Pio's Proverb 118: "CURIOSITY - good and bad!"

A Holy Curiosity:

"Then Moses said, 'I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.' When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called tohim out of the bush, 'Moses, Moses!' And he said, 'Here I am.'  then he siad, 'Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is hohly ground.' He said further, 'I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the god of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'"

Good Curiosity that leads to Faith:

Many people come to embrace the Faith out of curiosity. I have seen many people come to the RCIA classes in our parish just to "come and see".  Prior Baptist Christine and prior Lutheran Jill both came out of curiosity. Both are now very devout and joyful Catholics.  This was good curiosity.

Curiosity that does not lead to Faith:

In today's Gospel, Herod said, "John I have beheaded but who is this man I hear so much about. And he longed to see Jesus."    So Herod had a great curiosity; but it stopped there. He did not seek Jesus out. Herod could have become a great saint. But he did not let his curiosity spur him on to seek Jesus. He would have found Jesus if he really wanted to see him.  This was fruitless curiosity.

Curiosity that leads to sin:

Saint Padre Pio whose feast day it is today said after hearing thousands and thousands of confessions: "The root of all sin is curiosity.  This is bad curiosity.

Good Curiosity that leads to discovery:

1) It was good curiosity that built the Hubbel Telescope. Now we can see the universe expanding.

2) It was good curiosity that led the Wright Brothers to discover flight and that led Edison to invent the light bulb..(besides having a childhood fear of the dark) and for Ben Franklin to fly a kite in the storm to see how lightning works which gave even better ideas to Edison.

3) It was good curiosity that led to the invention of radio, television, computers, heart transplants, landing men on the moon, sending probes to Mars.

4) It was good curiosity that led the saints to seek God for His own sake and to found monasteries and libraries of learning.

5) It was good curiosity that led us to find love, get married and have babies and educate them and bounce our grandchildren on our knees.

6) It was good curiosity to seek an education for ourselves and explore all that the sciences - all that philosophy - all that psychology - all that theology can teach us.

7) It is good curiosity to seek each day to find God and listen to Him and to grow in love for Him.

Father, give a healthy and good and holy curiosity to begin the Divine Romance that is the love of God and to see God in all the marvels of the Universe and to learn all that we can with telecopes and microscopes, to experience as much goodness as You have in Your mind for us and to achieve the fulfillment of Your will in our lives which is for our total happiness - now and forever. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen.

Love, Pio