Overheard in the Sacristy

For six months, from May 13 through October 13, 1917, Our Lady relayed three divine secrets and instructions to rid the world of sorrow and restore Christian devotion.

Ora Pro Nobis.

Today is the Feast of this great and saintly Vicar of Christ. With valor, he invoked Our Lady in the world’s battle against the infidel Mohammedans. With paternal care, he (and St. Charles Borromeo) established seminaries. With conviction, he condemned the apostates and heretics of the Protestant revolt. With the guidance of the Holy Spirit, he united and regularized the Sacred Rites of the One, True Church of God. Upon election as Supreme Pontiff, he did not put aside his Dominican habit to take on papal vesture, thus initiating the distinctive white garb of the past 500 years. The Lord gave him the task of implementing the decrees of the great Council of Trent. He gave the world the Catholic identity. May his successor, Pope Benedict XVI continue restoring this identity. May Catholics today be obedient to His Holiness as the Catholics of ages past.

Mmmmm. Cake.

Prier Pour Nous

The exhumed body of the mystic saint Padre Pio lies in a glass sepulchre 40 years after his death, in the crypt of Santa Maria delle Grazie in San Giovanni Rotondo, southern Italy April 24, 2008.

A silicon hand-painted bearded mask of the face of Padre Pio, an Italian saint, is seen on his body laying in repose inside a crystal casket in the crypt of the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in San Giovanni Rotondo. The body of Padre Pio, a hugely popular Italian saint, was put on public display Thursday, and thousands of people gathered to pray to the mystic monk who many Catholic faithful believe suffered wounds similar to those of Jesus’ crucifixion.

An elderly woman who says she was cured of a fatal disease by Padre Pio walks in front of his Capucchin monastery at the San Giovanni Rotondo village in southern Italy.

Archbishop Domenico D’Ambrosio opens the coffin containing the remains of Padre Pio, the Italian saint whose body is due to go on public display later this year. D’Ambrosio, a Vatican-appointed envoy who oversaw the unearthing Sunday night, said the body had been well preserved. Padre Pio died in 1968 after living for decades with inexplicable, bleeding wounds on his hands and feet, like the wounds Jesus suffered at crucifixion. Pope John Paul II canonized him in 2002. Church officials wanted to exhume the body so the faithful can pray before it this year, the 40th anniversary of his death.

Padre Pio believed that the love of God was inseparable from suffering and that suffering all things for the sake of God was the way for the soul to reach God. He felt that his soul was lost in a chaotic maze, plunged into total desolation, as if he were in the deepest pit of hell. During his period of spiritual suffering, his followers believe that Padre Pio was attacked by the Devil, both physically and spiritually. In one of Padre Pio’s Letters, he states that he remained patient in the midst of his trials because of his firm belief that Jesus, Mary, his Guardian Angel, St. Joseph and St. Francis were always with him and helped him always.

Deus, qui beátum Nicoláum Pontíficem ínnúmeris decorásti miráculis: tríbue quæsumus; ut ejus méritis et précibus, a gehénnæ incéndìis liberémur. Per Dominum Jesum Christum, Filium Tuum, Qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti, Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum.

O God, Who didst adorn blessed Nicholas, the bishop, with miracles unnumbered, grant, we beseech Thee, that by his merits and prayers we may be delivered from the fires of hell. Through the same Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, forever and ever.

Saint Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Asia Minor, from the childlike innocence of his own life and his devout care for the young, is looked upon as the patron of children. He died in the middle of the Fourth Century, and seven hundred years later his holy relics were translated to Bari in Italy. Because of the power he exercised over flames, we pray that through his intercession we may be preserved from the flames of hell. He is remembered for the money which he threw in a window that three young girls might have a dowry for their marriage.

(Honestly, I thought this was George Washington at first glance.)

Beloved:
Demas, enamored of the present world,
deserted me and went to Thessalonica,
Crescens to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.
Luke is the only one with me.
Get Mark and bring him with you,
for he is helpful to me in the ministry.
I have sent Tychicus to Ephesus.
When you come, bring the cloak I left with Carpus in Troas,
the papyrus rolls, and especially the parchments.

Alexander the coppersmith did me a great deal of harm;
the Lord will repay him according to his deeds.
You too be on guard against him,
for he has strongly resisted our preaching.

At my first defense no one appeared on my behalf,
but everyone deserted me.
May it not be held against them!
But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength,
so that through me the proclamation might be completed
and all the Gentiles might hear it. — 2 Tm 4:10-17b