“I observed two tears coursing down His cheeks.He turned back to that crowd of priests and with great disgust on His face He cried out, ‘BUTCHERS!’” (Saint Padre Pio).
My favourite Saint – if it is possible to pick – is Saint Padre Pio.
Since my conversion, which occurred through Grace and no merit of my own, I have experienced a particular closeness to this Great Saint.
And because I have become somewhat especially attached to him, I have spent some time finding out a little more about him and his life.
Saint Padre Pio was an Italian priest and mystic, who experienced the physical signs of the stigmata during his lifetime. He was also able to see and communicate with angels, and had several visions of Christ and the Blessed Virgin.
While he was alive, the bureaucracy of the Church (for the most part) considered him a nuisance and a problem and considered that the signs of the stigmata in him were falsified. And so, there were many restrictions placed upon him during his life, which made his life more difficult.
For example, Saint Padre Pio was – for certain periods – prohibited from administering the sacraments, or communicating with his spiritual children. He was prohibited from being seen in public and spent years being treated like a liar and a fraud.
And all of these things, which added to his suffering, served to increase his holiness and therefore his sanctification, making his suffering even more powerful for the salvation of sins…
Once, Christ appeared to Saint Padre Pio, and the Saint wrote in a letter to Padre Agostino, which was dated on 7 April 1913 that Christ has told him that He would suffer not only those three hours on the Cross, but until the end of the world due to the ingratitude of sinful souls. He spoke most particularly of the sinfulness of the religious – most particularly of priests…
Now, this is not to say that all priests are sinful and displeasing to God. Mos priests are holy men who live lives of holiness to please God. However, it is a well-known fact that priests are most strongly under attack by the Evil One because they are most severely tempted to sin. For it is said that where a priest goes to Hell, he leads a thousand souls behind him…
And I have been thinking about that today, as I have been considering the importance of prayers for priests…
You see, Christ also told Saint Faustina that the sinfulness of those who have taken holy orders offends Him more than any others because it is to those souls that He has provided the greatest Grace…
And so, while my personal experience with priests and religious has been to encounter man and women of holiness who have sacrificed their entire lives to God, it occurs to me today that I must continue in my prayers for them. For after all, Saint Padre Pio wrote of Christ, “He raised his eyes to me and to my great horror I observed two tears coursing down His cheeks. He turned back to that crowd of priests and with great disgust on His face He cried out, ‘BUTCHERS!’”
And hearing those words, it occurs to me to pray for priests and religious, because when they fail, it hurts my beloved more than words could say…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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