Padre Pio

Saint
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Padre Pio
Saint LIN

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XX 0854 396500 8002

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 Prayer
This prayer was recited every day by St Pio of
Pietrelcina to obtain graces for his spiritual
children.

1. O my Jesus, who said, ‘In truth | say to you, ask

and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock
and it will be opened to you’, and so | knock, |
seek, | ask for grace.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, | trust and | hope in you.

2. O my Jesus, who said, ‘In truth | say to you,

whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will
give it to you’, and so | ask your Father, in your
name, for grace.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, | trust and | hope in you.

3. O my Jesus, who said, ‘In truth | tell you, heaven

and earth will pass away, but my words will not
pass away’, and so relying on the infallibility of
your holy words, | ask for grace.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, | trust and I hope in you.
4. O Sacred Heart of Jesus, to whom it is impos-
sible not to have compassion towards the unfortu-
‘nate, have mercy on us sinners and grant us the
grace that we ask of you through the intercession
of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your and our
tender Mother.

Saint Joseph, putative Father of Jesus,

pray for us.

+++
My God! | dont want, no, to despair: | dont want
to wrong your infinite compassion. But despite
all my efforts to trust, | have inside me a terrible,
vivid and clear sense of your abandonment and
rejection.
My God! | trust in you; but my trust is full of agita-
tion, and this renders my grief even bitterer
O my God! If | could know even in the least way
that my present state is not due to your rejection
and that | am not offending you, | would be willing
to suffer a hundred times this torment. My God,
my God... have mercy on me

+++
My God, do not delay in coming to my aid! Do
you not see that | have no more strength to fight,
that all my vigour is gone? O my God, you who
know the extreme bitterness of my spirit, do not
delay in coming to my aid. You alone can and must
draw me out of this prison of death.Ah! no; | will
not grow weary of crying loudly with Job: Even
though you kill me, | will not cease to hope in you.

+++
May | never lose, O dear Jesus, the most precious
treasure of yourself. My Lord and my God, that
ineffable sweetness that pours from your eyes has
become too vividly impressed on my soul, my
Good; you deigned to look on this poor wretch
with eyes of love.
How, then, can the agony of my heart be lessened,
knowing myself far from you? My soul knows only
too well what a terrible battle | waged when
you, O my Beloved, hid yourself from me. What
a terrible and thunderous impression all this left
on my soul!
+++
 Thoughts
Love. You will attain perfect love when you possess
the object of this love, God himself; but God can
be possessed perfectly only in our heavenly home-
land and not here in exile. Therefore, since it is not
given to the soul to possess God entirely in this
exile, neither can it consummate its love while it is
a pilgrim on this earth.

Holy Mass. | cannot grow tired, because when

| celebrate the holy Mass | am not standing but
suspended from the cross with Jesus; and on the
cross | suffer, though inadequately, all that Jesus
suffered on the cross in so far as it is possible for a
human creature. The Lord deigned to associate me
with the great work of redemption, and this through
his own surpassing goodness and despite my all
my unworthiness.

Eucharistic Adoration. | have many things to tell

you, but words fail me.All | can tell you is that my
heart beats very strongly when | am with Jesus in
the Sacrament. It seems at times to want to come
out of my breast. | feel sometimes such an en-
kindling at the altar that | cannot describe it: My
face feels almost ready to burst into flames. What
signs these might be, my Father, | do not know

Prayer. As soon as | set myself to pray, | immedi-

ately feel as if my heart has been engulfed by the
flame of a living love. This flame has nothing to do
with any flame in this world here below It is a
delicate and sweet flame that gives no pain.

Divine Fire. Sometimes | ask myself if there could

be any souls who do not feel a divine fire burning
in their breasts, especially when they stand before
him in the Sacrament. This seems impossible to
me, particularly if the soul in question is a priest or
religious.

Paradise. Humankind cannot understand that when

paradise is poured into the heart — this afflicted,
excited, weak and mortal heart — it cannot bear it
without weeping. Yes, | repeat it, it was the joy
that filled my heart alone which caused me to weep
for such a long time.

Praise. Surrounded by so much desolation, let our

hearts never fail to sing to God the hymn of thank-
fulness and praise. ween
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Peace. Peace is order it is harmony in each one
of us. It is the continual rejoicing that is born from
the testimony of a good conscience. It is the holy
joyfulness of the heart in which God reigns.

Pray, pray, pray. Prayer is the key that unlocks God's

treasure chest, the weapon for the fight and the
bringer of victory in every struggle for good and
against evil. What can prayer not do, adoring,
propitiating, supplicating, giving thanks?

The Rosary is the weapon with which one weak-

ens the devil and obtains all graces... It is the
summary of our faith, the sustainer of our hope,
and the outburst of our charity.

May the Mother of Jesus, and our Mother, obtain

for us from her Son the grace to live a life accord-
ing to the heart of God, a life that is entirely interior
and hidden in him.

The Madonna. | leave you the Madonna: love her

and make her loved. And pray the rosary , pray it
even more than you think you are capable of.
 Crumbs
One thought alone must occupy your entire
soul: how to love God and to follow the path of
goodness.

You should prefer to be pieced by a cold blade

rather than giving displeasure to anybody .

In every sick person there is Jesus. In every poor

person it is Jesus who languishes.

Take God to those who are sick. This will be more

worthwhile than any other cure.

It would be easier for the earth to exist without the

sun, rather than without the holy Mass.

If Jesus shows himself, thank him; if he hides

himself, thank him also: it is all a game of love.

Virtue is sacrifice! It is necessary to struggle: there

is no virtue without sacrifice.

Suffering is brief, but the reward is eternal. Every

redemption is a mystery of blood. All my hope is
contained in Mary.
1887 Francesco For gione is born on 25 May in Pietrelcina,
son of Grazio and Maria Guiseppa Di Nunzio.
1903 Clothed in the Capuchin habit.
1907 On 27 January ,Fra Pio makes his solemn profession.
1910 On 10 August, he is ordained priest. A short time after
the pains in his hands and feet appear.
1911 On 8 September, Padre Pio confesses to his spiritual
director that he has had ‘invisible stigmata for about a
year’. In October medical visits begin.
1915 On 1 October he reveals to his director that for years he
has suffered the crown of thorns and flagellation.
1918 On 5 August a mysterious heavenly Person pier ces Padre
Pio’s heart with a lance, leaving a bleeding wound: the
transverberation. On 20 September the vision returns,
leaving the hands, side and feet pieced.
1919 The news of the stigmata spreads and thousands of
pilgrims flock to Padre Pio.
1923 On 17 June, while at San Giovanni Rotondo, Padre Pio
receives the orders not to celebrate mass in public. The
news sparks a public controversy.
1925 Using gifts given by the faithful, Padre Pio opens a hospital
of 20 beds. The hospital was to remain open until 1938.
1940 On 9 January the great work of the House for the Relief
of Suffering begins.
1956 On 5 May, in the presence of 15,000 faithful, the House
for the Relief of Suffering is opened.
1957 On the occasion of the first anniversary of the hospital,
Padre Pio prophesies an international study centre, an
old peopleshome, a retreat house for spiritual exercises
and the birth of a ‘new militia’ at the service of the sick.

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1959 On 25 April Padre Pio falls ill. On 6 August the statue of
the Madonna of Fatima stays at San Giovanni Rotondo
for two days. Padre Pio, ill, heals miraculously.
1968 On 29 March Padre Pio begins to use a wheelchair
On 22 September he celebrates his last mass. On
23 September he dies.
1999 On 2 May Padre Pio is beatified by Pope John Paul II.
2002 On 16 June Padre Pio is proclaimed a saint by Pope John
Paul Il.

The passages which have been translated in this book were taken from the following
works on Padre Pio, published in Italian by Edizioni San Paolo:

Various authors, Il grande libro di Padre Pio

F. Contessa, Padre Pio
D.M. Gaudiose, Maria “’americana’
A. Negrisolo, N. Castello, S.M. Manelli, Padre Pio nella sua interiorita
A. Pandiscia, Un contadino cerca Dio, Padre Pio
M. Winowska, I vero volto di Padre Pio
S. Gaeta (Ed.) Le Stimmate della fede

Edited by Renzo Sala

Words ofLight, a collection of excerpts taken from Padre Pia letters (Introduction
by R. Cantalamessa) is available from ST PAULS, UK =

ST PAULS Publishing
187 Battersea Bridge Road, London SW11 3AS, UK. www.stpauls.ie
English Translation Copyright © ST PAULS UK 2002
ISBN 085439 650 0

ST PAULS, Alba House

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ISBN 0-8189-0939-0

Set by Tukan DTP, Fareham, UK

Printed by Societa San Paolo, Rome

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 Padre Pio
Saint

May your good angel

watch always by your side,
and guide your steps
along the path of goodness.
St Pio of Pietrelcina

USA $2.95

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