Chapter Eighteen
PRIVILEGED TIME
How privileged we are to live in these "latter times" when the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in union with the Immaculate Heart of His Mother, will draw men from the empire of Satan and destroy it. It is the time when His Sacred Heart has "entrusted the peace of the world to Her" (Blessed Jacinta). It is the time of the promised triumph.
St. John Bosco had a vision of this time. He saw the bark of Peter tossed in a terrible storm and the Pope valiantly guiding it towards two pillars: on one the Eucharist and the other Our Lady-the pillars of the Two Hearts. Appearing as a Queen, crowned and sceptered, with Her Son holding the globe of the world, She promised a victory before the year 2000, which would be "greater than the victory of Lepanto."
That victory took place on the feast of Her Queenship in 1990 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Now the Church makes it way through the storm towards the pillars of the Two Hearts confident of victory. But the storm seems to intensify. How bad may it get? How long may it last?
Was the Apostolate Over
With an apology for speaking personally, it was on May 2, the day of the beatification of Bl. Padre Pio, that I began to write this book as I asked myself the question:
With all the evil in the world today, and with so little interest in Fatima, is the Blue Army, of which Bl. Padre Pio was the spiritual father, a thing of the past? I was asking the question not only because of the decline in interest in Fatima but because of adversities in the apostolate itself, as I have already said in the foreword of this book.
And, if I am not mistaken, Bl. Padre Pio had me ask another question: "If Sister Lucia says that the Fatima week has just begun, has not the world apostolate just begun?"
Immediately the thought came: "Look at Fatima in the context of history."
I had often thought of the comparison made by Our Lord beween the failure to respond to the message of Fatima and the failure to respond to the message of His Sacred Heart. Finally, it stunned me. Invoking Bl. Padre Pio, I began that same day to write this book.
I was later very impressed to learn that the miraculous liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius, which for hundreds of years had occurred on May 1st, had not happened this year until the same May 2, at 11:30, when Bl. Padre Pio was beatified.
Bl. Padre Pio's Message
Half a million people spilled out of St. Peter's square that day (May 2, 1999), and another half a million spilled over the square in front of St. John Lateran to watch the ceremny on a giant television screen. In living memory, no beatification (or even canonization) like this had ever taken place in Rome.
Did those hundreds of thousands know that before leaving this world, Bl. Padre Pio had provided a way that those after his death could still become his spiritual children? They could do so in just one way: they could make the Blue Army pledge (the basic requests of Our Lady: Morning Offering, Scapular and Rosary).
Asked one day whether it was a good thing to belong to the Blue Army, Bl. Padre Pio answered: "Could you do anything better?"
Special Memories
Since this is probably my last book, please bear with me for sharing a few memories of this unusual saint, who understood better than most people of our time the wonder and power of devotion to the Two Hearts.
I had the great good fortune to have seen Bl. Padre Pio some twenty-five times over the years, and even of serving his Mass. One incident I especially recall concerned a crucifix which gave off a perfume after he blessed it.
Another concerned the wounds in his feet. Others concerned Garabandal and a book I was writing on the Eucharist. But perhaps the most extraordinary incident concerned Bl. Padre Pio's role as Spiritual Father of the Blue Army, and the International Pilgrim Virgin statue of Our Lady of Fatima.
This was a special statue of Our Lady, blessed at Fatima on May 13, 1947, to be carried across Europe to Russia. It was called the "Pilgrim Virgin." Miracles took place causing Pope Pius XII to exclaim:
"In 1946, I crowned Our Lady at Fatima as Queen of the World and the following year, through the Pilgrim Virgin, She set forth as though to claim Her dominion. And the favors She performs along the way are such that we can scarcely believe what we are seeing with our eyes."
When the same Pope instituted the feast of the Queenship of Mary in St. Peter's in Rome in 1954, His Holiness said: "I first crowned Her Queen at Fatima." He referred to the statue as "The Messenger of Her Royalty."
Bl. Padre Pio's Cure
When the Pilgrim Virgin visited San Giovanni Rotondo, where Bl. Padre Pio lived, the saintly priest was bedridden with so severe an illness that the word "hopeless" was used. For some time, he had not been able to say Mass. And, for Bl. Padre Pio that was a much greater suffering than any illness, even greater than the wounds he bore in hands, feet, and side for fifty years.
A vast crowd had come to San Giovanni for the visit of the statue. An aerial photo of the occasion shows thousands of people overflowing the square and filling the approaches in every direction.
It was at the end of the visit that the wonder took place.
The helicopter bearing the statue was flying off to the north when suddenly it banked around and flew back to hover beside the monastery. "Help me," Bl. Padre Pio said to the friars in the room. And they helped him from the bed to the window.
"Little Mother!" Bl. Padre Pio exclaimed, "When you came, I was like this (ill, unable to say Mass). Do you leave me this way?"
Instantly he was cured. He was able to say Mass from then until he died (September 23, 1968).
Behind the Story
The above facts have been told in almost all the books about Bl. Padre Pio and in the film Fifty Years of Thorns and Roses. The mayor of San Giovanni, who was a lifelong
friend of Bl. Padre Pio, said this cure by Our Lady stood out in his mind above all the other events in Bl. Padre Pio's life, other than the stigmata.
God could have prevented the illness of Bl. Padre Pio, which doctors thought would end in his death. He could have cured him in many ways. But God willed to make this dramatic statement about Our Lady of Fatima.
There is a surprising story behind the story which has never been told. The priest in the helicopter was Msgr. Giovanni Strazzacappa who had founded the Blue Army in Italy. He told me what happened.
The pilot suddenly swirled the machine around. In surprise, Monsignor asked what was happening. The pilot, himself surprised, said he just felt "compelled" to turn around. Then to the amazement of both, they saw Bl. Padre Pio come to the window with the help of his friars and cry out to Our Lady. But this is still not the end of the story.
A Statue for a Crucifix
Bl. Padre Pio had long had a special devotion to Our Lady of Fatima. He made the prophecy: "Russia will be converted when there is a Blue Army member for every Communist." He had accepted all who make and keep the Blue Army pledge as his spiritual children (for whom he will wait at the gates of Heaven "until all have entered"). In gratitude for the great favor through the Pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fatima, Bl. Padre Pio sent a crucifix to the Bishop of Fatima (the Most Rev. John Venancio) who was the international spiritual head of the Blue Army.
In return for the crucifix, also in recognition of the great favor She had conferred on the world's "living crucifix," the bishop had a special statue of Our Lady of Fatima made for Bl. Padre Pio, and gave myself and Msgr. Strazzacappa the privilege of taking it to him.
With a group of Blue Army members, I took the statue by ship from Portugal to Naples, where we were joined by an Italian group led by Msgr. Strazzacappa. With the statue sometimes in one bus and sometimes in another, we prayed our way across Italy to deliver this precious gift to the world beloved Capuchin friar.
When Bl. Padre Pio received the statue, it seemed he was receiving Our Lady Herself. When he bent to kiss the feet of the statue there was a holy silence. I think it was a moment of special meaning to Msgr. Strazzacappa (one of the most gifted and holy priests I have ever known) because of something personal Bl. Padre Pio said to him just after kissing the statue. (He seemed in perfect health, but died unexpectedly a few months later.)
Bl. Padre Pio had the statue placed over his vesting table in the sacristy, greeting Her before he went out to say Mass, and on his return. It is featured in the film Fifty Years of Thorns and Roses.
The Crucifix
Bl. Padre Pio has been called the "living crucifix" because wounds on his hands and feet and side bled for fifty years. One day, in the hope that he might kiss a crucifix I had purchased, I placed it next to the kneeler where he said his thanksgiving after Mass.
With Jesus still present beneath his heart, the stigmatic priest reached for the crucifix and kissed it with loving devotion.
I retrieved it immediately after he rose from his thanksgiving. To my amazement, it was giving off a most beautiful fragrance. Men in the sacristy crowded about as the fragrance spread. They all wanted to kiss it. "Oh, how fortunate you are!" I heard from one side and another.
I was on my way upstairs into the monastery to speak to Bl. Padre Pio about Garabandal. Several of the men followed me-or I should rather say followed the fragrance flowing from the crucifix I was carrying and jealously guarding (it now hangs in my bedroom with a picture of Bl. Padre Pio kissing it).
Garabandal
I always had a special devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and I wondered about the authenticity of the reported visions of Her at Garabandal, Spain.
I had met Joey Lomangino and I was convinced that he would not lie or even exaggerate. He said that Bl. Padre Pio had told him to go to Garabandal. There he learned that, by a miracle, he would one day give witness to the apparitions of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, and he has spread the news all over the world.
Because I was cofounder of the Blue Army, which had a policy of not speaking of unapproved apparitions, I had never gone. Should I?
Bl. Padre Pio gave me two answers. Both were affirmative. I was to obey the Blue Army policy, but I could take a pilgrimage to Garabandal at the time of the miracle.
I marveled (and do so repeatedly to this day) that Bl. Padre Pio did this in such a way as to make clear that he was not anticipating the judgment of the Church. Now, I am no longer an official of the Blue Army and therefore free to go.
To Draw Them to Our Hearts
By now it is well known in most of the world that Our Lady appeared at Garabandal as Our Lady of Mount Carmel but not clothed in the traditional way, in the Carmelite habit. But she always appeared with the small scapular on her wrist or in her hand, the sign by which millions around the world are consecrated to Her Immaculate Heart.
She is reported to have appeared many times, and to have said many words. Much of Her message was similar to what She said at Akita. She spoke of a warning and a miracle. But what was the main reason for all these visions and messages? She Herself told us: "I have come for all my children with the desire of bringing them to Our Hearts."
I would like to end on those words. They say it all. And I hope I will not detract from their importance by mentioning one other special memory of Bl. Padre Pio.
The Book
His greatest devotions were Our Lady and the Eucharist -the two pillars of the Two Hearts. He almost always had a Rosary in his hand as though clinging to it he was clinging to the hand of his heavenly Mother. And when he said Mass, you were there on Calvary.
I decided to write a book on the Eucharist such as had never been written before. It was to be a book which would convince even non-believers. I felt compelled because the Eucharist is at the center of the revelations of Fatima. But I felt unworthy.
So I asked practically every pious soul I met to pray for this intention. I asked daily communicants to remember this intention daily until the book was finished. Some two hundred did so-and it took several years!
But each time I asked Bl. Padre Pio about this, he seemed to ignore me. He usually gave some sign of approval or disapproval. But on this, nothing. I felt sad and concerned, but I went ahead and the book was finally published. Within two years it sold over 100,000 copies.
Only some years later, I learned from a priest who saw Bl. Padre Pio
frequently that one day the holy (and now beatified) friar said: "He
asks me to pray for that book on the Eucharist. It will have some success
in his lifetime, but its greatest success will be after his death."
(Editor's note: The World's Greatest Secret)
I thought I should hurry up and die, but apparently I still had this book to write about the final unfolding of devotion of the Two Hearts and how and to what extent each of us must be involved in God's final effort to wrest us from the empire of Satan. And Bl. Padre Pio inspired it.
This and other books by John M. Haffert
God's
Final Effort | Too Late? | The Day I Didn't Die