Padre Pio's sufferings for the salvation of souls and his mystical vision of the reasons why a lady suffered for 30 years
(Luke 9:23): "If anyone wants to come after me, surrender to yourself, take your cross every day, and follow me."
The fact that sufferings, or crosses, correct us from our mistakes and lead us back to God is understood by most Catholics, with a strong learning effect resulting from this divine permission in our lives. But look at the case of Job in the Old Testament, who has always walked straight paths: everything was taken from him (family, wealth, and health) so that Satan would be disaded from the questioning he made of his love for God before the divine court. Would Job imagine that something so tragic would happen to him, even if he always kept on God's tracks? On the other hand, the fact that he went through this trial without rumming against the Creator made him one of the most celebrated men in the Bible and honored by God later.
Therefore, God's designs for His permission from the sufferings in our lives are numerous and we will often only understand perfectly when we arrive in the kingdom of God, but there are some additional explanations that have already been unseen to us, exposed by Jesus himself to his saints in particular (and not widely publicized) appearances.
For example, some Christians say: I suffer for so many years, or decades, with a certain physical, or psychological or psychiatric illness, but I am a Christian who has always sought to improve... I don't understand why I can't cure! Padre Pio then made clear through the tremendous sufferings of his life one of God's possible designs for this situation: we often suffer for reparation and salvation not ONLY of our souls, but ALSO for the souls of our unruly relatives and of any brothers chosen by God! And we must suffer all this out of love for them and God! We are participants in the Passion of Christ and will receive in eternity our great reward for this love!!! We'll see about this in this post.
The stigmas of Padre Pio
Padre Pio was the only priest in the history of the church to which God contemplated with His stigmata on his feet, hands, shoulder, head and heart (the other stigmatized were lay people), being visible in 1918 until his death, that is, for the next 50 years of his life. Here is his account of when Jesus who appeared to him in particular vision and associated him with His suffering:
"After the celebration of Mass ... in a moment I was assaulted by great fear, then I returned to bed and saw Our Lord with the posture of those who are on the cross ... lamenting the lack of correspondence of men. Thus it was manifested that He suffered and that he desired to associate souls with his Passion. He invited me to get in touch with his pains and meditate on them. (...) full of compassion for the pains of the Lord, I asked him what he could do." He received Jesus' answer: "I associate you with my Passion"
He returned his conscience to the ground and with the signs of stigmas bloodiing the floor. The pains were very strong, but he managed to crawl to his cell (room) of the convent, raising his hands up and giving thanks.
Watching him always with his gloves stained with blood, it looked like a simple wound on his hands. But that's not what he felt. The pain was so absurd that I had a constant notion of not being able to rest. He reported: "If I allow myself to sleep, the pain of these (stigmas of the hands) is multiplied far beyond the measure. (...) From Thursday to Saturday, as well as Tuesday, it's a painful tragedy for me. The hands, feet and heart seem to be passed by a sword. The wound in my heart bleeds abundantly ... I am convinced that I have in me something that I feel like an iron rod that extends beneath my heart to the lower right side of my back."
In his day-to-day life, he could barely close his hands and take something or write right, as he increased the pain and bleeding. Tilting the body also increased chest pains, even requiring help to dress up their habit. All this over 50 years.
The priest himself reports that God did not give him His stigmas only by decoration or for the observation of others, but for reparation of sins, salvation of souls, and conversion of sinners. One sentence of yours became famous on the subject:
"There is no redemption without bloodshed"
Their stigmas were analyzed by several scientific committees and they had no doubt in reporting that it was not something natural, but supernatural. The wounds were exactly where christ's stigmata were at his crucifixion, his pain intensified on holy week and Friday of passion, there was no bad smell or rot over time, did not respond to traditional medicine medications and did not heal.
Daily and unexplained diseases of Padre Pio
The extraordinary fevers that robbed the priest were unthinkable, broke or burst the common thermometers, needing to put special thermometers of the construction to measure them. They reached 53ºC that lasted for days, which would certainly lead to the death of some "normal body".
He also suffered in his day-to-day life from other "incurable" diseases, because they did not respond to common medications for them. One of them was his gastric ulcer. He went 21 days without food, only receiving Holy Communion as food, and when feeding sometimes vomited everything. The very little he ate on a daily basis was about only 1/4 of what his body would really need. It wasn't at all enough for his physical balance and vitamins. But instead of losing weight, he always stayed at 90 kg or even gained some weight!
He was still going through bouts of severe pneumonia that threw him to bed and made his breathing difficult throughout his life. The other diseases were: catarrhal bronchitis, asthma, thrombodied haemorrhoids, severe knee pain, severe pain sinus itis in the face, generalized arthrosis, bouts of kidney cramps, constant headaches, partial blindness, ear problems and larynx. In a hernia operation he did, he asked the doctor not to apply anesthesia, making it possible to offer this suffering to souls.
Even with all the stigmas and diseases that did not heal, did not stop attending until 14 hours a day in the confessional, perform the masses (which passed 3 hours) and pray much of the morning, almost did not sleep...
Not only was physical pain enough, he was also besolate by psychological pain, as he was constantly persecuted, humiliated, defamed and excluded, especially in the moments when his fame grew in Italy.
The rewards of suffering
And even with all these everyday pains of stigmas, of his diseases and psychological, he wanted more!
He even told his spiritual director: "I have a very ardent place to suffer a great time .... More than ever I'm happy in suffering. And if I listened only to the voice of my heart, I would ask Jesus to give me all the sorrows of men. But I don't because I fear being too selfish, coveting for me the best part: pain. I wish I had infinite lives to suffer all for God. This is my complaint to Jesus, who offers me so few occasions to suffer."
Of course, he knew that the more he suffered, the more he would be close to Jesus today and in the future and more souls would help save, bringing him treasures of rewards in eternity! He emphasized that he would like to do as the Apostle Paul said, "I want to complete in my flesh what was lacking in the Passion of Christ." He made it clear, then, that Christ's suffering is not over, we should complete it.
Moreover, there were countless saints and lay people who God called them victims, for it allowed them such sufferings that He confirmed after that such pains would have saved even entire cities from great catastrophes. For Padre Pio, Jesus clearly said in a particular vision:
Jesus: "My son, I need victims in order to appease the justifiable and divine wrath of my Father: renew your sacrifice and do so without reservation
Padre Pio has a mystical view of the reasons a lady has suffered for 30 years
There is a record of Padre Pio confirming that several of us can also be these victims chosen by Jesus, even if to a lesser degree of trial compared to the Saints, depending on those who need salvation around us or strangers to whom there is no one who prays or sacrifices for them. It was a lady, who came to him dragging and asked him:
"Tell me, Father, why have I been sick for 30 years? I can even do my homework, but it's very difficult." Padre Pio Pio has a mystical view of his life and of his family and he responds to him next: "His daughter's illness, is a very great grace. God chose you to suffer. You have two brothers who lead a rather disorderly and sinful life. Other relatives of yours aren't much better. You are suffering and noting for them, to save their souls. You can take another two months and you'll be cured. Every suffering is the grace of God, although you do not understand it, it will do us and souls good if we repeat it again and again: Lord, do your will. After all, what better can we offer God but the suffering itself endured with patience and love. With this we will save many souls and ours too"
Therefore, if it is God's will that some of us suffer for our brothers and sisters, we will be putting into practice what we always repeat in the mass in choir: "Lord, make us one body and one spirit." God is the head and we are the members. After all, when your left hand is injured, wouldn't you use your right hand to remedy it and your feet to walk to the hospital for help so that the whole body is healthy? It's the same thing. It is nothing more than to love your neighbor as you have asked of us so much.
But notice, as said at the beginning, God knows all the reasons for our sufferings. It is up to us to accept without restrictions and murmurings. See, therefore, the case of the blind man by birth that Jesus and the apostles encountered along the way. The apostles thought that their blindness was due to their sins or their parents (resembling the case of the lady seen above), but it was neither one thing nor the other:
Apostles: "Master, who took this man or his parents, that he might be born blind? Jesus answered, "Neither has he sinned nor his parents, but it is necessary that the works of God be manifested in him." John, 9:1-3.
What we know is that God is just: if He allows the cross in our life, then He brings us victory. And the higher the cross given to you instead of another that little tribulation has and sins much, the greater your victory and reward!!! And the cross is fleeting, but the reward is eternal!!!
We conclude with a phrase from Padre Pio that summarizes everything:
"Take your time trying to win souls for Jesus"