Saint Pio of PietrelcinaPadre Pio
Imagine being summoned by one's boss or superior to be sent on a special assignment. Emotions and expectations are high. He instructed you to complete a specific task: go to the five accounts lost in the last five years. You mission: bring them back to the company. Don't take a cell phone nor computer with you. You are given a minimal budget. You cannot use the company credit card. Those high emotions and expectations were now on the floor. You ask one question: "How do you expect me to accomplish this task? It is impossible!" Your boss responds: "Tell those CEOs that you are sent on my behalf. Tell them I have entrusted this mission to you, the best sales person in the firm. Tell them I have charged you to explain honestly, clearly and patiently that I am working at the office with all that is in me to regain the great name we had not long ago and provide the best service to our clients. I am entrusting this to you because you are an extraordinary person. I want those CEOs to know that I am using our best representative to bring them back. You can convince them better than I can. You have that skill.
Isn't this what Jesus did with the disciples? Isn't this what God is doing with you as you seek to do his will, to follow what he wants of you? Can we not accomplish so much more when we rely not just on our own skills but on the help of the God who made us. He wants us to rid ourselves of all that distract us from the mission. Just as the optimistic boss wanted to fill his best salesperson with even more self-confidence so, too, God wants us to clear out what distracts us from letting him be our light and guide.
This was how it was for Padre Pio, now St. Pio, whose feast we celebrate today. Despite so many challenges put before him by Roman authorities, he never yielded to temptations to give up believing God was there at his side ... as was eventually evidenced.
