I have a question for each of us to consider: What would happen if we really believed, if we really trusted that God would provide everything we need?
What if we could let go of our need to control everything, simplify our lives, and just trust that the Lord will give us what we need for the journey all the way to Heaven?
That’s really the question at the heart of today’s readings—and it is a question St. Pius of Pietrelcina, also known as Padre Pio, answered with his life.
Our first reading from The Book of Proverbs gives us a remarkable prayer to guide us: “Give me neither poverty nor riches; provide me only with the food I need.” Now that’s a prayer of simplicity and dependence upon God, which recognizes that we can become distracted by either having too little or too much… and then asks for the grace to have what we need—and to trust God with everything else.
In the Gospel, we hear how Jesus sends the Twelve out to “proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal,” and to “Take nothing for the journey.” No staff, no bag, no extra provisions. For their strength will not come from what they carry, but from the One who sends them.
Clearly, St. Padre Pio understood this. His life was marked by extraordinary simplicity and a complete dependence upon God. He didn’t measure his priesthood by his possessions, comfort, or worldly success. Rather, his life was centered on prayer, the Word of God, the Eucharist, and bringing God's mercy and healing to people who were suffering in many ways.
This connects directly with what Jesus asks of the apostles: to proclaim the Kingdom and heal. Countless people came to Padre Pio carrying their physical illness, emotional suffering, their family difficulties, and their sin, fear, and discouragement….And, with the compassion of Jesus, Padre Pio listened to them, prayed for them, celebrated the Eucharist for them, and directed them back to Christ. He understood that true healing ultimately comes from God.
The Eucharist was at the heart of his ministry. Padre Pio's celebration of Mass was the center of his priesthood because he knew that Christ Himself is the source of our deepest healing. At this Mass, we can follow in his footsteps and do the same: as we’ve listened to God's Word, we will receive Christ Himself.
Most likely, all of us know people who are people who are sick or suffering; we know people who are frightened or carrying burdens they can’t seem to resolve. At this Mass, we can bring those people to the Lord in this Eucharist.
Let us ask for the grace to live more simply, to listen more attentively and openly to God's Word, to trust more completely in God's providence in our lives, and to care more compassionately for those who are suffering.
Like the apostles—and like Padre Pio—may we learn that we do not need to carry everything ourselves. For when Christ sends us, He always provides what we need for the journey that, please God, one day will bring us and those we care for all the way to Heaven.
St. Padre Pio…pray for us!