# 16 OF 25 - THIS HAPPY BOOK REPORT ON PADRE PIO

#16 OF 25 - THIS HAPPY BOOK REPORT ON PADRE PIO

IN PURSUIT OF THE TRUTH - HTTP://WWW.CINOPSBEDGONEBLOGSPOT.COM - SAT. AUG. 11/18

Padre Pio - The True Story by C. Bernard Ruffin

Chapter  5, "A Holy Priest, A Perfect Victim" p. 77-78

 

    "God seemed to be playing a game of hide-and-seek. This oscillation between extreme exaltation and violent depression is a common experience among mystics. Both St. Catherine of Sienna and St. Teresa of Avila spoke of a "game of love," in which God seems, by turns, to hide and then return to the soul. At time Pio was "almost to paradise"; at other times, he felt as if Satan were about to snatch him out of the Lord's hands. Benedetto assured him that this was a normal part of spiritual growth. As Pio grew in faith, gradually be found himself able to rise above the temptations of the devil and worry less about the possibility of being successfully tempted....

 

    On the afternoon of Sept. 7, 1910, Padre Pio appeared at Pannullo's office and showed him what appeared to be puncture wounds in the middle of his hands. Pati asked him what had happened. Pio told him he had bee praying in the Piana Romana when Jesus and Mary appeared to him and gave him the wounds.... These wounds, which Pio tried to conceal, were a source of of great embarrassment... you must do say to Jesus, "Do with me as Thou wilt." ...Padre Pio wrote:

    "Yesterday something happened, something I cannot explain or understand. In the middle of the palms of my hands there appeared a small coin, accompanied by a strong sharp pain in the middle of the red spots. The pain was most intense in the middle of the left hand, so much so that I still feel it. Also I feel some pain in the soul of my feet. This phenomena has bee going on for almost a year, yet recently there has been a brief period of time in which it has not occurred...."

Chapter 6 - Between and Hell p. 81-84

    "Immediately after he received Padre Pio's letter describing the stigma, Padre Benedetto wrote to the minister general of the Capuchin Order, Padre Pacifico of Seggiano, telling him about the young friar's holiness and asking about the advisability of sending him once again to live in a religious community. After describing Padre Pio as "a young priest of angelic character." the provincial mention Pio's offering of himself as a victim of divine love and his mysterious illness, linking the two phenomena together: "He had also asked to participate in the pains of the Savior, and has been granted this in an ineffable way.

    Migraine headaches, resistant to any remedy, and an illness inexplicable to any doctor, however renowned in the healing art, have come to torment him along with great spiritual suffering. It was suspected that he had been stricken with tuberculosis, and doctors ordered him to breathe the air of his own town, especially when uncontrollable vomiting prevented him from holding even a spoonful of broth for days and days."

      After telling Padre Pacifico about the stigmata, which he judged to be "the seal of a special calling," Padre Benedetto asked for advice. Several times in recent years, he says, Padre Pio had been sent to various friaries, only to suffer relapses and have to return home. "Well aware that until now this has been the will of God," Benedetto writes, "I want to summon him at this time to return to the cloister in any way possible. I am concerned, however {if anything should go amiss}, that the fault would be mine." Then Benedetto asks, "What do you say about this?" ....

    While awaiting his appointment with Sister Death, Padre Pio was to study sacred eloquence, the course of study that normally followed ordination.... The friary of San Nicandro was built in 1573 adjacent to the tomb and basilica of the Roman martyr by that name.  The community consisted of thirteen men, nine priests, and four brothers. The father guardian, or local superior, was thirty-three-old Evangelista of San Marco in Lamis. Padre Agostino was vicar as well as professor of sacred eloquence.

      Pio arrived on October 28, and for the first few day things proceeded smoothly. In addition to contemplation and community worship, each member of the "family" normally had a job to perform. Padre Pio, besides his studies, was to instruct the children of the town in Christian doctrine and teach them hymns.... Padre Evangelista decided to take Pio once again to Naples for medical consultation. As usual, the doctors could not diagnose the illness, and the two friars left the clinic knowing no more than before....

    To this point, Padre Pio had been regarded simply as an ideal religious who had the misfortune to be suffering from an undiagnosable illness. The stigmata had disappeared again... Toward the of November 1911, however, the supernatural side of Padre Pio's life burst into the open. Geo. H. Kubeck