We celebrate the memorial of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, lovingly called Padre Pio, a Capuchin Franciscan. The most prominent saint of our times. He was a Friar, a priest, a friend, spiritual father, a teacher, stigmatist, confessor, mystic with the extraordinary faith in the Cross of our Lord Jesus and accepted suffering patiently without murmuring.
We have an example to emulate in the life of Padre Pio who was so generous to God shown in his compassion to the poor. The absence of charity to fellow human being around is the visible trait of the lack of generosity in our life. The most often repeated quote of St. Pio is: “Pray, hope, and don’t worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer.” Declaring St. Pio, the saint, the Pope John Paul II described him as a witness of suffering who accepted prolonged suffering with love and converted it as the path of sanctity. He saw Jesus in the sick and the suffering.
How generous are we to God? Time has not come to rebuild the temple or to return to the Lord. The prophet Haggai chided the people for conveniently forgetting God and God’s temple while they engaged extending their personal houses in luxury. The prophet is not an interpreter of the future rather a spokesperson of God and an echo of the voice of the Lord at present who leads people pointing out the way God sees things. The prophet exhorted the people that their futility in life due to the neglect of building the temple of God. The decorated and completed houses of Judeans and the unfinished temple are the contrast of the quality of their generosity.
The prevailing feeling at this moment as the dust and the storm of the pandemic settling down around the world is that the time has not yet come to return to the Church, the community, and the Lord. When we have become stingy, selfish, and sinful, we have no room for magnanimity in our hearts. The altruism is the efficacy of a generous life.
We are not here to be curious about the power of Jesus as Herod who wished to see Jesus but to become generous in believing and behaving like Him.
Are we reluctant or ready to be generous to God? How willing are we to give to the Church, the poor and the Body of Christ?