Computers are wonderful tools but sadly they are quickly deteriorating one of the greatest accidental historical archives of our present age: that of the handwritten letter. Some might wish to point out that there are such things as blogs and other electronic bits of data that will exist forever out on the Internet and perhaps that brings with it its own advantages, but there is still something special about having that piece of paper in someone’s own handwriting in which they share intimate thoughts with a trusted other.Once I bought an antique desk and underneath a drawer I found a letter written in a very precise female hand talking about a flu epidemic and her concern for her family. For me this was history flying up off of the page and slapping me in the face. Such is the power of the letter.
Fortunately for us the relative recent history of the Church finds that a good number of the faithful have written letters and diaries. Many have survived and are giving us an exciting insight into the thoughts of those we now call saints. Now we can ask the questions with purpose, “What were they thinking?” and “Were they really all that different from me?”
Recently a friend who sometimes guest blogs on this site said that she was rather relieved to read that Mother Theresa, when she was invited to speak in Las Vegas, wrote that she might die of fear and shyness. When faced with having to share her own faith in public she gained strength in knowing that even those we now consider great were burdened with the same fears that we “common folk” have.
To this end Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa has pulled together excerpts from the letters of Padre Pio that give us a unique insight into the thoughts of this modern saint. We find here not a man who finds the faithful Catholic life a walk in the park, but a man who struggled like we struggle, who had doubts like we have doubts, but who, in spite of it all, who remained loyal to God. In fact, his entire life seems to have been a living out of Psalm 13.
The unique aspect of this book is not that it presents you with the letters of Padre Pio
which are many (and are already available to you in other books), but that this author has selected gems from many letters, about a paragraph or two each, sorted them into thirteen categories such as “I Do Not Wish to Offend God Again,” and “The School of Virtue,” and gives a short preface for each.The author repeatedly emphasizes that this book will not give you a complete picture of the saint but does allow you, particularly those familiar with him already, a chance to hear him speak on his own behalf. Besides, who cannot resist wanting to know what it was like discovering that you have the stigmata from the man himself? In excerpt 117 he writes, “Yesterday evening [7.9.1911], something happened to me that I can neither explain nor understand. In the middle of my palms there appeared a spot of red almost in the shape of a penny, accompanied by a sharp and strong pain in the spot’s centre.”
The translations of the letters are extremely easy to read. The way the book is designed allows the reader to t
ake in a short passage and set the book down and contemplate, a method I highly recommend to the cover-to-cover method I used in order to review this book for you.Particularly if you already know and love Saint Pio, you might find this book fascinating. Others might gain spiritual strength in knowing that you are not alone in your struggles even among the saints.
WHAT: Words of Light; Inspiration from the Letters of Padre Pio
WHO: Compiled and with an Introduction by Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa
GENERAL INFORMATION: Paraclete Press; Brewster, Massachusetts; 2000 – www.paracletepress.com
