#19 of 25 - THIS HAPPY BOOK REPORT ON PADRE PIO

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

IN PURSUIT OF THE TRUTH - HTTP://WWW.CINOPSBEGONE.BLOGSPOT.COM - FRI. JAN. 4, 2018

PADRE PIO - THE TRUE STORY BY C. BERNARD RUFFIN

CHAPTER 6 OF 34 - BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL, 89-93

"St. Francis of Assissi also appeared to him. "Seraphic Father," Pio complained, "are you expelling me from your Order? ... Aren't I your son anymore?" Pio seems to have assured by St. Francis that he would never be expelled from the Capuchin Order and that it was God's will for him to remain in Pietrelcina for a time....

"During late November and early December, Padre Agostino brought Holy Communion to his sick friend several times while he was in ecstasy. The visionary apparently did not realize that he had not received Communion because several times times during the ecstasy, he asked Jesus, "Did I receive Communion this morning?" Agostino could deduce from Pio's surprised responses that Jesus had told him that the professor had indeed brought Communion to the him. Jesus moreover told him the exact words that Agostino had uttered when when he was giving him Communion: "Pio, see Jesus" and "I command you to partake {of that Sacrament}, in the name of Jesus, whom I hold in my hands!" Jesus even repeated to Pio a French expression that Agostino had used Petit enfant. ...

"Everything Padre Pio said in his ecstaries - at least everything written down - was coherent. Dr. Lombardi was much struck by this fact. These were not the ravings of a delirious or mentally deranged man. Not only were Padre Pio's statements coherent, they also referred to real persons and real events. Of some of these he knew nothing in his normal state!

Perhaps most important, what Padre Pio said was edifying, theologically correct, and expressive of a deep love of God and man. There was nothing self-centered or uselessly sensational about Padre Pio's ecstasies. In them he asked to grow nearer to God and, in doing so, to serve individuals better.

Meanwhile Padre Pio's physical condition continued to cause concern.... Dr. Lombardi wrote, "From these facts I excluded a specific affection of the lungs, and I judged that this was a case of nervous disturbance."According to him Pio's illness was psychosomatic.

A psychosomatic affliction is one in which the nerves or emotions work on the physical system to make one truly physically ill. This does not mean that Padre Pio was a hypochondriac or a malingerer. His illness clearly seems to be a result, not of self centered anxieties or repressed conflicts, but of his off-repeated desire to suffer with Christ for the redemption of mankind. A times, as we have seen Padre Pio asked Jesus to permit him to take on the punishment due to other people's sins; often he asked to bear the physical miseries of others simply to give them some relief.

Evelyn Underhill observes that mystics and visionaries very often suffer from ill health, frequently from undiagnosable illnesses. SS. Bernard of Clairvaux, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Catherine of Siena,  and Catherine of Genoa are in this category. Miss Underhill felt that the usual poor health of many mystics may be caused by "the immense strain which the exalted spirit puts on the body which is adapted to a very different form of life. ...

Padre Evangelista, concerned because Pio had not been able to retain any food for weeks, first wrote to Padre Benedetto, begging the Provincial to permit the young man to return to Pietrelcina.... Padre Pacifico thereupon instructed Padre Benedetto to permit p\Padre Pio to return home. Benedetto, in a fury, wrote to Agostino, fuming: "I do not to make of this concern to run to Rome for a provision that is supposed to be left to my wisdom. I am troubled because it is a sign of a lack of respect and reverence towards one's immediate superiors...."

Benedetto nevertheless gave his consent for Padre Pio to return to Pietrelcina and authorized Agostino to accompany him. And so, on the morning of December 7, 1011, Pio and Agostino set out for Pietrelci. The next day Padre Pio was able to celebrate Mass in his hometown - "as if he had suffered nothing."

George H. Kubeck - Info: Padre Pio Foundation of America, (860) 635-4996, www.padrepio.com