Padre Pio Weekend

Concluding Mass - Knock Shrine -

Sunday, September 17, 2000

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Homily

"They are the ones He chose specially long ago and intended to become true images of His Son…"(Rom. 8:29).

These words, my dear friends, proclaimed today in the second reading from the Apostle Paul to the Romans, highlight the purpose of God's call and choice of each individual, namely that he or she become in the world in which they live "true images of His Son" (Rom. 8:29).

His call of Mary, recorded in the Gospel proclaimed today, enabled Her, not only to become the Mother of His Son, but also to become a veritable Icon of Jesus, one who in Her life reflected the beauty, the truth and the life of the Son of God. She is the most perfect image of Her Son, an image never tarnished by sin.

His call of the Apostles to follow His Son was a call to true discipleship, to walking the road of life with Jesus and supported in time of trials and difficulties by Jesus. This fidelity to the call each one received would mean carrying a cross of suffering, even to the point of sacrificing their lives in witness to the Gospel. They could never have done that on their own. They were sustained by the grace and mercy of God.

Down through the ages, in every generation, God chooses and calls women and men to discipleship in Christ Jesus. The beauty of the choice, the uniqueness of the call is that it is an individual invitation to become in the world, a veritable icon of Jesus. No one call, no individual choice is the same. The grace and the mercy of God is always the same, generously given to each individual no matter what walk of life they may be called to. Some people pass over the stage of this world unaware of the immense love of God that is involved in calling them into discipleship with Christ. They never reach their full potential in this world in this role, not because the grace and mercy of God fails them but rather because they choose to walk the road of this life with little appreciation of the dignity of the call they have received. They become absorbed in the pleasures and attractions of this world to the extent that they stray from the road of discipleship.

There are those then who, fully conscious of their weaknesses and failings, open themselves to the grace and mercy of God and thus remain faithful disciples. We all know so many good people, good disciples of Jesus, who have gone to God having left on the stage of this world a memory of love and service, of fidelity and courage while recognising that they could not have reached their eternal destiny were it not for the mercy and love of God. Among those faithful disciples of Jesus who have gone to their eternal reward God chooses some who have, in this world, lived a life of heroic virtue to be held up for our veneration and encouragement. They have become, through the mercy of God, veritable icons on His Son. One such disciple of Jesus was recently held up for our veneration, one whose charism and holiness of life has drawn many of you here present to invoke his intercession. Padro Pio of Pietrelcina lived out his life of discipleship in Christ in an heroic manner by being faithful to his rule as a capuchin friar, by being totally devoted to the Church even when it cost him dearly, by being in continual union with his eucharistic Lord through prayer and contemplation, by his filial love of Mary and by his priestly ministry, especially in the confessional . For that reason the Church has declared him Blessed Pio of Pietrelcina and presented him to us as a true disciple of Christ.

During this week-end, my dear friends and devotees of Blessed Pio, you will have been drawn together in prayer and love. You especially who, in your parishes, are members of the Padre Pio Prayer Groups will have gained much spiritual comfort and help as you have come into contact, here at the Shrine of Mary, with one of her most devoted sons. You have been called to holiness just as he was. You are a disciple of Jesus just like he. It was not because of the extraordinary things that characterised his life that he was declared Blessed in heaven, the cures, the bilocation, the stigmata. It was the day-in day-out fidelity of living the Christian life of discipleship in his chosen vocation that Padro Pio has become Blessed Pio. Do not think that in order to be holy there must be some extraordinary manifestation of the supernatural in one's life. It is by the daily fidelity to prayer, to the Eucharist and the sacraments,to respect and love for ones neighbours, coupled with a tender and filial devotion to the Mother of God, within the context of one's chosen vocation, that one remains a true disciple of Christ. To each one is given sufficient grace in this life to reach a state of holiness.

But we recognise that we all have been wounded by sin and as a result may tend to fall away from the path of fidelity. The mercy of God is greater than any sin, the grace of God can turn any sinner into a Saint.

Recently I read a very comforting statement which underlines the continuous action of God's mercy in every person, no matter who they are. "Every Saint has a past, every sinner has a future". Each one of us must be capable of saying "for the Almighty has done great things for me, Holy is His name"(Lk. 1:49). Let us not just admire and be comforted by the action of God in His saints, but let us be determined to live our faith to the full no matter in what vocation we are called. Let us be coherent disciples of Jesus living the truths of the Gospel, especially when it costs us. Let us not be the Sunday jacket observants but rather let us proclaim by our lives, as disciples of Jesus, whether it be in the home, in the seats of learning, in the places of commerce, in the Courts of Law, in the Legislature and Chambers of Parliament that "He is the Way, the Truth and the Life" and that the values for which He died on the Cross are eternal values to be respected at all times, in all circumstances and by all people. These values of truth and justice, of love, freedom and peace, of the sacredness of every human life from the moment of conception to natural death, these values are contained in the Magna Charta of Christian discipleship and it is in living and acting according to them that one reaches that state of holiness which belongs to the Blessed.

My dear friends, Blessed Padre Pio is held up to us as a model of virtue and holiness. May we learn from him to be faithful and authentic in our following of Christ and may he intercede for each one of us and for our Country so that we may all become true disciples and images of the Son of God in this Third Millennium of Faith.

I could do no better than to conclude with the words of His Holiness, Pope John Paul ll, spoken at the end of the Beatification of Padro Pio. They are most apt for all of us and especially here at the Shrine of Our Lady.

"By his teaching and example, Padro Pio invites us to pray, to receive divine mercy through the sacrament of Penance and to love our neighbour. He invites us, in particular, to love and venerate the Virgin Mary. His devotion to Our Lady was apparent in every aspect of his life: in his words and writings, in his teaching and in the advice he gave to his many spiritual children. A true son of St. Francis of Assisi, from whom he learned to call upon Mary with splendid expressions of praise and love (cf. "Greeting to the Virgin", in Fonti Francescane, 59), the new blessed never tired of teaching the faithful a tender and profound devotion to Our Lady that was rooted in the Church's authentic tradition. In the privacy of the confessional, as in his preaching, he continually urged the faithful: love Our Lady! At the end of his earthly life, when the time came to express his last wishes, he turned his thoughts, as he had done throughout his life, to Blessed Mary: "Love Our Lady and help others to love her. Always recite the rosary (Regina Coeli. Sunday 2 May, 1999).

Blessed Pio, Pray for us.