PADRE PIO ON HOW TO CULTIVATE TRUE HUMILITY
The very insightful Dr. Tom Curran and I had a rich discussion on Padre Pio, and I shared Padre Pio's method for developing humility, which I included in Padre Pio and You.
Once Pio had a blunt conversation with another priest, a certain Padre Giovanni, whom Pio admonished, “Pride oozes from every pore of your body.”
Giovanni was a natural-born leader and a gifted public speaker, but because he was such a great preacher, he was prone to arrogance. When Pio told Giovanni he was full of pride, Giovanni laughed, but he asked how Pio stayed humble.
First Pio illuminated the true value of humility, “Humility is truth” and then he explained how he kept pride at bay: “I don’t know how the Lord made me, but I feel I should have to try much harder to make an act of pride than an act of humility. Because humility is truth and the truth is that I am nothing and all that is good in me is of God.”
This line of Pio’s spoken to a fellow friar ought tell us that who we are all that is good in us comes from God.
But Pio went on to say that his being surrounded by thirsty souls was the process by which he remained humble. “When I see so many people coming to me with requests, I don’t think about what I am able to give but what I am unable to give, so that many souls remain parched with thirst because I have not been able to give them the gift of God.”
To imitate Pio and his humility, we may think of what we cannot give others, while being grateful not to ourselves but to God for the good we are able to give, because all the goodness which we may share comes from Him.
Pio admonished Fr. Giovanni because he was too tough on other friars, and Pio instructed him, “Even in reprimanding you could combine reproof with politeness and mildness.” And Pio recommended to Giovanni that he grace his sermons with more love.
Feel free to leave a comment on your reaction to my conversation with Dr. Tom Curran.
Dear Mary,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this wonderfully helpful article, so filled with spiritual wisdom! I believe it was exactly what I needed to read. Oh, how I long for that humility Padre Pio spoke of, and how far I still feel from it! You are doing a great job, Mary, and I am sure that many have turned back to God thanks to your hard work.
I left a prayer request at Lourdes for you and your mission, asking Our Lady to always help you and keep you safe under Her maternal mantle.
May the Lord bless you and your loved ones.
Warm regards,
Catherine, a sister in Christ
Dear Catherine, Sister in Christ, Thank you with all my soul for your great generosity in leaving a prayer request for me at Lourdes. I am so grateful. I think you were inspired because I am hoping to do my best before, during and after Padre Pio's feast day to make him better known. All my efforts for the holy souls. May you be rewarded. I am also so delighted you were able to go to Lourdes.
DeleteYes, I feel a bit of a fraud talking about humility when I am so far from having it.
I am finding it so hard to follow the latest tech innovations, and using AI is difficult for me, so that I have to rely on my friends a great deal. This is good for my humility, and while it poses problems in my daily life, not being good at tech, it might be a blessing in disguise.
With prayers in return, Mary
Your discussion with Tom Curran was so interesting, Mary! You are such a well-learned Pio enthusiast.
ReplyDeleteThere is so much to learn from all these saints. May I ask you something? I don't understand where this victim soul concept comes from. Can anyone be a victim soul or does one need to have a specific vocation? I remember St. Therese, St. Catherine of Siena and St. Gemma offering themselves as victim souls. Does one have to ask the approval of the spiritual director or superior for that? And can one reach a great degree of sanctity without being one?
Thanks in advance.
Greetings from a fellow European.
Dear Lily,
DeleteThank you so much for your kind comment and questions. I will do my best to give you the right answers.
Ah, to be a victim soul! I think a working definition of the state of being a victim soul is that a person makes a complete offering of themselves, total self donation, and requests that the Lord make them a victim, and send any and all suffering, pain and agony that He wills, which in turn they will offer for others. The suffering the Lord may send is often the worst variety for that particular soul, the pain they ordinarily would resist the most. Instead of resistance, however, a true victim soul welcomes this suffering and lives the state of victimhood, and makes a sacrifice of their plight for others souls.
I submit that the best way to understand this state of soul is to study the Saints who offered themselves as victim souls in their lifetime.
As for asking approval or permission, yes, this would be totally the case were someone in religious life, and needed to ask their superior.
I do not think laypeople must always ask permission from a spiritual director, but it is only prudent to do the most discernment possible. Padre Pio was not known to invite many people to consider being a victim soul. It can truly be an all consuming condition, and someone may unwisely invite a suffering that is too much for them and their loved ones.
Yes, I believe wholeheartedly that one can reach a great degree of sanctity without being one.
Personally, I have discerned that I am not to become a voluntary victim soul. I still hope to make it through the pearly gates, even if I'm just a washerwoman in Heaven.
I send you all my very best + love + prayers, Mary