Padre Pio on the Mass and Communion

Padre Pio on the Mass

Matthew 26:28 “…Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke, and gave to his disciples, and said: Take ye, and eat: This is my body.  And taking the chalice he gave thanks: and gave to them, saying: Drink ye all of this.  For this is my blood of the new testament which shall be shed for many, for the remission of sins.”

 1^st Cor. 10:16 “The chalice of benediction which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?  And the bread which we break, is it not the partaking of the body of the Lord?”

 1 Cor. 11:26-29 “For as often as you shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice, you shall shew the death of the Lord until he come.  Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord…For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord.”

According to some estimates, around twenty million people have seen Padre Pio offer the Mass.[1] 

Concerning the value of Mass, Padre Pio said: “If men only appreciated the value of a holy Mass they would need traffic officers at church doors every day to keep the crowds in order.”[2]

Padre Pio was asked what his Mass meant to him.  He responded: “It is a sacred participation in the passion of Jesus.  All that the Lord suffered in his passion, I suffer, to the extent that it is possible to a human being.  And that is apart from any merit of mine, but entirely due to his goodness.”[3] 

Before Padre Pio offered the unconsecrated host on his paten, he would run his fingers around the Host to make sure there were no loose particles.[4]

Padre Pio: “Every holy Mass, heard with devotion, produces in our souls marvelous effects, abundant spiritual and material graces which we, ourselves, do not know.  It is easier for the earth to exist without the sun than without the holy Sacrifice of the Mass.”[5]

Padre Pio: “I am going to the wine-press of the Church, to the holy altar, where from the Blood of that delightful and unusual Grape, is distilled the sacred Wine with which only a few fortunate people are permitted to become inebriated.”[6] 

Padre Pio on Communion

John 6:54-55 “Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen, I say to you: Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you.  He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Padre Pio was asked about Holy Communion.  He responded: “It is all an internal and external mercy.  An embrace.”

Question: “When Jesus comes does he visit only the soul?”

Padre Pio: “The whole being.”

Question: “What does Jesus do at Communion?”

Padre Pio: “He finds delight in His creature.”

Question: “Is Communion an incorporation?”

Padre Pio: “It is a fusion.  Like two candles that melt together and are no longer distinguishable.”[7]

Padre Pio, Letter to a spiritual child on receiving Communion: “Continue to receive Communion, and don’t worry about not being able to receive the Sacrament of Penance.  Jesus will prize your good will.  Remember what I have told you so often: as long as we are not certain of being in serious sin, we need not abstain from Communion.”[8]  “Unless you are positive that you are in mortal sin you ought to take Communion every day.”[9]

Padre Pio: “My heart feels drawn by a higher power before being united with Him in the Blessed Sacrament.  I have such hunger and thirst before receiving Him that it would take little more for me to die of longing… And rather than remain satisfied after I have received the Sacrament, this hunger and thirst increases even more.  At the moment that I am in possession of this greatest good, then yes, the plenitude of sweetness is truly so great that I almost say to Jesus: Enough!  I cannot stand any more!  I forget that I am even in this world.  The mind and heart desire nothing more… I sometimes ask myself if there are souls that do not feel their chest burn with divine fire, especially at the moment that they find themselves before Him in the Blessed Sacrament.  It seems to me impossible, particularly if the individual is a priest or religious.”[10]