Tag Archives: Padre Pio

12 Quotes from the Great Saint of Pietrelcina

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Today in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, we celebrate the memorial of the Great Saint of Pietrelcina, otherwise known as Padre Pio. If you are not familiar with this amazing 20th century Catholic Saint and Franciscan, I would encourage you to read up on him and learn as much as you can. He is one of my favorites and a favorite of many Catholics I know.

So since it is his day in the liturgical calendar, I wanted to provide you with some pretty amazing things he said this side of Heaven. I would encourage you to read them, memorize them, and/or pray with them. Many are just one sentence, but there is so much in just a few words. Here are 12 quotes from the Great Saint of Pietrelcina –

1. “Do not undertake any course of action, not even the most lowly and insignificant, without first offering it to God.”

2. “Every Christian who is a true imitator and follower of the Nazarene can and must call himself a second Christ and show forth most clearly in his life the entire image of Christ. Oh, if only all Christians were to live up to their vocation, this very land of exile would be changed into paradise.”

3. “Our body is like a jackass that must be beaten, but just a little, otherwise it will throw us to the ground, and refuse to carry us.”

4. “Prayer is the best weapon we have; it is a key that opens God’s heart. You must speak to Jesus, not only with your lips, but also with your heart; actually, on certain occasions, you should speak with only your heart.”

5. “Do not ever lose heart when the tempest rages; place all your trust in the Heart of the most gentle Jesus. Pray and I might add, devoutly pester the divine Heart.”

6. “As long as there remains a drop of blood in our body, there will be a struggle between right and wrong.”

7. “In all that you do, always be humble, guarding jealously the purity of  your heart and the purity of your body; these are the two wings which will raise to God and make us almost divine.”

8. “Satan fears and trembles before humble souls.”

9. “It is difficult to become a saint. Difficult, but not impossible. The road to perfection is long, as long as one’s lifetime. Along the way, consolation becomes rest; but as soon as your strength is restored, you must diligently get up and resume the trip.”

10. “Be content to obey, which is never a small thing for the soul who has chosen God as his portion, and resign yourself to be for now a small hive bee to make honey.”

11. “At all times, try to conform to the will of God in everything that you do, and have no fear. This conformity is the surest way to Heaven.”

12. “Let us become saints so that having been together on earth, we may be together in Heaven.”

Prayer of Pope Saint John Paul II to Saint Pio of Pietrelcina

Teach us, we pray, humility of heart, so that we may be counted among the little ones of the Gospel to whom the Father promised to reveal the mysteries of His Kingdom. Help us to pray without ceasing, certain that God knows what we need even before we ask Him. Obtain for us the eyes of faith that will help us recognize in the poor and suffering, the very face of Jesus. Sustain us in the hour of trouble and trial and, if we fall, let us experience the joy of the sacrament of forgiveness. Grant us your tender devotion to Mary, mother of Jesus and our Mother. Accompany us on our earthly pilgrimage toward the blessed Homeland, where we too, hope to arrive to contemplate forever the Glory of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen

Saint Pio of Pietrelcina…Pray for Us

Sources:

Kelly-Gangi, Carol. The Essential Wisdom of the Saints. Fall River Press, 2008.

“Prayers of Padre Pio.” Padre Pio Devotions, padrepiodevotions.org/prayers-of-padre-pio/. 

“Mondays with Mary” – 10 Quotes from Padre Pio on the Blessed Virgin Mary

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St. Padre PioWith the feast day of St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) coming up this Tuesday, September 23, I found it fitting to provide you 10 quotes of his speaking about the Blessed Virgin Mary. Like many of the saints before him, Padre Pio had a great devotion to the Blessed Mother, particularly though the Holy Rosary. Padre Pio knew the importance Our Lady plays in the life of every Christian and knew the importance the Rosary plays in the hands of us Christians. For him, the Rosary is the weapon against Satan.

For us who face many trials these days in our world, St. Pio of Pietrelcina is one of the saints we must turn to for prayers and guidance. He faced his trials and sufferings head on through prayer, the Holy Eucharist, and the devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Always remember these words from him – “Pray, Hope, and Don’t Worry.”

It is my hope that you will share this blog post with your family and friends as well as use some of these quotes on your social media sites as a way to evangelize for Jesus Christ and His Blessed Mother through the divine inspired words of the great 20th century Franciscan saint, Padre Pio –

1. “Let us bind ourselves tightly to the Sorrowful Heart of our Heavenly Mother and reflect on its boundless grief and how precious is our soul.”

2. “May the Mother of Jesus and our Mother, always smile on your spirit, obtaining for it, from her Most Holy Son, every heavenly blessing.”

3. “Go and keep company with Jesus in His Passion, and with His Sorrowful Mother.”

4. “…It is enough for you to know that Mary is the Mother of Jesus…She loves us so much that she offered to God the Father His only natural Son to save His adopted sons…She is a great and inestimable treasure who encloses in herself an infinite treasure, the Son of God.”

5. “…If we do what we have always done, what our fathers did before us, we cannot go wrong. Satan wants to destroy this prayer, but in this he will never succeed. The Rosary is the prayer of those who triumph over everything and everyone. It was Our Lady who taught us this prayer, just as it was Jesus who taught us the Our Father.”

Our Lady of of Grace - San Giovanni Rotondo

Our Lady of of Grace – San Giovanni Rotondo

6. “Some people are so foolish that they think they can go through life
 without the help of the Blessed Mother.”

7. [When asked if the Blessed Virgin is present during the Holy Mass], “Yes, she places herself at a side, but I can see her, what a joy. She is always present. How can it be that the Mother of Jesus, present in Calvary at the foot of the Cross, who offered her Son as a victim for the salvation of our souls, not be present in the mystical Calvary of the altar?”

8. “Let us endeavor, like so many elect souls, to follow this blessed Mother, to walk always close to Her, not following any other path that leads to life, except the one trod by our Mother.”

9. “Always stay close to this Heavenly Mother, because she is the sea to be crossed to reach the shores of Eternal Splendor.”

10. “Love the Madonna and pray the Rosary, for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today. All graces given by God pass through the Blessed Mother.”

St. Pio of Pietrelcina…Pray for us.

“Mondays with Mary” – Our Lady of Lourdes

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Thirteen years ago, when I was the youth coordinator at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Avondale, Arizona, one of my teenagers brought me back a small glass container of holy water that she purchased at the Marian Pilgrimage Shrine of Lourdes in France. She went on pilgrimage with her high school, Xavier College Preparatory. The school to this day continues to take students to Lourdes. I still have this small container (pictured here) Lourdes Holy Waterand it goes everywhere I live. It has traveled from Arizona, to Ohio, then to Texas, and now back to Arizona. It has become a permanent fixture in the small Marian “shrine” that sits on top of my dresser in my bedroom. I have yet to break the seal.

Today is the memorial for Our Lady of Lourdes in the liturgical calendar of the Latin Rite. The documented events of this Marian apparition began on February 11, 1858 when the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette Soubirous, a young peasant girl of 14 years of age. From February 11 to July 16, 1858, Bernadette received from the Blessed Virgin Mary eighteen apparitions. The heart of the message Bernadette received was a call for greater prayer and penance in reparation to God, and the conversion of sinners. One of the major proclamations from Lourdes is the importance of praying the Holy Rosary. Bernadette would often pray the Rosary during the times she witnessed the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Lady herself would then join in and pray the Rosary with Bernadette. The Rosary is not a prayer to Mary, but it’s a prayer focusing on the life and mysteries of Jesus Christ. So many of the saints throughout the centuries (like Padre Pio – this is for a friend who wears a ring with his image on it) have encouraged the lay faithful to devoutly pray the Rosary.

Our Lady of Lourdes Pilgrimage Site

The reason why so many faithful pilgrims flock to Lourdes is to touch the rock where Our Lady appeared to Bernadette and to see the spring that came from the rock that Bernadette drank and washed in. This spring has brought forth miracles of healing to 67 documented cases (approved by the Church). These cases have undergone intense medical investigations whereby they have been truly understood to be of a miraculous nature. This must occur so that those who claim they have been healed from the spring do not bring scandal to the faithful of the Church. It also assists the Church when they declare if the apparition site is authentic and bearing fruit. In a world that rejects the supernatural more and more, the physical signs of healing at Lourdes represent the saving power of God’s grace in today’s modern age.

The sixteenth apparition that occurred on March 25, 1885 confirms that Mary is the Immaculate Conception. Only four years before on December 8, 1854, Blessed Pope Pius IX declared with an infallible statement from the Chair of St. Peter that Mary, the Ever-Virgin Mother of God was conceived in a miraculous way in the womb of her own mother. Bernadette tells us:

“After having poured out my heart to her I took up my Rosary. While I was praying, the thought of asking her name came before my mind with such persistence that I could thing of nothing else. I feared to be presumptuous in repeating a question she had always refused to answer. And yet something compelled me to speak. At last, under and irresistible impulse, the words fell from my mouth, and I begged the Lady to tell me who she was. The Lady did as she had always done before; she bowed her head and smiled but she did not reply…I felt myself bolder and asked her again…for a third time, clasping my hands and confessing myself unworthy of the favor I was asking of her, I again made my request…at the third request her face became very serious and she seemed to bow down in an attitude of humility. Then she joined her hands and raised them to her breast…She looked up to Heaven…then slowly opening her hands and leaning forward towards me, she said to me in a voice vibrating with emotion: ‘I am the Immaculate Conception’!”

Wow! What an amazing experience for young Bernadette to witness and to be able to present it to the world. The part of this apparition that touches my heart is that Our Lady’s voice vibrated with such emotion when she declared her name. This apparition also shows us how important the sinless state of our Blessed Mother truly is in light of the dogma declared by the Church.

On this day of Our Lady of Lourdes, let us remember that we must always seek a deeper conversion each time we repent from our sins. Praying the Rosary is so very important since it’s the weapon against Satan (St. Pio of Pietrelcina).

Our Lady of Lourdes…Pray For Us!

Our Lady of Lourdes

Ash Wednesday and Lent Explained in 120 Seconds

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This is a great explanation of Ash Wednesday and Lent in only 120 Seconds by Busted Halo.

We must remember that Lent is not just about giving something up, BUT IT’S CONFORMING OUR WILL TO GOD’S WILL. So many of us give up food, alcohol, candy, soda, social media sites, etc. Those are good sacrifices, if we are truly addicted to those items – don’t give up alcohol if you only drink it a few times a year…where is the sacrifice in that?

We must remember to take on something that will allow us to know God’s will in our own lives. Some possibilities are – Go to  Daily Mass a couple times a week, Weekly Adoration, Pray the Rosary (greatest weapon against Satan according to St. Padre Pio), shut off the car radio in the morning and pray, pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, pray the Liturgy of the Hours, pray Stations of the Cross, Fast other than Fridays…in other words – Talk to Jesus!

In the end, it’s your choice what you “give up” or “take up” for your Lenten Penance. As adults in the faith, I think we need to be adults when we sacrifice. St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:11 – When I was child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

Giving things up is important, but taking on things is even more sacrificial.

Into the Desert We Go…