Padre Pio and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
Who was is Padre Pio? Francesco Forgione, later known as Padre Pio, (May 25, 1887 – September 23, 1968), was an Italian Roman Catholic Capuchin priest who was given the name Pio when he joined the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, and became popularly known as Padre Pio after his ordination to the priesthood. He became famous for his gift for reading consciences while hearing confessions, and for his stigmata. From 1916 to his death, he remained in the monastery of San Giovanni Rotondo.
Padre Pio died on September 23, 1968. His body was buried three days later, in a crypt in the Church of Our Lady of Grace, in San Giovanni Rotondo. His funeral was attended by over 100,000 people. He was often heard to say, "After my death I will do more. My real mission will begin after my death". The accounts of those who stayed with Padre Pio till the end state that the stigmata had completely disappeared without even leaving a scar. Only a red mark "as if drawn by a red pencil" remained on his side which then disappeared.
Cleonice Morcaldi, one of the spiritual daughters of Padre Pio, asked him several times what he felt and lived in each of his Masses. She wrote carefully each of his answers and thanks to her, we have a unique testimony from the Father himself about his Mass.
Padre Pio about the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
– Father, what is your Mass?
– A sacred accomplishment of the Passion of Jesus.
– What should I comprehend in your Holy Mass?
– All of Calvary.
– Father, tell me all that you suffer at the Holy Mass.
– All what Jesus suffered in his Passion, I inadequately suffer to the extent a human creature can possibly suffer. All of it at no merit of my own and only because of His Goodness.
– Father, how could we know about your passion?
– In knowing the Passion of Jesus, you will also know mine.
– Do you have the agony of death, Father, like Jesus in the Garden?
– Probably.
– Does the angel also come to comfort you?
– Yes.
– What FIAT do you say?
– The one of suffering, and always to suffer for the brothers in exile and for His Divine Kingdom.
– You also said..."and they will shout: Crucify him, crucify him!" Who will shout?
– The children of men... more precisely the beneficiaries of His death.
– How was Jesus after being scourged?
– The prophet says: "He became as a whole sore. He became like a leper"
– So, you also are like a sore from head to foot?
– And is not this our glory? If there is no place left for more sores, we will make sores on top of sores.
– My God, this is too much! You are, dear Father, a real executioner of yourself!
– Do not be afraid. On the contrary rejoice in it. I do not want the suffering in itself, no, but the fruits it gives me. It praises God and saves our brothers. What else could I wish for?
– Father. When at night you are scourged, are you alone or does somebody assist you.
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| Padre Pio's pajama |
– The Holy Virgin assists me, all of Paradise is present.
– Jesus has made me feel that you suffer the crown of thorns.
– Otherwise the immolation would not be complete.
– What sins did Jesus pay for with the crowning of thorns?
– For all, especially those regarding thoughts, not excluding the vain and useless ones.
– Father, do you have the thorns on your forehead or around your head?
– Around the whole head.
– Father, how many thorns does your crown have...Thirty?
– Ah...yes!
– Father, I think that your crown does not have 30, but 300 thorns.
– You get impressed because of a zero! Anyway, is not thirty contained in three hundred?
– Father, is it true that you suffer the torment of the crowning of thorns during the Holy Mass?
– And you doubt it?
– During the whole Mass?
– And also before and after it. The crown is never taken away.
– Father, do you also suffer what Jesus suffered during the Way of the Cross?
– Yes. But I wish to do so, in order to arrive at the point of suffering to which the Divine Master arrived.
– Who are your Simon of Cyrene and Veronica?
– Jesus Himself.
– Father, at the Divine Sacrifice, do you take our iniquities on yourself?
– It is impossible to do it differently, as it is part of the Divine Sacrifice.
– So, does the Lord consider you a sinner?
– I do not know. But I am afraid to be so.
– I have seen you trembling when going up the stairs to the altar. Why? Was it because of what you were going to suffer?
– No, not because of what I am supposed to suffer, but because of what I should offer.
– Father, what time during the day do you suffer the most?
– During the celebration of the Holy Mass.
– Father, do you also suffer during the day what Jesus allows you to suffer during the Holy Mass?
– I would not feel well! How could I work? How could I do my ministry?
– At which part of the Divine Sacrifice do you suffer the most?
– From the Consecration to the Communion.
– At which moment of the Mass do you suffer the scourging?
– From the beginning to the end, but more intensely after the Consecration.
– Father, why do you almost always cry when you read the Gospel in the Holy Mass?
– And do you find it little thing that a God talks to His creatures, and they react against Him? That he is injured constantly by their ingratitude and incredulity?
– Father, is your Mass a bloody Sacrifice?
– Heretic!
– No. What I want to say that is that the Eucharistic Sacrifice of Jesus is bloodless but your participation in the Passion is bloody. Am I wrong?
– Well… now you are right. Taking it as a personal matter, you might be right.
– Who washes off his own blood during the Mass?
Nobody.
– Why do you weep over the offertory?
– Do you want to worm the secret out of me? Well then, it’s the moment when the soul becomes detached from all that is profane.
– Father, the people make noises during the Mass...
– Well, if you would have been at the Calvary, where you heard screams, blasphemies, loud clamor, and threats... that was really an uproar.
– Do you not become distracted because of noises at the church?
– No, absolutely not.
– Father, are all the souls that attend to your Holy Mass present in your spirit?
– I see all my children who come to the altar, as if in a mirror.
– Father, why do you suffer so much at the Consecration?
– You are too cruel!
– Father, why you suffer so much during the Consecration?
– Because it is at that very moment when a new, awesome and wonderful annihilation and creation happens.
– Why do you suffer so much during the Consecration?
– Revealing the secrets of the Supreme King is desecrating them. You ask me why I suffer. I would like to shed not a few tears but abundant tears. Are you not conscious of the tremendous mystery? God, Victim of our sins! And we are His executioners!
– Father, do you suffer the bitterness of gall?
– Yes, very often.
– Father, how do you remain upright at the altar?
– The way Jesus used to hold himself on the Cross.
– Do you mean that you are at the altar hanging from the Cross, the way Jesus did at Calvary?
–And you ask me?
– How can you keep yourself upright?
– The way Jesus kept Himself upright at Calvary.
– Did the executioners turn the Cross around to clinch the nails?
– Naturally!
– Do they also clinch the nails for you?
– I think so!
– Do they also turn around your cross?
– Yes, but do not be afraid. The Divine Master, sitting as King on the Divine Throne of His Cross pronounced His last words as a solemn testament of His Merciful Love for us, under the presence of Heaven and Earth.
– Father, do you also speak during Holy Mass the "seven words" that Jesus stated on the Cross?
– Yes, although unworthily, I also speak them.
– And to whom do you say: Woman, there is your Son?
– I tell her: Here are the children of your Son.
– Do you suffer the thirst and rejection Jesus suffered?
– Yes.
– When do you experience thirst and rejection?
– After the Consecration.
– Until when do you suffer thirst and rejection?
– Normally up to the Communion.
– Did the Crucified Jesus have His innermost Being consummated?
– You should rather say burnt.
– For what did the Crucified Jesus thirst?
– For God’s Kingdom.
– You told me you were ashamed of pronouncing this phrase: "I looked for someone to comfort me, but found none." Why?
– Because our suffering is insignificant compared to the real suffering Jesus experienced.
– In front of whom do you feel ashamed?
– In front of God and in front of my conscience.
– Don’t the angels of God console you at the altar where you immolate yourself?
– Well, I do not feel them.
– If your spirit does not receive any comfort during the Divine Sacrifice and if you suffer the complete abandonment as Jesus did, then our presence there is useless.
– The usefulness is for you. If it were the way you say, it could be said that the presence of the Sorrowful Virgin, St. John and the pious women close to the feet of the dying Jesus was useless.
– Father, why do not share with us a bit of your Passion?
– The Spouse’s pledge is not given to anybody.
– Tell me what could I do to alleviate your Calvary?
– Alleviate? …say rather to make it harder. We must suffer!
– It is painful to attend your martyrdom being unable to help you!
– Also the Sorrowful Mother attended. There is no doubt that it was a consolation for our Divine Master to have His Mother who, instead of being indifferent, accompanied Him in His pain.
– What did the Virgin do at the feet of the Crucified Jesus?
– She suffered watching her Son suffer. She offered to the Eternal Father her pain and the sufferings of Jesus for our salvation.
– On posing this question I am not compelled by curiosity. Which one is the wound that hurts the most?
– The head and the heart.
– What is the Sacred Communion?
– It is interior and exterior Mercy. A total Embrace. Do not stop begging Jesus to make Himself sensibly noticed.
– Where does Jesus kiss you?
– He kisses me all over.
– When Jesus comes, does he visit only the soul?
– The entire being.
– What does Jesus do at Communion?
– He delights in His creatures.
– Is Communion an incorporation?
– It is a fusion. Like two candles that fuse together and cannot be distinguished one from the other.
– When you join Jesus in Holy Communion, what should we request the Lord for you?
– To let me be another Jesus, all Jesus, Jesus, always Jesus.
– You gave me to understand that though the Sacred Species are not consumed in you, through your veins flow the blood of Jesus. Are you a living monstrance?
– You say so!
– Father, why do you cry when you receive Holy Communion?
– If the Church, when referring to the Incarnation, exclaims: "You did not disdain the bosom of the Virgin." What can we say about ourselves, we as miserable...!
– Do you also suffer during Communion?
– It is the culminating point.
– Do your sufferings continue after Communion?
– Yes, but they are sufferings of love.
– In this union, aren’t you consoled by Jesus?
– Yes, but without leaving the Cross!
– In that supreme instant a last glance is given.
– Where did the dying Jesus look in His last gaze?
– Towards His Holy Mother.
– And you, where do you turn to?
– Towards my exiled brothers.
– Do you also die at the Holy Mass?
– Mystically, at Holy Communion.
– What produces this death in you, is this vehemence for love or for pain?
– Both, but especially for love.
– If you die during Holy Communion, do you stop being at the altar?
– Why? Jesus remained at Calvary when He was dead.
– Father, you told me that at Communion the victim dies. Are you placed in the arms of the Virgin?
– In the arms of Saint Francis.
– Father, does Jesus take His arms off the Cross to rest on you?
– It is me who rests on Him.
– How much do you love Jesus?
– My desire of loving Him is infinite! But in practice... Poor me! I would be at zero and I am ashamed.
– How will our meeting with Jesus in Heaven be?
– Oh!… The Eucharistic could give us an idea.
– Does the Most Blessed Virgin Mary attend your Mass?
– Do you think the Mother is not interested in Her Son?
– Do angels attend your Mass?
– In legions!
– What do they do?
– Adore and praise.
– Father, who is closest to your altar?
– All of Paradise.
– Would you like to celebrate more than one Mass a day?
– If it depended on me I would never leave the altar.
– You told me you carried the altar with you...
– Yes, to accomplish what the Apostle said: "Taking with me the mortification of Jesus, I am nailed to the Cross", I punish my body and I convert it into a slave.
– So, I am right when saying that Jesus Crucified walks among us! You suffer continually the whole Passion of Jesus!
– Yes, due to His Goodness and Mercy, as much as a human creature is able to.
– How can you work with so much pain?
– I find my rest on the Cross.
– Father, does the Lord love the Sacrifice?
– Yes, because with It He has regenerated the world.
– How much glory to God does the Mass give?
– An infinite glory.
– What should we do during the Mass?
– Be compassionate and love.
– Father, how are we supposed to listen to the Mass?
– The way the Blessed Virgin and pious women attended to the tragedy of Calvary. The same way John attended the Eucharistic Sacrifice and the bloody Sacrifice of the Cross.
– What kind of fruits do we receive when we hear the Mass?
– They cannot be enumerated. You will know it only in Paradise.
– Father, in Paradise shall we contemplate you crucified?
– For your greater glory.
