In this post, I am not going to describe too much about this saint. If you want to, you can read more about him here, here or here. I might do a post about him more in the future, right now I would like to write about some of my experiences, and what kind of healing I've received because of Padre Pio's intercession.
I'm not sure how I found out about or came to like Padre Pio, it kind of just happened. I think when I first heard about him, I wasn't so interested, but then seeing the great quotes I would come across, made me start to like him more and more.
There have been some miracles in my life too, because of him. Of course, not just because of him, it's all because of God, but as a Catholic, we believe in the intercession of the saints, and they are there to help us too. God has allowed them to pray for us, and be another example pointing us to Jesus by their lives lived close to Him.
As a convert, making my first confession was troubling for me. I wasn't sure if I would say everything that needed to be said. For many months the first year I was Catholic, it bothered me a lot. When September came, I prayed and decided to ask Padre Pio to pray for me. Suddenly, on the night of Padre Pio's feast day, I woke up during the middle of the night, renewed with more courage, confidence, strength, and an idea of what to say, to make an even better confession. I wrote it all down, and went back to sleep. When I woke up in the morning, my main focus was on getting to church, nothing was going to stop me. Before leaving, I read a verse, "Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that you may do the will of God and receive what is promised. -Hebrews 10:35-36" I was amazed.
The next summer, after many months of not going to Mass, and being unsure about the situation, I suddenly came across a Padre Pio novena booklet online and decided to get it. I wanted to pray for spiritual healing and direction most of all, and also my health. On August 8 2012 I began the novena. On the first day in the novena it said: "It is to your advantage to commit yourself to the sufferings that Jesus will send you. Jesus cannot tolerate seeing you afflicted and he will come to you and comfort you, blessing you with many graces for your soul." Two days later, I began to get one of the worst attacks of severe pain yet at the time, which wasn't going away after a day... or two days... or three... nearly five days I was in severe pain, abdominal pain, and back pain. (The pain started because of my gallbladder, but no one knew that, and thought it was an ovarian cyst that I had. The pain did eventually go away, but I did not get my gallbladder removed until almost a year later, anyways... on to the rest of this story) Meanwhile, I continued to pray the novena, despite the amount of pain I was in and I was hardly able to even eat or sleep and no pain medicines were helping. I had a small growing feeling, that all this had to be happening, because I started the novena. The night before I went to another emergency doctor appointment, I read this in the novena, day six: "We beg you to pray for us, so that sick patients, through the intercession of Mary, can be healed and their bodies restored so that they may benefit from the Holy Spirit and therefore, thank and praise God forever." Although the pain had gone down some by now, as I sat in a wheelchair in a room to see the doctor, he said he wanted to get me into surgery right away for the ovarian cyst. I started crying, and didn't know what to do. Surgery had always been one of my biggest fears and I wanted to avoid it always if possible. With little time to sit there and think, I decided to say yes, and go with it. I thought maybe everything would be okay, and this was happening for a reason. Maybe this was a time for me to receive some healing, and not die just yet. I was oddly more at peace than I thought I would be going into surgery. When I came out, I was fine. I had no pain at all, not even from the surgery. Amazing! I felt like I would be thanking and praising God forever. (The cyst turned out to be huge, and it was bad what they saw, but it wasn't cancerous.)
As I was recovering at home, I was thinking, well, wow God, you gave me some physical healing, when what I really wanted was spiritual help, I know somehow you will send that to me too, but when? how? (Of course, through the physical, comes spiritual too, everything in our lives is connected) Around a week later, because of help from a friend, I was able to talk to a Priest. He was very helpful too, and it was also amazing that he was from a church called Sacred Heart, when in the novena, there was also a prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus to be said.
The Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name.
A while later, I found out something more surprising. On August 10, 1910, at the age of 23, Padre Pio was ordained a priest. On August 10, 2012, at the age of 23, on the second day of the novena, I began to get the severe pain. On August 14, 1910, Padre Pio said his first Mass. On August 14, 2012, I had surgery and came out pain free.
Our present life is given only to gain the eternal one and if we don’t think about it, we build our affections on what belongs to this world, where our life is transitory. When we have to leave it we are afraid and become agitated. Believe me, to live happily in this pilgrimage, we have to aim at the hope of arriving at our Homeland, where we will stay eternally. Meanwhile we have to believe firmly that God calls us to Himself and follows us along the path towards Him. He will never permit anything to happen to us that is not for our greater good. He knows who we are and He will hold out His paternal hand to us during difficulties, so that nothing prevents us from running to Him swiftly. But to enjoy this grace we must have complete trust in Him. ~St. Pio of Pietrelcina
Pray, hope, and don't worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer. ~St. Pio of Pietrelcina
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