February 1, 2007
Quite frankly, I was expecting the worst. When someone told me there was a new video released on Saint Padre Pio, I wasn’t very interested in seeing it. After all, all the other videos I saw about this great man always were a bit “sappy,” although nowadays the kids call it “cheesy.” However, I did see this video, and was I surprised. Yes, it was cheesy—like a hot fresh pizza piled high with homemade mozzarella!
The video, an Italian import simply entitled “Padre Pio: Miracle Man ” was produced and released shortly before his canonization in 2002. Everything about it, the screenplay, cinematography, acting, and even music—fantastico! The movie is very authentic and wonderfully captures the drama of a man who was beloved by the faithful, but often misunderstood by the clergy. At an early age he was ushered into a supernatural struggle between good and evil, a battle for souls he would fight for the rest of his life.
Many of you know that Padre Pio was a Capuchin Franciscan friar who lived a life of heroic virtue. Chances are many of you not only have heard of this extraordinary man, but have read books about him, or perhaps even visited his birthplace and tomb. Each year, literally millions of pilgrims travel to the Foggia region in southern Italy to visit the friary of San Giovanni Rotundo where Padre Pio lived and served—and suffered for over fifty years.
Yes, the video made it quite clear—Padre Pio’s vocation in life was to serve and to suffer. Yet, he did not suffer alone, but rather “through Him, with Him, and in Him.” If there was one man who was worthy of bearing the title “Christian,” it was this man. This is the reason why he is now called Saint Padre Pio—because he became so conformed to the life of the Lord. The Church looks beyond extraordinary “charisma,” the stigmata, the ability to read hearts, bilocate, or the ability to know future events, and looks at how a person suffers, loves, and serves.
It is important to note that suffering was not part of God’s plan for mankind. Death, too, became part of the plan by default, or rather, the fault of man choosing his will over God’s will. The Bible makes it quite clear that the Garden of Eden was far from a place of pain; rather, it was an oasis of pleasure and peace. While the story of creation and the “cracking” of the world may or may not be taken literally, the Bible tells us the truth—God built something very beautiful and we did something very bad, a sad scenario played out every day. As we sang in the sixties, “And the beat goes on,” but in this regard, the saints stop the music.
Why we suffer is an age old question philosophers and theologians attempt to answer. Some religions would say that suffering is really something in the mind and that through meditation we can rise above it like those Hindu holy men who sit on nails or walk over hot coals. Others have proposed that suffering is part of our fate in life, and maybe we’ll fare better “next time around.” Then there are those who say that when suffering is unavoidable and unnecessary, beat your day of demise to the punch—push a button and check out early. To suffer without meaning is a pity, to suffer with Christ is powerful.
Padre Pio was not a philosopher, nor a theologian; he was a mystic and a prophet. His was not to ponder the mystery of suffering, but rather to unite it to love. Here we have no distant medieval legend, but a modern day witness of the power of one human heart consumed by Divine love. His life also reveals that there is an evil enemy that lurks about bringing destruction in the world and even division in the Church.
The life of Padre Pio gives us a message loud and clear: “be faithful to your mission.” This video is more engaging than entertaining; but most of all it’s provocative—you walk away thinking. This is something “cheesy” productions don’t do. “You tried the rest, now try the best.” Finally, a video on Padre Pio which even your teens will enjoy—and better than a double cheese pizza!
Fr. Glenn Sudano, CFR
Most Blessed Sacrament Friary, Newark, NJ
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Dear Friends,
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Thank you!
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