SEPTEMBER 23, 2010 – PADRE PIO ;
LUKE 9:7-9
We come together in this liturgy being offered as we receive
the body of our Father Raymond back in our midst in view of his burial here
tomorrow. The text of today’s Gospel centers our attention on the person of
Jesus, whose love and grace called our brother to follow him through many years
of dedicated service. At the funeral mass tomorrow we shall hear, no doubt,
more details of his personal journey through this world. For now we pray that
he already is joined to Jesus his hope and his Savior in the presence of the
Father of lights.
In the Gospel we have just heard Herod asks the great
question whose answer is so vital in giving meaning and hope to the life of
each of us, as it was for our Father Raymond: WHO
IS THIS MAN ABOUT WHOM I HEAR ALL THESE REPORTS? Having heard
various reports of Jesus, the remarkable impression his preaching was making on
the people, and of the numerous marvelous cures he effected, He trod became
curious about the person of our Lord. Only later, in the last days of Jesus’
life did he meet with the prophet from Nazareth
in person when Pilate sent Jesus to him as a prisoner. Jesus, knowing the
character and disposition of the petty ruler who questioned him refused even to speak with a man of
stamp. Herod ended by treating him as a harmless fool, with mockery returning
him to the Roman governor. Though he did not realize it at the time, having
failed to arrive at insight into the true nature of Jesus’ person, he lost the
greatest opportunity of his lifetime to redeem his unsavory past. As a result
he continued on the path that brought him to that ignominious end described by
Luke in the Acts of the Apostles: “the angel of the Lord struck him down,
because he had not given glory to God. He was eaten away with worms and died.”
(Acts 12:21) As our Lord made evident on different occasions, rightly to grasp
his words and so to come to know his person requires the proper dispositions of
heart. He chose words from the prophet Isaiah to state this teaching with
colorful language. “For the heart of this nation has grown coarse, their ears
are dull of hearing and they have shut their eyes.” (Mt 13:15)
Saint John
was so keenly convinced of the fundamental significance of the question “Who is
this man?”, that he opened his Gospel account by answering it with striking
clarity and impressive forcefulness. His language is carefully chosen and
concisely expressed. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. . . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and
we saw his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and of truth.” (John 1:1,14)
The early Fathers of the Church understood well our Lord’s
emphasis on the need for cultivating the right attitudes of the heart in order
to come to know him and truly to understand and accept his words. Saint John
Cassian was so persuaded of the radical importance of this teaching that he
dedicated the first of his twenty-four Conferences to the theme “Purity of
Heart.” His writing on this subject remains classic doctrine to this day. Saint Augustine goes
beyond Cassian as he discussed the same subject of recognizing God for who he
is. The grace of the Holy Spirit is basic for attaining to the saving knowledge
of the Divinity. The Holy Spirit, he writes, “ is
given that he might be in us. But he cannot be seen and known as he ought to be
seen and known, if he is not in us.” (In Jo. Ev. 75.
5) Only like can know like, and to be like the all
pure God we are given the Spirit of God.
Still today the chief question for each person who
encounters Jesus is the one Herod asked and failed to find the true answer.
Only when our desire to know him is strong enough to free us from the selfish
passions that we all have to contend with in this world can we perceive the
hidden reality of his divinity. On this feast of Padre Pio we commemorate a
saint who not only knew Jesus but so loved him as to unite himself to him in
his passion and bear the marks of his cross in his body. As we dwell on the
surpassing mystery that this man Jesus is the very Word of God in the flesh we
come to a deeper awareness that Saint
John had come to know, namely that God is love. And he
so loves each of us that he gave his only and beloved Son that we might be
reconciled with the Father and be made sufficiently like him by the gift of his
Holy Spirit as to become members of the household of God, already now in hope,
and for all eternity in the clarity of his glory. It is with gratitude for this
gift of love that our departed brother Raymond offered with us so faithfully
over the years, that we offer this Eucharist and ask for the continuing graces
we need to persevere faithful to this mystery that incorporates us in the Body
of Christ, uniting us with the Father of light. &
Abbot
John Eudes Bamberger
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