“Love makes us take giant strides forward, but fear, instead makes us look cautiously at every little step we take lest we stumble on the path that leads to heaven.”
—letter to Raffaelina Cerase, April 25, 1914
At one point or another, you have probably taken a hike in the woods and spent the majority of the time looking down so that you didn’t trip over a rock or tree root. Now, imagine how much more enjoyable that walk would have been if you had taken in your surroundings, knowing that you would not fall or that, if you stumbled, someone would be there to help you back up.
Padre Pio reminds us that if we walk with God there is no reason to worry about every step. God wants us to keep looking toward the ultimate destination. And even if you stumble while walking, God will pick you up, dust you off, and walk with you.
In Padre Pio’s Own Words
I would like the object of your daily meditations to be the abasement of the Son of God and the glory that was given to him because of it. Let us reflect on the self-emptying of the Word. According to St. Paul, “though he was in the form of God” [Philippians 2:6], and though in him “the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily” [Colossians 2:9], he did not despise the humbling of himself to become like us so that he could bring us the knowledge of God.
The Word, completely and freely, lowered himself to our level, concealing his divine nature under the veil of human flesh.
St. Paul says the Word of God “emptied himself, taking the form of a servant” [Philippians 2:7]…. He took on the likeness of a human being and subjected himself to hunger, thirst, and fatigue. In the words of the Apostle to the Gentiles, he was “one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sinning” [Hebrews 4:15].
The culmination of his abasement, however, occurred in his passion and death, in which he subjected himself by his human will to the will of his Father. He underwent so many torments, including suffering the most degrading death of crucifixion: “He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross” [Philippians 2:8]…. His obedience was so pleasing to the eternal Father, the apostle says, that he “exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name” [Philippians 2:9].
(To Raffaelina Cerase, November 4, 1914)
Prayer
St. Pio, be our companion as we walk this path to heaven and our journey toward Christ.
Help us find our way and remind us to take in the beauty of the journey.
