The saint of Calcutta, Blessed Mother Teresa, used to say: “Love until it hurts”. Hers was a simple, succinct yet profound comment of what Jesus defines as the apex of love, in the 15th chapter of John’s gospel. “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15, 13). The exemplary life of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, whose feast fell on 23 September, is a telling testimony of loving until it hurts.
Padre Pio shared intensely in Our Lord’s passion. Endowed with the unique gifts accorded to him by the Most High together with the interior and mystical sufferings he had to face day and night, his consecrated priestly life was a continual self-giving loving service to God and his fellow brothers and sisters. Such wondrous gifts of grace brought on the humble friar of the Gagrano harsh scrutiny and trials. His unparalleled charisms laid open before him the crucible but necessary path of purification, without which true holiness ends up being a farce. Fully aware that “Calvary is the hill of the saints,” the simple Capuchin friar confessed to one of his superiors: “I strive only to obey you, the good God having made known to me the one thing most acceptable to him and the one way for me to hope for salvation and to sing of victory.” Holy obedience was the key with which he could let himself be captivated by Christ’s attentive love for humanity.
In this, Padre Pio was scrupulously following what his father, Saint Francis, demanded from his friars: “The more strictly a religious holds himself bound by the yoke of holy obedience for the love of God, the more abundantly will he bear fruit unto God; the more entirely subject he is to his superior for the glory of God, the freer and the purer shall he be from sin. The truly obedient religious is like a knight well mounted and well armed, who fearlessly and securely makes his way through the ranks of the enemy, because none of them can harm him.” The false accusations against his saintly reputation helped Padre Pio to grow his childlike trust in God. Drawing from his suffering but peaceful heart, he never refrained from reminding the people who flocked to him asking for his counsel: “Abandon yourselves fully to the divine heart of Jesus, like a child in the arms of his mother.”
Since for him “it is under the Cross that one learns to love”, Padre Pio spent long hours at the confessional consoling and directing souls. He made himself available to all those who sought Christ’s forgiving and healing presence. He liked to repeat to them: “It seems that Jesus has no interest outside of sanctifying your soul.” His welcoming love of neighbour, particularly the poor, the suffering and the sick, motivated him to build the “House for the Relief of Suffering”, a first-class hospital equipped with the latest medical science and technology, in order that patients needs are met with genuine concern as well as constant attention. His unselfish love spurred him to love his brothers and sisters “to the end” (Jn 13, 1).
When speaking to South Korean children at the Municipal Stadium Mudung in Kwangju, in 1984, Blessed John Paul II told them: “In loving others, you will discover the meaning of life; indeed you will discover the giver of life, the creator of the world, the God and Father of us all.” As a true child of the Father, Saint Pio lived this ideal with ardent faith, uncompromising hope and relentless love, even at the cost of getting hurt!
Mario Attard OFM Cap