Padre Pio's Birthday

He was born Francesco Forgione, to Giuseppa and Grazio Forgione,

in the small farming town of Pietrelcina, Italy on May 25, 1887.

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Pietrelcina is located at the Campania region,

from where the Italian part of my family came from.

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This is a Spiritual rather than a Religious tribute.

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''The grain of wheat does not yield anything

unless it suffers and decomposes;

it is the same for the soul and for nations

who need trials and sufferings

so as to rise up purified and renewed.

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The good we endeavor to do to others will always

result in the sanctification of our own souls.

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It is said that even before reaching the Ocean,
a River trembles with fear.
Looks back at its entire journey: the peaks,
the mountains, the long winding path trough forests,
Through villages, and sees before it an Ocean
so vast that to enter it is nothing more
than disappearing forever.
But there is no other way.
The River can’t turn back.
No one can turn back.
Turning back is impossible in life.
One can only go forward.
The River needs to take risks and enter the Ocean.
And only when it enters the Ocean is that the fear disappears,
because only then the River will realize that it is not about
disappearing into the Ocean,
But becoming Ocean.
On one hand it is disappear and on the other it is rebirth.
So are we.
Turning back is impossible in life.
You can go ahead and take risks.
Courage!
Become Ocean!

( Osho )

" Now the arm is no longer the arm stretched

on a cry of victory.
Now the arm is a line, a hairstroke, a mirrored shiny trace.
And all the images are this way: drawings of light,

groupings of particle, of points,

a chart of impulses, a processing of signals.
And thus – it is said – life is retold.
Now they remove from me the layer of flesh,

drain all the blood, sharpen the bones into luminous threads.

And there I am, around the halls, around the houses,

around the cities, looking like myself.
A draft.
A nebulous figure, made out of light and shade
Just like a star.
Now I am a star. "

(Elis Regina)

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"Agora o braço não é mais o braço erguido num grito de gol.

Agora o braço é uma linha, um traço,

um rastro espelhado e brilhante.

E todas as figuras são assim: desenhos de luz,

agrupamentos de pontos de partículas,

um quadro de impulsos, um processamento de sinais.

E assim ­ - dizem - recontam a vida.

Agora retiram de mim a cobertura da carne,

escorrem todo o sangue,

afinam os ossos em fios luminosos.

E aí­ estou, pelo salão, pelas casas, pelas cidades,

parecida comigo.

Um rascunho.

Uma forma nebulosa, feita de luz e sombra.

Como uma estrela.

Agora eu sou uma estrela."

(Elis Regina)