This 23rd of September is a significant day not only for the universal Church and our beloved Franciscan Capuchin Order, but also for me, personally, for today we celebrate the feast day of Padre Pio.
This great man, the humble friar who prays, was, like St Francis before him, a living prayer, with much to teach us. Padre Pio knew precisely what it meant to engage in spiritual warfare, with his wonderful letters offering a unique insight on the necessity, power and hope that come from spiritual warfare against the forces of darkness. The Bible constantly reminds us of this harsh reality through its various references. In the Letter of James we find the exhortation: Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you (Jas 4:7). Then, St Paul, the author of the Letter to the Ephesians, was so aware of the spiritual warfare that even suggested to us what to do to be prepared to fight it. First he acknowledges the fact: Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand (Eph 6:11-13).
Then he states for us the means to fight well: Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; besides all these, taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Eph 6:14-17).
From Padre Pio’s vivid and wise writings we glimpse the devil’s purpose, namely to isolate us from God. In our spiritual battles it is important that we be vigilant and never let our free-will give in to diabolical temptations. We must do all we can to also keep turning to God to live freely under the sure guidance of the virtue of perseverance. Hence, to his spiritual director Padre wrote the following on December 20, 1910: “I am in the hands of the devil who is trying to snatch me from the arms of Jesus. Dear God! What a war he is waging against me! There are moments in which I am on the point of losing my reason through the continual violence I must do myself. How many tears and groans, dear Father, I send up to heaven in order to be set free. But no matter, I will never tire of praying to Jesus.
In our spiritual battle we are to fight off swiftly the devil’s first attack which is concentrated on our most vulnerable areas in our lives. On August 17, 1910 Padre Pio writes: I laugh at all this as being of no account, following your advice. It sometimes worries me, though, that I am not quite sure if I have been ready to put up a fight at the enemy’s very first attack. Drawing from his experiences of spiritual warfare, Padre Pio reminds us that in our struggle to please God we are to cling to the sacrosanct truth of God’s faithful love for us, particularly amid the darkness of the spiritual battle. The friar of the Gargano never tires from encouraging us to remain faithful to our fix our eyes on our final goal, eternal salvation. In his letter to his spiritual father of May 18, 1913, Padre Pio writes: Now, my dear Father, who could tell you all that I had to bear! I have been alone by night and alone by day! From that day I became involved in a bitter strife with those ugly wretches. They tried to make me believe that I had been rejected by God for ever.
In his merciful love God always provides a person who, when we are facing spiritual attacks, that person walks with us and helps us not to despair or be discouraged. In these difficult moments God gives us the grace to be resolute and do good despite our human misery. It is true that we can experience difficult moments of great pain but, with God’s help, we save our soul and don’t offend God. In his letter of June 25, 1911, Padre Pio writes to his spiritual director: My dear Father, what is God’s purpose in allowing the devil so much freedom? Despair is trying to take hold of me, yet, believe me, Father, I have no intention of displeasing God. I cannot account for and much less understand how it can ever be possible that such a resolute will prepared to do good can be combined with all these human miseries. If you perceive, then, that my soul is in danger, help me, for I want at all costs to save my soul and to offend God no more.
No matter how difficult the situation is, our trust in God will win the day. While the devil tries to crush the soul, God lifts our soul up. If God corrects us, he does so moved by His gentleness and sublime charity. His saving activity occurs while the devil tries all along to crush our soul. Let us know our Christ Almighty. With him we proclaim victory over evil. In his letter of May 9, 1915, Padre Pio says: The enemies are continually rising up, Father, against the ship of my spirit and they cry out in unison: “Let us knock him down, let us crush him, since he is weak and cannot hold out much longer”. Alas, my dear Father, who will set me free from those roaring lions all ready to devour me?”
While undergoing spiritual warfare, we are to admit our weakness and be resolute to depend on God’s mercy. Even if Satan attacks at full blow however we must battle him in the state of grace. Although he may strike fear in us by God’s grace we can turn that fear into the virtue of faith since God’s grace for us will never stop helping us. In his letter of August 4, 1917, the stigmatized Capuchin wrote: Satan with his malignant wiles never tires of waging war on me and attacking my little citadel, besieging it on all sides. In a word, Satan is for me like a powerful foe who, when he resolves to capture a fortress is not content to attack one wall or one rampart, but surrounds it entirely, attacks and torments it on every side. My dear Father, the malignant wiles of Satan strike terror into my heart, but from God alone through Jesus Christ I hope for the grace to obtain the victory continually and never to be defeated.
From Padre Pio’s experience of spiritual combat we learn that we are not to worry. Our trust in God helps us to strengthen our soul. We even learn the wisdom of making the sign of the cross on our forehead and pray to the Holy Spirit and or to Mary, who is the Seat of Wisdom. While walking in this difficult and sometimes desolate spiritual path, we tend to forget that at times we have experienced God’s consolation of love and light. Hence, it is important that we record it in a spiritual diary. God really rewards those who persevere and believe. He does so already from this world and gives the fulfilment in Heaven. Christ lives in us who believe in Him. It is in him what we are to suffer, die and rise again with and in Him.
This time it is Padre Benedetto, Padre Pio’s spiritual director, who gives us these great insights full of hope and strength in times of trial when he writes: …Don’t worry about the darkness however much it afflicts you. It is useful, however, to make the Sign of the Cross every now and then on your forehead while saying these words, “May the Holy Spirit enlighten our senses and our hearts with his grace”, or else, “Seat of Wisdom, pray for us.” In temptations against faith, invoke St. Michael and Sts. Peter and Paul. You want the dawn to break while you are sometimes enjoying midday, but your soul, which wants to have the light continually, feels when it passes into the shadow, that it has never enjoyed the light. On this earth it is mainly winter, and darkness lasts longer than the splendors of light. The time of eternal light will come and then you’ll enjoy the reward of the darkness endured. I earnestly hope and I am convinced that for you this light will begin already in the present life. I bless you and wish you an everlasting noon.
Once, Padre Pio said: It is prayer, this united strength of all good souls, that moves the world, that renews consciences, that supports the ‘Casa’, that comforts the suffering, that heals the sick, that sanctifies labor, that elevates health care, that gives moral strength and Christian acceptance of human suffering, that spreads the smile and blessing of God on the fainthearted and the weak.
As our spiritual battles rage let us keep concentrated on God in prayer. Only prayer is the key thanks to which the heart of our Saviour is opened to save us, our persecutors and the entire world.