Christian

Purgatory exists

Purgatory Exists. And It Burns

But its fire is an interior one. The fire of the justice and grace of God. Benedict XVI has explained this in an audience with 7,000 pilgrims. But even more in a memorable page of the encyclical "Spe Salvi"

by Sandro Magister

ROME, January 17, 2011 – In illustrating the life of Saint Catherine of Genoa, at the general audience last Wednesday, Benedict XVI took the thought of this saint as a point of departure to explain what purgatory is.

During the second half of the 15th century, the time of Catherine, the contemporary image of purgatory was like the one depicted above. It was the mountain of purification sung of by Dante in the "Divine Comedy."

That purgatory is a physical place is a very ancient conviction, which endured until recent times.

But not for Catherine. For her, the fire of purgatory was essentially thought of as an interior fire.

And Benedict XVI has completely agreed with her.

Some in the media have covered this catechesis of pope Joseph Ratzinger, placing it among the good news. As if the pope had decreed not so much the interiority of purgatory, but its wholesome disappearance. A disappearance, moreover, that to a large extent has already taken place in the current preaching of the Church, as of several decades ago.

But the teaching of Benedict XVI says exactly the opposite. Not the disappearance of purgatory, but its true reality.

Almost no one has recalled this. But Benedict XVI has written his most powerful pages on purgatory in the encyclical "Spe Salvi," the most personal of the three encyclicals he has published so far, the only one planned and written entirely by him alone, from the first line to the last.

Below is presented the passage of the catechesis on Saint Catherine of Genoa relating to purgatory.

And immediately afterward, the paragraphs from "Spe Salvi" also dedicated to purgatory, against the background of the judgment of God, which "is hope, both because it is justice and because it is grace."


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"THIS IS PURGATORY, AN INTERIOR FIRE"

by Benedict XVI

From the general audience of  January 12, 2011


[...] Catherine's thought on purgatory, for which she is particularly known, is condensed in the last two parts of the book mentioned at the beginning: "Treatise on Purgatory" and "Dialogues on the Soul and Body."

It is important to observe that, in her mystical experience, Catherine never had specific revelations on purgatory or on souls that are being purified there. However, in the writings inspired by our saint purgatory is a central element, and the way of describing it has original characteristics in relation to her era.

The first original feature refers to the "place" of the purification of souls. In her time [purgatory] was presented primarily with recourse to images connected to space: There was thought of a certain space where purgatory would be found. For Catherine, instead, purgatory is not represented as an element of the landscape of the core of the earth; it is a fire that is not exterior but interior.

This is purgatory, an interior fire. The saint speaks of the soul's journey of purification to full communion with God, based on her own experience of profound sorrow for the sins committed, in contrast to the infinite love of God. We have heard about the moment of her conversion, when Catherine suddenly felt God's goodness, the infinite distance of her life from this goodness and a burning fire within her. And this is the fire that purifies, it is the interior fire of purgatory.

Here also there is an original feature in relation to the thought of the era. She does not begin, in fact, from the beyond to narrate the torments of purgatory – as was usual at that time and perhaps also today – and then indicate the path for purification or conversion. Instead our saint begins from her own interior experience of her life on the path to eternity.

The soul, says Catherine, appears before God still bound to the desires and the sorrow that derive from sin, and this makes it impossible for it to enjoy the Beatific Vision of God. Catherine affirms that God is so pure and holy that the soul with stains of sin cannot be in the presence of the Divine Majesty. And we also realize how far we are, how full we are of so many things, so that we cannot see God. The soul is conscious of the immense love and perfect justice of God and, in consequence, suffers for not having responded correctly and perfectly to that love, and that is why the love itself of God becomes a flame. Love itself purifies it from its dross of sin.

Theological and mystical sources typical of the era can be found in Catherine's work. Particularly there is an image from Dionysius the Areopagite: that of the golden thread that unites the human heart with God himself. When God has purified man, he ties him with a very fine thread of gold, which is his love, and attracts him to himself with such strong affection that man remains as "overcome and conquered and altogether outside himself." Thus the human heart is invaded by the love of God, which becomes the only guide, the sole motor of his existence.

This situation of elevation to God and of abandonment to his will, expressed in the image of the thread, is used by Catherine to express the action of the divine light on souls in purgatory, light that purifies them and elevates them to the splendors of the shining rays of God.

Dear friends, the saints, in their experience of union with God, reach such profound "knowledge" of the divine mysteries, in which love and knowledge are fused, that they are of help to theologians themselves in their task of study, of "intelligentia fidei," of "intelligentia" of the mysteries of the faith, of real deepening in the mysteries, for example, of what purgatory is. [...]

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"HE HIMSELF WILL BE SAVED, BUT ONLY AS THROUGH FIRE..."

by Benedict XVI

From the encyclical "Spe Salvi" of November 30, 2007


[...] I am convinced that the question of justice constitutes the essential argument, or in any case the strongest argument, in favour of faith in eternal life. The purely individual need for a fulfilment that is denied to us in this life, for an everlasting love that we await, is certainly an important motive for believing that man was made for eternity; but only in connection with the impossibility that the injustice of history should be the final word does the necessity for Christ's return and for new life become fully convincing.

44. To protest against God in the name of justice is not helpful. A world without God is a world without hope (cf. Eph 2:12). Only God can create justice. And faith gives us the certainty that he does so. The image of the Last Judgement is not primarily an image of terror, but an image of hope; for us it may even be the decisive image of hope. Is it not also a frightening image? I would say: it is an image that evokes responsibility, an image, therefore, of that fear of which Saint Hilary spoke when he said that all our fear has its place in love.

God is justice and creates justice. This is our consolation and our hope. And in his justice there is also grace. This we know by turning our gaze to the crucified and risen Christ. Both these things – justice and grace – must be seen in their correct inner relationship. Grace does not cancel out justice. It does not make wrong into right. It is not a sponge which wipes everything away, so that whatever someone has done on earth ends up being of equal value. Dostoevsky, for example, was right to protest against this kind of Heaven and this kind of grace in his novel "The Brothers Karamazov."

Evildoers, in the end, do not sit at table at the eternal banquet beside their victims without distinction, as though nothing had happened. [...] In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (cf. Lk 16:19-31), Jesus admonishes us through the image of a soul destroyed by arrogance and opulence, who has created an impassable chasm between himself and the poor man; the chasm of being trapped within material pleasures; the chasm of forgetting the other, of incapacity to love, which then becomes a burning and unquenchable thirst. We must note that in this parable Jesus is not referring to the final destiny after the Last Judgement, but is taking up a notion found, inter alia, in early Judaism, namely that of an intermediate state between death and resurrection, a state in which the final sentence is yet to be pronounced.

45. This early Jewish idea of an intermediate state includes the view that these souls are not simply in a sort of temporary custody but, as the parable of the rich man illustrates, are already being punished or are experiencing a provisional form of bliss. There is also the idea that this state can involve purification and healing which mature the soul for communion with God.

The early Church took up these concepts, and in the Western Church they gradually developed into the doctrine of Purgatory. We do not need to examine here the complex historical paths of this development; it is enough to ask what it actually means.

With death, our life-choice becomes definitive?our life stands before the judge. Our choice, which in the course of an entire life takes on a certain shape, can have a variety of forms. There can be people who have totally destroyed their desire for truth and readiness to love, people for whom everything has become a lie, people who have lived for hatred and have suppressed all love within themselves. This is a terrifying thought, but alarming profiles of this type can be seen in certain figures of our own history. In such people all would be beyond remedy and the destruction of good would be irrevocable: this is what we mean by the word Hell. On the other hand there can be people who are utterly pure, completely permeated by God, and thus fully open to their neighbours?people for whom communion with God even now gives direction to their entire being and whose journey towards God only brings to fulfilment what they already are.

46. Yet we know from experience that neither case is normal in human life. For the great majority of people – we may suppose – there remains in the depths of their being an ultimate interior openness to truth, to love, to God. In the concrete choices of life, however, it is covered over by ever new compromises with evil?much filth covers purity, but the thirst for purity remains and it still constantly re-emerges from all that is base and remains present in the soul.

What happens to such individuals when they appear before the Judge? Will all the impurity they have amassed through life suddenly cease to matter? What else might occur? Saint Paul, in his First Letter to the Corinthians, gives us an idea of the differing impact of God's judgement according to each person's particular circumstances. He does this using images which in some way try to express the invisible, without it being possible for us to conceptualize these images?simply because we can neither see into the world beyond death nor do we have any experience of it.

Paul begins by saying that Christian life is built upon a common foundation: Jesus Christ. This foundation endures. If we have stood firm on this foundation and built our life upon it, we know that it cannot be taken away from us even in death. Then Paul continues: “Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw – each man's work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Cor 3:12-15).

In this text, it is in any case evident that our salvation can take different forms, that some of what is built may be burned down, that in order to be saved we personally have to pass through “fire” so as to become fully open to receiving God and able to take our place at the table of the eternal marriage-feast.

47. Some recent theologians are of the opinion that the fire which both burns and saves is Christ himself, the Judge and Saviour. The encounter with him is the decisive act of judgement. Before his gaze all falsehood melts away. This encounter with him, as it burns us, transforms and frees us, allowing us to become truly ourselves. All that we build during our lives can prove to be mere straw, pure bluster, and it collapses. Yet in the pain of this encounter, when the impurity and sickness of our lives become evident to us, there lies salvation. His gaze, the touch of his heart heals us through an undeniably painful transformation “as through fire”. But it is a blessed pain, in which the holy power of his love sears through us like a flame, enabling us to become totally ourselves and thus totally of God.

In this way the inter-relation between justice and grace also becomes clear: the way we live our lives is not immaterial, but our defilement does not stain us for ever if we have at least continued to reach out towards Christ, towards truth and towards love. Indeed, it has already been burned away through Christ's Passion. At the moment of judgement we experience and we absorb the overwhelming power of his love over all the evil in the world and in ourselves. The pain of love becomes our salvation and our joy.

It is clear that we cannot calculate the “duration” of this transforming burning in terms of the chronological measurements of this world. The transforming “moment” of this encounter eludes earthly time-reckoning?it is the heart's time, it is the time of “passage” to communion with God in the Body of Christ.

The judgement of God is hope, both because it is justice and because it is grace. If it were merely grace, making all earthly things cease to matter, God would still owe us an answer to the question about justice – the crucial question that we ask of history and of God. If it were merely justice, in the end it could bring only fear to us all.

The incarnation of God in Christ has so closely linked the two together – judgement and grace – that justice is firmly established: we all work out our salvation “with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12). Nevertheless grace allows us all to hope, and to go trustfully to meet the Judge whom we know as our “advocate”, or parakletos (cf. 1 Jn 2:1).

48. A further point must be mentioned here, because it is important for the practice of Christian hope. Early Jewish thought includes the idea that one can help the deceased in their intermediate state through prayer (see for example 2 Macc 12:38-45; first century BC). The equivalent practice was readily adopted by Christians and is common to the Eastern and Western Church.

The East does not recognize the purifying and expiatory suffering of souls in the afterlife, but it does acknowledge various levels of beatitude and of suffering in the intermediate state. The souls of the departed can, however, receive “solace and refreshment” through the Eucharist, prayer and almsgiving. The belief that love can reach into the afterlife, that reciprocal giving and receiving is possible, in which our affection for one another continues beyond the limits of death?this has been a fundamental conviction of Christianity throughout the ages and it remains a source of comfort today. Who would not feel the need to convey to their departed loved ones a sign of kindness, a gesture of gratitude or even a request for pardon?

Now a further question arises: if “Purgatory” is simply purification through fire in the encounter with the Lord, Judge and Saviour, how can a third person intervene, even if he or she is particularly close to the other? When we ask such a question, we should recall that no man is an island, entire of itself. Our lives are involved with one another, through innumerable interactions they are linked together. No one lives alone. No one sins alone. No one is saved alone. The lives of others continually spill over into mine: in what I think, say, do and achieve. And conversely, my life spills over into that of others: for better and for worse. So my prayer for another is not something extraneous to that person, something external, not even after death. In the interconnectedness of Being, my gratitude to the other – my prayer for him – can play a small part in his purification. And for that there is no need to convert earthly time into God's time: in the communion of souls simple terrestrial time is superseded. It is never too late to touch the heart of another, nor is it ever in vain.

In this way we further clarify an important element of the Christian concept of hope. Our hope is always essentially also hope for others; only thus is it truly hope for me too. As Christians we should never limit ourselves to asking: how can I save myself? We should also ask: what can I do in order that others may be saved and that for them too the star of hope may rise? Then I will have done my utmost for my own personal salvation as well. [...]

The Lady of all Nations

On March 25, 1945 Our Lady appeared in Amsterdam to Ida Peerdeman (†1996).

This was the first of 56 apparitions, which took place between 1945 and 1959.

On May 31, 2002, the local bishop came to the conclusion that the apparitions of Amsterdam are of supernatural origin. Our Lady appears under a new title, “The Lady of All Nations” or “The Mother of All Nations”. In this time she wants to be made known and loved by everyone under this title.

In a prophetic way, she gives, above all, an impressive insight about the situation in the Church and in the world. In the messages, Mary gradually reveals a plan with which God wants to save the world and prepare it for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Accordingly, she gives all peoples and nations an image and a prayer.

from: www.de-vrouwe.info

Pope Benedict XVI about John Duns Scotus

John Duns Scotus
(Pope Benedict XVI: General Audience 07.07.2010)

Dear brothers and sisters,

This morning – after a few catecheses on several great theologians – I wish to present to you another important figure in the history of theology: John Duns Scotus, who lived at the end of the 13th century. An ancient inscription on his tomb summarizes the geographical coordinates of his biography: “England received him; France instructed him; Cologne, in Germany, keeps his remains, he was born in Scotland.” We cannot overlook this information, because we have very little information on the life of Duns Scotus.

He was born probably in 1266 in a village, which in fact is called Duns, on the outskirts of Edinburgh. Attracted by the charism of St. Francis of Assisi, he entered the Family of the Friars Minor and was ordained a priest in 1291. Gifted with a brilliant intelligence geared to speculation — an intelligence that merited him by tradition the title of doctor subtilis, “subtle doctor” — Duns Scotus was directed to the study of philosophy and theology at the famous Universities of Oxford and Paris. Having concluded his formation successfully, he undertook the teaching of theology at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge and then Paris, beginning his commentary, as all teachers of the time, on the Sentences of Peter Lombard. The main works of Duns Scotus represent, in fact, the mature fruit of these lessons, and take the title of the places in which he taught: Opus Oxoniense (Oxford), Reportatio Cambrigensis (Cambridge), Reportata Parisiensia (Paris).

Duns Scotus left Paris when a serious conflict broke out between King Philip IV the Fair and Pope Boniface VIII, preferring voluntary exile rather than signing a document hostile to the Supreme Pontiff, as the king had imposed on all religious. Thus — out of love for the See of Peter — he left the country together with his Franciscan Brothers.

Dear brothers and sisters, this fact invites us to recall how many times in the history of the Church believers have met with hostility and even with persecutions because of their fidelity and their devotion to Christ, to the Church and to the Pope. We all look with admiration to these Christians, who teach us to guard faith in Christ and communion with the Successor of Peter, and thus with the universal Church, as a precious good.

However, relations between the king of France and Boniface VIII’s successor soon became friendly again and in 1305 Duns Scotus was able to return to Paris to teach theology with the title of magister regens, today we would say ordinary professor. Subsequently, his superiors sent him to Cologne as professor of the Franciscan Theological Studium, but he died on Nov. 8, 1308, when only 43 years of age, leaving, however, an important number of works.

Because of his fame for holiness, devotion to him soon spread in the Franciscan Order and Venerable Pope John Paul II wished to confirm him solemnly blessed on March 20, 1993, describing him as “singer of the Incarnate Word and defender of the Immaculate Conception.” Synthesized in this expression is the great contribution Duns Scotus made to the history of theology.

First of all, he meditated on the mystery of the incarnation and, as opposed to many Christian thinkers of the time, he maintained that the Son of God would have become man even if humanity had not sinned. In the Reportata Parisiensia he affirms: “To think that God would have given up such work if Adam had not sinned would be altogether irrational! I say, therefore, that the fall was not the cause of the predestination of Christ, and that — even if no one had fallen, not angels or man — in this hypothesis Christ would still have been predestined in the same way” (in III Sent., d. 7, 4).

This, perhaps, rather surprising thought is born because for Duns Scotus the incarnation of the Son of God, projected from all eternity by God the Father in His plan of love, is the fulfillment of creation, and makes it possible for every creature, in Christ and through Him, to be filled with grace and give praise and glory to God in eternity. Duns Scotus, though aware that, in reality, because of original sin, Christ has redeemed us with His passion, death and resurrection, confirms that the incarnation is the greatest and most beautiful work of the whole history of salvation, and that it is not conditioned by any contingent fact, but is the original idea of God to finally unite the whole of creation with Himself in the person and flesh of the Son.

Duns Scotus, faithful disciple of St. Francis, loved to contemplate and preach the mystery of the salvific passion of Christ, expression of the immense love of God, who communicates with enormous generosity outside of Himself the rays of his goodness and his love (cf. Tractatus de primo principio, c. 4). And this love is not only revealed on Calvary, but also in the Most Blessed Eucharist, to which Duns Scotus was most devoted and which he saw as the sacrament of the real presence of Jesus and as the sacrament of the unity and community that induces us to love one another and to love God as the supreme common good (cf. Reportata Parisiensia, in IV Sent., d. 8, q. 1, n. 3).

Dear brothers and sisters, this theological vision, intensely “Christocentric,” opens us to contemplation, to wonder and to gratitude: Christ is the center of history and of the cosmos; He it is who gives meaning, dignity and value to our life! Like Pope Paul VI in Manila, I also would like to cry out to the world today: “[Christ] reveals the invisible God, He is the firstborn of all creation, the foundation of everything created. He is the Teacher of mankind, and its Redeemer. He was born, He died and He rose again for us. He is the centre of history and of the world; He is the one who knows us and who loves us; He is the companion and the friend of our life. … I could never finish speaking about Him” (Homily, Nov. 29, 1970).

Not only the role of Christ in the history of salvation, but also Mary’s [role] is the object of the reflection of the doctor subtilis. In Duns Scotus’ times, the majority of theologians offered an objection that seemed insurmountable to the doctrine that Most Holy Mary was free from original sin from the first instant of her conception. In fact, the universality of the redemption wrought by Christ, at first glance, might seem compromised by such an affirmation, as if Mary had no need of Christ and of His redemption. Because of this theologians were opposed to this thesis.

To make this preservation from original sin understood, Duns Scotus then developed an argument which later would also be adopted by Blessed Pope Pius IX in 1854, when he defined solemnly the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. And this argument is that of the “preventive redemption,” according to which the Immaculate Conception represents the masterpiece of the redemption wrought by Christ, because in fact the power of His love and of His mediation obtained that the Mother be preserved from original sin. Hence Mary is totally redeemed by Christ, but already before her conception. The Franciscans, his brethren, accepted and spread this doctrine enthusiastically, as did other theologians who — often with a solemn oath — committed themselves to defend and perfect it.

In this regard, I would like to highlight something, which it seems to me is important. Valuable theologians, such as Duns Scotus with the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, enriched with their specific thought what the People of God already believed spontaneously about the Blessed Virgin, manifested in acts of piety, in the expressions of art and, in general, in Christian living. Thus faith in the Immaculate Conception or in the bodily assumption of the Virgin was already present in the People of God, while theology had not yet found the key to interpret it in the totality of the doctrine of the faith. Thus the People of God precede theologians and all this thanks to that supernatural sensus fidei, namely, that capacity infused by the Holy Spirit, which qualifies us to embrace the reality of the faith, with humility of heart and mind.

In this sense, the People of God is “magisterium that precedes,” and that later must be deepened and intellectually accepted by theology. May theologians always be able to listen to this source of faith and have the humility and simplicity of little ones! I made this reminder a few months ago saying: “There have been great scholars, great experts, great theologians, teachers of faith who have taught us many things. They have gone into the details of Sacred Scripture, … but have been unable to see the mystery itself, its central nucleus. … The essential has remained hidden! On the other hand, in our time there have also been ‘little ones’ who have understood this mystery. Let us think of St. Bernadette Soubirous; of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, with her new interpretation of the Bible that is ‘non-scientific’ but goes to the heart of Sacred Scripture” (Homily. Holy Mass with the Members of the International Theological Commission, Dec. 1, 2009).

Finally, Duns Scotus developed a point to which modernity is very sensitive. It is the topic of liberty and its relation with the will and with the intellect. Our author stresses liberty as a fundamental quality of the will, initiating an approach of a voluntaristic tendency, which developed in contrast with the so-called Augustinian and Thomistic intellectualism. For St. Thomas Aquinas, who follows St. Augustine, liberty cannot be considered an innate quality of the will, but the fruit of the collaboration of the will and of the intellect.

An idea of innate and absolute liberty placed in the will and preceding the intellect, whether in God or in man, risks, in fact, leading to the idea of a God who would not even be linked to the truth and to the good. The desire to save the absolute transcendence and diversity of God with an affirmation about His will that is so radical and impenetrable fails to take into account that the God who revealed Himself in Christ is the God “logos,” who acted and acts full of love toward us.

Certainly, as Duns Scotus affirms, in line with Franciscan theology, love surpasses knowledge and is increasingly capable of perceiving thought, but it is always the love of the God “Logos” (cf. Benedict XVI, Address at Regensburg, Teachings of Benedict XVI, II [2006], p. 261). Also in man the idea of absolute liberty, placed in the will, forgetting the nexus with truth, ignores that liberty itself must be freed of the limits imposed on it by sin.

Speaking to Roman seminarians last year, I reminded that “[s]ince the beginning and throughout all time but especially in the modern age freedom has been the great dream of humanity” (Address to the Pontifical Major Roman Seminary, Feb. 20, 2009). However, modern history itself, in addition to our daily experience, teaches us that liberty is authentic, and helps the construction of a truly human civilization only when it is reconciled with truth. If it is detached from truth, liberty becomes, tragically, a principle of destruction of the interior harmony of the human person, source of malversation of the strongest and the violent, and cause of suffering and mourning. Liberty, as all the faculties with which man is gifted, grows and is perfected, affirms Duns Scotus, when man opens himself to God, valuing that disposition of listening to His voice, which he calls potentia oboedientialis: When we listen to divine Revelation, to the Word of God, to accept it, then we have been reached by a message that fills our life with light and hope and we are truly free.

Dear brothers and sisters, Blessed Duns Scotus teaches us that what is essential in our life is to believe that God is close to us and that He loves us in Christ Jesus, and therefore to cultivate a profound love of Him and of His Church. We are witnesses of this love on earth. May Mary Most Holy help us to receive this infinite love of God that we will enjoy fully for eternity in heaven, when our soul will finally be united for ever to God, in the communion of saints.

Bishop Padovese :murder in Turkey

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service

Bishop Luigi Padovese, 63, has been murdered.

ISTANBUL, TURKEY (BosNewsLife)-- A Turkish court on Friday, June 4, charged a Turkish man with murdering a Roman Catholic bishop -- the latest in a series of violent attacks against the country's tiny Christian minority. 

The 63-year-old Bishop Luigi Padovese, the pope's apostolic vicar in Anatolia, was resting at his summer house in the port city of Iskenderun, on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, when he was stepped by his driver, said Sister Leonora, the bishop's secretary.

Bishop Padovese, an Italian national, was due to join Pope Benedict XVI in Cyprus on Sunday, May 6.

The suspect of Kurdish origin, identified only as Murat A., had been employed as his personal driver and handyman for more than four years, Vatican sources added.

Bishop Padovese, who was also head of the Turkish Bishops Conference, reportedly died in the ambulance on the way to hospital shortly after the attack at 1 pm local time. 

HATE CRIME?

Soon after Thursday's killing, authorities suggested the attack was not an anti-Christian hate crime. In a statement, Turkish police said the suspect was "mentally unstable" with serious psychological problems.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said he was "dismayed" by the news. "This is horrible news that left us deeply shocked and of course, desperately dismayed," he said in comments monitored by BosNewsLife.

"Bishop Padovese was a person of great worth for the witness of the Church's life in Turkey, and even in difficult situations, was a courageous person dedicated to the Gospel".

Spokesman Lombardi confirmed reports that the suspect had mental problems. "The religious sister [and secretary of the bishop] testified to the man’s recent signs of depression and confusion and confirms that he had given evidence of mental imbalance in the past."

Therefore, "political motivations for the attack, or other motivations linked to socio-political tensions are to be excluded," he added. No details on funeral arrangements were immediately released.  

MORE ATTACKS

The attack was expected to add to anxiety among Christians following several attacks in recent years in Turkey.  In 2007, a Catholic priest survived after being stabbed by a 19-year-old boy after Sunday Mass in the western city of Izmir.

That same year, three evangelical Christians were tortured and killed in a Bible-publishing house in the city of Malatya.

In 2006, a 16-year-old boy shot dead a Catholic priest, Father Andrea Santoro, as he prayed in his church in the Black Sea city of Trabzon.

Lombardi said the latest attack comes at a crucial time for the pope and Christians. "This fact coming as it does on the eve of a papal trip towards the Middle East lends an extraordinary intensity to the pope’s mission to encourage the Christian communities living in this region, helping us to profoundly understand the urgent need for the solidarity of the universal Church to support these Christian communities."

Turkey, which  seeks membership of the European Union, has come under international pressure to improve the rights of Christians and other religious minorities in the mainly Muslim nation. (With reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos)

The Litany of Saint Joan of Arc

THE LITANY OF SAINT JOAN OF ARC

Composed by Louis, Bishop of Saint Dié.

Lord, have mercy on us!

Jesus Christ, have mercy on us!

Lord, have mercy on us!

Jesus Christ, hear us!

Jesus Christ, graciously hear us!

Our Heavenly Father, Who is God, have mercy on us!

Son, Savior of the world, Who is God, have mercy on us!

Holy Spirit, Who is God, have mercy on us!

Holy Trinity, Who is God, have mercy on us!

Holy Mary, virgin mother of God, pray for us.

Our Lady of the Assumption, principal patron of France, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, patron and special protector of France, pray for us.

Saint Catherine of Alexandria, virgin and martyr, pray for us.

Saint Margaret of Antioch, virgin and martyr, pray for us.

Saint Joan of Arc, chosen by God at Domremy, pray for us.

Saint Joan of Arc, informed [of her mission] by Saint Michael, the Archangel and his angels, pray for us.

Saint Joan of Arc, compliant to the call of God,pray for us.

Saint Joan of Arc, confidant [in] and submissive to her voices, pray for us.

Saint Joan of Arc, model of family life and labor, pray for us.

Saint Joan of Arc, faithfully devoted to Our Lady, pray for us.

Saint Joan of Arc, who delighted in the Holy Eucharist, pray for us.

Saint Joan of Arc, model of generosity in the service to God, pray for us.

Saint Joan of Arc, example of faithfulness to the Divine vocation, pray for us.

Saint Joan of Arc, model of union with God in action, pray for us.

Saint Joan of Arc, virgin and soldier, pray for us.

Saint Joan of Arc, model of courage and purity in the field [of battle], pray for us.

Saint Joan of Arc, compassionate towards all who suffer, pray for us.

Saint Joan of Arc, the pride of Orleans, pray for us.

Saint Joan of Arc, glory of Reims, pray for us.

Saint Joan of Arc, liberator of the Country, pray for us.

Saint Joan of Arc, abandoned and imprisoned at Compiegne, pray for us.

Saint Joan of Arc, pure and patient in your prison, pray for us.

Saint Joan of Arc, heroic and valiant before your judges, pray for us.

Saint Joan of Arc, alone with God at the hour of torment, pray for us.

Saint Joan of Arc, martyr of Rouen, pray for us.

Saint Joan or Arc and Saint Therese of Lisieux patronesses of France, pray for us.

All the Saints of France, intercede for us.

Lamb of God, Who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us, Lord.

Lamb of God, Who take away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, Lord.

Lamb of God, Who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us, Lord.

Saint Joan of Arc, pray for us, that we may become worthy of the promises of Our Savior Jesus Christ.

Let us pray.

Oh God, Who has raised up in an admirable manner, the virgin of Domremy, Saint Joan of Arc, for the defense of the faith and [our] country. By her intercession, we ask You that the Church [may] triumph against the assaults of her enemies and rejoice in lasting peace; through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Custos of the Holy Land

Br. Pierbattista Pizzaballa has been confirmed as Custos of the Holy Land for the coming three years.

Br. Pierbattista Pizzaballa is the 165th Custos of the Holy Land and has been Custos since 2nd June 2004 (he was appointed on 15th May). Br. Pizzaballa was born in Cologno al Serio, in the diocese and province of Bergamo (Italy) on 21st April april 1965. He did his novitiate at La Verna (Arezzo) thus joining the Order of Friars Minor. He made his first profession on 7th September 1985 and Solemn profession on 14th October, 1989. He was ordained priest on 15th September 1990. He belongs to the Province of Christ the King (Bologna) and has been in the service of the Custody of the Holy Land since 2nd July 1999.

Pentecost Novena

The Pentecost Novena is the first of all novenas, nine days of prayer. After Jesus' Ascension into heaven, He commanded His disciples to come together in the upper room to devote themselves to constant prayer (Acts 1:14). They prayed for nine days before receiving the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

On May 4, 1897, Pope Leo XIII proclaimed: "We decree and command that throughout the whole Catholic Church, this year and in every subsequent year, a novena shall take place before Whit-Sunday (Pentecost), in all parish churches." It has been reported that Pope Leo XIII was inspired to mandate the Pentecost novena because of a letter from a housewife in Italy. Pope John Paul II has reiterated Pope Leo XIII's command for a worldwide Pentecost novena, although the novena can be prayed at any time — not only before Pentecost.

Try to go to Mass daily throughout the novena. Go to Confession during the novena. Make visits to church to adore the eucharistic Jesus throughout the novena. The Church has not written any official prayers for the novena. The following prayers are suggested.

(Where the Ascension is celebrated on Thursday)

Pray: Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of Your love.

V. Send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created,

R. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray.

O God, Who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of Your faithful, grant that by that same Holy Spirit, we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in His consolation, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Read: The daily eucharistic readings:

Acts 18:9-18
John 16:20-23

(for a teaching on the daily eucharistic readings see: One Bread, One Body)

Be silent

Pray: Father, as a mother carries her child in her womb nine months, so I choose to suffer for love of You during these nine days of the novena. Through my redemptive sufferings, may the Church receive the fullness of life in the Spirit. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

(Where the Ascension is celebrated on Thursday)

Pray: Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of Your love.

V. Send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created,

R. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray.

O God, Who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of Your faithful, grant that by that same Holy Spirit, we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in His consolation, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Read:

Acts 18:23-28
John 16:23-28

Be silent

Pray: Father, make me docile to the Holy Spirit as Apollos, Cornelius (Acts 10), and Mary were (Luke 1:38). As in the home of Priscilla and Aquila, may several people be filled with the Holy Spirit in my home. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Pray: Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of Your love.

V. Send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created,

R. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray.

O God, Who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of Your faithful, grant that by that same Holy Spirit, we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in His consolation, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Read:

Year A
Acts 1:12-14
1 Peter 4:13-16
John 17:1-11

Year B
Acts 1:15-17, 20-26
1 John 4:11-16
John 17:11-19

Year C
Acts 7:55-60
Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20
John 17:20-26

Be silent

Pray: Father, make us one in the Spirit. As You have forgiven me, may I accept Your grace to forgive immediately all who have sinned against me. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Pray: Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of Your love.

V. Send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created,

R. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray.

O God, Who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of Your faithful, grant that by that same Holy Spirit, we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in His consolation, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Read:

Acts 19:1-8
John 16:29-33

Be silent

Pray: Father, may the Holy Spirit come down on me so that I will speak in tongues and utter prophecies. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

(For teaching on this, order our pamphlets: Speaking in Tongues and Seek Prophecy.)

Pray: Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of Your love.

V. Send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created,

R. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray.

O God, Who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of Your faithful, grant that by that same Holy Spirit, we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in His consolation, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Read:

Acts 20:17-27
John 17:1-11

Be silent

Pray: Father, send the Holy Spirit to give me the power to be a witness for Jesus. May I not be ashamed of the gospel (Romans 1:16). I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Pray: Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of Your love.

V. Send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created,

R. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray.

O God, Who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of Your faithful, grant that by that same Holy Spirit, we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in His consolation, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Read:

Acts 20:28-38
John 17:11-19

Be silent

Pray: Spirit of truth, consecrate me by means of truth. By obedience to the truth may I be purified for a genuine love of my brothers and sisters (1 Peter 1:22). I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Pray: Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of Your love.

V. Send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created,

R. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray.

O God, Who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of Your faithful, grant that by that same Holy Spirit, we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in His consolation, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Read:

Acts 22:30; 23:6-11
John 17:20-26

Be silent:

Pray: Jesus, baptize me, that is, immerse me in the Holy Spirit and in the fire of purification (Matthew 3:11).

Pray: Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of Your love.

V. Send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created,

R. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray.

O God, Who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of Your faithful, grant that by that same Holy Spirit, we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in His consolation, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Read:

Acts 25:13-21
John 21:15-19

Be silent

Pray: Holy Spirit, produce in me Your fruit: love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

Pray: Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of Your love.

V. Send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created,

R. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray.

O God, Who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of Your faithful, grant that by that same Holy Spirit, we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in His consolation, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Read:

Acts 28:16-20, 30-31
John 21:20-25

Be silent

Pray: Father, renew my Baptism and Confirmation. Stir into flame the gifts of the Spirit in my life (see 2 Timothy 1:6-7).

On or near Pentecost, ask another Christian to lay hands on you (see Acts 19:6) and pray for you to receive the Holy Spirit. After receiving these prayers, thank the Holy Spirit for coming to you, go to Mass as often as possible, and share your faith in Jesus. Come, Holy Spirit!

Padre Pio's celestial perfumes

Padre Pio's celestial perfumes

Some Saints possessed the gift that is known
as “odor of sanctity”. The phenomenon is called
osmogenesia. This gift allows somebody to
perceive the Saint’s presence in the smell of
personal perfumes. St.Pio has the gift of holy
perfumes called odors of holiness, therefore; the
people who were next to him, could very often
smell his perfumes. The perfume often emanated
from his body or from the objects that he touched
or from his clothing. Sometimes the perfume was
perceivable in the places through which he passed.

One day, a famous Doctor had removed a bandage
from a sore on padre Pio’s chest. The gauze was
saturated with the blood and the doctor had
enclosed it in a container in order to bring the
gauze to his laboratory. During the trip to Rome
to analyze the gauze, an Officer and other people
that were traveling with the doctor said “they
smelled the perfume that usually emanated from
padre Pio”. Not one of those persons knew that
the doctor had the gauze soaked with the blood of
St. Padre Pio in the container. The doctor saved
that gauze in his laboratory, and the strange
perfume had stayed in the room for long time, so
that when the patients went to him for the
medical visits, they asked him for an explanation.

Friar Modestino said: “Once I was on vacation at
St. Giovanni Rotondo. I went to Padre Pio in the
sacristy that morning to serve the Holy Mass, but
other monks were already arguing in the sacristy
as to who would have this privilege. Padre Pio
interrupted those discussions by saying – ‘only
he will serve the Holy Mass’ - and he pointed me
out! I accompanied Padre Pio to St. Francis
altar, I closed the gate, and I started to serve
the Holy Mass in profound awe. When the Mass got
to the point of the “Sanctus” I suddenly had a
desire to smell again that indescribable perfume
that I had already perceived when I had kissed
Padre Pio’s hand. The desire was immediately
granted me and it was like I was wooed by St.
Pio’s perfume. The perfume increased more and
more, so much so that the perfume caused me to
breathe irregularly. I leaned my hand on the
communion rail so as not to fall! I was about to
faint when I mentally asked Padre Pio to save me
from embarrassment in front of the people. In
that precise instant the perfume disappeared. In
the evening, while I accompanied him to his room,
I asked Padre Pio for an explanation about that
phenomenon. He answered me: “My child, I am not
able to explain it. “God intervenes to allow
somebody to smell the perfume whenever He wants.”

From my small window (I was on one side of the
confessional) I saw that Padre Pio was hearing
the confession of a lady on the other
side. While I thought that I was going
tofiore.gif (2499 byte) speak to the saint, I was
wooed by a strong perfume of lilies. Yet, this
really got me confused, because I had never
believed the stories of the perfumes, and so I
myself was convinced that padre Pio’s perfumes really existed.

A lady from Bologna, who was 24 years old, had
her right arm fractured. The same arm had been
operated three years prior because of a serious
accident. After an operation followed by a long
painful recovery the surgeon told the girl’s
father that she would not have use of the arm
anymore. In fact the arm was completely immobile,
because of the removal of a section of the
shoulder blade. A bone graft had not
succeeded! Father and injured daughter departed
for St. Giovanni Rotondo. Padre Pio met them, he
blessed them and he declared: “Above all do not
despair! Confide in God! The arm will recover.”
Toward the end of July, 1930 the woman returned
to Bologna without any improvement of her arm.
Was it possible to think that Padre Pio had been
wrong? For months nobody thought anymore of the
problem. On the 17th.of September (the
celebration of the stigmata of St. Francis),
suddenly, the apartment where the family lived
became scented by a delicious odor of jonquils
and roses. The scented phenomenon lasted about a
quarter of an hour while everybody tried to
understand where that perfume originated. From
that day the girl started to use her arm again.
An X-Ray which she preserved jealously, showed
that the bone and the cartilage were completely fused and healed.

A man said: “One day I decided to follow my
wife’s suggestion to go see Padre Pio. It had
been twenty-five years precisely from the day of
my marriage since I had seen the inside of a
church. I felt my years of guilt weighing me down
and I needed to confess my sins, but as soon as I
was next to Padre Pio, he said brusquely (without
looking at me): “Go away!” I answered: “I am
here to confess, that you may give me Jesus’
absolution.” I had spoken roughly to him, but he
roughly responded: “I have said: “Go away.” I
went away running across the garden from the
small Church then onto the hotel. My wife, who
had seen me go out of the Church, reached me at
the hotel. “What has happened? What are you
doing?” she questioned me. “I am packing my
suitcase and I am leaving,” I answered. At that
moment a cloud of perfume wooed me. It was an
intense perfume, marvellous to the senses. I was
confused. It soothed me instantly and I felt
inside me a great desire to return to Padre Pio.
It took me a day to muster enough courage to
return to the Padre. I prepared myself,
carefully I examined my conscience before meeting
the Padre who kindly welcomed me and gave me absolution I needed.”

A lady said: “My husband was in an automobile
accident and was critically injured. He was
transported to the hospital in Taranto, Italy.
The doctors had no hope of his survival. On the
hospital grounds there was a shrine dedicated to
Padre Pio. Before visiting my husband I would
stop and pray to Padre Pio for my husband’s
recovery. One day, as I stood there praying, the
“Saintly” Pio smells, a marvellous perfume of
lilies engulfed me. I took it as a sign that my
prayer request had been heard. From that moment
on, the condition of my husband improved and he
healed from the injuries he sustained.”

A gentleman from Toronto said: “In 1947, my wife
that fell seriously ill and was hospitalised in
Rome, requiring surgery. I travelled to St.
Giovanni, Rotondo to see Padre Pio. While I was
there, the good Padre heard my confession. After
receiving the absolution, I talked to the Padre
about my wife’s condition. Then I asked him:
“Father, help me to pray!” Immediately I smelled
a delicious and persistent perfume that surprised
me. I returned home in the late evening. As soon
as I opened the door, I smelled again that same
scent that I had smelled when I was next to
Father Pio. I became confident. My wife underwent
the operation without any problems. I told her
the marvellous experience that I had and together we thanked Padre Pio.”

A married couple in England were experiencing
problems and were at a point of despair. They did
not know where to turn to. Someone spoke to them
about Padre Pio. They wrote to Padre Pio about
their problems but did not receive any
answer. They, then decided to go to St. Giovanni
Rotondo to meet the Padre and obtain his wise
counsel. From England to Puglia (Italy), the
journey was long! Moreover, it was in the middle
of winter with snowy conditions
prevailing. Despite the weather, they embarked
on their journey. They spent their first night in
Bern in a lowly hotel for that was all they could
afford. Doubts filled them once more. They
wondered what they would do if the Padre did not
receive them. Should they continue with their
journey or turn back. As they were debating on
their options, the room was filled with a sweet,
intoxicating perfume, that had a very relaxing
effect on them. The woman began to look for the
source of the perfume and thought that some
distracted traveller, before them had left a
bottle of perfume in the room. The search for the
perfume’s source was fruitless! Awhile later the
perfume smell faded away and the room emanated
the usual odor of a stench. The married couple
shared their experience with the innkeeper. He
was surprised as it was the first time that any
of his clients believed to have smelled perfume
in their room. The couple instead took it as a
sign to continue with their journey to St.
Giovanni Rotondo and to meet Padre Pio. When they
got there, the young man, who was well versed in
Italian, spoke to the Padre in Italian: “We
wrote to you, Father, but since you have not
answered us…” “What?” Padre Pio interrupted
saying: “ Why do you tell me I did not answer
you? Did you not smell anything that evening in
the Swiss hotel?” The two lovers were joyful and
full of thankfulness. They understood then, the
perfume that they had smelled in the room of the
hotel, was the perfume of Padre Pio. With just a
few words of counselling, Padre Pio helped them to resolve their problems.”

A gentleman met Father Pio through a series of
strange coincidences. He says: “The first time I
heard somebody speak of this extraordinary
religious man was after the war. A friend of mine
knew the Padre well. He spoke enthusiastically of
him. But I thought to myself his stories about
the holy man were a bit much. So I must confess
my initial reactions were indifference and
disbelief. This was especially true when my
friend told me about various phenomena attributed
to Padre Pio, especially the scent of perfumes.
“Many people claim to detect an aroma of perfume
even when they are not any where near the sainted
Friar. You can imagine my surprise when this
started to happen to me. I would catch the aroma
of violets in unusual places, where even the hint
of a flower could not be found. I began to wonder
about myself. I started to doubt my senses. I
even told myself I must be dreaming. “One day the
phenomenon happened when I was on vacation with
my wife. I had gone to the post office to mail a
letter. The post office in question did not
normally lace its air with perfume. I don’t know
of any that do. But all of a sudden I smelled the
unmistakable odor of violets. Catching the scent,
my wife said to me ‘ Where is this odor of
perfume coming from?’ Excitedly, I asked her ‘Can
you smell it too?’ “Then I told my wife about
Padre Pio and about the stories of unusual
perfumed aromas surrounding his presence. These
aromas could be detected even if one were at a
distance from the good Padre. My wife was moved.
She said to me: ‘If I were you, I would leave for
San Giovanni Rotondo right away.’ The next day,
we were on our way. We met with Padre Pio and he
said to me ‘Ah, here is our hero. How much effort
I expended to get you here.’ That same day, I had
a chance to speak with Padre Pio personally. From
that moment on, my life was changed.”

Another person once remarked : “Some years ago, I
had a heart attack. The doctors recommended I
undergo surgery to improve my condition.
I entered the hospital at once. It was in June
1991. During the surgery, the doctors did a
quadruple bypass. When I awoke from the
anesthesia, my leg and right arm were paralyzed .
I was really discouraged. After awhile, my faith
returned and I began to pray to Padre Pio for
help. I pleaded with him for three days. On the
third day, as I was finishing my prayer, despite
being surrounded by other patients, I noticed
something significant. I caught a whiff of an
overwhelming aroma of flowers. When the perfumed
aroma faded, I felt a sensation in my right leg.
I knew at once my prayers had been answered.”

A woman tells this story: “I had great problems
with both of my eyes. I experienced pain and
could see very little. I consulted several
doctors and after several examinations, they gave
me the diagnosis: irreversible ocular hemorrhage.
They added there was a probably a tumor present
also. To make matters worse, the doctors told
me this form of blindness was final. There was
no cure. “Upon hearing this bad news, I became
very depressed and anxious. I was on a trip and I
knew I would be passing close to Benevento. So I
decided to go as far as Pietreicina, where I
would have an opportunity to visit Padre Pio’s
monastery. During my visit to one of the last
rooms where St. Pio had lived, I was deeply
moved. I had been praying for my relatives and
all of a sudden, caught the scent of an intense
burst of incense. “While I was returning to Rome
by train, I thought a lot about what had happened
in that room in Padre Pio’s monastery I decided
to plead with Padre Pio to heal my damaged eyes.
I turned to him with as much faith as I could
muster. Padre Pio didn’t take long to hear my
prayers. In fact, my sight progressively improved
and before too long, I was totally healed. The
doctors who examined me later could not believe I
was completely and inexplicably recovered.”

A man from Canicatti (Sicily, Italy) tells this
story “At the start of 1953, my wife was
pregnant. The problem was she also had a serious
kidney problem. The doctors told her that because
of this kidney problem, ‘the child’s life was in
danger.’ Any surgery performed to correct this
problem had to succeed, or else. On May 3rd, I
was desperate. I wrote a letter to Padre Pio
asking for his help. A few days later, my wife
and I were in different rooms, yet at the same
time, we both smelled a mysterious aroma of
roses. At that precise moment, the mail carrier
knocked on our door and delivered a letter to us
from the monastery of St. Giovanni Rotondo. We
read that Padre Pio would pray for my wife and
our unborn child. The next day, my wife underwent
another medical exam and we were told by the
examining physician the kidney ailment had disappeared.”

A lawyer who was very devoted to Father Pio
says: “Once I was in the old church in the
monastery attending one of Padre Pio’s long
Masses. At the moment of the consecration of the
Sacred Host, I became distracted. I was the only
person standing in the middle of the crowd of
believers who were all kneeling. Suddenly, I was
overwhelmed by a powerful aroma of violets. The
scent was so strong it jolted me back to the
present moment. Looking around me, I knelt down
without thinking anything about the unusual
perfume that hovered above me. As was my custom,
after the Mass was over, I went to greet Padre
Pio. He welcomed me saying ‘Were you a little
disoriented today?’ I sheepishly said ‘Yes,
Padre. I have been a bit absent-minded today, but
fortunately, your perfume woke me up.’ He said
simply.: ‘For you, perfume is not necessary. For you, slaps are necessary.’”

Monk Ludovico of St. Giovanni Rotondo said that
"Padre Pio left a wake of perfume, when he passed
for the several places of the convent.

Father Fred said: "Sometimes, if you wanted to
know where Padre Pio was, it was enough to follow the wake of the perfume.

Mr. Peter says: "One day I was travelling by car
and I was running very fast. Suddenly I felt a
wave of perfume. I remembered one day I had asked
the meaning of that phenomenon to the Saint and
Padre Pio told me: "My child, when you feel the
perfume, be careful". In that instant I stop
running but I could not avoid to have a crash
with the car. However I didn't have any damages to myself.

Mother Teresa,what will save the world?

Mother Teresa, What will save the world?

"My answer is prayer. What we need is for every Parish to come before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in Holy Hours of prayer.” “The time you spend with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament … will help bring about an everlasting peace on earth” (Mother Teresa of Calcutta).

Nobel Peace Prize winner and foundress of the Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa brought the homeless, sick, destitute and dying home to “die like angels.” She attributed her many charitable works to her daily Holy Hours of prayer before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Mother Teresa said, “I know I would not be able to work one week if it were not for that continual force coming from Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.”

Reflections on Eucharistic Adoration from Mother Teresa of Calcutta :

“On the Cross Jesus said: ‘I thirst.’ From the Blessed Sacrament Jesus continues to say to each of us: ‘I thirst.’ He thirsts for our personal love, our intimacy, our union with Him in the Blessed Sacrament. His longing for us to be with Him in the Blessed Sacrament is infinitely greater than our longing to be with Him.”

“The Eucharist is connected with the Passion. If Jesus had not established the Eucharist we would have forgotten the crucifixion. It would have faded into the past and we would have forgotten that Jesus loved us. There is a saying that to be far away from the eyes is to be far away from the heart. To make sure that we do not forget, Jesus gave us the Eucharist as a memorial of his love.”

“When you look at the crucifix, you understand how much Jesus loved you. When you look at the Sacred Host you understand how much Jesus loves you now. ”

“Our lives must be woven around the Eucharist … fix your eyes on Him Who is the light; bring your hearts close to His Divine Heart; ask Him to grant you the grace of knowing Him, the love of loving Him, the courage to serve Him. Seek Him fervently.”

“To be alone with Jesus in adoration and intimate union with Him is the greatest gift of love-the tender love of our Father in Heaven.”

“All of us know that unless we believe and can see Jesus in the appearance of bread on the altar, we will not be able to see him in the distressing disguise of the poor. Therefore these two loves are but one in Jesus.”

“If we really understand the Eucharist, if we really centre our lives on Jesus’ Body and Blood, if we nourish our lives with the Bread of the Eucharist, it will be easy for us to see Christ in that hungry one next door, the one lying in the gutter, the alcoholic man we shun, our husband or our wife, or our restless child. For in them, we will recognize the distressing disguises of the poor: Jesus in our midst.”

“Through Mary the cause of our joy you discover that no where on earth are you more welcomed, no where on earth are you more loved, than by Jesus, living and truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament … He is really there in Person waiting just for you.”

"Like Mary, let us never be ashamed to do humble work. Like her, let us always accept the cross in whatever way it comes. (We must) stand near Our Lady to listen to the thirst of Jesus and to answer with your whole heart.”

The Guardian Angel

An Italian-American, who lived in California, sometimes entrusted his Guardian Angel to report some messages to Padre Pio. Once, after the confession, he asked Padre Pio “if he really had received his messages from his Guardian Angel?”  Father Pio asked him: “What do you think? Do you think I am hard of hearing?” After that Padre Pio repeated the messages that were sent him some days before by his Guardian Angel.

A Father Lino said: “I was begging my Guardian Angel to bring padre Pio a request of prayer for a lady who was very sick, but it seemed that nothing changed. When I met Padre Pio I told him: “Father, I begged my Guardian Angel in order to bring you a request of prayer for a woman who is very sick...is it possible he didn’t do it? And Padre Pio answered: “Do you believe your Guardian Angel to be disobedient as you and me?

A Father Eusebio said: I was going to London by plane, against Padre Pio’s suggestion not to use this mean of transport. When we were flying over the Channel, a violent storm put the aeroplane in danger. Amid the general terror I prayed and, without knowing what to do, I sent my Guardian Angel to Padre Pio. When I went back to St. Giovanni Rotondo I met Padre Pio who said to me, “Are you well?  Is everything OK?”   I answered;   “I thought I’d die,” the saintly padre responded, “then why don't you obey?  I responded “But I have sent you my Guardian Angel...  Padre Pio then said, “Fortunately he arrived just in time!“.

An Italian lawyer was driving coming back home from Bologna. In his FIAT 1100 were also his wife and their two children. At one point, he wanted to be replaced in driving the car because he was very tired. He asked his son Guido to drive instead of him but he didn’t answer because his son was sleeping.  Some kilometres later, next to the gate of St. Lazzaro, the lawyer fell asleep too. When he woke-up he realised he was not far from Eternity. That meant that while he was sleeping he had run on the railway for several kilometres. He was very frightened so he cried: “who was guiding the car? And what has happened?” but nobody could answer him. His son, who was on his right side, woke up and told him he had slept deeply. His wife and the smaller child were incredulous and marvelled. They said he had driven differently than usual. They said, “At one time the car was going to crash into another car but at the last moment it avoided the crash with a perfect manoeuvres. The way it took the curves was also different. But above all - his wife said: “you have been immovable for a lot of time and you have not answered our questions.” The lawyer said, “I could not answer because I was asleep. I have slept for fifteen kilometres. I haven’t felt anything because I slept...but who was driving the car? Who has prevented the catastrophe?  After a couple of months the mystery was disclosed, the lawyer went to St. Giovanni Rotondo. As soon as Padre Pio saw him, he said him, “You slept and the Guardian Angel drove your car.”

One of Padre Pio’s spiritual daughters was walking along a country road to the Convent. There Padre Pio was waiting for her. It was one of those winter days, bleached by the snow in which it was even difficult to walk. The road was so full of snow that the woman had the certainty she would not reach the Convent in time for the appointment with the director. Full of faith, she charged his Guardian Angel to tell Padre Pio she would have arrived at the convent late because of the snow. When she reached the convent she saw with enormous joy that the monk was waiting for her behind a window.  He greeted her smiling.

A man told: “Padre Pio often, stopped in the sacristy greeting his spiritual children and friends by kissing them. I looked with holy envy on those so fortunate and I thought: “Blessed him! If I were him! Blessed! Blessed him! On Christmas 1958, I knelt, in front of Padre Pio for confession. Afterwards, I looked at him and while full of emotion I asked him: “Father, today is the Christmas day, can I wish you Merry Christmas by giving you a kiss? And he, with a sweetness that I am not able to describe with the pen, smile at me and said: “Hurry up, my child, don't make me waste time“! He also embraced me. I kissed him and as a bird, joyful, I went toward the exit full of celestial delights. And what can I say about some slaps on the head? Every time, before leaving from St. Giovanni Rotondo, I desired father Pio gave me a sign of particular predilection. In fact I also wanted two small slaps on the head as two fatherly caresses. I have to underline that he never refused me anything I wanted to receive from him. One day, there were a lot of people in the sacristy of the small church and father Vincenzo exhorted, with his usual severity: “don’t push, don’t shake Padre Pio’s hands go back“! I sadly thought: “This time I will leave without having the blows on the head.” I didn’t want to resign me and I begged my Guardian Angel to become a messenger and to repeat these words to Padre Pio: “Father I desire the benediction and the two blows on the head, as usual, one for me and the other for my wife”. Padre Vincenzo was still repeating “don’t push Padre Pio...stay far from him!” when Padre Pio started walking. I was in anxiety. I looked at him but I was sad. Suddenly Padre Pio came to me, he smiled and he gave me two taps and it made me also kiss his hand, “I would like to give you a lot of slaps...a lot of slaps, “ he told me the first time that I asked him for the small slaps.

A woman was sitting in the square of the church of the capuchins. The Church was closed. It was Late and she prayed with the thought, and she repeated with the heart: “Padre Pio, help me! Guardian Angel, please, go to tell father Pio to help me, otherwise my sister will die“! From the window above her Padre Pio’s voice came: “Who is calling me at this time? What is the problem? The woman told about her sister’s illness. Padre Pio went in bilocation, to the sick woman and healed her.

A guy told Father Pio: I cannot come and see you very often. My salary doesn’t allow me such expensive trips. Father Pio answered: “Who has told you to come here? You have your Guardian Angel, don’t you? You tell him what you want, you send him here, and you will have the answer.”

When father Pio was a young priest he wrote a letter to his confessor in which he said: “when I close my eyes and the night comes, I can see the Heaven that appears in front of me. I am encouraged by this vision so I can sleep with a sweet smile on the lips and with a perfect calm on the forehead waiting my small companion of my infancy came to wake up me and start praying together prayers to the beloved of our hearts.”

One day Padre Alessio approached Padre Pio with some letters in his hand in order to ask him something but Padre Pio told him abruptly, “Don’t you see that I am busy? Leave me alone.” Padre Alessio went away mortified.  Padre Pio later called him and told him, “Have you seen all those angels that were near me? They were the Guardian Angels of my spiritual children that came to bring me their messages.  I had to report to them the answers they needed.”

A doctor asked Padre Pio, “So many angels are always near you.  Do they bother you?” “No, they don’t,” he answered simply, “They are very obedient.”

Father Pio said to a person: "We will pray for your mother, so that the Guardian Angel will be with her in company."

One of the spiritual children of Padre Pio said: “ It seems that Padre Pio always listens to everybody who calls him.” One evening, a group of friends arrived to St. Giovanni Rotondo. They summarized the graces that they would have asked of Padre Pio, and they asked their Guardian Angels to bring their request to Padre Pio as soon as possible.  The next day,  after the Holy Mass, Padre Pio reproached them: “You do not leave me in peace even at night!” Watching Padre Pio’s smile they understood their prayer had been accepted.

A person asked Padre Pio, “Father, are you able to hear what the Guardian Angels tell you?”  And Padre Pio answered: “Of course! Do you think Angels are disobedient as you? Send me your Guardian Angel!”

Don’t write to me because I cannot answer you. Send me your Guardian Angel and I will do everything.

Your Guardian Angel has reported to me some sentences that have made me understand your mistrust.

Invoke your Guardian Angel that he will illuminate you and will guide you. God has given him to you for this reason. Therefore use him!

If the mission of our Guardian Angel is a great mission, the mission of mine is for sure greater than the others, because he has to be a teacher and explain to me other languages.

Send me your Guardian Angel - he doesn’t have to pay a ticket for the train and he doesn’t wear out his shoes.

For people that live alone there is the Guardian Angel.