Christ, the Eternal High Priest, is simultaneously the priest, the altar and the victim of his own sacrificial love to God the Father. Padre Pio’s priestly life was an ongoing intercessory victimhood “for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt 26, 28).
From the early days of his priestly ministry, Padre Pio clearly understood his calling of being a priestly victim soul. Convincing evidence that he wholeheartedly espoused this singular vocation is the note he wrote as his personal souvenir of his priestly ordination when he celebrated his first solemn Mass on 14 August 1910. “O rex, dona mihi animam meam pro qua rogo et populum meum pro quo obsecro. [O King, let my life be given me at my petition and my people at my request] (Esther 7:3). Souvenir of my first Mass. Jesus, my heart’s desire and my life, today as I raise you up in trembling hands, in a mystery of love, may I be, with you, for the world, Way, Truth and Life, and for you a holy priest, a perfect victim. P. Pio, Capuchin.”
Another proof is Padre Pio’s letter of 29 November 1910 to his spiritual director, Padre Benedetto. “Now, my dear Father, I want to ask your permission for something. For some time past I have felt the need to offer myself to the Lord as a victim for poor sinners and for the souls in Purgatory. This desire has been growing continually in my heart so that it has now become what I would call a strong passion. I have in fact made this offering to the Lord several times, beseeching him to pour out upon me the punishments prepared for sinners and for the souls in a state of purgation, even increasing them a hundredfold for me, as long as he converts and saves sinners and quickly admits to paradise the souls in Purgatory, but I should now like to make this offering to the Lord in obedience to you. It seems to me that Jesus really wants this. I am sure that you will have no difficulty in granting me this permission.”
The essence of Padre Pio’s spirituality was his continuous union with Christ. In a letter to his other spiritual director, Padre Agostino, Padre Pio powerfully described an experience he personally underwent on 16 April 1912 following a dreadful attack by the evil one. “I was hardly able to get to the divine Prisoner to say Mass. When Mass was over I remained with Jesus in thanksgiving. Oh, how sweet was the colloquy with paradise that morning! It was such that, although I want to tell you all about it, I cannot. There are things which cannot be translated into human language without losing their deep and heavenly meaning. The heart of Jesus and my own – allow me to use the expression – were fused. No longer were two hearts beating but only one. My own heart had disappeared, as a drop of water is lost in the ocean. Jesus was its paradise, its king. My joy was so intense and deep that I could bear no more and tears of happiness poured down my cheeks. Yes, dear Father, man cannot understand that when paradise is poured into a heart, this afflicted, exiled, weak and mortal heart cannot bear it without weeping. I repeat that it was the joy that filled my heart which caused me to weep for so long.”
Such a joyous relationship with Jesus, the Eternal High Priest, powered Padre Pio to offer himself unconditionally as a victim particularly at the time of consecration of every Mass he humbly and devotedly celebrated. Notice the depth, warmth and self-giving love this simple friar cherished to suffer with Jesus for humanity’s salvation. “I never tire of standing so long, and could not become tired, because I am not standing, but am on the cross with Christ, suffering with Him. The holy Mass is a sacred union of Jesus and myself. I suffer unworthily all that was suffered by Jesus who deigned to allow me to share in His great enterprise of human redemption… Everything that Jesus suffered in His passion I suffer also, inadequately, as much as it is possible for a human being. And through no merit of mine but just out of His goodness… This is my only comfort, that of being associated with Jesus in the Divine Sacrifice and in the redemption of souls”.
“Christ has entered, … into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf” (Heb 9, 24). He is our Intercessor in front of the Father, as he promised us: “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son; if you ask anything in my name, I will do it” (Jn 14, 13-14). Similarly, the core of Padre Pio’s priestly victimhood was his fervent intercession. For Fr John A. Schug OFM Cap, “in this absorption in God, especially at the Consecration of the Mass, he saw everyone who had asked his prayers. He told his friends that they could always reach him when he was at the altar. He saw them, actually, in his gaze on God”. Father Tarcisio of Cervinara OFM Cap asked the Capuchin who bore the stigmata: “Padre, are all the souls assisting at your Mass present to your spirit?” Padre Pio replied: “I see all my children at the altar, as in a looking glass.” These reflections show the loving commitment with which Padre Pio carried out his sacerdotal intercessory role, thereby completely fulfilling his priestly victimhood.
May every priest discover and live his priestly victimhood, the soul of his priesthood. It is only through such priests that God’s people could surrender to the Lord’s following urgent plea: “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3, 19).
Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap