The great Capuchin priest, mystic, confessor and stigmatist, St Pio of Pietralcina, was a fervent devotee of the Christmas mystery. The following reflections taken from his handwritten notebooks undoubtedly disclose his intimate relationship with the Divine Baby of Bethlehem.
The letter to the Galatians says: “But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal 4, 4-5). For Padre Pio, Christ’s loving solidarity with humanity subjected him to the most humbling conditions in order to save it. “Far into the night, at the coldest time of the year, in a chilly grotto, more suitable for a flock of beasts than for humans, the promised Messiah – Jesus – the saviour of mankind, comes into the world in the fullness of time”.
In his Gospel’s prologue, St John admits: “He came to his own home, and his own people received him not” (Jn 1, 11). Padre Pio meditates how the “infant God” was rejected by the powerful but warmly welcomed by the simple ones. “There are none who clamour around him: only an ox and an ass lending their warmth to the newborn infant; with a humble woman, and a poor and tired man, in adoration beside him… He had been expected for 40 centuries; with longing sighs the ancient Fathers had implored his arrival. The sacred scriptures clearly prophesy the time and the place of his birth, and yet the world is silent and no one seems aware of the great event. Only some shepherds, who had been busy watching over their sheep in the meadows, come to visit him. Heavenly visitors had alerted them to the wondrous event, inviting them to approach his cave”.
The Lord tells us: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways... For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isa 55, 8-9). Out of his love for us, the Son of God willfully ignores “glittering palaces … filled with vain knowledge and pride” and chooses instead a humbling manger so that his renown and power are made visible to everyone.
Thus, Padre Pio comments: “But God, always ready to confound the wisdom of the world, shatters their plans. Contrary to the expectations of those lacking in Divine wisdom, he appears among us in the greatest abjection, renouncing even birth in St Joseph’s humble home, denying himself a modest abode among relatives and friends in a city of Palestine. Refused lodging among men, he seeks refuge and comfort among mere animals, choosing their habitation as the place of his birth, allowing their breath to give warmth to his tender body. He permits simple and rustic shepherds to be the first to pay their respects to him, after he himself informed them, by means of his angels, of the wonderful mystery”.
Hence, Padre Pio concludes that humility is the greatest lesson which the Baby of Bethlehem gives us. “So plentiful, O Christians, are the lessons that shine forth from the grotto of Bethlehem! Oh how our hearts should be on fire with love for the one who with such tenderness was made flesh for our sakes! … Let us ask this Divine child to clothe us with humility, because only by means of this virtue can we taste the fullness of this mystery of Divine tenderness”.
Lord Jesus may you increase and I decrease. AMEN.
■ Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap
San Gwann