Tonight as I was cooking dinner, I clicked on the TV. It was on the EWTN channel. They were playing the docudrama “Saint Pio of Pietrelcina – Man of Hope and Healing” Padre Pio has always fascinated me and I wanted to know more about him, so I watched. The movie included first hand accounts by people who actually met him and/or knew him. One person was a child when he met Padre Pio. At the time, German soldiers occupied the school, so the children went to the convent where they were invited to participate in the Mass. This particular young man became the photographer of Padre Pio. The gentleman once took a photo of him during Mass with a flash, which startled the priest who told him he couldn’t do that. The young photographer said that the flash was needed in the church to make it work. Padre Pio gave the young man permission to take as many photos as he wanted without the flash and said not to worry. The photographer was sad as he knew the light was so dim in the church, that the photos would not turn out. He snapped a few pictures at Mass with no flash to show Padre Pio what he meant. However, when he developed the photos, it was like they were taken in the sunlight. The photographer said that Padre Pio brought the light. Padre Pio also met with many American GI’s. He was a humble priest in love with the Lord so much that he bore the wounds of Christ in his hands – the stigmata. There were countless stories of healing, conversion, and some controversy as well. It was a beautiful movie about a holy man that left me in awe of his faith. Later I realized that I was wearing socks that had a quote by St. Padre Pio on them, “Pray, hope, and don’t worry”. Coincidence?

I Found God today in a connection with St. Padre Pio.