Words of wisdom: St. Pio of Pietrelcina

Prayer is the best weapon we have; it is the key to God's heart. You must speak to Jesus not only with your lips, but with your heart. In fact on certain occasions you should only speak to Him with your heart...

Every Holy Mass, heard with devotion, produces in our souls marvelous effects, abundant spiritual and material graces which we, ourselves, do not know…It is easier for the earth to exist without the sun than without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass!

-- St. Pio of Pietrelcina (25 May 1887 – 23 September 1968)

Saint of the day: St. Pio of Pietrelcina

For a beautiful biography and photos of this great saint, click here. Tons of photos!

Padre Pio's Favorite Prayer

(It was said that when people ask for his prayers, Padre Pio would pray this Novena.  It has become a refuge for me whenever I ask for a special favor from the Lord.  Pray this always.  And whenever I pray to the Lord, I ask our Lady, "If it is not too much of a trouble, dear Mother, please pray with me during this time.  Ask the Lord to grant me, if it be according to His Will whatever I ask in His Name and through Your Intercession.  You did it before at Cana and have always did it ever since.  Please also pray for me.")

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EFFICACIOUS NOVENA TO THE SACRED HEART

O my Jesus, You have said: "Truly I say to you, ask and it will receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it will be opened to you." Behold, I knock, I seek, and I ask for the grace of ...(here add your request).

Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil...Amen.

Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. (Whom we love). Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death...Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end...Amen.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in You.


Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil...Amen.

Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. (Whom we love). Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death...Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end...Amen.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in You.


O my Jesus, You have said: "Truly I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father in My Name, He will give it to you." Behold, in Your name, I ask the Father for the grace of...(here add your request).

Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil...Amen.

Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. (Whom we love). Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death...Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end...Amen.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in You.


O my Jesus, You have said: "Truly I say to you, heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away." Encouraged by Your infallible words, I now ask for the grace of...(here add your request).

Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil...Amen.

Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. (Whom we love). Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death...Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end...Amen.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in You.


O Sacred Heart of Jesus, for whom it is impossible not to have compassion on the afflicted, have mercy on us sinners, and grant us the grace which we ask of You, through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Your tender mother and ours.

Hail, Holy Queen, our mother of mercy...our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To thee do we cry poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we set up our sighs, morning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn thee then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet virgin Mary...Pray for us O loving mother of God that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ...Amen.

St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus, pray for us.

Happy St. Pio of Pietrelcina Day!

"Pray, hope, and don't worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer."

"Prayer is the best weapon we have; it is the key to God's heart. You must speak to Jesus not only with your lips, but with your heart. In fact on certain occasions you should only speak to Him with your heart."

"Do you not see the Madonna always beside the tabernacle?"

"The longer the trial to which God subjects you, the greater the goodness in comforting you during the time of the trial and in the exaltation after the combat. "

"Keep close to the Catholic Church at all times, for the Church alone can give you true peace, since she alone possesses Jesus, the true Prince of Peace, in the Blessed Sacrament."

"Fear not because God is with you."

"Prayer is the oxygen of the soul."

"Who can assure us that we will be alive tomorrow? Let us listen to the voice of our conscience, to the voice of the royal prophet: "Today, if you hear God's voice, harden not your heart." Let us not put off from one moment to another (what we should do) because the (next moment) is not yet ours. "

"Oh, how precious time is! Blessed are those who know how to make good use of it. Oh, if only all could understand how precious time is, undoubtedly everyone would do his best to spend it in a praiseworthy manner!"

"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."

"Do not disturb your soul at the sad spectacle of human injustice .... One day you will see the inevitable triumph of Divine justice over it."

"The pivot of perfection is love; he who lives in love lives in God, because God is love, as the Apostle says."

"To fail in charity is like wounding God in the apple of His eye. What is more delicate than the pupil of the eye? To fail in charity is like failing against nature."

"Try always to advance more in charity; enlarge your heart with confidence for the divine gifts which the Holy Spirit is anxious to pour into it."

"God can reject everything in a creature conceived in sin and of which it bears the indelible impression inherited from Adam. But He can absolutely not reject the sincere desire to love Him."

"Charity is the queen of virtues. As the pearls are held together by the thread, thus the virtues are held together by charity; as the pearls fall when the thread breaks, thus virtues are lost if charity diminishes."

"Humility and charity go hand in hand. The one glorifies, the other sanctifies."

"The time spent for the glory of God and the salvation of souls is never spent badly."

"Where there is no obedience, there is no virtue; where there is no virtue, there is no good. Where good is wanting, there is no love; where there is no love, God is absent; where God is absent, there is no heaven."

"Obey promptly! Do not consider the age or merit of the person. And in order to succeed, imagine you are obeying the Lord."


Most quotes courtesy of Catholic Fire

Words of Wisdom: Holy Communion

"If we could comprehend all the good things contained in Holy Communion, nothing more would be wanting to content the heart of man. The miser would run no more after his treasures, or the ambitious after glory; each would shake off the dust of the earth, leave the world, and fly away towards heaven." 

-  St. John Marie Vianney

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That's St. (Padre) Pio of Pietrelcina receiving Holy Communion from the priest celebrant which is the right thing.  Before the changes after Vatican II, priests in attendance do not get the Hosts by themselves (or self-communicate).  They go down on their knees and receive the Lord from the priest who offered the Holy Sacrifice.

We fall on our knees not because we honor the one giving us Communion.  But we honor Him who we are about to receive. That's what Moses did in the sight of the burning bush.  That's what people did when they saw and recognized Christ (Luke 5:8).

Oh, if we could just comprehend what we are receiving...