Dr. Taylor Marshall posted a link to a bit of authentic video footage of St. Pio, doing “ordinary” things. It runs about 8 minutes and is certainly worth a look. The video actually gets better as it goes along.
St. Padre Pio relics, a new church, and a miracle of healing
St. Padre Pio relics, a new church, and a miracle of healing reported in Brownsville.
Religious Art Critic: “Notice that both the damned and the saved have expressions of surprise on their faces.”
The damned are surprised to be going to hell because they were proud and self righteous (and didn’t think they were headed for hell) or scornful and unbelieving (and didn’t believe such a place existed.)
The saved are surprised because they were humble and didn’t think they would make it into heaven.
St. Pio: body … soul … and reports of his ability to bilocate
On the feast of Padre Pio, many good Catholics and also many non-Catholics and even atheists recall the stories of his miraculous bilocations. St. Pio of Pietrelcina was known to have bilocated many times throughout his life, a phenomenon which has become central to the telling of his mystical life.
Of course, Padre Pio was not the only saint to have bilocated, but he is certainly the saint most commonly associated with the mysterious gift.
Without denying the fact of bilocation as a phenomenon, there is still some difficulty in explaining just what this event really is. By “bilocation,” do we mean that Padre Pio was present in two places at the same time? If yes, was he present both in his soul and in his body, or just in his soul? If just in his soul, was he materially present, having acted through a momentarily constructed physical body, or was his presence only a spiritual action visible only to the intellect? What follows is more speculative than most of the writing on this blog.
I offer this speculation neither to give any definitive answers nor to induce doubt, but rather to help us all wonder at the glories of God’s works.
St Padre Pio’s Prayer after Communion
Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to have You present so that I do not forget You. You know how easily I abandon You.
Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak and I need Your strength, that I may not fall so often.
Stay with me, Lord, for You are my life and without You I am without fervor.
Stay with me, Lord, for You are my light and without You I am in darkness.
Stay with me, Lord, to show me Your will.
Stay with me, Lord, so that I hear Your voice and follow You.
Stay with me, Lord, for I desire to love You very much and always be in Your company.
Stay with me, Lord, if You wish me to be faithful to You.
Stay with me, Lord, as poor as my soul is I want it to be a place of consolation for You, a nest of Love.
Stay with me, Jesus, for it is getting late and the day is coming to a close and life passes, death, judgment and eternity approaches. It is necessary to renew my strength, so that I will not stop along the way and for that, I need You. It is getting late and death approaches, I fear the darkness, the temptations, the dryness, the cross, the sorrows. O how I need You, my Jesus, in this night of exile!
Stay with me tonight, Jesus, in life with all its dangers, I need You.
Let me recognize You as Your disciples did at the breaking of the bread, so that the Eucharistic Communion be the Light which disperses the darkness, the force which sustains me, the unique joy of my heart.
Stay with me, Lord, because at the hour of my death, I want to remain united to You, if not by Communion, at least by grace and love.
Stay with me, Lord, for it is You alone I look for, Your Love, Your Grace, Your Will, Your Heart, Your Spirit, because I love You and ask no other reward but to love You more and more.
With a firm love, I will love You with all my heart while on earth and continue to love You perfectly during all eternity. Amen.
Decision to transfer Padre Pio’s body causes a stir
Rome, Italy, Apr 7, 2010 / 07:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Capuchin friars of San Giovanni Rotondo have announced that St. Pio of Pietrelcina’s body will be moved into the new church, adjacent to his current resting place on the Monastery grounds. Against the wishes of some, the transfer will take place on the afternoon of April 19.
The destination of St. Pio’s body is the crypt of the new St. Pio Church. Adorned with mosaics that Pope Benedict described as “of an extraordinary beauty” when he blessed the church last June, the crypt will house the mortal remains of the Capuchin saint. Padre Pio’s body has been in the sanctuary of Santa Maria delle Grazie since he was interred there in 1968.
Archbishop Michele Castoro of Manfredonia, Vieste, and San Giovanni Rotondo announced the date of the transfer along with other civil and religious leaders at a press conference on Wednesday.
News of the possible relocation has caused resistance from some. There are those against it because it falls on the fifth anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s election, others who say it will interfere with the election of a new superior within the Capuchin order in the area, and those who say that the new church is too luxurious for the simple friar.
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