Padre Pio Pray For Us

Day 1

As I stood in front of Planned Parenthood this morning in the dark at 7 AM I was thinking that today is the Feastday of St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) and how fitting it was that our 40 Days For Life Prayer vigil started on this special day.

In fact, the ultimate reason for the apostolic effectiveness of Padre Pio, the profound root of so much spiritual fruitfulness can be found in that intimate and constant union with God, attested to by his long hours spent in prayer and in the confessional. He loved to repeat, "I am a poor Franciscan who prays" convinced that "prayer is the best weapon we have, a key that opens the heart of God".

That is still true today that prayer and forgiveness is the best we can do in today’s world.

How appropriate are these words of Jesus, when we think of them as applied to us.

Dear humble and beloved St. Padre Pio;

Teach us, we ask you, humility of heart so we may be counted among the little ones of the Gospel and the unborn, to whom the Father promised to reveal the mysteries of his Kingdom.

Help us to pray without ceasing as you did, certain that God knows what we need even before we ask him. Obtain for us the eyes of faith that will be able to recognize right away in the poor and suffering of these poor defenseless babies.

Sustain us in the hour of the combat and of the trial against death and, if we fall, make us experience the joy of the sacrament of forgiveness.

Grant us your tender devotion to Mary, the Mother of Jesus and our Mother.

Accompany us on our earthly pilgrimage here on earth toward the blessed homeland, where we hope to arrive in order to contemplate forever the glory of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Joe Mennel

St. Barnabas