Daily Thought For September 21, 2015
A Cure During Confession
One day, the playwright Luigi Antonelli told a journalist of his extraordinary cure through the intervention of Padre Pio. His doctors had found a cancer covering the area between his ear and his shoulder. They had spoken to him about having an operation. He went to a surgeon and asked him, “How much time have I got left?”
The surgeon replied, “With the operation six months, and without it, three months.”
“All right,” said Antonelli, “I’ll have the operation. I can’t turn down an extra three months of life!”
And he would have undergone the operation had not one of his friends advised him to go to San Giovanni Rotondo and see Padre Pio. Perhaps the priest would ask the Lord to cure him without the operation. Antonelli reflected on this, then said, “Why not?” He set out for San Giovanni, and when he arrived went immediately to the little church and attended Padre Pio’s Mass. Afterward, he went to confession.
What happened during this confession? Antonelli found it difficult to describe even though he was a man who had a way with words. During confession he had a long conversation with Padre Pio, and the longer it went on, the more his soul was transported into a celestial state. At the same time he felt a kind of current circulating in his body, eradicating all traces of the cancer.
When he got off his knees, Antonelli felt in good health. His soul as well as his body had been cured. He took up all his activities again without ever experiencing again the slightest symptoms of cancer.
Cataneo, P. (2013). Padre Pio, Glimpse into the Miraculous. (M. McCollum & G. Dextraze, Trans.) (pp. 117–118). Boston, MA: Pauline Books & Media.