Memorial of Saint
Pius of Pietrelcina, priest
(Ezra 9:5-9; Luke 9:1-6)
In Italy many stories are told about Saint Pius of
Pietrelcina, known universally in the Church as Padre Pio. A story told in
America about him occurred during World War II when American soldiers were
marching up the Italian peninsula. A
group of soldiers stopped at the Franciscan monastery where Padre Pio
lived. The saint spotted one of their
numbers and told him that he had to go to confession. The soldier knew what he was talking about
and relieved his conscience of a heavy burden. In today’s first reading a whole nation
similarly relieves its conscience.
The issue causing Ezra’s public repentance with the
approval of the people is the apostasy of many Israelites. In great numbers Jerusalem’s men have taken
foreign wives and converted to pagan idolatry.
Ezra knows that faith is both precious and elusive. Unless the people take strides to practice
and preserve their faith, it will slip from their possession like a fish just out
of water from one’s hands.
Few of us seem to have the stomach for private penance,
much less public demonstrations of remorse.
Friday is a day of penance on the books, but even church organizations
do not hold back from celebrating on that day.
Yet penance is more about building up the self than tearing it
down. It acknowledges God as the supreme
source of our strength and appeals to Him to correct our faults.
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