The title of the story is Only Eight Days More.
So now, what if you knew that you only had eight days to live?
What would you do?
So, let's listen to such a case.
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to this channel on Padre Pio.
And here we have a series of short stories on his life, on the life of our great saint
who was Capuchin friar, a mystic and tremendous miracle worker.
So do stay tuned to this channel to find out more about Padre Pio and also to see what
his intercession could do for you.
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In the story today, there was a young policeman who had been posted at the door to protect
Padre Pio, and he was a very active man.
He had been chosen because he was certainly able to protect Padre Pio, kind of a bodyguard
type of person, because sometimes the crowds there did get out of hand and people will
be playing little tricks trying to get past the guard.
He's able to handle all of these situations.
This policeman appeared to be in perfect health, vigorous health, but then Padre Pio had this
revelation about this person.
His gift of insight, God revealed to him something about the policeman's life.
And it certainly appeared that it was not a pleasant insight.
Nonetheless, Padre Pio had been chosen, and so now he felt compelled to tell the policeman
to disclose to him this unfortunate news.
And this is how it happened.
Padre Pio turned to one of the two policemen who was posted at the door to protect him
from the crowds, as we said.
"When I finish," Padre Pio said, "with my Thanksgiving prayers, follow me to my cell,
because I want to speak to you."
The young man was delighted with this to be singled out by Padre Pio.
What an honor.
But when they spoke, that delight turned to sadness.
Padre Pio said to him, "Listen, my son, in eight days, you'll be going to your father's
house.
You'll die there."
The young man did not believe it.
He could not believe it.
He was in a perfect state of health.
And so he told Padre Pio this, but the priest would not be put off and added, "Don't worry,
you will feel even better in eight days."
And then he continued, "And what is life anyway but pilgrimage?
We are on a journey, my son."
Padre Pio advised the man to ask for some time off as well so he could arrange and put
his affairs in order.
The man asked if he could tell anyone else about this, what had transpired in this meeting.
And to this Padre Pier replied, "No, not at the moment.
Wait until you are at home."
It was not easy for the young man, this policeman, to get time off to go home because when he
went to speak to the chief of the police, he appeared to be in a perfect state of health.
No, of course, that's not necessary.
This young policeman could not tell his chief about Padre Pio's prophecy, been sworn to
silence on that one.
At this point, the priest, Padre Pio, now had to intervene.
We're not told exactly how we intervened, but the permission needed was given.
At home, the healthy young policeman told his family this news, what Padre Pio had revealed
to him.
And they were astonished, and they also would not believe it.
But he did go ahead and he put his affairs in order, and people must have seen that he
was taking Padre Pio's advice seriously.
He was doing things, putting things in order, and eight days later, he suddenly died exactly
as Padre Pio had foreseen.
And so in this, Padre Pio has seen this greater reality, far greater than our little everyday
trials that we face.
And he expressed this with the words, "What is life anyway, but a pilgrimage?
We are all on this pilgrimage.
We are on a journey, my son," he said.
There is one thing that really counts, the death, judgment, heaven or hell.
This unrelenting magnitude of this faces us all sometime in the future.
So, let's be ready for it.
The next time, we're going to have a slightly more cheerful story called The Goldfinch.
It's a little bird, story about a goldfinch and the monastery.
So do join us for that talk.
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So do join us next time for our story on
The Goldfinch.