103 posts 8/26/2007 7:40 am
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8/26/2007 7:42 am
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Padre Pio’s Mass... The Holy Mass According to Padre Pio
Padre Pio’s Mass
The Holy Mass According to Padre Pio
A visitor, in reply to a formal question of the Pope,-- wrote Graham Greene, said that he would never forget two Masses; the one he saw celebrated in a small Franciscan convent at San Giovani Rotondo, where the Host was raised by the hands of Padre Pio; and the other celebrated by the Vicar of Christ under the dome of Michelangelo.
Everyone is bound to remember the Mass celebrated by Padre Pio. It is enough for one to have heard it only once never to forget it again. People would have arrive uninterruptedly waiting at Gargano from all parts of the world in order to hear that Mass.
Urged by the mysterious and irresistible force of the Spirit, after anxiously waiting all night in front of the Church, the pilgrims, unable to contain themselves any longer, would rush into the House of God as soon as the gates of the Temple were opened, in order to get as close as possible to that altar and-catch the slightest glimpse of the Stigmatist of the Gargano mountain who, by virtue of an intimate and secret offering, became a visible altar for the Cross of Our Saviour.
In those instances every distance of time and place between the Alter and Calvary was annulled; in the crucified priest of Gargano the faithful could get a vivid glimpse of the Crucifix of Golgotha.
The living crucifix celebrating the earliest morning Mass in the world, left a deep impression.
The Mass, performed in memory of the Passion of our Lord, represents the Sacrifice of the Cross, which is actually carried out again. Where in the rite the Mass repeats the Supper, in its essence it renews, sacramentally, the Calvary.
The Mass–said Pope Paul VI recently in the Profession of faith–is the sacrifice of Calvary made sacramentally present on our altars.
The Sacrifice of the Cross is executed on the Altar by the action of the Priest, minister of Christ and effective sign of His presence.
Christ, present in the person of His Minister, is clearly explained by the “Mediator Dei” seconded by the “Sacrosanctum Concilium”.
While in every sacrament Christ identifies Himself with His Minister, in the consecration of the Eucharist the identification reaches its highest peak; the Minister accomplishes the Sacrifices of Christ-in the manner of an actor and consecrates with His efficacy, repeating His very words of actions.
The Priest, as the Lord’s Minister, is given to the community of brethren mainly as a sign with the aim of effectively representing Christ in his person: Christ Himself should be made visible in the priest.
And the more the life’ of the Redeemer is lived by the Minister, the more does the priest render perceptible in himself, at the altar, the mystery of his Passion.
In lending Christ, highest of Priests, his voice, his hands, the priest should lend most of his heart. Disposed to make the Lord’s Sacrifice his own, eager to climb Calvary and die in agony, the priest, at the altar, becomes a visible and expressive symbol of Christ, whilst for him Jesus renders sacramentally present the sacrifice of Calvary.
By constantly carrying in his body the suffering of the dying Saviour, Padre Pio lived in the flesh a life that was a manifestation of the life he lived in the faith. It wasn’t Padre Pio anymore who lived; the Lord Himself lived so fully in Padre Pio as to render him physically crucified with Christ on the Cross.
The crucified priest of Gargano, efficacious symbol of Christ, performed vividly in his flesh the crucifixion of Calvary.
Padre Pio’s Mass has still remained a mystery!
Who could ever probe deeply into that soul and observe the exchange that took plce between Padre Pio and Our Lord Jesus? It was impossible–though the eyes were filled with amazement, because so strongly struck and attached–to find out to what extent Padre Pio got himself immersed with the Redeemer.
The external aspect assumed by his Servant of God in celebrating the Holy Mass impressed and perturbed; the superhuman effort gave, after all, only a very slight idea of the way the Stigmatist of Gargano made the Passion of Our Lord his own.
Our blurred eyes would have longed to see more of the intimate and secret life of the Padre, but this always remained a hidden and sealed mystery.
If it’s a good thing to keep the king’s secret, it is also a great honour to reveal the works of God and make them known.
Padre Pio’s Mass is now no longer an absolute mystery. The Lord’s provident wisdom has permitted in so many years that Padre Pio himself reveal at intervals one or other of the moments of his Mass.
This collection of incomparable beauty, as an example of the way the Eucharistic Mystery is carried out, enables us to contemplate the sublime highness to which the soul of Padre Pio was elevated by Jesus.
All the Passion of the Lord is physically re-lived by his exceptional of Francis; in the Stigmatist of Gargano the celestial Father indicates His crucified to the world.
Before contemplating how the Passion of Jesus was carried out again by Padre Pio during the celebration of the Holy Mass, it is necessary, in order to value to the utmost all that the Lord operated in Padre Pio, to keep in mind the preparation for the Divine Sacrifice that the celestial Father, in resemblance to Christ, expected from this well disposed of Francis.
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