“We are not all called to the same state [of life] and the Holy Spirit doesn’t work in all souls in the same way…. Live completely at peace because there will be light.”
—Letters, Vol. 3, 108
The reality for most people is a very different one from that of Padre Pio. He spent most of his life at the monastery where he prayed, heard confessions, and celebrated Mass. That does not mean, however, that we cannot aspire to the same spiritual connection with God. It is a matter of finding the way to live Christ’s message within our own lives. Even amongst his fellow Capuchin brothers Padre Pio ministered in a different way. Such is the way with all of us. Parents minister differently than single men and women.
People in various careers minister in their own unique way. The importance, however, is that we use our life to help spread the message of Christ to others.
In Padre Pio’s Own Words
You need to keep yourself far away from three things. First, keep yourself from ever quarreling or being in strife with anybody. If you conduct yourself otherwise, you can say farewell to peace and charity. Second, keep yourself from vainglory, or self-conceit, which is the vice that attacks devout people the most. Without our noticing it, this vice nudges us to want to stand out more than others and to want others to admire us.
Even St. Paul warns his beloved Philippians about this: “Do nothing from selfishness or conceit” [Philippians 2:3]…. Self-abnegation that considers others better than yourself is the only remedy for this vice.
You need to guard against a third thing that is no less dangerous than self-conceit because it contains the hellish seed of division: Never put your welfare ahead of that of others, because it always and necessarily tends to break the beautiful bond of love, the bond that should always unite Christians. In St. Paul’s words, love “binds everything together in perfect harmony” [Colossians 3:14].
(To Raffaelina Cerase, November 4, 1914)
Prayer
St. Pio, you know that each of us is on our own unique faith journey based on where we are in life.
Help us to find the way to lovingly use our lives and talents to lift up others.
