Bells

Let us make the bell toll with gladness and happiness.
 

The saint's lives are like great cathedral bells which sound loudly for all to hear to great distances. St. Padre Pio was born in 1887 and died in 1968, enduring the passion of Christ in physical wounds which hurt and bled for fifty years.

Many people have been affected by his life and in many places in the world, even though he never left the cloister to visit. There are many stories about how he was seen in places far distant from the monastery convent of the Capuchins where he lives. He is even said to have appeared in the air in the midst of an allied bomber formation headed to deal destruction with bombing attacks. His appearance spared people in cities nearby. So we do not know how one thing will set another into motion.

I am encouraged by the fact that good things can happen in one place and be felt in another, good things and holy things, the result of faith and love.

In part, I was spared death in Vietnam so I may serve God in my own humble way. it has been an opportunity to witness many things that stir faith in many people. It is sobering to realize that we are not alone, but interconnected by our faith and because of our love. His purpose is to increase our faith by proving that we are not doomed, by the positive outcome of many terrible events.

I havenot been blessed with the stigmata like Padre Pio, and I am glad to indicate the goodness of His servants, some who have been declared saints and some not yet. But because of the arthritis and several other things over the years, i have been afforded a participation in His suffering redemption. No one should feel defeated or demeaned by suffering when one would prefer to be healed and suffering ended. But we have the choice to acquiesce to suffering, or to obtain the healing possible in the Lord. Service to the Lord is by our willing act, unless He explicitly makes note that He would like to offer us the chance of suffering to please His Heart.

The grace of the life of Padre Pio was great enough to span distances and time itself. That grace was loud enough to be heard anywhere the Lord can reach and be heard, just like a great cathedral bell. Some pull the great ropes that move the bell to make it toll, and some simply respond with love toward God when they hear the bell. Both are in plain sight of the Lord who is aware of all that happens, and whatever great deeds we have done will be known to all holy people with the Lord.