14
November 18
Sts. Peter & Paul, Richmond
Following the Gospel from Luke 18:35-43 about a blind beggar healed by Jesus, Deacon John offered a pertinent message on the hectic speed of life and suffering, quoting Pope Francis who spoke at Lourdes reminding those who suffer to always bear in mind that God hears their prayers and loves them: “You who are little, who are poor, fragile, you are the Church’s treasure.” Deacon John expressed that offering our suffering to the Lord is not pointless and can be redemptive. In that time and place the concept of the redemptive power of healing spoke directly to me, giving words as balm for my soul.
The Redemptive Nature of Healing
Everytime I attended Mass at Sts. Peter and Paul, I found myself looking up, craning to see the finer details of the 14 Holy Helpers. I had done my own research on the ceiling saints when I taught religion and had created an art study lesson with the paintings. The whole collection of these 14 saints were grouped together as The 14 Holy Helpers as an appeal during the Black Plague in Germany. With an overarching goal to make religion class fun and interesting so the students would want to come back, I created an art study lesson with the painting of the saints. Spread out throughout the church, the students craned their necks studying their saint and writing down any details they saw. We met back in the classroom and they would describe their saint. I had backup details about the saint’s life that would always add spice, usually about how they died or were martyred. At the end of the lesson, I paired them up to draw the church from a bird’s eye perspective with directions to raise their hands when finished and not to say anything. Then I would hover around until the first kids noticed and without fail blurted out that it was in the shape of a cross. The kids were very receptive to the lesson and I was proud when I would catch them at Mass staring at the ceiling saints. Now, alone in my pew I appealed to the 14 Holy Helpers, praying for their intercession with my own plague.
From little on I was always intrigued by the lives of Saints so when I saw a notice in August 2018 that the relics of Saint Padre were coming to St Cloud my interest was piqued. When I first saw the notice, I was disappointed because I would be back to school and not able to get to the weekday viewings, but a few weeks later, I was on medical leave with even more impetus to be among blessed relics. Admittedly, I knew very little about Padre Pio except being marked by stigmata and that he was my devout friend Greg’s favorite saint. In preparation to visit his relics, I read Padre Pio: The True Story, a heavily researched book that showed the great lengths the Catholic Church went to disprove or avoid sanctifying him. The Vatican sent a scientist who was an avowed atheist to review the stigmata and interview Pio. The scientist was so awed he converted to Catholicism. Pio himself was not a fan of attention and so h