St. Padre Pio suffered from the stigmata for years, but he’s also the saint who said, “Pray, hope, and don’t worry.” How can a person who suffered from open, bleeding wounds for fifty years just say, “don’t worry”?

In uniting his suffering to the cross of Christ, St. Padre Pio was able to find peace. Suffering is inescapable, but this great saint showed us how Christians are called, not to try and avoid suffering, but to use it as a way to grow closer to Christ.

So bring all your sufferings, from the inconvenience of a messy kitchen, or bigger problems, like illness and injury, to the altar, and offer them up like Padre Pio.

St. Padre Pio, pray for us—and happy feast day!

Snippet from the Show - “The experience of Christianity is not to find a way out of suffering, but to find a way through suffering.”