And on today's video, we're going to have a look at Padre Pio's view on what makes one's
life worthwhile, as opposed to worthless.
And certain little coincidences in the story we have that transformed someone's life.
So please do stay tuned.
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and welcome to our channel, Following
Padre Pio.
And here, through a series of short stories, we investigate the life of our great Saint,
Padre Pio, a Capuchin friar, a mystic, and a tremendous miracle worker.
So do stay tuned to find out more about Padre Pio and to see what his intercession could
do for you.
We do encourage everyone to enroll your mass prayer intentions.
We have a mass every single Friday in which we bring your intentions to Padre Pio in this
mass.
All you have to do is watch the video on the end screen, how to enroll.
And we'd like everyone to be part of this apostolate, and you'd really help us if you
like our video and you share this video with your friends and colleagues.
In the first part of our story, there's an example, a man came from Genoa, and some friends
had asked him if he could not deliver a letter for them to Padre Pio.
It was one of these letters that required an immediate response from Padre Pio.
So this man from Genoa agreed, certainly he would deliver this letter to Padre Pio.
But it was not because he had any faith.
He didn't even attend church.
So he would just do this as a favor for his friends.
When he arrived at the monastery of San Giovanni Rotondo, that's Padre Pio's monastery, he
was directed to the sacristy where he could wait for Padre Pio, who would be along shortly.
So he did that.
He went there and he waited, and Padre Pio did arrive, and they just exchanged a few
words.
The man said he was not particularly impressed with Padre Pio.
He just wanted to get Padre Pio's response from him and then he could be on his way.
And that's what he told Padre Pio.
"I just need to reply to this letter and I will be on my way."
And at this Padre Pio said, "I understand.
And what about you?"
So he now focused on this man from Genoa.
"Do you want to make your confession while you are here?"
"Oh, no.
I don't want to.
I don't even go to church," the man said.
"And when was the last time you made your confession?"
Padre Pio wanted to know.
"It was when I was seven years old," the man replied.
And at this, Padre Pio became very stern and said, "How long do you plan to live such a
worthless life?"
And with that, suddenly a light seemed to switch on and to penetrate the man's mind.
And he realized that actually Padre Pio was right.
He had been living a worthless existence, and suddenly he felt the strong need to change.
And so with this, the man made a sincere confession to Padre Pio and he left the monastery completely
transformed.
So isn't that incredible.
Just one meeting with Padre Pio and his life took this amazing turn.
Our second example.
Raffaele Scalzi, he invited an elderly friend to go along with him to visit Padre Pio.
And this was back in 1958.
There at the monastery in San Giovanni Rotondo, they waited in the corridor and they were
able to meet Padre Pio.
Padre Pio extended his hand to the elderly friend for him to kiss.
So a sign of respect for the priesthood.
But he did not do the same for Raffaele.
Padre Pio just continued walking past.
And then he turned around and said to Raffaele, "May God enlighten you."
Raffaele was a little bit shocked and very disappointed by this.
He felt as if he had been rejected somehow.
So when he found another Capuchin friar, he asked him, "Does Padre Pio always behave like
this, saying, may God enlighten you?"
"No, he doesn't," the Capuchin replied.
"I have never heard him say that to anyone before."
And after this, Raffaele and his friend, they now returned home.
Their homes were in Northern Italy.
But somehow those words of Padre Pio, they just stuck in his mind, may God enlighten
you.
And they kept resounding in his mind.
Why had Padre Pio said this to him?
And then thinking about this, he started to realize that although he had been baptized
when he was very young, his faith was actually practically dead.
He knew nothing about the teachings of the church, and he was non-practicing as well.
So he started to feel this need, he had better go back to Padre Pio to seek answers.
And so all of this had been caused by Padre Pio saying, "May God enlighten you."
It was starting to work on Raffaele.
The problem was Vicenza, the town where they lived, was way up in Northern Italy.
It was quite expensive to travel all the way to Southern Italy, to San Giovanni Rotondo.
And so Raffaele started saving up carefully.
Now he had 500 lira put away for the journey.
A friend came up to him and said, he needs this money.
Please help him.
He said, "I can't help you."
But eventually he did agree.
He lent him what he had saved.
Then not long after that, the friend returned and he handed Raffaele 50,000 lira, which
he had won in the football pool.
So that's what he needed the money so urgently for.
And so now Raffaele had the money for the trip and the way he was open, it was cleared.
Once Raffaele was in San Giovanni Rotondo, he went to confession with Padre Pio.
But once he was in the confessional, Padre Pio did extend his hand for him to kiss, a
sign of respect for the priesthood.
So that was a good sign.
Something had changed.
Padre Pio wanted to know how many years has it been since he had been to mass.
"10 years," Raffaele replied.
At this, Padre Pio became very stern.
He raised his voice and said, "Don't waste my time.
Go now."
But something strange happened within Raffaele.
Instead of feeling very embarrassed because everyone had heard him being chased away,
instead of this, he was there in front of Padre Pio and he gazed into Padre Pio's eyes.
The celestial happiness just came down upon him and his heart was filled with his happiness.
He could hardly contain his joy, he said.
So not long after this, Raffaele went to confession with another Capuchin there and sure enough,
his life began to change.
He went out and he bought himself a rosary and also a prayer book.
11 months later, he was able to visit Padre Pio again, and again, he went to confession
with Padre Pio.
Padre Pio wanted to know, "Have you been a attending mass?"
"Yes.
Every Sunday, since I last saw you."
"And every day of obligation as well?"
"Yes.
I have gone to every obligation, every day of obligation as well."
And so at this, three times Padre Pio exclaimed, "Ah," as if all is well now.
Very good.
And for the next 10 years, Raffaele, twice a year, he would make the trip to San Giovanni
Rotondo and he'd attend mass and confession with Padre Pio.
And so his life had really taken this U-turn, just with those words of Padre Pio, "May God
enlighten you."
And coming soon in this channel, we're going to have the look at the story of Frank Cavicchi,
someone who founded prayer groups for Padre Pio.
And Padre Pio gave him the specific, very difficult task that looked like it could not
possibly work out, everything conspired against it.
Padre Pio told him to have patience.
Please do join us for that story.