Dear Friends of Padre Pio,
Peace and goodwill to each of you! There are some sufferings that we just can’t avoid. Usually they pass with time, but not always. There are situations of chronic suffering which drain our forces little by little over many years and leave us frustrated, angry and even desolate. Depression may easily overtake us as a symptom provoked by our powerlessness before such a situation. The triggers of these situations are varied. At times it is a divorce, a sickness or an addiction. It could also be a change of work, a betrayal of a friend or some family situation that demands much of our time and energy without us being able to refresh ourselves to a necessary quality of life. If we do not have a way to positively view this unwanted situation our life may become a slow dying.
Herminia Gargani, a spiritual daughter of Padre Pio suffered various disillusions in her life. Briefly, she was a successful teacher and at a certain moment wanted to marry a willing, rich and respected young man, but the parents of the young man would not accept the marriage proposal. After a time, the young man killed himself by poisoning. Herminia suffered greatly from this and decided never to marry. She decided rather to enter a religious congregation secretly without the consent of her parents. Upon learning of her action her parents so opposed her decision that they threatened to remove her from the convent by force. She sought the advice of Padre Pio. Given this situation, Padre Pio advised her that it would be better for her to return to her family peacefully and not risk the threatened violence. This was the dire situation of Herminia when Padre Pio consoled her in his letter to her dated December 6, 1916. Padre Pio comments:
With repeated blows of the sharpened chisel and diligent smoothing, the divine Artist wants to prepare the stones with which to construct the eternal Edifice. Thus sings the Church in the hymn for the dedication of churches and this is how it truly is. Besides the long and varying trial you suffer because of your parents, concerning your state in life, the Lord in his infinite mercy adds that of fear and spiritual trembling, with a hint of desolation.
Therefore, let him be thanked for treating you as a soul chosen to follow Jesus closely up the hill of Calvary. And I behold with interior joy and emotion this behavior of grace within you, oh most beloved daughter of my heart. If I did not see you so dejected, I would be less happy, because the Lord would be bestowing you with fewer jewels. Therefore, I who in holy charity greatly desire your good, rejoice more and more to see you in that state.
The reflection continues: Padre Pio counsels her through the eyes of faith. He sees how God uses those “repeated blows of the sharpened chisel” to form his likeness in her. This likeness of Christ is formed in Herminia by her fidelity to God in every circumstance. But this steadfastness in faith, although always conceded as a grace, has reference to a fundamental axis of our existence: that we were conceived in the love of the Father; that we exist due to his continual love for us, and that we are led by his loving us to our final resting place once again in his holy and loving heart. All this happens according to the extent we allow the action of the Holy Spirit mediated by the humanity of Christ to transform us. This relationship of love is expressed in fidelity to Jesus and is a constant reference that orients us to our full potential which Jesus validated by his own faithfulness to his image in us in each instance of our life. In this way he redeemed us through his fidelity to the Father and his fidelity to us, patiently confident in the realization of our full potential as sons and daughters of God.
In difficult moments the process of healing requires us to be in contact with the pain. This pain averts us to an imbalance, to a separation from our wholeness. In so far as we are responsible for this separation, we would be morally responsible for this degree of infidelity. Nevertheless, in each instance of suffering we want to unite ourselves to Jesus who suffered for our infidelity by remaining faithful in our name. With our sincere and firm intention to be faithful we will receive God’s mercy which in the end heals and saves us. This sincere and determined effort leads to an abandonment of our egocentric attitude and opens us to a loving and attentive docility before the mystery of God. This attitude permits us to be progressively transformed by grace consciously and freely received. We experience the effects of this transformation in the joy of our soul: hope toward the future, gratitude for the mercy of God in the past and peace in the present consequent on being in harmony with God’s will. All of this gives us confidence that we are not abandoned by God in any situation.
Our identity as sons and daughters of God gives us a stable reference around which to give meaning to those “repeated blows of the sharpened chisel”. Like Herminia, our docility before God in the trial assures us of the victory. Our way forward is fidelity to Jesus who leads us to the Father. Let us be attentive and determined, therefore, to walk this way of faithfulness which progressively unites us to one another in Christ through the same love and faith by the one Spirit of God.
Your brother in Christ Jesus,
Fray Guillermo Trauba, capuchin
