Thoughts of St. Pio of Pietrelcina (A thought for each day of the year)

January

1. Through divine grace we are at the beginning of a new year. God alone knows whether we shall reach the end of it, so we should spend it in reparation for the past and in preparing for the future with good resolutions. Good works go hand in hand with good intentions.

2. Let us say to ourselves with the full conviction of telling the truth, "My soul, begin today to do the good works which to this day you have not done." Let us be moved by the presence of God. Let us often say to ourselves, "God sees me, and as He looks at me He also judges me." Let us act in such a way that He sees only good in us.

3. Make hay while the sun shines. Do not put off till tomorrow what you can do today. It's easy enough to be wise after the event, besides, 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 the voice of the Lord, do not turn a deaf ear." Let us arise and make use of the fleeting moment which alone is ours. Let us not put off from one moment to another because the latter is not yet ours.

4. Oh how precious time is! Blessed are those who know how to make good use of it, because, on the day of judgment, all will have to render a strict account of it to the supreme Judge. Oh, if only all could understand how precious time is, undoubtedly everyone would do his best to spend it in a praiseworthy manner!

5. "Let us begin today, my brothers, to do good, because up to now, we have done nothing." These words, which the Seraphic Father, St. Francis, in his humility applied to himself, should be made ours, at the beginning of this new year. We truly have done nothing to date, or perhaps, very little; the years have followed one another and from beginning to end, we have never asked ourselves how we have spent them, whether there was something to be rectified, to be added or obliterated from our conduct. We have lived thoughtlessly, as if the Eternal Judge were not going to call us to Himself one day and ask us to account for our deeds and for the way we have spent our time.

And yet, we must give an exact account of every moment, of every grace, of every holy inspiration, of every opportunity to do good. The slightest transgression of God's holy laws, will be taken into consideration!

6. Love does not tolerate delay and immediately upon arrival, the Magi did everything within their power to make Him known; He who had conquered their hearts through the influence of grace, wounding them with the kind of charity which must overflow, because it cannot be contained in the small structure of the heart and must therefore be communicated.

7. We must always strictly observe these two virtues: kindness with our neighbours and holy humility with God.

8. In all that you do always be humble, guarding jealously the purity of your heart and the purity of your body; these are the two wings which will raise us to God and make us almost divine.

9. Once I showed the Padre a very pretty branch of hawthorn in bloom, and pointing out to him the beautiful white flowers, I exclaimed: "How beautiful!" "Yes," said the Padre, "but the fruits are more beautiful than the flowers." In this way he made me understand that good works are more beautiful than good intentions.

10. Don't let the many snares of this infernal beast frighten you. Jesus, who is always with you, and who will fight with and for you, will never permit you to be tricked and overcome.

11. Do not halt in seeking the truth, in discovering God. Be docile to the influence of grace, following its inspiration and attraction. Do not be ashamed of Christ and His doctrine.

12. When the soul grieves and is afraid of offending God, it does not offend Him and is very far from committing sin.

13. Temptation is a sure sign the soul is very pleasing to the Lord.

14. Never fall back on yourself alone, but place all your trust in God.

15. I feel a great desire to abandon myself with greater trust, to the divine mercy, and to place my hope in God alone.

16. Terrible is the justice of God. But let us not forget also that his mercy is infinite.

17. Let us try to serve the Lord with all our heart and will. He will always give us more than we deserve.

18. Give praise to God alone and not to man; honour the Creator and not the creature. During your life, learn to endure bitterness, in order to participate in the sufferings of Christ.

19. Only a general knows how and when to use one of his soldiers. Wait, your turn will come.

20. Detach yourself from the world. Listen to me. One person drowns on the high seas, another chokes on a glass of water. What difference is there between these two; are they not both dead?

21. Always remember that God sees everything!

22. In the spiritual life, the faster we run, the less tired we feel; actually, peace, the prelude to eternal happiness, will come to us and will make us happy and strong, in proportion to how we allow Jesus to live in us, mortifying ourselves.

23. Let us never oppose the designs of divine providence, which, alternating joys with tears in the life of the individual and of nations, leads them to the achievement of our last end. Let us look beyond the appearances of the hand of man to discover the hidden hand of God.

24. If we want a harvest, planting is not so important as sowing the seeds in a good field. When these become plants, great care must be taken that the tender little plants are not suffocated by weeds.

25. Learn to better recognize and adore the divine will in all the events of life.

26. One must always go forward and never back in the spiritual life. When a boat stops, instead of going forward the wind blows it back.

27. Remember that at first a mother teaches her child how to walk by supporting him, but later he has to walk by himself. You, therefore, must think things out for yourself.

28. "As long as you are afraid, you will not sin." "Maybe, Father, but I suffer a great deal." "Certainly, one suffers, but one must have confidence; there is the fear of God and the fear of Judas. Too much fear makes us act without love, and too much confidence causes us not to consider and fear the danger that we must overcome. One should help the other, and go together like two sisters. Always, when we become aware of being afraid, of having too much fear, we should remember to become confident. If we are excessively confident, we should become instead a little fearful. Love tends to the object loved, however, in its approach, it is blind, it does not see. But holy fear enlightens it."

29. We don't reach salvation without crossing the stormy sea continually threatened with disaster. Calvary is the hill of the saints, but from there we pass on to another mountain which is called Tabor.

30. I have no desire except to die or to love God; either death or love, since life without this love is worse than death and for me it would be more unbearable than it is at present.

31. I must not let the first month of the year pass without sending your soul greetings from mine, and to assure you more and more of the affection my heart nurtures for yours, never ceasing to desire for it, all sorts of blessings and spiritual happiness. But I warmly recommend that poor heart of yours, to you. Take care to render it daily, more and more pleasing to our most sweet Saviour, and see to it that the present year is more fertile in good works than the last, as, with the same speed with which the years pass by and eternity becomes closer, we must redouble our courage and raise our spirit to God, serving Him with greater diligence in everything that our vocation and Christian profession require of us.

February

1. Prayer is the effusion of our heart into God's... when it is well done, it moves the Divine Heart and makes Him always more inclined to grant our requests. Let us pour out our whole soul to God in prayer. He is captivated by our prayers and comes to our aid.

2. I want to be only a poor friar who prays.... God sees blemishes even in the angels, can you imagine what He sees in me!

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

4. 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 speak to Him only with your heart.

5. One searches for God in books. One finds Him in meditation.

6. Be assiduous in your prayers and meditations. You have already told me that you have started. Oh, my God, what a great consolation this is for a father who loves you as much as his own soul! Continue to always make progress in the holy exercise of the love of God. Spin a little each day, whether it be by the dim light of the lamp and the dryness and desolation of the spirit, or by day in the joyful and dazzling light of the soul.

7. If you can speak to the Lord, do so, praise Him, pray to Him, listen to Him. If you are unable to speak due to your clumsiness, don't worry. In the ways of the Lord, stop in your room, like the courtiers, and pay Him homage. He, who will see this, will be pleased with your patience, will favour your silence, and on another occasion you will be consoled.

8. This manner of staying in the presence of God simply to protest, with one's will, that we ourselves are his servants, is most holy and most excellent, most pure and extremely perfect.

9. When you find yourself close to God in prayer, speak to Him if you can, and if you are unable to do so stay this way. Let yourself be seen, and do not disturb yourself further.

10. I never fail to pray for you because I cannot forget that you caused me great sacrifice, and that I gave birth to you in God, with extreme pain of the heart. I trust in your charity, hoping that you will not forget he who carries the cross of everybody.

11. The best comfort is that which comes from prayer.

12. Save souls by continuous prayer.

13. Prayer must be insistent since insistence denotes faith.

14. The prayers of the saints in Heaven and of just souls on earth are perfume which will never be wasted.

15. I will never tire of praying to Jesus. It is true that my prayers deserve punishment rather than reward, for I have offended Jesus only too often by my innumerable sins; but in the end He will be moved to pity.

16. All prayers are good when they are accompanied by good intentions and good will.

17. Reflect upon and keep before your mental gaze the great humility of the Mother of God, our Mother. The more she was filled with heavenly gifts, the more deeply she humbled herself.

18. Just as the bees sometimes fly great distances without hesitation to reach fields where they have a favourite flower bed and then, tired but satisfied and laden with pollen, return to the honeycomb to complete the fertile and silent work of transforming the nectar of flowers into nectar of life; so must you after having gathered the word of God, meditate on it with attention, examine its elements and search for the hidden meaning. It will then appear to you in all its splendour; it will acquire the power of doing away with your natural materialistic inclinations; it will have the virtue of transforming them into pure and sublime ascensions of the spirit, which will bring together ever more closely your heart with the Divine Heart of your Lord.

19. The Christian soul never lets a day go by without meditating on the passion of Jesus Christ.

20. In order to imitate Jesus, we must reflect each day on the life of the One we intend to take as our model. From our reflection is born esteem for his acts and from esteem springs the desire and consolation of imitation.

21. Be patient in persevering in this holy exercise of meditation and be content with taking small steps, until you have the legs to run, or better still, wings to fly. Be content with obedience which is never a little thing for a soul which has chosen God as its portion, and resign yourself for now, to being a little bee in a hive, that will soon become a big bee capable of making honey.

Always humble yourself lovingly before God and men, because God speaks to those who truly have a humble heart before Him, and He enriches them with his gifts.

22. I cannot at all believe and therefore dispense you from meditation for the sole reason that you feel you gain nothing from it. The holy gift of prayer, my good daughter, is in the right hand of the Saviour, and to the degree to which you are emptied of yourself, that is, emptied of love of body and your own will, and that you continually become more well-rooted in holy humility, the Lord will communicate this to your heart.

23. But the true reason why you don't succeed in meditating well is this, and I am not mistaken: you approach meditation with a certain, special alteration, coupled with the great anxiety to find some object which can console and content your spirit. And this is sufficient to see to it that you never find what you seek, and do not rest your mind on the truths you meditate upon, or empty your heart of affections. When one seeks something one has lost with great haste and avidity, one can even touch this object with one's hand, and even see it a hundred times without realizing it.

24. He who does not meditate is like a person who never looks in the mirror and therefore does not bother to be tidy when he goes out, since he can be dirty without knowing it.

The person who meditates and thinks of God, who is the mirror of his soul, tries to discover his defects, attempts to correct them, controls himself and straightens out his conscience.

25. I am absolutely unable to consider, in an indulgent manner, your neglecting Holy Communion, not to mention holy meditation. Remember that the only way to gain salvation is through prayer; you cannot win the battle without prayer. So the choice is up to you.

26. As regards what you tell me you feel when meditating, you can be sure that the deceit is diabolic. Therefore, be careful and vigilant. Never fail to meditate as a result of this, otherwise you can be sure that you will be beaten later on in everything.

27. Meanwhile don't be afflicted to the point of losing your interior peace. Pray with perseverance, trust, and a serene and calm mind.

28. Pray for the wicked, pray for the lukewarm, pray even for fervent souls, but pray especially for the Supreme Pontiff, for all the spiritual and temporal needs of holy Church, our most tender mother. A special prayer for all those who are working for the salvation of souls and for God's glory.

29. After love for Our Lord, I recommend to you that of the Church, his Bride; this dear sweet dove which alone can lay the eggs, and give birth to the little doves of the Spouse. Thank God a hundred times a day for being a child of the Church, after the example of many saints, those brothers and sisters of ours who preceded us in this happy journey.

Have great compassion on all pastors, preachers and directors of souls, and see how they are spread out over the face of the earth, because there is no part of the earth where they are not numerous. Pray to God for them so that, by saving themselves, they might gain salvation for souls.

March 

1. Father, you love what I fear. Reply: I do not love suffering itself; I ask God for it, I desire it for the fruits it gives me: it gives glory to God, it saves my brethren in exile, it frees souls from the fires of purgatory, what more do I want?

Father, what is suffering? Reply: Expiation.

And what is it for you? My daily bread, my delight!

2. We do not want to accept the fact that suffering is necessary for our souls; that the cross must be our daily bread.

Just as the body needs nourishment, so does the soul need the cross, day after day, to purify it and detach it from creatures.

We do not want to understand that God neither wants nor is able to save or sanctify us without the cross and the more He draws a soul to Himself, the more He purifies it by means of the cross.

3. Everyone on this earth has a cross; therefore we must be careful not to be like the bad thief, but rather like the good one.

4. The Lord cannot give me a Cyrenean. I must do only his will, and if I am pleasing to Him the rest does not matter.

5. In this life Jesus does not ask you to carry the heavy cross with Him, but a small piece of his cross, a piece that consists of human suffering.

6. Firstly I want to tell you that Jesus needs those who groan with Him at human sinfulness and, for this reason, He is leading you along paths filled with suffering, about which you tell me in your letter. But may his charity always be blessed; that charity which knows how to mix the sweet with the bitter and convert the transitory sufferings of life to eternal reward.

7. Therefore, don't fear at all, but consider yourself extremely fortunate to have been worthy of participating in the sufferings of the God-Man. So there is no abandonment, but love, and great love which God is showing you. Your state is not one of punishment, but one of exquisite love. Therefore bless the Lord for this, and resign yourself to drinking the chalice of Gethsemane.

8. I understand very well, that your Calvary is becoming more and more painful. But remember that it was on Calvary that Jesus redeemed us, and the salvation of redeemed souls must be accomplished there.

9. I know you are suffering a great deal, but isn't this, perhaps, the jewels of the Spouse.

10. Our Lord sometimes makes you feel the weight of the cross. This weight seems unbearable but you carry it because, in His love and mercy, the Lord helps you and gives you strength.

11. Some interior consolations are for infant souls. They are not signs of perfection. It is not consolations that are needed, but suffering. Aridity, listlessness, helplessness, these are the signs of real love. Suffering is pleasant. Exile is beautiful because by suffering we have something to give to God. The gift of our pain, of our sufferings is a great thing, which we cannot do in Paradise.

12. I would prefer a thousand crosses, or rather, every cross would be sweet and light for me if I did not have this trial of always being uncertain if my works are pleasing to the Lord... it is painful to live like this... I resign myself, but my resignation, my fiat seems so cold to me, so useless!... what a mystery! Jesus alone must see to it.

13. Love Jesus, love Him a lot, but to do this, be ready to love sacrifice more.

14. The good-hearted man is always strong; he suffers, he sheds tears and he consoles himself sacrificing himself for God and his neighbour.

15. He who begins to love, must be ready to suffer.

16. Suffering has been loved joyfully by great souls. It is the auxiliary of creation after the unfortunate fall; it is a most powerful lever to raise man up again, it is the helping hand of Infinite Love for our regeneration.

17. Do not fear adversities because they place the soul at the foot of the cross and the cross places it at the gates of Heaven, where it will find He who triumphed over death and will introduce it to eternal life.

18. If you suffer with resignation in doing His will, you do not offend Him but love Him. And your heart will find great comfort in remembering that in your hour of pain Jesus Himself suffers in you and for you. He did not abandon you when you fled from Him; why should He abandon you now that you are proving your love for Him by the martyrdom of your soul?

19. Let us not spare ourselves on our ascent to Calvary for love of He who sacrificed Himself for love of us and let us be patient, certain of our flight for Tabor.

20. Keep strongly and constantly united to God, consecrating all your affections, torments, and your entire self to Him, patiently awaiting the return of that beautiful sun, whenever the Spouse is pleased to visit you through trials of aridity, desolation and darkness of spirit.

21. Yes, I love the Cross, the Cross alone; I love it because I see it always behind Jesus.

22. True servants of God have always preferred adversity as being more in conformity with the way taken by our Head, who worked out our salvation by means of the cross and humiliations.

23. The lot of chosen souls is to suffer. God, the author of all grace and of every gift leading to salvation, has decreed that glory will be ours on condition that we endure suffering in a Christian spirit.

24. Always love suffering, which, besides being the work of Divine Wisdom, reveals the work of his love to us even more.

25. Let nature resent suffering because there is nothing more natural than this except sin. With divine help, your will, will always be superior to it, and divine love will always be in your soul, if you do not cease to pray.

26. Life is a Calvary; but we must climb it cheerfully. Crosses are the jewels of the Bridegroom and I am jealous of them. My sufferings are pleasing. I suffer only when I have nothing to suffer.

27. The God of Christians is the God of metamorphosis; you throw your sufferings into his bosom and you draw out peace; you throw in despair and you see hope coming to the surface.

28. The angels are jealous of us for one reason only; they are not able to suffer for God. Only through suffering can a soul say with certainty; "My God, You see I do love You!"

29. Bearing physical and moral ailments is the worthiest offering you can make to He who saved us through suffering.

30. I am extremely pleased to hear that the Lord is always generous with his caresses towards your soul. I know you are suffering, but isn't this suffering a sure sign that God loves you?

31. Accept all the suffering and incomprehension that comes from Above. In this way you will perfect and sanctify yourself.

April
1. Doesn't the Holy Spirit tell us that when the soul approaches God it must prepare itself for temptations? Courage, therefore, courage my good daughter. Fight valiantly and you will receive the prize of strong souls.

2. It is necessary to be strong to become great: this is our duty. Life is a struggle from which we cannot withdraw, but we must triumph.

3. Woe to those who are dishonest! Not only do they lose all human respect, but they cannot take up any public office either. So let us be honest always, casting all bad thoughts from our minds, and keeping our hearts always turned to God, who created us and placed us on earth in order to know, love and serve Him in this life, and then enjoy Him eternally in the next.

4. I know the Lord permits the devil to make these assaults, because his mercy renders you dear to Him, and He wants you to be similar to Him in the anguish of the desert, the Garden and on the Cross. But you must defend yourselves, casting aside and despising his evil insinuations, in the name of God and holy obedience.

5. Observe well that as long as you are displeased by the temptations you have nothing to fear. But why are you sorry about this, if not because you don't want to experience it? These troublesome temptations come from the evil of the devil. But the displeasure and suffering we experience come from the mercy of God, who, contrary to our enemy's will, draws holy tribulations from his malice, through which He purifies the gold that wants to be a part of his treasure. Furthermore, your temptations come from the devil but your suffering and afflictions come from God and Paradise. The mother is from Babylon, but the children are from Jerusalem. Despise the temptations and embrace the tribulation. No, no, my daughter, let the wind blow, and do not believe the noise of leaves is the blast of arms.

6. Don't make an effort to overcome your temptations, because these efforts would strengthen them. Despise them and do not dwell on them. Call to your imagination, Jesus Christ Crucified in your arms and on your breast. And say, kissing his side a number of times: "this is my hope; the living source of my happiness. I will hold You tightly, Jesus, and will not let You go until You have placed me in a safe place."

7. Put an end to these apprehensions. Remember that it is not the thought that makes the sin, but consenting to those thoughts. Only the free will is capable of good or evil. But when the will groans under the trial presented by the tempter and does not want it, there is not only no sin, but there is virtue.

8. Don't let temptations frighten you. They are the trials of those souls whom God wants to put to the test when He sees them strong enough to sustain the battle, weaving with their own hands, the crown of glory. Up to now your life has been that of an infant; now the Lord wants to treat you as an adult. And as the trials of adult life are much greater than those of an infant, this is why you find yourself rather disorganized in the beginning. But the soul will acquire its calm, and the calm will not delay in coming. Be patient a while longer and everything will work out well.

9. Temptations against faith and purity are the merchandise offered by the enemy, but do not fear him, rather, despise him. As long as he makes an uproar it is a sign that he has not yet possessed the will. Don't be upset by what you experience through the work of this rebellious angel. Let your will always be contrary to his suggestions, and live tranquilly, because you are not at fault, but rather, you please God and gain progress for your soul.

10. You must turn to God when you are assaulted by the enemy; you must hope in Him and expect everything that is good from Him. Don't voluntarily dwell on what the enemy presents to you. Remember that, he who flees, wins, and at the first sign of your aversion for those people, you must stop thinking of it and turn to God. Bend your knee before Him, and with the greatest humility say this short prayer: "Have mercy on me a poor weakling." Then get up and, with holy indifference, go on about your business.

11. Be firmly convinced that the more the assaults of the enemy increase, the closer God is to the soul. Think of, and ponder well, this great and comforting truth.

12. Take heart and don't fear the gloomy wrath of Lucifer. Always remember this, that it is a good sign when the enemy makes an uproar and roars around your will, as this shows he is not inside it. Courage, my most beloved daughter, I offer you these words with great feeling, and in Jesus, courage I say! There is no need to fear when we can say with determination, even if without feeling: "Long live Jesus!"

13. Rest assured that the more a soul is pleasing to God, the more it must be tried. Therefore, courage, and go forward always.

14. I understand that temptations seem to stain rather than purify the soul, but this is not really the case. Let us see what the saints have to say about it. For you it suffices to know what the great St. Francis de Sales says, namely that temptations are like the soap, which when spread on the laundry seems to soil, but in reality cleanses it.

15. 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. Otherwise all would be lost.

16. Oh, what joy there is in spiritual battles! It suffices to know how to fight in order to be certain of victory.

17. Be careful never to become discouraged when you see yourself surrounded by spiritual infirmities.
If God lets you fall into some weakness, it is not to abandon you, but only to establish in you humility and make you more careful in the future.

18. Walk with simplicity in the ways of the Lord and do not torment your spirit. You must hate your faults, but with a quiet hate, not troublesome and restless.

19. Confession which is the purification of the soul should be made no later than every eight days; I cannot bear to keep souls away from confession for more than eight days.

20. The devil has only one door through which to enter into our soul: the will. There are no secret doors. There is no sin, if it has not been committed wilfully. When the will does not consent, there is no sin but human weakness.

21. The devil is like a raging dog on a chain; outside the limit of the chain he can bite no-one. So keep your distance. If you get too close, you will be caught.

22. Do not abandon your soul to temptation, says the Holy Spirit, because the joy of the heart is the life of the soul, it is an inexhaustible treasure of sanctity; while sadness is the slow death of the soul and it is of no use to anyone.

23. Our enemy who plots against us plucks up courage when dealing with the weak, but when anyone takes up a weapon and faces him, he becomes a coward.

24. If you succeed in overcoming temptation it has the effect of soap on dirty linen.

25. I would undergo death an infinite number of times rather than deliberately offend the Lord.

26. In our thoughts and at confession we must not dwell on sins that have been already confessed. Because of our contrition Jesus has forgiven them at the tribunal of penance. There He faced us and our miseries like a creditor in front of a debtor. With a gesture of infinite generosity He tore up and destroyed the bills we signed with our sins, which we could certainly not have paid without the help of his divine clemency. To go back to these sins, to bring them up again just to have them forgiven again, because of doubt that they were really and abundantly remitted, would this not be considered a lack of trust in the goodness which He proved by his tearing up every document of debt contracted through sin?... Dwell on them, if it is a source of comfort for your soul. By all means think of the offences against justice, wisdom and the infinite mercy of God, but only for the purpose of weeping redemptive tears of repentance and love.

27. When disturbed by passions and misfortunes, may the sweet hope of his inexhaustible mercy sustain us. Let us hasten confidently to the tribunal of penance where He awaits us at every instant with the anxiety of a father; and even though we are aware of our inability to repay Him, let us have no doubts about the solemn pardon pronounced over our errors. Let us place a tombstone over them, just as the Lord has done!

28. The darkness that sometimes surrounds the heaven of your soul is light. Because of this you think you are in the dark, and you have the impression of being in the centre of a burning bush. In fact when the bush burns, the air around it is filled with smoke clouds and the bewildered soul is afraid of not seeing, of no longer understanding anything. But it is then that God speaks and is present to the soul: who hears, understands, loves and trembles. Therefore, do not wait for Tabor to see God when you already contemplate Him on Sinai!

29. Walk cheerfully and with a sincere and open heart as much as you can, and when you cannot always maintain this holy joy, at least do not lose heart or your trust in God.


30. The trials to which the Lord subjects you and will subject you are all signs of divine love and are jewels for the soul. Winter will pass and the never-ending spring will come, all the more rich in beauty as violent were the storms.

May
1. When passing before an image of Our Lady we should say:
"I greet you, Oh Mary
Greet Jesus for me."

2. Listen, dear Mother, I love you more than all the creatures on earth and in Heaven, after Jesus, of course... but I love you.

3. Beautiful Mother, you are so beautiful. If it were not for faith, men would think you were a goddess. Your eyes are more resplendent than the sun, you are beautiful Mother, I glory in it, I love you. Please help me.

4. May Mary be the star which shines on your path, and may she show you the safe way to reach the heavenly Father. May she be like an anchor to which you must be more closely attached in time of trial.

5. May Mary be the reason of your existence and guide you to the safe harbour of eternal salvation. May she be your gentle model and your source of inspiration in the virtue of humility.

6. If Jesus manifests Himself, thank Him; and if He hides Himself thank Him also; it is all a game of love. May the clement and pious Virgin continue to obtain for you from the ineffable goodness of the Lord the strength to sustain till the end the many proofs of charity He gives you. I hope you will die with Jesus on the Cross; and say in Him "Consummatum est."

7. Oh Mary, sweet Mother of priests, mediatrix and administratrix of all graces, from the bottom of my heart I beg and implore you to thank Jesus, the fruit of thy womb, today, tomorrow and forever.

8. Humanity wants its share. Mary the mother of Jesus also knew that his death meant the redemption of the human race, yet she wept and suffered and how much she suffered.

9. May Mary transform all your sufferings into joy.

10. Do not be so completely dedicated to Martha's activity that you forget the silence or self-abandonment of Mary. May the Virgin, who combines the two duties so well, be your model and inspiration.

11. May Mary adorn your soul with flowers and the fragrance of ever new virtues and place her maternal hand on your head.
Always stay close to this heavenly Mother, because she is the sea through which we reach the shores of eternal splendour in the Kingdom of dawn.

12. Remember what took place in the heart of our heavenly Mother at the foot of the Cross. She was turned to stone before her crucified Son, due to the excessive suffering, but you cannot say she was abandoned. On the contrary, she was never loved more than at that moment when she suffered and couldn't even cry.

13. Do not leave the altar without first shedding tears of sorrow and love for Jesus, crucified for your eternal salvation. Our Lady of Sorrows will keep you company and inspire you.

14. My son, you do not know the effects of obedience. Well, for a yes, for a single yes, "be it done unto me according to Your word," to do God's will, Mary became the mother of the Most High, professing herself to be his handmaid and keeping her virginity which was so dear to God and herself. Thanks to this yes pronounced by Mary Most Holy, the world obtained salvation and humanity was redeemed. Let us always do God's will and always say yes to the Lord.

15. May the Mother of Jesus, and our Mother, always smile on your spirit, obtaining for it, from her Most Holy Son, every heavenly blessing.

16. What tongue could worthily describe Mary's triumphant entry into heaven? If the triumphs prepared here below arouse such admiration and great enthusiasm that they attract many people to contemplate them, what can be said of the triumph prepared by God Himself for his Mother?

17. Father, today is the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows: say something to me.
Answer: Our Lady of Sorrows loves us. She gave birth to us in suffering and love. May you never forget Our Lady of Sorrows and may her sufferings be engraved in your heart: may she inflame your heart with love for herself and her Son.

18. Mary's holy soul, like a dove set free, left her saintly body and flew to the bosom of her Beloved.

19. After Jesus Christ's ascension to Heaven, Mary longed continually with burning desire to be reunited with Him. To be without her divine Son was a very harsh exile. Those years of separation from Him were for her a most slow and painful martyrdom of love that consumed her slowly.

20. Jesus who reigned in Heaven with his most holy humanity received from the womb of the Virgin, wanted his mother to be reunited to Him not only with her soul but also with her body and share fully in his glory. And that was right and just. That body that was not a slave of the devil and sin for one instant was not to be a slave of corruption either.

21. Do your best to conform always and in everything to the will of God, in all eventualities, and do not fear. This is the sure path to Heaven.

22. You are not unaware of the fact that I desire to die and to love God; either death or love, given that life without this love is worse than death. Oh my daughters, help me! I am dying and in agony at all times. Everything seems to be a dream to me, and I don't know where I am wandering. Dear God! when will the time come when I, too, can sing: "This is my rest, oh God, forever"?

23. Do the penance of remembering, with sorrow, your offences committed against God; the penance of being constantly good, the penance of fighting against your defects.

24. I confess in the first place, that for me it is a great misfortune to be unable to express and pour out this ever-active volcano which burns me up, and which Jesus has placed in this very small heart. It can all be summed up as follows: I am consumed by love for God and love for my neighbour.

25. Science, my son, for all its greatness is nevertheless a small thing; and less than nothing compared to the formidable mystery of the Divinity. You must take another road. Cleanse your heart of every earthly passion, humble yourself in the dust and pray! In this way you will certainly find God, who will give you peace and serenity in this life and eternal beatitude in the next.

26. Have you ever seen a field of fully ripened grain? You will see that some ears are tall and vigorous; while others are bent to the ground. Try to take the tall one, the most vain, you will see that it is empty; if instead you take the low ones, the most humble, these are laden with grain. From this you can deduce that vanity is empty.

27. We should make a great effort to become holy, and render great service to God and our neighbour.

28. Let us become saints so that after having been together on earth we will be together forever in Heaven.

29 Oh God!, let yourself always be felt, more and more, by my poor heart, and accomplish in me the work you have begun. I hear an interior voice which assiduously says to me: Sanctify yourself and others. Well, my dearest, I want to do this, but I don't know where to begin. Help me, you also. I know that Jesus is very fond of you, and you deserve this. Therefore, speak to Him for me, that He might grant me the grace of making me a less unworthy son of Saint Francis, so that I can be an example to my confrères, in order that fervour might continue to grow more and more within me, making me a perfect Capuchin.

30. Always be faithful to God in observing the promises you made Him, and pay no attention to the mocking of the foolish. Know that the saints never payed attention to the world and the worldly, and they placed the world and its maxims under their feet.


31. The field of battle between God and Satan is the human soul. This is where it takes place every moment of our lives. The soul must give free access to our Lord and be completely fortified by Him with every kind of weapon; His light must illuminate it to fight the darkness of error; it must put on Jesus Christ, His truth and justice, the shield of faith, the word of God to overcome such powerful enemies. To put on Jesus Christ we must die to ourselves.

June
1. May the Heart of Jesus be the centre of all your inspirations.

2. Let us look with profound gratitude at that sublime mystery which attracts the Heart of Jesus to his creatures with such force; let us look at the great condescension with which He put on our own flesh to live the miserable life of this earth in our midst; let us muster up all the forces of our intellect to consider worthily the tenacious fervour and hardship of his apostolate, to recall the horrors of his passion and martyrdom and to adore his Blood... royally offered to the last drop for the redemption of mankind; then with humble faith and the same ardent love with which He surrounds and pursues our souls, let us bow our impure foreheads at his feet.

3. Jesus, You always come into my soul. With what food must I feed You? With love! But my love is fallacious, Jesus I love You very much, make up for my love.

4. I never cease to implore blessings for you from Jesus, and to beg the Lord to transform you totally in Him. Oh my daughters! How beautiful is his face, how sweet his eyes and what a good thing it is to stay close to Him on the Mount of his glory! We must place all our desires and affections there.... Contrary to our every merit, we are on the steps of Tabor, by having a firm determination to love and serve his divine goodness well.

5. Let us remember that the Heart of Jesus has called us not only for our own sanctification, but also for that of other souls. He wants to be helped in the salvation of souls.

6. What else can I say to you? May the grace and peace of the Holy Spirit always be at the centre of your heart. Place your heart in the open side of the Saviour and unite it with the King of our hearts who is within them as on a royal throne, in order that He might receive homage and obedience from all other hearts. He keeps his door open so that everybody can approach Him and gain an audience at all times. And when your heart speaks to Him, don't forget, my dearest daughter, to speak in favour of mine, so that his divine and cordial Majesty may render it good, obedient, faithful and less wretched than it is.

7. Do not be at all surprised at your weakness, but acknowledge what you are, and blush at your infidelity towards God, then confide in Him and abandon yourself tranquilly in the arms of the heavenly Father, like a child in the arms of its mother.

8. Valiantly fight temptations like strong souls, and fight along with the Supreme Chief. When you fall, do not stay there prostrated in body and spirit. Humble yourself greatly but without being discouraged. Lower yourself without degrading yourself. Wash your imperfections and falls with sincere tears of contrition, without lacking trust in divine goodness, which will always be greater than your ingratitude. Propose to correct your faults, without relying on yourself, but your strength must be in God alone. Finally, confess sincerely that if God were not your breast-plate and shield, you would be imprudently pierced with every kind of sin.

9. Let us love Jesus for his divine greatness, for his power in Heaven and on earth, for his infinite merits, but also and above all out of gratitude. Had He not been so good towards us but more severe, how much less we would have sinned! But when sin is followed with profound sorrow, with an honest resolution of never sinning again, an intense understanding of the great pain we have given to the mercy of God; when having rent the hardest fibres of our hearts we manage to shed scalding tears of repentance and love then, my son, the sin itself becomes a stepping-stone which brings us closer, which raises us up, which leads us to Him more securely.

10. Oh, if I had an infinite number of hearts, all the hearts in Heaven and earth, your Mother's heart, Jesus, I would offer them all, every one of them to You!

11. My Jesus, my sweetness, my love, love which sustains me.

12. Jesus, I love You very much; it is useless to repeat it to You, I love You. My Love, my Love. Only You! Praise be to You alone.

13. May Jesus be your guide, your support and your life, always and in everything!

14. I approve of your work for gaining souls for Jesus. By all means receive Holy Communion for the Holy Father's intentions.

15. Even if you had committed all the sins of the world, Jesus says to you: "Many sins have been forgiven you, because you have loved much."

16. During the rioting of the passions and adverse events, keep in mind the dear hope of his unlimited mercy. Let us run with confidence to the tribunal of penance, where He waits for us at all times with the anxiety of a father; and although we are conscious of our debt towards Him, let us not doubt the solemn pardon of our sins. Let us bury them as our Lord has done.

17. The Heart of our divine Master has no law more lovable than that of gentleness, humility and charity.

18. My Jesus, my sweetness, how can I live without You? Come always, my Jesus, come; You alone take possession of my heart.

19. My children, we can never prepare ourselves too much for Holy Communion.

20. "Father, I feel unworthy to receive Holy Communion. I am unworthy!" Reply: "It is true, we are not worthy of such a gift, but it is one thing to receive unworthily in the state of mortal sin and another to be unworthy. We are all unworthy; but it is He who invites us, and He who desires it. Let us humble ourselves and receive Him with our hearts full of love."

21. "Father, why do you cry when you receive Jesus in Holy Communion?" Reply: "If the Church can utter the words: 'You did not disdain the womb of the Virgin,' speaking of the incarnation of the Word in the womb of the Immaculate Virgin, what should be said of us miserable creatures? But Jesus said to us: 'He who does not eat my Flesh and does not drink my Blood will not have life everlasting,' so then let us approach Holy Communion with great love and fear. Let the whole day be a preparation and thanksgiving for Holy Communion."

22. Do not be discouraged if you do not succeed in doing everything as you desire, force yourself to do what you have to do and see to it that you never fall short of anything in this respect, taking no account of whether you feel comfort or tediousness and boredom. Let your intention be always upright.

23. If you are not granted the ability to stay a long time in prayer, reading, etc., you must not be discouraged. As long as you receive Jesus every morning you must consider yourself extremely fortunate.
During the course of the day, when you are unable to do anything else, call on Jesus, even in the midst of all your occupations, with resigned groanings of the soul. He will come to stay united to your soul always, through his grace and holy love. Fly in spirit before the tabernacle, when you cannot go there with the body, and there, express your ardent desires. Speak to, pray to and embrace the Beloved of souls, better than if you had been able to receive Him in sacrament.

24. Jesus alone can understand what I suffer when the painful scene of Calvary is put before me. It is equally incomprehensible how Jesus can be consoled not merely by those who sympathize with his torments, but when He finds a soul, who, for love of Him, asks no consolations and only wants to be allowed to share in his sufferings.

25. When assisting at holy Mass, renew your faith and meditate on the Victim who immolates Himself for you, to placate Divine Justice, and renders it propitious. Do not leave the altar without first shedding tears of sorrow and love for Jesus, crucified for your eternal salvation.
When you are well you hear Mass, when you are ill and cannot assist, you say Mass.

26. Each holy Mass heard with devotion, produces marvellous effects in our souls, spiritual and material graces, that we ourselves do not know. For such purposes do not spend your money uselessly, make a sacrifice of it and come here to hear holy Mass.
It would be easier for the earth to exist without the sun than without the holy sacrifice of the Mass.

27. In these sad times when faith is dead and wickedness is triumphant; when we are surrounded by those who have perpetual hatred in their hearts and blasphemy on their lips, the surest way of remaining immune from the pestiferous disease which surrounds us is to strengthen ourselves with Eucharistic food. This cannot be achieved by those who, month after month, live without satiating themselves with the Immaculate Flesh of the Divine Lamb.

28. I end here because the bell is calling me and urging me. I am going to the wine-press of the Church, to the holy altar where the sacred blood of that delicious and singular grape, with which only a fortunate few are allowed to inebriate themselves, drips continually. There - and you know I cannot do otherwise - I will present you to the heavenly Father in union with his Son, to whom, for whom, and through whom I am totally yours in the Lord.

29. See how much scorn and sacrilege is committed by the sons of men towards the most holy humanity of his Son in the Sacrament of love?... It is up to us to defend the honour of this meek Lamb who is always concerned when the case of souls is in question, but always silent where his own case is concerned.


30. My Jesus, save everyone; I offer myself as a victim for everyone; strengthen me, take my heart, fill it with Your love and then command me to do whatever You want.

July

1. Love Our Lady. Recite the Rosary. May the Blessed Mother of God reign sovereign over your heart.

2. Give me and preserve in me that ardent faith which makes me believe and work for Your love alone. This is the first gift I present to You and, prostrate at Your feet, together with the holy Magi, I declare, with no human respect for the whole world, that You are our true and only God.

3. I bless God with all my heart who made me meet truly good souls. I also told these souls that they are God's vineyard. The water-supply is faith; the tower is hope; the wine-press is holy charity, and the hedge is the law of God that separates them from the children of the world.

4. A lively faith, blind belief and complete adherence to the authorities constituted by God over you; this is the light that illuminated the steps of the people of God in the desert, and this is the light that always shines in the tip of those souls who are acceptable to the Father. This is the light that led the Magi to adore the newly-born Messiah.

5. The most beautiful credo is the one that bursts forth from your lips in darkness, in sacrifice, in pain, in the supreme effort of an unbending will for good; this is what dispels, like a flash of lightning, the gloom of your soul, it is what leads you to God in the fury of the storm.

6. Make a particular effort to practise sweetness and submission to the will of God, not only in extraordinary matters, but even in the little things that occur daily. Make these acts not only in the morning, but also during the day and in the evening, with a tranquil and joyful spirit. And if you should fail in this, humble yourself, make a new resolution, get up and continue on your way.

7. The enemy is very strong and all things considered it seems that victory must smile on him. Alas! Who is to save me from the hands of so strong and powerful an enemy who allows me not a moment's freedom day or night? Is it possible that the Lord will allow my downfall? Unhappily this is what I deserve, but can it be that the heavenly Father's goodness will be outdone by my wickedness? This will never, never be, my dear Father.

8. I would prefer to be stabbed with a steel blade, rather than make someone suffer.

9. By all means seek solitude, but do not lack charity with your neighbour.

10. Even when reprimanding one must be courteous and gentle.

11. To lack charity is to wound the pupil of God's eye. What is more delicate than the pupil of the eye? To lack charity is like sinning against nature.

12. Charity, wherever it comes from, is always the daughter of the same mother, that is, Providence.

13. Remember Jesus, "meek and humble of heart". "Be angry and don't sin" is of the saints. I have never regretted being gentle, but I have had qualms of conscience and had to confess when I was a bit severe. But when I say gentleness I do not mean permissiveness. That no! I mean the gentleness that makes discipline pleasant which must never be neglected.

14. Where there is no obedience, there is no virtue, where there is no virtue, there is no goodness, no love, and where there is no love, God is not there and without God we do not go to Paradise.
These form a stairway and if one step is missing from the stairway we fall down.

15. I beseech you, by the meekness of Jesus, and by the bowels of mercy of the heavenly Father, never to slacken on the path of virtue. Keep on running and don't ever make up your mind to stop, for you know that to stand still on this path is equivalent to retracing one's steps.

16. To see suffering makes me very unhappy! I would gladly stab myself in the heart to take away suffering from someone! Yes, this would be easier for me!

17. I was extremely sorry to hear you have been ill, but was very happy to hear you are recovering, and I was even happier to see true piety and christian charity flourish once again in your midst, which you showed during your infirmity.

18. I cannot tolerate criticism and speaking ill of our neighbour. It is true, sometimes I enjoy teasing them, but speaking ill of them makes me sick. We have so many defects in ourselves to criticize, why pick on our neighbour? And lacking in charity we damage the roots of the tree of life, with the risk of killing it.

19. Charity is the queen of virtues. As pearls are held together by a string, so are the virtues held by charity. And just as the pearls fall if the string breaks, so are the virtues lost if charity fails.

20. Charity is the yardstick with which the Lord will judge us all.

21. Remember that the cornerstone of perfection is charity; he who lives by charity, lives in God, because God is charity, as the Apostle said.

22. I bless the good God for the holy sentiments his grace gives you. You do well never to begin any task without first having implored divine help. This will obtain for you the grace of holy perseverance.

23. I am suffering, and suffering very much, but thanks to our good Jesus I still feel a little strength, and when aided by Jesus what is the creature not capable of doing?

24. Fight like a strong soul if you wish to obtain the reward of strong souls.

25. Don't refuse in any way or for any reason to act charitably to all without exception. Go out of your way to do this when you get the chance. The Lord desires it and you must make an effort to do it.

26. You must always have prudence and love. Prudence has the eyes, love the legs. Love that has the legs would like to run to God, but its impulse to rush towards Him is blind, and might sometimes stumble if it was not guided by prudence which has the eyes. When prudence sees that love should be restrained, it lends its eyes.

27. Simplicity is a virtue, but up to a point, it must never be without prudence; on the other hand cunning and slyness are diabolical and do a lot of harm.

28. Vainglory is an enemy that assails those who have consecrated themselves to the Lord and embraced the spiritual life. Hence it can rightly be called the consuming moth of souls tending to perfection. The saints refer to it as the woodworm of holiness.

29. Do not let your soul be troubled at the sad spectacle of human injustice; even this has its value in the economy of events. Do not stop in your search for the truth and in the acquisition of the Most High. Be docile to the inspirations of grace.

30. In order to attract us the Lord gives us many graces and we imagine we are almost in Heaven. We do not know, however, that to grow we need hard bread: crosses, humiliations, trials and contradictions.


31. Strong and generous hearts do not grieve except for strong motives, and even then they do not allow such motives to penetrate too deeply within them.


August
1. The Lord allows us to discover who we are a little at a time. In fact, it is inconceivable to me how anyone with intelligence and a conscience can become proud.

2. Furthermore, I tell you to love your abjection, and loving your abjection consists precisely in this: If you are humble, tranquil, sweet and confident in times of darkness and impotence; that is, if you do not become restless, upset and anxious because of all this, but you gladly (I don't say joyfully, but I say frankly and constantly) embrace these crosses and remain in this darkness, then you will love your abjection. Because what does abjection mean if not to be humble and powerless?

3. Let us also ask our good Jesus for the humility, trust and faith of our dear saint Clare; let us pray fervently to Jesus like her. Let us abandon ourselves to Him; detach ourselves from this lying world where everything is folly and vanity; everything passes, only God remains to the soul, if it knows how to love Him well.

4. Nevertheless, there is some difference between the virtue of humility and that of abjection, because humility is the recognition of one's abjection. Now the highest degree of humility is, not only to recognize one's abjection, but to love it. This is what I have exhorted you to do.

5. Never lie down to sleep without having first examined your conscience on the way you have spent the day and without first turning your thoughts to God. Then offer and consecrate your whole person and that of every Christian, especially my wretched self, to God just as I do for you.

6. You must principally insist on the basis of Christian justice and the foundation of goodness; that is on the virtue of which Jesus explicitly offers himself as a model: humility, interior and exterior humility, but more interior than exterior, more felt than shown, more profound than visible.

7. I am sure you desire to know what the best abjection is, and I tell you it is that which we have not chosen ourselves, or that which is less welcome to us. Or, to explain this better, those towards which we feel no inclination.

8. I am not as the Lord made me, yet I feel that I would have to make a greater effort to make an act of pride than an act of humility. Because humility is truth, and the truth is that I am nothing, and everything good that is in me is of God. And often we spoil even the good that God has put in us. When people ask me for something, I do not think of what I can give but of what I do not know how to give and of the many souls who remain thirsty because I have not known how to give them the gift of God.
To think that every moming Jesus grafts Himself into us, permeates us entirely, gives us everything, therefore a branch or a flower of humility should sprout in us. On the other hand, the devil, who cannot graft himself into us as deeply as Jesus, immediately makes shoots of pride germinate in us. This is not to our credit. We must therefore fight and struggle to rise. We will not arrive at the summit without an encounter with God. To meet we must ascend and He must descend. But when we can take no more, then let us pause and be humble and it is in this humility that we will meet God, because He descends into the hearts of the humble.

9. True humility of the heart is that felt and lived rather than shown. We must always humble ourselves before God, but not with that false humility which brings discouragement, generating dejection and despair.
We must have a low opinion of ourselves. We must believe we are inferior to everyone else. We must not put our interests before those of others.

10. Not one of us deserves anything in this world; it is the Lord who is benevolent towards us and it is his infinite mercy that bestows everything because He forgives everything.

11. If we have to be patient and bear the faults of others, all the more must we tolerate ourselves. In your daily transgressions humble yourself, humble yourself, always humble yourself. When Jesus sees you prostrated with humility, He will extend his hand and He Himself will draw you to Him.

12. You have built badly. Destroy everything and rebuild well.

13. What is happiness if not the possession of every good that renders man completely content? But can we ever find anyone who is completely happy on this earth? Certainly not. Man would have been happy if he had remained faithful to God. But given that man is full of crime, that is, sin, he can never be totally happy. Therefore, only in Heaven can happiness be found. There, there is no danger of losing God, no suffering, no death, but eternal life with Jesus Christ.

14. "Padre, you are so good!" "I am not good, only Jesus is good. I don't know how this habit of St. Francis that I wear does not run away from me! The worst delinquent on earth is golden compared to me."

15. Humility and charity go together. One glorifies and the other sanctifies. Humility and purity are wings that raise us to God and make us almost divine.

16. Always be lovingly humble before God and man, because God speaks to those whose hearts are truly humble and enriches them with his gifts.

17. Let us first look up and then at ourselves. The infinite distance between the azure and the abyss generates humility.

18. If our staying firmly on our feet depended on us, undoubtedly we would fall into the hands of the enemy of our salvation at the slightest breeze. Let us confide always in divine mercy, and thus we will experience more and more, how good the Lord is.

19. You should humble yourself before God instead of becoming dejected if He reserves for you the sufferings of his Son and wants you to feel your weakness; you must pray to Him with resignation and hope when you fall through weakness and thank Him for the many benefits with which He enriches you.

20. What can I do? Everything comes from God. I possess one thing only, infinite misery.

21. If God were to take away all that He has given us, we would be in rags.

22. "How much malice there is in me!"
"Keep that conviction, humble yourself but don't be distressed."

23. Be careful never to become discouraged when you are surrounded by spiritual infirmities. If God allows you to fall in some weakness it is not to abandon you, but only to establish you in humility and make you more careful in the future.

24. The world does not esteem us because we are children of God; let us console ourselves that at least once in a while it recognizes the truth and does not lie.

25. Love an practise simplicity and humility and don't worry about the opinion of the world, because if this world had nothing to say against us, we would not be real servants of God.

26. Self-esteem, the offspring of pride, is more malicious than the mother herself.

27. Humility is truth, truth is humility.

28. God enriches the soul that divests itself of everything.

29. To be submissive does not mean to be a slave, but to be free for holy advice.

30. When we do the will of others, we must realize we are doing God's will, which is manifested for us in the will of our Superiors and neighbour.


31. Always stay close to the Catholic Church, because it alone can give you true peace, because it alone possesses Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, who is the true Prince of Peace.

September

1. We must love, love, love and nothing else.

2. We must continually implore two things from our most tender Lord: that He increase within us love and fear, for love will make us fly in the ways of the Lord, fear will make us careful where we set foot; love will make us see the things of the world for what they are, fear will lead us to beware of negligence. Then when love and fear have kissed, it is no longer in our power to give our affection to the things of this world.

3. Only love can make us indomitable and the language of love is being convinced of confidence. How beautiful love is when received as a gift and how ugly if sought after or demanded.

4. You who are responsible for souls, try with love, with much love, with all your love; and if that is useless... punish because Jesus who is our model, taught us this, creating Paradise but also Hell.

5. If God does not offer you sweetness, then you must still be content, patiently eating your bread, even if it is dry, doing your duty without any compensation, for the present. By doing this our love for God is selfless, and one loves and serves God in this way at one's own expense, a behaviour that pertains to perfect souls.

6. The more bitterness you have, the more love you will receive.

7. A single act of love of God, made during a period of aridity is worth more than a hundred made with affection and consolation.

8. This heart of mine is Yours... my Jesus, so take this heart of mine, fill it with Your love and then order me to do whatever You wish.

9. God loves us, and this is shown by the fact that He tolerates us when we offend Him.

10. Be cheerful. Jesus will take care of everything. Let us pay no attention to people who do not know what they are saying. Let us trust in Jesus and our heavenly Mother, and everything will work out well.

11. Love Jesus, love Him a lot, but for this you must love sacrifice more. Love should be bitter.

12. Courage. Suffice it for us to know that Jesus loves us greatly.

13. The human spirit without the flame of divine love tends to reach the level of the beast, while on the other hand, charity, the love of God, raises it up so high that it can reach even to the throne of God. Give thanks without ever growing weary for the liberality of such a good Father and ask Him to increase holy charity more and more in your heart.

14. You will never complain about offences, no matter where they come from, remembering that Jesus was saturated with ignominy from the malice of men He Himself had aided.
You will excuse everyone with Christian charity, keeping before your eyes the example of the divine Master who excused even his crucifiers before the Father.

15. Jesus and your soul must cultivate the vine in agreement. Your task is to remove the stones, pull away the thorns. Jesus is to sow, plant, cultivate and water. But even in your work there is the work of Jesus. Without Him, you can do nothing.

16. We must not stop doing good even if it scandalizes the Pharisees.

17. Remember: the sinner who is ashamed of his bad deeds is closer to God than the just man who is ashamed of acting well.

18. Time spent for the glory of God and the health of the soul is never wasted.

19. I wholeheartedly bless the work of catechizing children, who are the little flowers of Jesus. I also bless the work of supporting missionaries.

20. All of us are not called by God to save souls and propagate his glory by the noble apostolate of preaching... but one can promote God's glory and work for the salvation of souls by means of a truly Christian life, by praying without ceasing that "his Kingdom come..." that "we may not be led into temptation" and that "He deliver us from evil." This is what you ought to do offering yourself continually to the Lord for this purpose.

21. Arise once more, oh Lord, and confirm in your grace, those whom you confided to me, and don't permit any of them to be lost, deserting the nest.

22. I belong entirely to everyone. Everyone can say: "Padre Pio is mine." I deeply love my brothers in exile. I love my spiritual children as much as my own soul and even more. I have regenerated them to Jesus through suffering and love. I can forget myself but not my spiritual children, indeed I can assure you that when the Lord calls me I will say to Him: "Lord, I will remain at the gates of Paradise; I will go in when I have seen the last of my children enter."
I suffer so much because I cannot win all my brothers for God. At times I am on the point of dying of heartache on seeing so many suffering souls without being able to relieve them and so many brothers allied to Satan.

23. Life is nothing but a continual struggle against oneself, and it does not open to beauty without the price of suffering.
Always keep Jesus company in Gethsemane and He will know how to comfort you in the hours of anguish that will come.

24. There is one thing I absolutely cannot stand and it is this: if I have to rebuke someone, I am always ready; but I cannot bear to see someone else do it. To see someone humiliated or mortified like this is unbearable for me.

25. May God be pleased to see that these poor creatures truly repent and retum to Him. One must truly be a mother towards all those people and have great care for them, because Jesus tells us that there is more festivity in Heaven for the sinner who repents than for the perseverance of ninety nine just people. These words of the Redeemer are truly comforting to many souls who unfortunately sin, and who then want to repent and return to Jesus.

26. The woes of humanity: these are thoughts for everyone.

27. Don't try, excessively, to heal your heart, as your efforts would only make it more infirm. Don't make too great an effort to overcome your temptations, as this violence would only make them stronger. Despise them and don't dwell on them too much.

28. Do good everywhere, so that everyone can say: "This is a son of Christ."
Endure tribulation, sickness and pain for love of God and for the conversion of poor sinners. Defend the weak, console those who weep.

29. Don't worry about taking up my time, because the time best spent is that spent in the sanctification of souls, and I don't know how to thank our heavenly Father when He presents me some souls that I can help in some way.


30. Never has the thought of revenge crossed my mind. I have prayed for the slanderers and I pray. If anything, sometimes I have said to the Lord: "Lord if to convert them a lash is necessary, then give it to me so that they may be saved."

October
1. Walk with simplicity in the ways of the Lord and do not torment your spirit. You must hate your faults, but with a quiet hate, not troublesome and restless. We must be patient with them and gain from them through holy humility. Without that patience, instead of diminishing, your imperfections will increase constantly, as there is nothing that nourishes our defects like restlessness, and the haste to drive them away.

2. Beware of anxiety and restlessness because there is nothing that more greatly impedes progress towards perfection. Sweetly place your heart in the wounds of our Lord, but not with force. Have great confidence in His mercy, because He will never abandon you. But do not fail, for this reason, to tightly embrace His holy Cross.

3. Don't be upset when you are unable to meditate, receive Communion or carry out all the pious practices. In the meantime, try to make up for this in a different manner, by keeping yourself united to our Lord with a loving will, with ejaculatory prayers and spiritual Communions.

4. Let us walk always, even with slow steps, as long as we have good intentions, we cannot but make progress. No, it is not necessary to be always attentive to everything for the exercise of the virtues.

5. Drive away, once and for all, every perplexity and anxiety, and enjoy in peace, the most sweet pains of the Beloved.

6. May your sermon be continual self-sacrifice; be discreet wherever you go and be like the smile of God.

7. I truly feel my heart bursting from my breast on hearing of your suffering. What wouldn't I do to see you relieved of it. But why are you so anxious? Why are you so restless? Come on, my dear daughter, I have never seen Jesus grant you so many jewels as He does now. I have never seen you so dear to Jesus as you are now. So why do you tremble and fear? Your fear and trembling is similar to that of a child in the arms of its mother. So your fear is useless and silly.

8. I have nothing to complain of in particular, except this rather bitter agitation of yours, which prevents you from tasting all the sweetness of the Cross. Correct this, and continue to do what you have been doing so well up to now.

9. I beg you not to worry about what I am suffering at present and will suffer in the future. No matter how severe this suffering is, when it is placed before the good that awaits us, it is always a delight for the soul.

10. Be tranquil as far as your soul is concerned. Confide totally, more and more, in Jesus. Make an effort to unite yourself always and in everything to the divine will, both in happy and sad events, and don't worry about the future.

11. Do not fear as regards your spirit: they are jokes, trials and signs of predilection on the part of the heavenly Spouse who wants to make you similar to Him. Jesus sees the disposition and good will of your soul, which is excellent, and He accepts and rewards this, and not your incapabilities and inabilities, so be tranquil.

12. Don't tire yourself with things that cause anxieties, perturbation and worries. Only one thing is necessary, to lift up your spirit and love God.

13. You are searching feverishly for the Supreme Good, but in truth, He is within you, keeping you stretched out on the naked Cross, breathing strength into you to bear the intolerable torment, and love, that you may bitterly love the Love. Your fear of having lost Him, then, is altogether futile, for He is quite near and clasps you to Himself. Equally futile is your anxiety for the future, since the present is a crucifixion of love.

14. Those souls who throw themselves into the whirlpool of worldly preoccupations are poor and unfortunate. The more they love the world, the more their passions multiply; the more their desires are lit, the more they find themselves incapable of carrying out their projects, and thus they are uneasy, impatient, terrible shocks break their hearts; those hearts which do not beat with charity and holy love. Let us pray for these unfortunate and miserable souls, that Jesus may forgive them and draw them to Himself in his infinite mercy.

15. You must not behave violently unless you wish to risk gaining nothing. You must have great Christian prudence.

16. Remember that I am the enemy of useless desires, no less than I am of dangerous and bad desires. Because even though one's desires are good, nevertheless the desire is always defective in our regard, especially when it is combined with excessive concern. Because God does not expect this sort of good, but He wants us to practise another.

17. As regards the spiritual trials to which the paternal goodness of the heavenly Father is subjecting you, I beg you to be resigned and if possible tranquil on the assurances of he who takes the place of God, and who speaks to you in his name; who loves you in Him and who desires every blessing for you. You are suffering, it is true, but with resignation. You are suffering, but do not fear, because God is with you and you don't offend Him, but you love Him. You are suffering, but believe that Jesus is suffering within you, with you, and for you.

18. Nor should you become confused, trying to understand whether you consented or not. Do everything with an upright intention; this uprightness which must always be present in your actions, and whenever you valiantly and generously fight the evil tricks of the evil spirit.

19. Always be happily at peace with your conscience, reflecting that you are in the service of an infinitely good Father, who comes down to his creature out of sheer goodness, to raise and transform him in Him his Creator.
And dispel sadness, because this enters in the hearts of those who are attached to the things of this world.

20. You should not be discouraged, because if there is in the soul a continual effort to improve, the Lord will finally reward you by suddenly making all the virtues blossom in you as in a garden full of flowers.

21. Do not be saddened by the sad spectacle of human injustice; even this has its value in the economy of things. It is over this that you will one day see arise the inevitable triumph of the justice of God!

22. Proverbs praises the strong woman: "She puts her hands to the distaff," we are told, and I willingly say a few words to you on this matter: Your distaff is the accumulation of your desires. Therefore spin a little every day, thread by thread weave your design until it is finished and you will infallibly succeed. But be careful not to hurry, because you will tangle the thread with knots and confuse the spindle. Therefore, advance always, and even if you progress at a slow pace, you will still travel far.

23. Anxiety is one of the greatest traitors that real virtue and solid devotion can ever have. It pretends to warm us to do good works, but doesn't and we grow cold; it makes us run only to make us trip. One must be careful of this on all occasions particularly at prayer. And to better succeed it would be well to remember that graces and the consolations of prayer are not waters of this earth, but of Heaven, and that therefore all our efforts are not sufficient to make them fall, even though it is necessary to prepare oneself with great diligence, but always humbly and tranquilly; one must keep one's heart turned to Heaven and wait from there the heavenly dew.

24. Why should you worry if Jesus wants to make you reach the heavenly homeland through deserts or fields, when we get to blessed eternity anyway either by one or the other? Cast aside all excessive preoccupations that derive from the trials the good God sends you; and if this is not possible, do not think about it and be resigned in everything to the divine will.

25. Let us keep well in mind what the divine Master said: in our patience we will possess our souls.

26. Don't lose heart if it is your lot to work a lot and gather little. If you considered what one soul alone costs Jesus, you would never complain.

27. The Spirit of God is a spirit of peace and even in the most serious faults He makes us feel a sorrow that is tranquil, humble, and confident and this is precisely because of his mercy.
The spirit of the devil, instead, excites, exasperates and makes us feel, in that very sorrow, anger against ourselves, whereas we should on the contrary be charitable with ourselves first and foremost.
Therefore if any thought agitates you, this agitation never comes from God, who gives you peace, being the Spirit of Peace, but from the devil.

28. If we are calm and patient, we will not only find ourselves, but also our souls and, with it, God.

29 The struggle we have prior to a good work we intend to do is like the antiphon that precedes the solemn psalm to be sung.

30. The desire to be in eternal peace is good and holy, but you must moderate this with complete resignation to the divine will. It is better to do the divine will on earth, than to enjoy Paradise. To suffer and not to die, was Saint Teresa's motto. Purgatory is sweet when one suffers for love of God.


31. Patience is more perfect when it is less mixed up with worries and disturbances. If the good God wants to prolong the time of trial, do not complain or try to investigate the reason, but remember the following: That the children of Israel travelled for forty years in the desert before setting foot in the Promised Land.

November
1. Duty before everything else, even before what is holy.

2. My children, to remain like this, unable to do my duty, is useless, it is better that I die!

3. One day a spiritual son asked him: Father, how can I increase my love? Reply: By doing your duty with exactitude and upright intentions and observing the law of the Lord. If you do this with constancy and perseverance, your love will grow.

4. In order to aim at perfection it is necessary to take the greatest care to do everything in order to please God and to try to avoid even the smallest fault; to do one's duty and everything else with more generosity.

5. Always and in everything let there be more uprightness of intention, more exactitude, more punctuality, more generosity in serving the Lord and then you will be as the Lord wants you.

6. Reflect on what you write, because the Lord will ask you to account for it. Be careful, journalist! May the Lord grant you the satisfactions you desire in your career.

7. You too, doctors, you came to the world as I did with a mission to accomplish. Take note: I speak to you of duties when everyone talks about rights.... You have the mission of curing the sick, but if you do not bring love to the bed of the patient, I do not think the medicines will be of much use.... Love cannot do without words. How can you express it if not with words that relieve the patient spiritually? Bring God to the patient. It will be worth more than any other cure.

8. Be like little spiritual bees, bringing nothing into their hive but honey and wax. May your home be full of sweetness, peace, agreement, humility and piety as regards conversation.

9. Make Christian use of your money and savings and then so much misery will disappear and so many suffering bodies and afflicted beings will find relief and comfort.

10. Not only do I find nothing wrong in your returning the visits to your acquaintances, but I consider it to be an absolute duty. Mercy is useful in all situations and is adaptable to everything in accordance with the circumstances, except when it involves sin. By all means return the visits and you will also have the reward of obedience and the Lord's blessing.

11. I see that all the seasons of the year can be found in your souls. Sometimes you feel the winter of much sterility, distractions, listlessness and boredom; sometimes the dews of the month of May with the perfume of holy little flowers (small sacrifices); sometimes the heat of the desire to please our divine Spouse. Nothing remains but the autumn in which you don't see much fruit, but it often happens that when the grain is threshed and the grapes crushed, there is a bigger harvest than the harvesting promised.

12. I beseech you, for the love of God, do not fear God, because He doesn't want to do you any harm at all. Love Him a great deal because He wants to do you a great deal of good. Walk simply, with certainty in your resolutions, and reject the reflections of spirit concerning your suffering, treating them as cruel temptations.

13. Be totally resigned in the hands of our Lord, giving Him your remaining years, and always pray Him that you may live a life which is pleasing to Him. Don't worry about useless promises of tranquillity, enjoyment or merits, but present your hearts to your divine Spouse, totally emptying it of all other affections, except his chaste love. And beseech Him to fill it purely and simply with actions, desires and a will which pertain to his love, so that your hearts, like mother of pearl, do not conceive anything, except with the dew of Heaven, and not with the water of the world.

14. May the Lord bless you and render the family yoke less heavy for you. Always be good. Remember that there are difficult duties in marriage that only divine grace can facilitate. Always be worthy of this grace. May the Lord preserve you unto the third and fourth generation.

15. In family life have strong convictions, smile in the face of self-denial and in the constant sacrifice of your whole self.

16. The principal self-denial takes place in the home.

17. There is nothing more nauseating than a woman, especially if she is married, who is fickle, frivolous and haughty.
The Christian wife must be a woman of sound piety towards God, an angel of peace in the family, dignified and pleasant towards others.

18. God gave me my poor sister, and God has taken her away. Blessed be his holy name. In this resignation and exclamation I find the strength to avoid giving way to sorrow. I exhort you, too, to resign yourselves to the divine will, and you will find, like me, relief for your sorrow.

19. May God's blessing accompany, sustain and guide you! Form a Christian family if you want a little bit of peace in this life. May the Lord give you children and then the grace to direct them on the way to Heaven.

20. Courage, courage, children are not nails.

21. Take comfort then, my dear lady, take comfort, because the sustaining arm of the Lord has not been shortened. Oh yes, He is the Father of all, but He is more so for the unhappy and even more so for you who are a widow, and a widowed mother.

22. Place all your worries in God alone, because He has the greatest care of you, and those three angelic children with whom He has blessed you. By their conduct, these children will be a comfort and consolation to you during your lifetime. Take care, not so much of their scientific as of their moral education. And you should take this very seriously, and guard it as the pupil of your eye. As you educate their minds with good studies, assure the education of their hearts, along with that of our holy religion; one without the other causes a mortal wound to the human heart.

23. Why is there evil in the world? Listen carefully. There is a mother who is embroidering. Her son sitting on a low stool sees her work, but upside down. He sees the knots of the embroidery; the tangled threads, and says: "Mother, what are you doing? Your work is not at all clear?"
Then the mother lowers the embroidery frame and shows the right side of her work. Each colour is in its place and the variety of threads form a harmonious design.
So, we are seeing the reverse side of the embroidery. We are sitting on the low stool.

24. I hate sin! Our country would be fortunate if, as mother of law, it would perfect the laws and customs in the light of honesty and Christian principles.

25. The Lord points out and calls, but we do not want to see and answer because we prefer our own interests.
It also sometimes happens that because the voice is always audible, we no longer hear it; but the Lord enlightens and calls. It is man who puts himself in the position of no longer being able to hear.

26. There are such sublime joys and such deep sufferings that words cannot express them. Silence is the last resort of the soul in ineffable joy as in extreme affliction.

27. We must become accustomed to the sufferings which Jesus will be pleased to send us. Jesus, who cannot bear to keep you in a state of affliction at length, will come to help and comfort you, by instilling new courage in your spirit.

28. All human ideas, from wherever they come, can be both good and bad. One must learn to assimilate all the good and offer it to God, eliminating the bad.

29. It is a great grace to begin to serve this good God when youth renders one susceptible to everything. Oh how this offering, by which one offers the flowers and the first fruits of the tree, is appreciated. And what can restrain you from making a total offering of your entire self to the good God, by deciding, once and for all, to give the world, the devil and the flesh a kick, as our god-parents did for us in a determined manner when they held us at Baptism? Perhaps the Lord does not deserve this further sacrifice from you?


30. Remember that God is in us when we are in the state of grace and outside of us, so to speak, when we are in a state of sin; but his angel never abandons us. He is our most sincere and faithful friend when we do not make the mistake of saddening him with our wicked conduct.

December
1. Take no notice, my son, let them publish what they like. I fear God's judgement and not that of men. Only sin is to be feared because it offends God and dishonours us.

2. Divine Goodness not only does not reject repentant souls, but even goes in search of obstinate ones.

3. When you are in a state of abjection imitate the kingfishers who build their nests on the masts of ships, which are raised above the earth. Raise your heart and your thoughts to God who alone can console you and give you the strength to sustain your trials in a holy way.

4. Your Kingdom is not far away, allow us to participate in Your triumph on earth to then participate in Your Kingdom in Heaven. Grant that, being unable to contain the communication of Your charity, we preach Your divine Regality by our example and good works. Take possession of our hearts in time to possess them in eternity. Keep us under Your sceptre so that neither life nor death can separate us from You. Let our lives be drawn from You in large draughts of love which will then extend over humanity and let us die at every moment to live only for You and keep You in our hearts.

5. Let us do good while we still have time, and we will render glory to our heavenly Father, sanctify ourselves, and give good example to others.

6. When you are unable to take big steps on the path that leads to God, be content with little steps, patiently waiting until you have the legs to run; or better still, wings to fly. Be content with being, for now, a little bee in a hive, which will soon become a big bee, capable of producing honey.

7. Lovingly humble yourself before God and man, because God speaks to the humble. Love silence, because much talk is never without sin. Withdraw into yourself as much as you can, because, in this way, the Lord speaks freely to the soul, and the soul is more able to listen to his voice. Cut down on your visits to people, and bear those visits made to you in a Christian manner.

8. God is served only when He is served as He wishes to be.

9. In short, don't philosophize on your defects; don't reply but carry on firmly. No, God could not lose you when, in order to avoid losing Him you persist in your resolutions. Let the world turn upside down, let everything be in darkness, in smoke, in confusion, but God is with us, what can we fear therefore? If God lives in the darkness and on Mount Sinai amidst the thunder and lightning, shouldn't we be happy, knowing we are close to Him?

10. Thank God and gently kiss his hand which strikes you; it is always the hand of a Father who strikes because He loves you.

11. Fear is an evil worse than evil itself.

12. To doubt is the greatest insult to Divinity.

13. It is by means of trials that God binds to Him the souls He loves.

14. He who attaches himself to the earth remains attached to it. It is better to detach oneself little by little instead of all at once. Let us always think of Heaven.

15. To fear losing yourself in the arms of divine Goodness, is stranger than the fear of an infant held tightly in its mother's arms.

16. You must cultivate this well-formed heart, carefully, and spare nothing which could be useful to its happiness. Even though in every season - that is, at every age - you can and must do this, your present age is the most suitable.

17. As regards your reading there is very little to be admired and hardly anything by which to be edified. It is absolutely necessary for you to add to such reading that of the holy books (Sacred Scripture) so highly recommended by all the holy Fathers of the Church. I cannot dispense you from such spiritual reading, for I have your perfection too much at heart. If you want to gain the quite unhoped-for fruit from such reading, it will be well to rid yourself of the prejudice you have with regard to the style and form in which these holy books are set forth.
Get to work then. Make an effort in this respect and don't neglect to ask the divine assistance with all humility.

18. All the feasts of the Church are beautiful. Easter, yes, is glorification but Christmas has a tenderness, a child-like sweetness that completely captivates my heart.

19. May the Holy Family never withdraw its loving gaze from you and your family. Model yourselves on it and you will have peace, and spiritual and temporal well-being.

20. Poverty, humility, degradation, contempt surround the Word made flesh. But from the darkness in which this Word made flesh is enveloped, we understand one thing, we hear a voice, we catch a glimpse of a sublime truth. All this He has done out of love, and He does nothing but invite us to love; He speaks of nothing else but love; He gives nothing but proof of love.

21. Stay very close to the crib of this most beautiful Child, especially during these days of his birth. If you love riches, here you will find the gold the Kings left Him. If you love the smoke of honours, here you will find that of incense. And if you love the delicacy of the senses, you will smell the perfumed myrrh which perfumes the entire holy stable.

22. May the Child Jesus be your guiding star in the desert of this present life.

23. Faith also guides us and we follow securely in its light the way which leads to God, His homeland, just as the holy Magi, guided by the star, symbol of faith, reached the desired place.

24. Don't let your zeal be bitter, fussy, aggravating or a cause of uneasiness, but let it be free from all defects: Let it be sweet, benevolent, gracious, peaceful and uplifting. Ah, who cannot see the dear little Infant of Bethlehem in the event for which we are preparing? Who does not see his incomparable love for souls? He comes to die in order to save, and He is so humble, sweet and lovable.

25. Live joyfully and courageously, at least in the upper part of the soul, amidst the trials in which the Lord places you. Live joyfully and courageously, I repeat, because the Angel who foretells the birth of our little Saviour and Lord, announces singing, and sings announcing that he brings tidings of joy, peace and happiness to men of goodwill. So that there is nobody who does not know that in order to receive this Child it is sufficient to be of goodwill.

26. From the time of his birth Jesus points out our mission, which is to despise what the world loves and seeks.

27. Jesus calls the poor and simple shepherds by means of angels to manifest Himself to them. He calls the learned men by means of their science. And all of them moved interiorly by grace hasten to adore Him. He calls all of us with divine inspirations and He communicates Himself to us with his grace. How many times has He not lovingly invited us also? And with what promptitude have we replied? My God I blush and am filled with confusion at having to reply to such a question.

28. The worldly, engulfed in their affairs, live in obscurity and error, nor do they try to learn about God, or give a thought to their eternal salvation, or try to find out about the coming of that longed-for Messiah who was awaited by men and prophesied and predicted by the prophets.

29. And yet, once our last hour has come, and our hearts have ceased to beat, everything will be finished for us and the time to merit as well as to demerit. We will present ourselves to Christ the Judge just as death finds us. Our cries of supplication, our tears, our sighs of repentance, which while still on earth would have won God's heart, could have made us with the help of the sacraments, saints out of sinners, today is worthless; the time of mercy is passed, now begins the time of justice.

30. It is difficult to become saints. Difficult but not impossible. The road to perfection is long, just as long as a lifetime. Consolation is rest along the way, but as soon as your strength is restored, you must get up diligently and continue the race.

31. The palm of victory is reserved only for those who fight up to the end. Therefore let us begin this year our holy battle. God will assist us and crown us with eternal triumph.