by Susan Hines-Brigger. Published by Franciscan Media
“You must be modest in speech, modest in laughter, modest in your bearing, modest in walking.” —Letters, Vol. 3, 90
Padre Pio was a man who admired simplicity. He wholly lived the Franciscan spirit of poverty with detachment from self, possessions, and comforts. There was no doubt that he had a great love for the virtue of chastity, and his behavior was mod-est in all situations and with all people. In his lifetime, Padre Pio reconciled thousands of men and women back to their faith. After Pio’s death, Pope Paul VI said of him, “…he said Mass humbly, heard confessions from morning until night and was a marked representative of the stigmata of Our Lord. He was truly a man of prayer and suffering.”
Praying with Padre Pio
St. Pio, in the midst of our busy and sometimes overly abundant lives, may your example of sim-plicity remind us to embrace the smaller blessings of life.