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"Humble yourself beneath the Lord's heavy hand in time of trial, so that you may become worthy to be exalted at the time of his visitation. Don't worry meanwhile, for the Lord is with you, and there is nothing to fear."
O Jesus, how many generous souls. . .have kept Thee company in the Garden, sharing Thy bitterness and Thy mortal anguish. . .How many hearts in the course of the centuries have responded generously to Thy invitation. . .May this multitude of souls, then, in this supreme hour, be a comfort to Thee, who, better than the disciples, share with Thee the distress of Thy heart, and cooperate with Thee for their own salvation and that of others. And grant that I also may be of their number, that I also may offer Thee some relief.
'Stay with me, Lord, for as poor as my soul is I want it to be a place of consolation for You.'
'When Jesus wants to make me happy, He fills my heart with that spirit which is all fire, and speaks to me about His delights; but when He wants to be consoled, He speaks to me about His pains, and invites me in a manner that is both a request and a command, to offer my body to alleviate His sufferings.'
...How consoling it is to know that near us is a spirit who, from cradle to the tomb, does not leave us even for an instant, not even when we dare to sin. And this heavenly spirit guides and protects us like a friend, a brother.
..It is extremely consoling to know that this angel prays without ceasing for us and offers to God all our good actions, our thoughts, our desires, if they are pure. For pity's sake, don't forget this invisible companion , always present , always ready to listen to us, and even more ready to console us. O delightful intimacy, O blessed company! If we could only understand it!
Always keep him present to your mind's eye. Often remember the presence of this angel; thank him, pray to him, always keep him good company.Open up yourself to him, and confide your suffering to him. Have a constant fear of offending the purity of his gaze. Know this and keep it well imprinted on your mind. He is so delicate, so sensitive. Turn to him in times of extreme anxiety, and you will experience his beneficial help.
'The years have gone by, one after the other, without our reflecting on how we have spent them, and whether there was anything in our conduct to improve, add or remove. We have lived thoughtlessly and unmindful that one day the eternal Judge shall call each of us and ask us to give an account of our deeds and how we made use of our time. And yet we shall have to give a most strict account of every minute, every grace, every holy inspiration and every occasion offered to us to do good.
We must rise up and value every instant of time that passes and is in our power. We must not waste a single moment. By divine grace we find ourselves at the beginning of a new year. This year, which only God knows if we shall see its end, must be used in reparation for the past and in preparation for the future.'
'The Lord is willing to do great things, but on condition that we are truly humble.'
'Pray, pray to the Lord with me, because the whole world needs prayer. And every day, when your heart especially feels the loneliness of life, pray. Pray to the Lord because even God needs our prayers.'
'If there wasn't anything else in a soul but the desire to love God, this would be sufficient because God Himself is there. He is not present where there is no desire to love Him.You ought to ask our Lord for just one thing, to love Him. All the rest should be thanksgiving.'
'God, who has bestowed so many benefits on us, is satisfied with such a very insignificant gift as that of our will. Let us offer it to him along with with the Devine Master himself in that most sublime prayer, the OUR Father... Don't let us make our offering like those children who, when they have given away something precious as a gift, immediately or very soon regret what they have done and begin to cry and ask to have it back... The total offering of our will is unfortunatelly very difficult.'
"Our present life is given only to gain the eternal one and if we don't think about it, we build our affections on what belongs to this world, where our life is transitory. When we have to leave it we are afraid and become agitated. Believe me, to live happily in this pilgrimage, we have to aim at the hope of arriving at our Homeland, where we will stay eternally. Meanwhile we have to believe firmly that God calls us to Himself and follows us along the path towards Him. He will never permit anything to happen to us that is not for our greater good. He knows who we are and He will hold out His paternal hand to us during difficulties, so that nothing prevents us from running to Him swiftly. But to enjoy this grace we must have complete trust in Him.'
A wealthy man decided to move his gold and put it on an old and neglected donkey.When the donkey noticed this great honor he brayed out of joy. Walking through fields , where he saw another animals , the donkey brayed even louder because he seemed more important than them. When his master took the precious load off the poor donkey realised that he was not what he had thought to be. In fact the animal was still only a miserable donkey no one respected.
This story was often told by Padre Pio to show the importance of being humble before God. All good in a man is God's work.The donkey's fate will meet everyone who is not humble before the Wealthy Master.Yes, we only carry His wealth. Let us be humble!
'Oh, how I hope that my poor prayers for you will be granted by the Lord! I know it is only Jesus who probes the depths of your soul; only Jesus has a full knowledge of your desires and needs. Therefore, I constantly present and recommend you to him, and I beg him to satisfy your desires.'
'Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to have You present so that I do not forget You. You know how easily I abandon You.
Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak and I need Your strength, that I may not fall so often.
Stay with me, Lord, for You are my life and without You I am without fervor.
Stay with me, Lord, for You are my light and without You I am in darkness.
Stay with me, Lord, to show me Your will.
Stay with me, Lord, so that I hear Your voice and follow You.
Stay with me, Lord, for I desire to love You very much and alway be in Your company.
Stay with me, Lord, if You wish me to be faithful to You.
Stay with me, Lord, as poor as my soul is I want it to be a place of consolation for You, a nest of Love.
Stay with me, Jesus, for it is getting late and the day is coming to a close and life passes, death, judgment and eternity approaches. It is necessary to renew my strength, so that I will not stop along the way and for that, I need You. It is getting late and death approaches, I fear the darkness, the temptations, the dryness, the cross, the sorrows. O how I need You, my Jesus, in this night of exile!
Stay with me tonight, Jesus, in life with all its dangers, I need You.
Let me recognize You as Your disciples did at the breaking of the bread, so that the Eucharistic Communion be the Light which disperses the darkness, the force which sustains me, the unique joy of my heart.
Stay with me, Lord, because at the hour of my death, I want to remain united to You, if not by Communion, at least by grace and love.
Stay with me, Lord, for it is You alone I look for, Your Love, Your Grace, Your Will, Your Heart, Your Spirit, because I love You and ask no other reward but to love You more and more.
With a firm love, I will love You with all my heart while on earth and continue to love You perfectly during all eternity. '
'The most beautiful act of faith is the one made in darkness, in sacrifice, and with extreme effort'.
'Don't spend your energies on things that generate worry, anxiety and anguish. Only one thing is necessary: Lift up your spirit, and love God'.
'The life of a Christian is nothing but a perpetual struggle against self; there is no flowering of the soul to the beauty of its perfection except at the price of pain'.
"Padre Pio had many enemies as well as many friends. The alms which were donated to him were used to build a new hospital. One day, a stranger, visited the town and inquired about the crowds of people and the hospital on the hill. The cab driver explained to him about Padre Pio and how he helped so many people; how he had the wounds of Christ on his body; and how thousands of people were daily visitors who came hoping that Padre Pio would intercede with Our Lord for them. The visitor's reaction to the cab driver's explantion was to utter malicious words against Padre Pio, mock and curse him. He started laughing and said to the cab driver: "Within a few days we shall celebrate Father's Pio's burial, and then there will be an end to this matter." They continued driving until they reached a restaurant. The car stopped and the visitor got out, fell down and died instantly; he was about 30 years old. An eyewitness, who had seen and heard everything went immediately to Padre Pio to tell him what had happened. Padre Pio replied: "You need not tell me that; I know it. When that man swore at me and made a curse for my death, I was all in God. The curse could not do me any harm, it was deflected to the man himself. Thus they will celebrate his burial in a few days."
'You are afraid of being lost and of having already lost God, and you ask me where he is to be found! He is within you , and you are in him! You are like the passanger shut up in his cabin on the ship, who does not see the ship or notice that it is moving! He is merely upset by its vibrations, and he fears he will be shipwrecked and that the ship will plunge to the bottom of the ocean. However, although he does not see it, he is on the ship, and although it seems to him that the ship is standing still , it is actually moving and traveling several knots an hour. He is afraid it will sink, that the vibrations due to its movement are signs of imminent disaster, whereas the ship is afloat and vibrates precisely because it is breasting the waves and forging ahead.
To this passenger who complains that he is at a standstill and looks for a ship to rescue him, we can answer: If you go out of your cabin for a moment into the open air, you will see that you are on the ship , that it is afloat and forging ahead at great speed, and that it is vibrating by reason of the force with which it breasts and cleaves the waves. Have no fear then, of shipwreck, and do not even ask where the Lord is, because in him and in his arms no misfortune of any kind can befall us"
"Does it appear to you that God has hidden himself, that he has abondoned you?
But I repeat , do not fear: Jesus is with you and you are with him! In darkness, tribulation, anxiety of spirit Jesus is with you. You see nothing but darkness in your spirit , and I assure you on behalf of God that the light of the Lord fills and totally surrounds your spirit. It is a defect of the eye, which cannot yet bear this most pure light. But wait until the eye recovers completely, and then you will certainly see this light. You see yourself in tribulation and God repeats to you throught the mouth of authority: I will be with you in trouble (Ps 91 (90): 15).You belive you are abandoned, and I assure you that Jesus is holding you more tightly than ever to his divine heart."
'It was the month of May in 1925.Maria had a little baby who had been ill since birth. Maria was very worried about her baby. In fact, after a medical visit, she was told her child had a very complicated illness. There was no hope for the baby: he could not recover. Maria decided to go by train to Saint Giovanni Rotondo. She lived in a very little town in the south of Puglia (a poor region in the South of Italy), but she had heard some stories concerning Padre Pio, a friar who had the stigmata like Jesus, worked miracles, healed people of their diseases, and gave hope to the hopeless. She immediately set out, but during the trip the baby died. She watched over his little body all night, then placed it in a suitcase and closed it. The following day she arrived at the convent of San Giovanni Rotondo. She had no hope, but she had not lost her faith. That evening she met Padre Pio. She was in the line of people waiting for confession, and she had in her hands the suitcase that contained her son’s body. Her son had died twenty-four hours before. When she arrived in front of Father Pio, she knelt down, cried, and asked his help. He looked at her intently. The mother opened the suitcase and showed Father Pio the corpse. The poor padre was very shocked by the mother’s sorrow. He took the little body and put his hand on the boy’s head; then he prayed, looking up to Heaven. In a moment, the poor creature was alive again. A gesture, a movement of the feet, the arms...he looked as if he had just awakened after a long sleep. Speaking to the mother Padre Pio said: “Mother, why are you crying? Your son is sleeping!” The mother’s shouts of joy, and those of the crowd, filled the church.Everyone spoke about the miracle!
During the Second World War, Mrs. Luisa’s son was an officer in the Royal British Navy. At that time she prayed every day for her son’s conversion and salvation. One day an English pilgrim arrived to San Giovanni Rotondo, carrying some English newspapers. Luisa wanted to read them. She found a piece of news concerning the sinking of the warship on which her son was stationed. She immediately went crying to Padre Pio, who consoled her: “Who has told you that your son is dead?” In fact, Padre Pio was able to explain to her exactly the name and the address of the hotel where the young officer was staying after he escaped from the shipwreck in the Atlantic.He was there waiting for a new assignment again. Immediately Luisa sent him a letter, and after a couple of week she received an answer from her son.
The peasants of San Giovanni Rotondo fondly remember the following event. In spring, the almond trees were blossoming and they were promising a good harvest. But unfortunately millions of voracious caterpillars arrived and devoured the leaves and flowers. They did not spare even the shell. After two days of trying to stop that infestation, the peasants, for whom the almonds were the only economic resource - decided to speak to Father Pio about the problem. Father Pio looked at the trees from the window of the convent and decided to bless them. He put on the sacred vestments and started to pray. When he finished praying he took the holy water and made the sign of the Cross in the air, in the direction of the trees. The next day, the caterpillars had disappeared but the almond trees looked like sticks. It was a disaster: the harvest had been lost. What happened next is incredible! We had the most abundant harvest; a harvest like we had never seen before, but how is it possible that trees without flowers could produce fruits? How was it possible to have fruit from trees that looked like sticks? Scientists have never been able to give any reason for this phenomenon.
A good woman’s husband was very sick. The woman ran to the convent, but she asked herself, “How do I reach father Pio?" She had to wait for at least three days if she wanted to meet him for a confession. So during the Mass she stood-up and walked from one side of the Church to the other. Finally, she decided to tell Our Lady what her problem was and asked at the same moment for Padre Pio’s help. After the Mass, she started to move into the Church again, in order to reach Father Pio. Finally, she managed to reach the famous corridor where Father Pio had to pass. As soon as father Pio watched her, he said: “Woman with a little faith, when will you finally ask for my help? Do you think I am deaf? You have already told me it five times when you were in front of me, at my back, on my right and on my left. I understood! I understood! ...Go home! Everything is OK." She went home and found her husband was healed.
And something about his gift of bilocation:
An Italian General of the Army, called Cadorna, felt in such condition of depression after the defeat of Caporetto, that he was contemplating suicide. One evening he went to his room and he commanded his orderly not to allow anybody to come in. He took his gun from a drawer and pointed the gun at his head, but suddenly he heard a voice: “Oh General, why do you want to do such stupid thing?” The voice and the presence of the Friar helped the general change his mind. He wondered how it was possible that a Friar had entered his room.He asked for explanations from his orderly but he answered he had seen nobody going into his room. Some years later, the General read in a newspaper of a Friar that worked miracles in the Gargano area. He secretly went there but he was astonished when father Pio said to him: “Hello General, you ran a great risk that evening, didn’t you?”
In 1946, an American family went from Philadelphia to Saint Giovanni Rotondo in order to thank Padre Pio. In fact, their son, a bombardier plane pilot (during World War II), had been saved by Padre Pio in the sky over the Pacific Ocean. The son explained; “the airplane was flying near the airport on the island where it was going to land after it had loaded its bombs. However, the airplane was struck by a Japanese attack plane. The aircraft exploded before the rest of the crew had the chance to parachute. Only I succeeded in going out of the airplane. I don’t know how I did it. I tried to open the parachute, but I didn’t succeed. I would have smashed to the ground if I had not received a friar’s help who had appeared in midair. He had a white beard. He took me in his arms and put me sweetly af the base. You can imagine the astonishment inspired by my story. Nobody could believe it, but given my presence there, they had no choice. I recognized the friar who saved my life some days later while on home leave, I saw the monk in one of my mother’s pictures. She told me she had asked Padre Pio to look after me.”
Father Alberto, who met Padre Pio in 1917, stated “I saw Padre Pio standing in front of the window, looking at the mountain. He was speaking to himself. I approached him in order to kiss his hand, but he did not notice my presence and I noticed that his hand was rigid. At that time, I heard that he was clearly giving absolution and pardon to someone. After a while, Padre Pio shook like awakening from a nap. He looked at me and said; ‘you are here. I did not realize it!’ After some days, a telegram from Turin was delivered. Someone was thanking the superior of the convent for having sent Padre Pio to Turin to assist a dying person. I realized that the man was dying in the same moment Padre Pio was blessing him in San Giovanni Rotondo. Obviously, the superior of the convent had not sent Padre Pio to Turin, but he had bilocated there.”
You must always humble yourself lovingly before God and before men, because God speaks only to those who are truly humble and He enriches them with His gifts.
Humility and purity are the wings which carry us to God and make us almost divine.
Charity is the measure by which Our Lord judges all things.
Don't allow any sadness to dwell in your soul, for sadness prevents the Holy Spirit from acting freely.
Our present life is given only to gain the eternal one and if we don't think about it, we build our affections on what belongs to this world, where our life is transitory. When we have to leave it we are afraid and become agitated. Believe me, to live happily in this pilgrimage, we have to aim at the hope of arriving at our Homeland, where we will stay eternally. Meanwhile we have to believe firmly that God calls us to Himself and follows us along the path towards Him. He will never permit anything to happen to us that is not for our greater good. He knows who we are and He will hold out His paternal hand to us during difficulties, so that nothing prevents us from running to Him swiftly. But to enjoy this grace we must have complete trust in Him.
The more you are afflicted, the more you ought to rejoice, because in the fire of tribulation the soul will become pure gold, worthy to be placed and to shine in the heavenly palace.
In the spiritual life you must take one step forward each day in a vertical line, from the bottom up.
As gifts increase in you, let your humility grow, for you must consider that everything is given to you on loan.
Keep your eyes fixed on Him who is your guide to the heavenly country, where He is leading you. What does it matter to you whether Jesus wishes to guide you to Heaven by way of the desert or by the meadow, so long as He is always with you and you arrive at the possession of a blessed eternity?
Let us keep before our minds that which makes up real holiness. Holiness means getting above ourselves; it means perfect mastery of all our passions. It means having real and continual contempt for ourselves and for the things of the world to the point of preferring poverty rather than wealth, humiliation rather than glory, suffering rather than pleasure. Holiness means loving our neighbor as ourself for love of God. In this connection holiness means loving those who curse us, who hate and persecute us and even doing good to them. Holiness means living humbly, being disinterested, prudent, just, patient, kind, chaste, meek, diligent, carrying out one's duties for no other reason than that of pleasing God and receiving from Him alone the reward one deserves.
"(Sometimes) ... it really seems to us that all is ended and that the Lord has left us for good because he is tired of bearing with us. Instead, things are quite different .The Lord is never so pleased with us as he is as such times as this. He is always there, close to us, or rather within us, invisibly encouraging us to endure the combat. Don't worry, then, because the Lord will fight for you and will never withdraw from you.
What you must do when Jesus, in his goodness, puts your faithfulness to the test is to show at all times great promptitude in the observance of your duties , without neglecting any of the practises which you perform in times of consolation and spiritual prosperity without paying any attention to your lack of all pleasurable feelings, since such feelings are merely accidental and can often be quite dangerous in the end. True and substantial devotion consists in serving God without experiencing any sensible consolation. This means serving and loving God for his own sake"
How come God is everywhere if we cannot see Him? How come air is everywehere if we cannot see it?
Padre Pio , a great mystic who had many visions of God ,said God the Father is the Light that fills it all. He added that now our souls are still too blind to see this Light well once our eyes recover we will see clearly as he once said. However, meanwhile God still lets us experience His presence and Love when we search for Him with all our strength and with lowered hearts.
Since this Holy Presence surrounds us so much have you ever wondered that you actually move in God although you do not see Him? Have you ever tried to imagine this caring, loving, personal Presence that fills it all.????
Why don't you go for a walk but a different one from all that you have ever gone for??? This time , preferably in some quiet place , every step you take try to remember that you actually move in Him. Visualise it. Open up your soul .Let your every fibre be filled by this Magnificient Presence. Feel amazed!!!! Do try and be blessed!!!!
I have had such walks several times and every time there came so much peace, joy, reflection, thankfulness and happiness into me. Although I did not see it I was actually walking in heaven by faith. Yes, beacuse where there is God there is Heaven.