Pray, Hope & Don't Worry was his motto


Today is the Feast of St. Padre Pio . He has always been a saint dear to our family. My oldest son was fascinated by him (bilocation, stigmata, seeing into souls) and did reports on him, even dressing like him for Halloween. Later, when we created our Saint Basket, Padre Pio "chose us" more than once!

from the book "Padre Pio's Words of Hope"

2 Corinthians 12:8-9 "Three times I appealed t the Lord about this [trial], that it would leave me, but he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.'

But I worry that God will abandon me because of my weaknesses.

Padre Pio's assurance: "Heavenly goodness permits weaknesses, not in order to abandon you, but to render you humble and more steadfast, more firm and more tightly attached to the hand of this divine mercy"

"Do not lose heart, but in your weakness, unite yourself more to Jesus who speaks to you through wise advisers. When the words of comfort and the voice of your wise director calm you after your anxiety, this is a sign that you are dear to Jesus."

"Take comfort in our most sweet Lord, as you should know that the soul's greatest misery is when it doesn't feel weak, but feels strong; when it
trusts in itself; when it is over-confident"

"Oh, if only al souls could experience such a holy weakness, we would not see so many souls fall at every instant. A soul who felt its weakness and
had recourse to God for help has never fallen."

Lord, I feel my weakness every moment of every day. Help me to always place my confidence in you, for in my weakness you are strong. Amen.

8 comments:

The Lly Dilettante said...

Thank you for this post. Am feeling spiritually weak at the moment. This post has given me some comfort. :)

Christine said...

Yah..finally found someone celebrating St. Pio. He is my favorite Saint also.

Elizabeth said...

At 2 years of age, my Snorkie had a great fondness for St. Pio...later we realized (since he wasn't talking yet) that he thought all those Holy cards were Obi Wan Kenobi...oops.
He still dressed as St Pio last year for our "Holy-ween" party :)

Allison said...

Dilettant - will offer an Ave for you.

Christine - so nice to hear that we have a love of Padre Pio in common, too!

Elizabeth - That's not the first time I have heard the connection between Pio and Obi Wan! There's also a sweet photo of Padre Pio kissing a baby and my youngest always said that Pio was God...

What an incredible saint, indeed!

My Chocolate Heart said...

Amen... I just love to stare at the pictures of him now lying incorrupt. He looks so peaceful and happy and beautiful. Amazing. His words are a lot like St. Francis de Sales... so gentle and simple and encouraging.

Laura The Crazy Mama said...

I wish I felt that peace and that I didn't have to worry. Does that mean that I'm not dear to Jesus? Or that I'm not praying hard enough? I don't know how much more humbled I can get, or how much harder I have to pray.

Allison said...

O Laura, I think we are all, at some level, beset by worry. I know I worry, I get worked up. I need to surrender more to God and deepen my spiritual life. It is hard and it is a journey. But I do read that when we suffer He is letting us carry the cross with Him and yet also wants us to rely on Him more...more deeply unite.

In fact, another anology is that when we have pain, like labo pain...something NEW is about to be born from us.

Let's pray for each other.

Christine said...

Worry is my middle name..ha! Needed this today for my heart is aching for the lost college student. And for his family.

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