On 23 September (tomorrow) falls the liturgical feast of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina. One of the basic features that emerge from this Capuchin stigmatised Priest’s spirituality is surely his unrelenting and loving solicitude for his brother priests. When studying closely his resourceful letters, one is amazingly struck by the Padre’s determination to offer himself as a living holocaust of love to God to make reparations for his fellow priests.
In this brief reflection I want to allude to an interesting letter that the young Padre Pio wrote to his spiritual Father, Padre Agostino, on 7 April 1913. “On Friday morning (28 March 1913) while I was still in bed, Jesus appeared to me. He was in a sorry state and quite disfigured. He showed me a great multitude of priests, regular and secular, among whom were several high ecclesiastical dignitaries. Some were celebrating Mass, while others were vesting or taking off the sacred vestments. The sight of Jesus in distress was very painful to me, so I asked him why he was suffering so much. There was no reply, but his gaze turned on those priests.
Shortly afterwards, as if terrified and weary of looking at them, he withdrew his gaze. Then he raised his eyes and looked at me and to my great horror I observed two tears coursing down his cheeks. He drew back from that crowd of priests with an expression of great disgust on his face and cried out: ‘Butchers!’ Then turning to me he said: ‘My son, do not think that my agony lasted three hours. No, on account of the souls who have received most from me, I shall be in agony until the end of the world. During my agony, my son, nobody should sleep. My soul goes in search of a drop of human compassion but alas, I am left alone beneath the weight of indifference. The ingratitude and the sleep of my ministers makes my agony all the more grievous.
“Alas, how little they correspond to my love! What afflicts me most is that they add contempt and unbelief to their indifference. Many times I have been on the point of annihilating them, had I not been held back by the Angels and by souls who are filled with love for me. Write to your (spiritual) father and tell him what you have seen and heard from me this morning. Tell him to show your letter to Father Provincial...”
This powerful letter excerpt automatically shows that some of us priests are letting down Christ due to our heartbreaking contempt, unbelief and indifference. Unfortunately, even nowadays, these three evils have not only besieged but also already pervaded a number of our priestly souls. Can a priest be a worthy representative of Christ if he ridicules, rejects and grows lukewarm in the matters of the Lord? Can a priest ever absolve himself from his priestly duty of “go(ing) after the one which is lost, until he finds it?” (Luke 15, 4).
The Apostle of the Gentiles is quite direct in reminding us priests that “those (of us) who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal 5, 24). It is high time that we priests both take our personal responsibility for our sins and humbly express our sorrow as well as willingly embrace a priestly victimhood so that our brother priests who have strayed from their vocation can find their way back to the Lord. Christ’s personal invitation to each one of us, his beloved anointed ones, is crystal clear: “And I have other (shepherds), that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd” (Jn 10, 16).
Let us associate ourselves with the humble friar of the Gargano, our priestly brother Padre Pio, in offering ourselves as living victims for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Catholic priesthood.
Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap
San Gwann