St. Padre Pio or Rather His Relics

I got to meet St. Padre Pio last week!

Okay not really, but I got to venerate his relics, which counts for something. And it took some doing to actually get to do it.  I won't tell the whole story but it involved a very crowded mass and a line out the door for venerating relics.  Plus we having to leave mass early, so we came back in the evening and the line still being super long.  The ushers said that no more people could go in line, but my friend in I snuck into line, so we got to venerate the relics. Yes, it took some doing. 

What were the relics?  A glove belonging to Padre Pio, a piece of the bed he used to sleep on, and a small piece a cloth he used to clean his stigmata, with dried blood from the stigmata on it. 
 See http://www.pittsburghcatholic.org/News/Crowds-fill-cathedral-to-venerate-Padre-Pio-s-relics--33199082 

Ignore the fact that this is Padre Pio for a second, and look at those items.  Pretty strange items, and the fact that people still have these things seems weird.  Why would you keep a piece of a dead man's bed?  But sick a saint's name on the item and boom: it's relic and something to be venerated.  

Despite what you think on the veneration of relics, they can be quite useful.  The main importance of relics is to remind us of the person they came in contact with.  They remind us of the saint, and through this item, we feel much closer to the saint.  Now, the Saints are always with us, but relics are physical items that help us remember that. 

So who is this man that these relics remind me of?  Padre Pio was a famous Italian priest and known for his wonderful ability to hold great confessions.  He did many miracles and gave great advice.  People flocked to him.  He also had the stigmata, his most famous attribute, for 50 years.  So for 50 years he had the open wounds of Christ.  There's a lot of suffering there.  Like a lot.  But when I was trying to find pictures of him to put on this page, he had a great big smile in every single one.

And that is the kind of man who knows Christ. The one who smiles and loves everyone no matter what suffering he is personally going through.  He was the face of Christ to all of those he met, and we are called to do the same.  For more on Padre Pio:  https://www.ewtn.com/padrepio/man/biography.htm.

Through relics or not, remember the Saints and remember that they are close to us.  And let us all be the face of Christ to everyone we meet.  Padre Pio, pray for us.