"Pray, Hope And Don't Worry"

"Pray, Hope and Don't Worry", the message St. Pius of Pietelcina, better known as St. Padre Pio, whom we honor today,  left us, which is perennially applicable in our world of stress, busyness and over-extension.  Padre Pio, God's humble Franciscan priest, was famous for the gift of the stigmata for most of his life.  It began invisibly in 1910 and lasted  until the time of his death on September 23, 1968.  His reputation as a "miraculous" confessor, who could read souls, and for his humility ( he was forbidden to say Mass publicly for awhile), spread world-wide, but little attention was given to a major charitable work, a hospital, which he founded as the result of a gift from an anonymous benefactor.  St. John Paul II emphasize Padre Pio's charitable work, more than his stigmata at his canonization in 2002.  The lesson for us, most of whom will not be blessed with the stigmata, is that we need to live his pray, hope and don't worry message and that we all can do charitable work, big or small, no matter who or where we are.
Bro. Rene