The center of the spiritual life of Padre Pio was the Eucharistic Jesus. His devotion polarized around the tabernacle. Jesus, the Word Incarnate, was not distant in time and space to Padre Pio, but very close to him, living with him under the same roof, hidden under the eucharistic Species.

Hour by hour, day and night, he would linger in conversation with the Divine Inhabitant of the tabernacle. When asked where he could be found if he was not in his cell or in the confessional, he answered: "Come and look for me in the choir, in the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament."

The sleepless nights, spent in prayer, were a preparation for Mass and union with Christ in Holy Communion. The days, lived in prayer, in the confessional, in his priestly ministry, were a hymn of thanksgiving. His thoughts, his looks, his sighs, were always for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, from whom he could not separate himself without suffering, as if attracted by a powerful magnet.

Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
Padre Alberto D'Apolito

Reprinted from Witness Ministries, a lay apostolate dedicated to renewing appreciation for the Mass as the greatest gift which God has given to His beloved spouse, the Church. Their mission is to show how, in the Eucharistic Liturgy, Jesus renews and transforms us–and the world–in His life and love.