Padre Pio is a Saint with many marvelous things about him, but two that always struck me were his insights in confession, and his stigmata.
He spent hours in the confessional, reconciling men with God. And if someone “forgot” (or omitted) their sins, Padre Pio wouldn’t hesitate to “remind” them.
These stories both filled me with mild terror about the priest knowing more about me than I knew about myself in the confessional, and with a strong sense of the importance of making a good confession.
God knows it all anyways, and it’s for our benefit that he asks to lay it all at his feet in the sacrament of confession.
About the stigmata.
When Padre Pio’s stigmata was under investigation, a psychologist proposed that the reason for the stigmata was that Padre Pio spent too much time looking at the crucifix. And that somehow inflicted the wounds in him.
Padre Pio’s wonderful retort: “Go out to the fields and look very closely at a bull. Concentrate on him with all your might. Do this and see if horns grow on your head!” He cracks me up.
I suffer from eczema on my hands. It seems to be seasonal, allergy-related. Not curable, but manageable. Even then, sometimes I get flare-ups that make the tasks of daily life difficult.
Some days I can’t tie my shoes. Or open a jar. Or even have the strength to pull the velcro on my baby’s diaper when he’s in need of a change.
It may not be the Stigmata, but my eczema is still a chance for me to unite my suffering to Christ’s suffering on the cross, in reparation for my sins.
Padre Pio reminds me of the importance of redemptive suffering, reparation, penance, and the sacrament of confession. He is one of my favorite Saints, and I can’t wait to hang out with him in Heaven someday.
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When Maximilian Kolbe was a kid, he received a vision of Our Lady offering him two crowns: the white crown of purity and the red crown of martyrdom.
He chose both that day. Then he continued to choose them. Every day, he chose purity. And at the end of his life, he chose martyrdom – to die at the hands of the Nazis at Auschwitz.
Knowing how he would die helped Maximilian Kolbe choose how to live his life. And in living his life, he didn’t put “normal” work aside.
He started a successful printing press, and he used that to evangelize the world he lived in. He was a great spiritual leader in his religious community. He worked HARD at his vocation and his "job" daily.
How do you choose to die? Do you choose to die a Saint? Then how do you choose to live? Because we all have this choice, every day.
Think of the daily work you do – at your job, or in your ministry, or in your family.
For me, it’s my vocation as a wife and mother, and my work in my faith-based ministries online. This daily work is the task of holiness God’s calling me to. It’s my path to the crown. It’s my opportunity to live as a Saint.
And it can be hard. It’s difficult to juggle life with a nursing baby and content deadlines. It’s hard to keep putting out inspiration after sleepless nights. It’s tough to let my self-imposed to-do list slide in order to spend a day playing with the kids.
But choosing to do this work every day – the work of a wife, a mother, and an evangelizer – and choosing to do it with great love, and my eyes on the heavenly prize, is how I’m following in the footsteps of this great Saint.
Swipe to see my baby sweetly asking for "this?" (a drink 😂) while I attempt to finish my photo shoot. This is the reality of my ministry, serving my family and the online Catholic world simultaneously.
If you want to die like a Saint, you have to choose to start living like a Saint today.
What Saints inspire you to seek holiness in the tasks of your daily life?
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Did I ever tell you about the time I took a class at an all-boys school?
I was a high school senior in an all-girls academy. I needed to take calculus, which my school didn’t offer at the time.
Remember that all-boys Catholic school that I was telling you about yesterday? The one founded by my grandfather, and named after St. Thomas More.
Well, there’s something to be said for connections. I enrolled to take calculus at the all-boys school.
Somehow I managed to wheedle extra study halls into my schedule, so I used that time to attend class with the boys as often as I could (because I’m SO studious). And when I couldn’t make it to class, I went down to evening study hall to get some catch-up instruction from my teacher. The boys in my class were shockingly devoted to their homework at this time.
Years later, my teacher told me he had a deal with the boys – whoever got the highest grade on their test got to sit next to “the girl” until someone else scored higher than them.
Don’t worry, all chastity and modesty was observed during my time at the all-boys school.
All joking about teenage attractions aside, this opportunity made me feel bold and brave – like a pioneer.
I did something no one else had ever done before. This unconventional solution to my calculus dilemma helped me grow in confidence in doing great things despite the world’s expectations.
It was another layer added on to my association of St. Thomas More as a Saint of strength and bravery.
What saints do you associate with countercultural strength and bravery?
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St. Thomas More is one of the most familiar Saint names to me.
My grandfather was an extraordinary man of great faith. His influence on my spiritual formation as a kid is something I hold close to my heart to this day.
He founded an all-boys Catholic boarding school named after St. Thomas More. I grew up on the campus.
In elementary school, instead of getting on the bus, my grandfather used to pick me up, take me to daily Mass at his school’s chapel, bring me out to breakfast, then finally drop me off at school.
It was a time of peace and joy, feeling special, loved, and chosen.
I always associated St. Thomas More with the strength of my grandfather. And as I grew to learn more of the Saint’s life and death as a martyr defending the permanence of marriage, he just got stronger in my eyes.
Today, I remember with love my grandfather and his marriage to my grandmother. They used to teasingly argue with each other incessantly. My husband and I love to teasingly argue with each other, too.
This beautiful wooden St. Thomas More medal from @kindredforestco reminds me to pray for St. Thomas More’s intercession in our marriage – especially in today’s culture that’s all about attacking marriage.
And it reminds me to pray for the repose of the soul of my beloved grandfather, who inspired in me a love and desire for daily Mass, and showed me what it means to be a strong and holy Catholic.
What Saints played an important role in your faith as a youth?
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Yesterday I bought cookies. Today I slammed them in the garbage.
It was a moment of weakness at the grocery store. I was too tired to say no, and the kids got the treat they asked for.
They ate cookies for lunch. They snuck cookies before dinner. Then again this morning, I saw the cookies coming out at breakfast time.
Enough is enough. The cookies had to go.
Just because we make one bad choice doesn't mean we need to keep making bad choices. The desicions of the past don't need to have a hold on our desicions right now.
Just because we bought it or spent money on it or invested in it doesn't mean we have an obligation to it.
No, our obligation is to pursue what's best for us right now, to let go of the mistakes of the past, and to learn from our mistakes.
So I let go of the "I spent money on these" guilt, threw away the cookies, and served my children grapes to satisfy their sweet tooth.
Your TEMPERANCE #VirtueChallenge - What mistakes of the past are you letting have a hold on you today? Do you need to slam anything in the garbage? Cancel any subscriptions? Delete any follows or favorites? Be brave: go and do it.
