He can suggest things and try to fool us, but unless we go along with him, we can’t fall into sin. Also, don’t forget that God is more powerful than the devil. Pray each day for the grace to be able to resist the devil’s attack. In addition, pray the rosary daily to ask for Our Lady’s intercession. St. Padre Pio stated, “Love the Madonna and pray the rosary, for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today.” Above all, don’t panic. If we remain close to the Lord, especially during times of temptation, we will be victorious!
A woman carrying a suitcase got in line with the other ladies waiting to confess to Padre Pio. He was, by now, famous for the many wonders obtained by his prayers and intercession.
When her turn came, she opened the suitcase in front of the well known priest and burst into tears. In the suitcase, along with the clothing, was the body of a little boy about six months old.
She had traveled to San Giovanni Rotondo, the home of Padre Pio, with the intent of asking him to heal her sick son. On the way, the boy died. However, with immense faith, the grieving woman put the infant into the suitcase and continued her journey.
As the poor hysterical mother screamed in desperation, Padre Pio took the little boy’s body in his arms and prayed for a few moments. Then he said authoritatively to the mother, “But why are you yelling so much? Don’t you see that your child is sleeping?”
The woman stopped her shouting to find that her little boy was breathing normally — sleeping tranquilly. A baby was raised from the dead — a miracle.
St. Padre Pio was especially careful for the well-being, spiritual and material, of those whom he had accepted as his spiritual son or daughter. He would look after them from a distance, with the help of their guardian angel. The following story is related in Send Me Your Guardian Angel, a book on Padre Pio’s relations with the angels by Fr. Alessio Parente, OFM Cap.. Fr, Alessio had the privilege of taking care of Padre Pio in the later years of his life.
Once a person was accepted as Padre Pio’s spiritual child, he would never abandon them, no matter what danger they were in. Even if he did not visit them personally, they would receive his help through his Guardian Angel.
Cecil Humphrey-Smith, a well known gentleman from England, is Padre Pio’s spiritual child. Whilst in Italy, during the time Padre Pio was alive, Cecil had a car crash and was very seriously injured. A friend of his, seeing him in such a bad condition afterwards, went to the Post Office and sent a telegram to Padre Pio requesting his prayers for the injured Cecil. When he presented the telegram at the desk, the man gave him back a telegram from Padre Pio assuring his prayers for Cecil Humphrey-Smith’s recovery.
It was some months before Cecil was in good enough shape to travel again, but immediately he had recovered he made tracks for San Giovanni Rotondo. On this occasion, both Cecil and his friend met Padre Pio and they thanked him for his prayers. At the same time, they were curious to know how he came to know about the accident and how a telegram had arrived in such a short space of time. In response to their demand, Padre Pio, in his humoristic way said: “Do you think the Angels go as slowly as the planes?”
The Incredible Story of Maria Esperanza
During these younger years Esperanza made the acquaintance of Padre Pio, the most famous mystic since Francis of Assisi, who had told people he expected to be visited by an extraordinary woman.
“There is a young woman who is going to come from South America,” Pio said. “When I leave, she will be your consolation.”
When finally they met, Maria would hear his “call” even though she was far away near Rome and she would head for his monastery at San Giovanni Rotundo on the barren east side of Italy – where despite throngs waiting to see him the aged priest called out, “Esperanza!”
On September 23, 1968, Maria had a vision of Padre Pio. “Esperanza,” he said in the vision, “I have come to say good-bye. My time has come. It is your turn.” As this was happening Geo watched with amazement as his wife’s face transfigured into that of the Italian priest. The next day they saw in the newspaper that Pio (whose funeral would be attended by more than a million) had died.
Submitted by Bob Stanley
“Pray, pray to the Lord with me, because the whole world needs prayer. And every day, when your heart especially feels the loneliness of life, pray. Pray to the Lord, because even God needs our prayers.” — St. Pio of Pietrelcina
Submitted by Bob Stanley, The Catholic Treasure Chest
Vatican City, Jun 16, 2009 / 01:43 pm (CNA).- The Vatican announced today the details of Pope Benedict XVI’s pastoral visit to San Giovanni Rotondo, the town in the Italian Region of Puglia where St. Padre Pio lived.
The Holy Father is scheduled to arrive at the “Antonio Massa” sports ground at 9:15 a.m. on June 21. He will proceed to venerate the tomb of St. Padre Pio at the shrine of Our Lady of Grace, where he will pray and light two candles, symbolizing his apostolic visit and that of Pope John Paul II.
Afterwards, the Pope will preside at a Mass in the Plaza of the Church of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, where he will also pray the midday Angelus.
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