Your Shepherd Forever

So, my dear and precious friend in Christ, how are you feeling today? What problems are weighing you down? I thought I’d share with you some thoughts from the Psalmist and Saint James and Saint Padre Pio to lift up your spirits. All three of them were plagued by troubles and so they understood exactly how you feel when you are plagued with them too.

First, what if I share what Saint James says in James 1:2-4? “My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Now, for a few words from our Psalmist, but first, let me suggest that you use the following as your own prayer, your own cry to God, Who is your Helper, your Savior, your Friend: “O save your people, and bless your heritage; be their Shepherd, and carry them forever.” (from Psalm 28)

And what kind and wise words does Saint Padre Pio, the famous stigmatist-priest who bore the five ever- bleeding wounds of Christ Crucified in his hands, feet, and side for fifty long years, have to encourage you today? “I feel very weak, but I am not afraid,” says Saint Padre Pio, “for Jesus will see my anguish and the weight that oppresses me. He has told us…that, ‘As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear Him.’” (from Saint Padre Pio’s Letters)

I love you, my dear and precious friend. Eileen Dunn Bertanzetti