Happy Saint Padre Pio Feast Day!

Happy Feast Day to you, my friend!

Yes, today is Saint Padre Pio’s Feast Day. Hooray for you, St. Pio! Since it is his day, I am going to let him speak for himself, rather than my sharing with you any anecdotes from his life or from the lives of those who knew and loved him.
So now, from Saint Padre Pio’s Letters, Volume Two, I offer you these words of hope and encouragement:

“Do not lose faith in God’s Providence,” said Padre Pio. “Put your trust in God; abandon yourself to Him; and let Him take care of you. Then rest assured that you will not be confounded. I understand and am deeply aware that the trial is hard and the battle fierce. But I also understand that the fruit you will gather, in due course, will be very abundant. The crown that is being woven for you up above is far greater than can be humanly conceived. You will perhaps laugh at me for saying such things…but I know quite well what I am saying. Judge me as you think fit, but what I want from you is that, as the trial increases, your abandonment and trust in God may also increase. Immerse yourself ever more deeply in humility and in blessing the Lord, who in His goodness deigns to visit you in this way, so as to prepare you to share in building up the Heavenly Kingdom. I therefore exhort you, again, to be trustful. A soul who trusts in her Lord and places all her hope in Him has nothing to fear. The enemy of our salvation is always around us to snatch from our hearts the anchor that is to lead us to salvation, by which I mean trust in God our Father. Let us keep a very firm hold on this anchor and not relinquish it for a single moment.” (Saint Padre Pio's Letters, Volume )

Do you need faith, my dear friend? The Word of God says that “faith is a gift,” so now all you have to do is ask for that faith, and God will grant it to you. And while you are at it, why not ask Saint Padre Pio to always help you to hold onto that “anchor,” that “trust in God our Father,” about which he just spoke to you? Then “pray, hope, and don’t worry,” as Saint Padre Pio always advised.

Talk to you again next week, my dear friend whom I love.