St. Pio de Pietrelcina Chapel is better known as the Padre Pio Church in Libis, Quezon City.
My curiosity with the church of Padre Pio started when my friend, Golda, mentioned to me her experience when she first attended mass there. She told me that an old man who devoted the rest of his life to serve in this church as a lay minister has become famous. It's because of the miracles that The Lord, thru the intercession of Padre Pio, gives to people thru this man.
This made me decide to visit the Padre Pio Church on Good Friday of this year. We did our family tradition of praying the Stations of the Cross. It was a different experience for all of us. First, strict observance of proper dress code was observed. I was wearing a sleeveless shirt that time. Surprisingly, I was given a "sarong", a big and colorful cloth usually used by the Muslims to cover my arms. Others, who were wearing shorts used it as "tapis" or skirt to cover their legs. Another new experience was that at the entrance of the stations grounds, we were given an option to actually carry a wooden cross. I decided to carry one up until I passed it over to my husband as the weight of the cross gradually got heavier and heavier from one station to the next.
Bea made us proud as she carried her cross all through out the 14 stations sans the very hot and humid weather and the considerable distance of all the stations.
Recently, another friend of mine, Donna, told me her story about the mystery of how the old man knew about her intention of going to the Padre Pio Church even before she could even say it.
Hence, last Father's day, our family decided to attend the Sunday Mass at the Padre Pio Church. We arrived almost an hour before the scheduled mass because, as expected, a lot of people were already inside the air-conditioned church. However, we could unfortunately still consider ourselves late as we were not able to get seats. Numerous people were still arriving even as the mass had already started. Noteworthy was the fact that even if it was pouring hard that day, many mass goers sacrificed to stay even out side of the church just to hear the Sacrament of the Holy Mass on that special day.
Bea patiently stood for the whole duration of the mass. I didn't hear any complaint from her. She gladly placed the celebration at the center of her attention. She joined everybody in singing all the songs of praises as well.
I know that our experience is just a start. Sooner or later, we will witness our own Padre Pio miracle.=)