St. Padre Pio versus Jesus on the Goodness of Life on Earth

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faustinamary

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An elderly lady said to St. Padre Pio: “Padre, today I’m sixty. Say something nice to me.” Padre Pio whispered to her: “Death is near.”

The Jesuit Father Croiset wrote a book called The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a book which Jesus is said to have told St. Margaret Mary to tell Fr. Croiset to write. Excerpt from this devotion: "Consider that the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ was no sooner formed within the womb of the Blessed Virgin, than it was inflamed with an immense love for all men; but, as it is the property of love, to desire to be continually with those, for whom this love is felt, a life of thirty-three years appeared to Him too short, to satisfy His excessive desire of being continually with us. "

This seems to be the opposite: St. Pio is saying that the sooner the death, the better. Jesus is saying that his life on earth appear too short. Does anyone understand why? Could it be that Jesus is just at a higher level of love than St. Pio, that St. Pio’s thoughts are good but Jesus’ are better?
 
You’re divorcing statements from their context, which will ever and always cause confusion.

There are two themes in scripture, in the Councils, and in Church teaching, which are not mutually exclusive from each other:
  1. Creation is good by nature. We should be grateful & rejoice for everything that we have.
  2. Men are grass. Life is fleeting. Don’t have your treasure in this world.
I don’t know for certain what St Pio’s intentions were, and it honestly doesn’t matter, but I would assume he was reminding her that 1) your treasure should not be in this world, so be careful, and/or 2) We can rejoice in our upcoming true life beyond death.
 
St. Paul mentions something like this in one of his letters (I can’t remember which one right now, but it’s one of his “captivity letters”).

Paraphrasing, he says: “I don’t know whether I want more to stay in this life or move on to the next. I’d love to move on to the next to be with Jesus, because that is far better, but if I stay in this life, that means I have more work that can be done to build God’s Kingdom.”
 
Padre Pio wanted to be with the One he loved, so he wanted to go to Heaven. Christ wanted to be with the ones He loved, so He wanted to stay on earth.
 
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