St Pio of Pietrelcina

Today’s saint, who used to be known popularly as Padre Pio, was one of those who helped me on my journey into the Church.  I had unconsciously always thought of the saints and saint-making as figures of a glorious Christian past.  Then I encountered this great saint whose life had actually overlapped with mine, he had actually been living at a time when I was growing up.  This came home to me even more powerfully when I bought a book about St Pio and there were photographs of the stigmata on his hands.  In my mind saints had always lived in artistic depictions, but here were real photographs.  Now we have the beautiful case of Blessed Carlo Acutis, actually born in my lifetime and a saint for the computer age.  We in Carmel have St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), very much a twentieth-century saint.  Our faith is not just ancient, it is eternally new.

Intercessions:

Chris, in intensive care, has taken a turn for the worse

Baby S as she recovers from a complex heart operation