Through My Eyes

Author: Kasia Yoko
Date: 2013-10-11

So the other day I met a living saint. In the back streets of Verulam, tucked away in a freshly built garage, there she was wearing orange robes and smiling self-consciously. Not understanding and maybe coming from a western position, ignorantly I asked this slight middle aged lady what makes her a saint, to which she replied, "Its simple I just am."

Who am I to argue, clearly I am not elevated enough to get it, when I asked her devotees what makes this particular orange clad lady a saint, one replied, "Oh she is just amazing." I guess I had to take her word for it. Driving home that day I had this overwhelming feeling of longing and when I got home, a message was flashing on my computer screen.

The Bugle reader, Jeannine Lincoln loves the quotes at the bottom of our pages, and she decided to share one with me, it reads, "O God, my past to your Mercy, my present to your Love, and my future to your Providence." St Padre Pio. The shivers ran over my body; Padre Pio was a huge influence on my faith when I was a young girl. He was the only priest to have been borne with the stigmata of Christ. Before I became an avid reader, I read everything about this incredible enigma and I truly 'believed'.

I worshipped Padre Pio before he was officially made a saint and have never met him. He was canonized in 2002, but that did not matter to me. I believed he was a saint, not because someone told me to believe, not because I needed to believe, I believed from the core of my being, I felt his sainthood when I prayed and I felt his presence in my deepest darkest hours of teenage turmoil.

One extraordinary thing about Padre Pio was his ability to induce belief in the extraordinary. He had a gift for catapulting people into a fairyland of living mystic powers. When I became devoted to Padre Pio, he took over my every action and I sought out to know more, to be closer to him. I can honestly say that he was my faith.

I loved reading the stories of all the miracles he performed, healing the children, raising people from the dead, bilocating - being able to be in two places at the same time, prophesyingoh the list is endless, however what I loved most of all was that those who came in contact with Him testified that Padre Pio exuded perfume. There was a beautiful scent when he appeared. On many occasions I too could smell His perfumed scent when deep in prayer.

I loved everything about this icon, his rebel nature, his compassion and his unwavering faith. There was a time in his life when the Catholic church was really nasty to him (I could honestly relate) and the church wanted to discredit him as a imposter, as a fraud but he just told them off and said that he was not there for the church, he was there for God.

One day Padre Pio was asked, "Did Jesus show you the places of your spiritual children in paradise?"

"Of course, a place for all the children that God would entrust to me until the end of the world, if they are consistent in the path that takes you to heaven. It is the promise that God made to this miserable person."

"And in paradise, are we going to be close to you?"

"Oh silly one, what kind of paradise would it be for me if I did not have all of my children close to me."

"But I am afraid of death."

"Love casts out fear. We call it death, but in reality it is the beginning of true life. And later, if I help you in your life here, how much more will I help you in the decisive battle."

It is verses like this that made me believe and believe and truly believe. To this day, he is such a big part of my faith, even if the church does not inspire my senses, Padre Pio is my constant spiritual guide and he did not have to be a saint for me to believe. Thank you Jeanine for sending me His quote, it was perfect timing for my cynical thoughts.

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