Turning Business Travel Into Pilgrimage

In my many years of business travel I have always made it a habit, even on short trips, to find and experience something local to my trip. Whether it was visiting a home town brewery, famous places like Pike Street Market, or taking a selfie in front of Cheers bar in Boston, these little additions to my trips make the time away from home more palatable and have created some great memories.

This week I got to turn a business trip into a true pilgrimage. On a visit to Pennsylvania to run an EOS training for a client (thank you Ken Pustizzi ), I was blessed to connect with friend and business associate David Russek for a very special experience. Through his kindness and hospitality, David hosted me at the National Centre for Padre Pio in Barto, PA. This center honors one of the greatest saints of the twentieth century, Saint Padre Pio. He was a truly remarkable and holy priest who would spend whole days in his confessional hearing the confessions of visitors from all over the world.

He was blessed to be a vessel for God's graces in many unique ways including having the abilities to read people's souls, to bilocate (yes be in two places at once), to have visions, and to work miracles for people. But he was also well known for the fact that he carried the Stigmata, the wounds of Christ in his hands and his side.

While offering mass and for much of his public life he wore gloves to help absorb the blood. The National Centre for Padre Pio is blessed to have relics of both gloves worn by the saint, but also a cloth used to cover the wound in his side. I was very blessed to have the opportunity to venerate these relics, thanks to the wonderful hospitality of Nicholas Gibboni , the Executive Director of the site.

The center is truly a remarkable and holy place. It also has an incredible museum that contains more items about St. Pio than any place outside of Italy.

After visiting the Centre, I was recounting the story with my client who proceeded to tell me that his parish was named after St. Padre Pio. While visiting with Nick Gibboni, he also shared that the relics of St. Pio are going to be featured at a men's conference, Man Up Philly, which I will be attending on the last day of this trip. This business trip has unexpectedly turned into a true pilgrimage to St. Padre Pio, from end to end. What an amazing blessing! Thanks be to God and St. Pio!

Here is the link to the Centre's website. It has a wealth of information and can help you plan your own pilgrimage. St. Pio pray for us!

https://www.padrepio.org/ .