The power of the Mass

Padre Pio began his day around 2.00 a.m. in anticipation of his Mass which he offered each morning at 5.00 a.m. Huge crowds came to attend his Mass and many waited overnight and into the early morning in order to gain entry to the little ‘Chiesa Antica’ the original church in the friary of Our Lady of Graces in San Giovanni Rotondo. When the newer church was built in the early 1960’s, Padre Pio was reported to have said that it won’t be big enough – he knew the numbers of pilgrims would grow.

The centre of the day for Padre Pio was Holy Mass. Here he was intimately united with Jesus at the last supper and on the cross. The Mass is primarily a sacrifice where Jesus offers himself up to the God the Father on our behalf, the only fitting offering to God.

During the Mass, when the prayer of consecration is said by the priest, the bread ceases to be bread and the wine ceases to be wine. The bread and wine change and become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. At the Last Supper, Jesus took the bread and said the blessing and gave it to his disciples and said, “This is my body.” At the end of the meal, in the same way, he took a cup filled with wine and he said, “This is my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me.” So, whenever we go to Mass, we have Jesus truly and really present in our midst, alive in his Holy Word and in his Holy Body and Blood.

Padre Pio personified the suffering of Jesus by carrying the stigmata, the bleeding wounds of Christ crucified on his hands, feet, and side. He truly entered into the life of the suffering Jesus and therefore understood the sufferings of all the people that asked him for prayers. The most powerful and profound way Padre Pio prayed for people was by bringing them, living and dead, on to the altar at Mass and therefore remembering them in Mass. We can do nothing more powerful in offering up a prayer for someone then remembering them at Holy Mass. St Monica said, “All I ask is that wherever you may be, you will remember me at Holy Communion, and at the foot of the Altar.”  Padre Pio also once said of Mass; “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.”

Go to Mass and if you haven’t gone for a while, begin again. We need the sacramental energy and sanctifying grace of Holy Communion. We need to be nourished. Like you need to charge your phone regularly, or top up your credit, or charge your electric car, you need to plug in to the Lord and the best way for strength in this world, and to be sanctified in the next world is by going to Mass.

 

Christ be our Light

I wrote books trying to find positivity out there; “Tired of all the Bad News” and Sending Positive Vibes.” I hope I live in the real world enough to realise that of course life is not all sunshine and happiness. For many, life can be a nightmare day and night and their only consolation is the help of good people. Let us not forget that there are good people in our families and our communities.

Taking into consideration the positives which we have got to believe in, there is a lot of work to do and right now, the world is enduring more and more bad news, and we see it on our phones and tablets minute by minute.

We live our lives now via the various social media platforms hypnotised by scrolling and bouncing from one social media platform to the other. The content, live and in colour, is how we spent our day or night, holiday destinations, travel, what we’ve had for breakfast, or lunch, or brunch, or dinner, or what kind of coffee, or spice box, or alcoholic beverage. Our families and circles of friends make memories via the pages of social media, and we don’t have to wait for the photo to develop in the chemist or for the wedding album to arrive in the post or mail anymore. Today, photos of the happy couple, married in Clare or Donegal, can be seen in Sydney in seconds. In fact, you don’t have to even go to the wedding or dress-up, the ceremony can be live streamed. And does anyone wear their ‘Sunday best’ anymore? Sunday is just another day for work, and commerce, and business now.

Is it just me or is there an increase in anger and aggression? Social media can also be a place where there is a deficit of kindness. St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (1Cor 13:6) gives us a timely reminder that “love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins, but delights in the truth…” At a time where some people like to highlight kindness and “Be Kind” they need to learn that receiving kindness also means giving it. Social media is dripping with people rejoicing in seeing other people’s mistakes and the more public the better. “Tabloid Journalism” was wall-to-wall from the 60’s to the 90’s and the quest for the money shot came to a head when Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed in the tunnel in Paris in 1997 following a high-speed chase involving moped-riding paparazzi looking for another photo. If it was wall to wall then, it is viral today on our phones, and tablets thanks to power of Wi-Fi and 5G. Many love to see people fall on their backsides so-to-speak all over the pages of our social media and the more well-known the better.

As priests - some of us have been accused of 'guaranteeing heaven' to all who have died. Funeral Masses can be more and more celebratory, and we seem to play down the sincere prayer for God to have mercy on the soul of the one who has died. We say, “forever in our hearts” and “we will remember” and as the time passes perhaps, we visit the graveside of our loved one less-and-less. As I heard a priest say not too long ago, eventually we all die, what happens then? Who will remember our loved ones then unless its someone who doesn’t die – Jesus.

With the preaching of mercy and forgiveness, some priests have been accused of losing sight of the tension in human nature that sin brings and the need of reconciliation with God. People need to say they are sorry, and from our earliest years we are taught the difference between right and wrong, and we are taught not to be bold. We are called to be confident in God’s forgiveness because (a) Jesus constantly reminded us of it in the gospel but also (b) because an encounter with Jesus pushes us to change our lives for the better. Below is a reminder of the mercy of Jesus and his willingness to reach out to the marginalised.

Matthew 18:22 – Forgive your brother not seven times but seventy-seven times.

John 8:1-11 the woman caught in adultery.

Luke 19:1-10 The story of Zacchaeus

John 4 the Samaritan Woman at the Well

Luke 23:39-43 The repentant thief on the cross

The fight between good and evil is real from the everyday choices we make between putting ‘me’ first instead of putting others first. The happiest people are those who put others first in their lives. Archbishop Fulton Sheen said, “Virtue preserves youthfulness better than all the pomades of Elizabeth Arden.”

There is more sinister evil out there which we all see today, and it represents selfishness and destruction on a grand scale. This is the work of Satan, the devil and he loves to see war and ultra-violence which results in mass and indiscriminate killing, especially the innocent ones. Pope Francis wrote on X (formerly Twitter) “Let us continue to pray for people who suffer because of war; the martyred Ukrainian people, the Palestinian and Israeli peoples, the Sudanese people, the martyred Rohingya, and many others…” In these and other places where innocent people suffer because of a corrupt regime, or because one side wants to oppress the other with any means at their disposal and no matter what the cost, this is the work of the devil.

The devil loves to see us fail and flounder and he rejoices when we panic. He feeds off all our fears and phobias and continues to tell us that we’re no good, that we are useless and that we are ugly on the inside and on the outside. He is a liar and the “father of lies” and a murderer and thrives in chaos and wishes to keep us apart rather than together. The devil pulls the strings of governments who wish to stand on the necks of the poor and roll into other sovereign countries for their own corrupt ends. The devil wants to take us away from Jesus Christ the Lord of all life.

Only recently, Pope Francis, during the final general audience of the year on Dec 27^th, 2023, said; “One must never dialogue, brothers, and sisters, with the devil. Never! You should never argue. Jesus never dialogued with the devil; He cast him out…” “Be careful, the devil is a seducer. Never dialogue with him, because he is smarter than all of us and he will make us pay for it. When temptation comes, never dialogue. Close the door, close the window, close your heart…”

Let us tune into Christ in this new year. Let us give prime time to ways to draw close to Jesus who was born into the human story in Bethlehem which bears massive scars today because of war and violence. Let us turn again to Jesus Christ, the only One to divide time from BC to AD and can help us build bridges of unity and peace. Let us see what we have in common. Let us be kind. Let us lift each other up and put each other first. Let us dry the tears of all who weep. Let us invite Christ, the light of the world to bring light to the darkness of war and hopelessness.

 

Why do the wicked prosper and we who are kind, suffer?

I receive many messages and prayer requests through social media asking for intercession for special intentions. They are all heartfelt and sincere and many are urgent. Some people are suffering huge challenges in their lives, and they worry about loved ones, and local, national, and international crises.

Do you ever feel like you are at the end of your tether and that you wish that the difficulties and challenges would stop?

I met two people recently who came to me for blessings, and they are praying that the onslaught of difficulties, complications, and painful challenges will end. For them it seemed to be going on and on. Just when we heal there’s a set-back and it takes a monumental effort to begin again.

A woman asked me on a social media message “Is it selfish for me needing a break, I’m worn out with a difficult family situation.” The simple answer is no, it is not selfish at all, and it may well be exactly what she needs. Another, in tears with challenges in work who sees others being rewarded for bad behaviour while she feels she is punished and ridiculed for her adherence to best practice and honesty. “When will this ever end?”

Read the Book of Job in the Old Testament and see how it seems Job, a faithful servant of God, suffering terribly, has reached his limit and calls out to God in his suffering, exasperation, and exhaustion. He asks; “why do the wicked often go unpunished?” Why who do bad people prosper and those who are righteous suffer? It is a question for the ages.

‘Why do the wicked live on, reach old age, and grow mighty in power? Their children are established in their presence, and their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them. Their bulls breed without fail, and their cow claves and never miscarries…’

(Job 21: 7-10)

But things change for the better. Gold is tested in fire. The pruned plant bears the best fruit.

We’ve got to trust that things are about to change, and that God will make all things new for us. Jesus suffered misunderstanding, abuse, lies, and violence, and he was mocked, scourged, and crucified. He understands the heartfelt need for justice.

Trust me, your luck will change. Night is darkest just before the dawn. ‘Don’t give up, one minute before the miracle happens.’ Believe.

 

Encounter with a holy spirit

I met an extraordinary woman the other day. I received a phone call asking me about a blessing with the Padre Pio Glove. “Would you be able to come to my home, I am unable to come to you?” I said that would be fine, and since she lived in Dublin it was very convenient.

I called to her house the other evening in an area I know fairly well, and I parked the car around the corner from the house. She came to the door, and I was met with a cheerful smile and a real ceád míle fáilte. We went into the back room, the kitchen and she sat, and we chatted. I was struck by her welcome and by the fact that she was really delighted and grateful I called. It was very evident that here was someone who had a hope and a real joy deep down. As we chatted, she mentioned that while she wasn’t native to Dublin, she had lived and worked here for a few years.

She told me that she had been battling cancer and was now receiving palliative care at home. She said “They tell me that the tumors have metastasized, and they are unable to do anymore. They tell me I have about two to three weeks left.” She said this without the least bit of fear or sadness. At the same time, she added that she hopes that she might get longer and is not for throwing in the towel. She told me she has a great faith in God, in prayer, and in St. Pio.

As we talked, she asked me when my birthday was, and I said October 17^th and she mentioned that I was a Libra. It turns out that we were around the same age, but she was a few months younger than me and that we would have similar knowledge of the times, the music, and the culture of our generation.  I was moved to hear her story and how positive she is despite the grim outcome. She is not one bit afraid and indeed accepts the fact that these may be her last months on this earth.

I told her of a conversation I had with a friar some years ago about the signs of the grace of a happy death. He said we do not get the grace of a happy death until we are dying. I believe she is experiencing this grace in abundance, and it certainly showed to me the other evening. And this grace is to be shared and it spills over to all who encounter her, it is for her but it also benefits others. The grace of a happy death for someone can strengthen our faith and the faith of all who know them and love them. I bet she strengthens all who are assisting her in the hospice home care team. I told her how much I appreciated the time I spent in her company and that this encounter would fortify me and my own faith. I told her that I would ask people to pray for her and with a smile and with the light from her bright eyes, she said thank you.

On this feast of the Most Blessed Trinity, I give thanks for this meeting with a sister who may soon stand before God, yet I pray she will get some more time and I pray that her hope and joy will invite many more people to faith. God is family, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are all invited to enter into this love. We pray for this sister and for her lively faith and thank God that she shares it with all of us, even through the pain and struggle.

The Padre Pio Mitten. What happens when it doesn't work out?

There is no doubt about it but the level of devotion to the relics of St. Pio is very high. Relics are a way to tangibly connect with the saint which helps us to focus in on the fact that they were real, they lived a human life, and they are accessible. From the sacred to the secular, many people are interested in being proximate to someone famous or holy through a relic or a something they owned. I remember some years ago on the Late Late Show, they brought one of Elvis Presley’s Rhinestone Jump suits into the studio in a type of glass tank. The presenter was only allowed to touch it provided he donned two red velvet gloves, and it was so precious that it didn’t stay long as the studio lights were deemed too strong for it to be exposed under them but the interest among the audience was huge.

Padre Pio was someone who drew millions over the years because he had a direct line to God. It is well known that he possessed exceptional gifts like the ability to be in two places at once, the power to read souls, the ability to be able to see things before they happened, and he saw the supernatural and regularly met with the Guardian Angels. However, he couldn’t just turn this off and on. Sometimes he could see nothing as unless it was revealed to him, it wasn’t going to happen. But it was the stigmata, the bleeding wounds of Christ crucified on his hands, feet, and side that intrigued people the most. He disliked this ‘gift’ as it was these wounds that made him an object of curiosity and they had people crowding around him day after day. To protect the bleeding, he wore bandages and fingerless brown mittens on each hand. The friars changed the mittens each day and Padre Pio was given a fresh pair each morning and they kept the many worn ones as relics which we have today.

Of all the relics of Padre Pio, the mitten is the one that attracts people the most. For others, especially those who dislike this kind of devotion, it completely puts them off and they see it as a kind of madness perhaps.

Over the years, I have heard of many instances where people have received favours, healings, and consolation from praying with or a blessing via the Padre Pio mitten. I am busy each day answering emails, messages on social media, text messages, and phone calls asking for me to bring the mitten to hospitals or the homes of someone sick or in difficulty. There is tremendous faith in the prayers of Padre Pio. Brother Laurence Speight who died in 1998 and who promoted the cause of Padre  Pio used to get fulsome thanks for his ministry with the mitten of Padre Pio but he would always say; “It’s not me, it’s their faith.”

But what happens if it doesn’t work out? I am also aware that for some the healing wasn’t to be. There are no guarantees unfortunately and Padre Pio always said that sometimes there may be no healing or solution on this earth. He would always call people to pray. “Pray, pray, pray.” We are continually called to faith. It is faith that opens the door to healing and it strengthens us. And of course Padre Pio is only the conduit if you like. Jesus is the healer, and it is to Him that Padre Pio always points.

  

Nana and Padre Pio. Remembrance of her and my grandparents during the month of the souls.

Padre Pio of Pietrelcina died early in the morning of September 23^rd, 1968, and while he was well known and loved by many thousands across the world, his fame would grow and devotion to him would increase and multiply in the years after his death. Even while he was alive, people would make the journey from all parts of Italy to meet him, receive his blessing, and even book tickets for the sacrament of penance from him. When it was more difficult for people to make these trips, there were those who travelled across continents in the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s to come to his Mass in the early hours. Many Irish have met him would have made the long journey to San Giovanni Rotondo to see him.

While he was alive, and while he didn’t like his image being portrayed, there were photographs of him being circulated and it was well known that pieces of his Capuchin habit were being torn and kept as relics. He used to wear the skullcap, but he had to give it up as they were being stolen even from his head by over-zealous people. His brown fingerless mittens, used to cover the plasters over the stigmata were kept as relics after they were worn once and changed.

My mother and father were married in December 1968, and I came along in October 1969. One afternoon in the Spring of 1969, my mother was in work in Abbey St in Dublin city centre, an elderly man came to the office with pictures of this Padre Pio and asking for 2/6d (two and six) in the old money. My mother hadn’t got it at the time, but he gave her the picture anyway and she felt badly not to be able to pay the man who she felt sorry for to leave the office with little money for his work.

When I was a little boy, my Nana, my mother’s mother, used to show me her old black-and-white picture of Padre Pio and I remember she would exclaim that he was a “very holy priest” She had the old traditional image of the Sacred Heart installed in the sitting room with the little red lamp which she used to light each day faithfully.

As a young lad out playing, on Monday, I would be Superman, on Tuesday, I would be Batman, on Wednesday, I would be Adam Ant, and on Thursday, I would dress up as a priest. This make-believe world, long before the internet and smartphones, kept us kids occupied in school, after school, and at the weekends.

As a teenager I was more into Breakdancing, graffiti art, discos, and I had a couple of girlfriends. We sported Adidas Rom, and baggy jeans which broke my mother’s heart trying to afford for us. In my mind I was thinking about priesthood, and I knew some of the priests in our parish who asked me did I ever think of being a priest? Sunday Mass was the limit of my religious practice then although I remember I used to pray a lot more as a younger boy. The seeds of a vocation get sown a long time back in the past.

In 1985 just after my Inter Cert, a brown-habited Capuchin visited my school and spoke of St. Francis of Assisi and the order he founded. Then he mentioned Padre Pio. I began to remember my Nana’s fondness for him and that old black-and-while photo she had in the house in O’Curry Road. He invited us to a “vocations workshop” which I went along to.

The vocations day was in Church St Friary, a church we would have passed by going to the other granny’s house in Glasnevin on Sundays. I met a lot of younger friars, full of fun and energy and I must say I was made very welcome and one of them said he knew I had a vocation to the Capuchin Order because I asked for a second helping of ice cream at dinner.

Time passed and I joined the order and a few years later, I found myself dressed in the Capuchin habit and linking my Nana’s arm as we walked up to Dufferin Avenue close to where she lived and where the Irish Office for Padre Pio was located.  We venerated the mitten of Padre Pio, and she was blessed by it which was an incredible experience for her since she had such a devotion to him. Over the years as a Capuchin student friar, I was involved in the organizing of the Padre Pio days of prayer in Church St with the late Frs. Senan, Angelus, and Barnabas, heroes of mine in the order, and Eileen Maguire, the Director of the Irish Office for Padre Pio until 2018.  I was in Rome for the Beatification of Padre Pio in 1999, and for the Canonization of Padre Pio in 2002.

Nana died on February 1^st, 1991, and I was ordained priest on June 8^th, 1997, and today I find myself as the Director of the Padre Pio Apostolate for the Capuchin Order in Ireland and I imagine that my Nana had something to do with all this because of her love for Padre Pio. My mother wonders too that all those years ago when she hadn’t got that ‘two and six’ to give the old man selling the pictures of Padre Pio, perhaps she gave much more, to her cost to God and Padre Pio.

 

  

XXV

Most people were sad when they heard the news of the death of Queen Elizabeth recently. It was one of those “Where were you when you heard?” moments. The Queen celebrated her silver jubilee in 1977 at a different time in Anglo-Irish relations. At any rate, she went on to have a golden, diamond, and platinum jubilee since then. 25, 50, 60, and 70, has come along in our lifetimes and while 1977 is only 45 years ago, most of us remember it especially as it was the year of Saturday Night Fever, and Star Wars, and ABBA’s hugely successful tour of Australia.

It’s been 25 years since I stood here in this church and Bishop Jim Moriarity, now passed on, ordained me priest in the presence of many of you. The theme of his homily was “A priest for the year 2000, a priest for the new Millennium. The Millennium, the year 2000, we wondered then, didn’t we, what that might mean as we watched them place the “Time in the Slime.” That was the clock ticking down to the year 2000, but even the millennium clock couldn’t survive the waters of the river Liffey! We were worried too about the millennium bug, and would the computers crash and what would happen to the planes flying in the skies when the clock struck twelve across the world on Dec 31^st, 1999, into Jan 1^st, 2000? A lot of water has flowed under O’Connell bridge since then. We have had the Euro, 9/11, President Barack Obama, Queen Elizabeth laying a wreath at the Garden of Remembrance. A pope resigning, a Latin-American pope who chose a name like no-other in 2000 years. We had Roy Keane come home from Saipan, and now we wonder will Oasis reform? When I was ordained priest, Fianna Fail were elected to Government and Leo Varadakar was doing his Leaving Cert. Who knew that one day that Fianna Fail would be in Government with Fine Gael?

But let us go way back to the ancient ones who walked this holy ground in the 5^th century. One of them was a monk called Kevin who spent his early life and learning and who was ordained to the priesthood here in this area. Long before Dunnes Stores, or the Community Centre, or the Cuckoo’s Nest, or the Summer Project, or the Cycle Rally, St. Kevin, captivated by his love for God and his desire for solitude, left here to cross the mountains to settle in the monastery of Glendalough.

I could be wrong, but I don’t believe there was another monk or priest who left this area till I did in September 1987. My going away followed some summers of breakdancing, and discos, and dates, and some of you are here, and off I went to the Capuchins and their Franciscan habit and Padre Pio who had me spellbound, and I really had no idea why at 18 years of age. Perhaps if I had waited for a few years and not have gone so young, many of you may not be here, and maybe something else would be happening here today. But I did join, and for a while it was very tough, and awful leaving my family, and tough leaving Kilnamanagh, and especially all of you.

So, the boy from Kilnamanagh grows up to be a priest for the 21^st century and in the intervening years, I have been a school chaplain for ten years, a hospital chaplain for three years, and a parish priest for twelve years but all the while a brother in community in our Cork and Dublin Capuchin houses.

It all started for the Franciscans, nearly eight centuries after St. Kevin, when St. Francis of Assisi knelt before a cross in a little ruined church in down in the valley below the town of Assisi and he was inspired in his prayers to “Go and repair my church which as you can see is falling completely into ruin.” He thought of placing blocks and stones on the broken walls of the church he was kneeling in but soon after his followers, the first Franciscans came, he learned that it was a different rebuilding programme God wanted him for; to build up the church using living stones, people. Today, there are Franciscan brothers and sisters all over the world and the work is as vital today as it was in Francis’ time, so much so, that our Pope has taken the name Francis. Our lives revolve around the call to be lesser brothers and sisters to everyone in fraternity, and prayer to all – especially those most in need, the poor, the homeless, the refugee, and our mother Earth, our common home – the environment.

The call to serve for me, like the other friars and sisters and all in ministry, comes from Jesus. He has set a fire in our hearts and while there are struggles in all our lives, the joy that comes from following Jesus Christ can radiate so that other see it come through and becomes the building blocks of a vocation. Vocations are home grown and come in normal ways and while our world may not understand this, I would argue that priesthood and religious life prayerfully well lived is crucial for society in the 21^st century. I couldn’t do this if I didn’t have a relationship with Jesus Christ which fuels all that I do.

And like everyone, I have my moments, and I have been supported by you all and you are so important to me.  I have shared happy days and sad days with you along the way. I have officiated at weddings in your families, I have baptized your children, and even grandchildren now! I have offered the funeral Mass for some of your loved ones. In all this and more, I have been the privileged one.

As I touched on, it hasn’t been easy. A lot has happened in the church in those intervening years and there has been huge suffering and for most that suffering is a daily cross.

Moving is something that we friars and clergy must do every few years and both we and our people face upheaval when we have to go to new places. You have a new PP; Fr. Frank arrive here in the summer for example. I have recently changed from parish ministry after twelve years to a new ministry with Padre Pio Prayer Groups, and Vocations Ministry.  Following the Lockdown and on the back of the years in parish pastoral ministry and involvement in some diocesan projects, I have been quite tired. But when the move came, this change hit me pretty hard. Why I am saying this is for you all to hear that I thank God for each one of you and the friars are consoled by the friends that God gives us.  We friars are called by God to follow Jesus Christ in the way of Francis of Assisi in the Church of today. He doesn’t leave us alone; he gives us great support. Yes, there are challenges and sometimes the light is dim, and I wonder where God is. But in comes people like you – all of you. And Jesus says through all of you, “I’ve got your back.” “I love you.” “I will not leave you alone.”

So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you, mile búiochas…

To friends older and newer, thank you for your love. Even if I might not see some of you a lot, I know you are there, and I value your friendship and I ask you to keep in touch and let us meet now and again. For my part, you are always in my prayers.

To the friars, I said this in 2013 when I was 25 years in the order, I don’t know how you put up with me, I really don’t. I made Perpetual Profession of Vows in 1994 and that day I said I would be a friar for life. I hope I won’t let you down. (That’s another reason for celebrating today, the next milestone for me won’t be till 2038!) I am sorry for being a pain sometimes and causing you hassle along the way. And I’m sorry for being impatient with you as well, and sometimes being a big baby.

To the Poor Clare Sisters. I thank you for your prayerful support from day one.

To my family of origin; Dad, Mam, Kevin, Gráinne, David, Aoife, Lorna, and Clodagh. And now, Tracey, Sam, Louise, Jane, Helen, Peter, Orlagh, and Ross. To the Aunties Deirdre, Maureen, and Uncle Paddy, and the cousins, everyone knows what you mean to me. I would wither away if I hadn’t you, I would die.