Devotion to Padre Pio: his thought of June 9th

1. Does not the Holy Spirit tell us that as the soul approaches God it must prepare itself for temptation? Therefore, courage, my good daughter; fight hard and you will have the prize reserved for strong souls.

2. After the Pater, the Ave Maria is the most beautiful prayer.

3. Woe to those who do not keep themselves honest! They not only lose all human respect, but how much they cannot occupy any civil office ... Therefore we are always honest, chasing away every bad thought from our mind, and we are always with our hearts turned to God, who created us and placed us on earth to know him love him and serve him in this life and then enjoy him eternally in the other.

4. I know that the Lord allows these assaults on the devil because his mercy makes you dear to him and wants you to resemble him in the anxieties of the desert, of the garden, of the cross; but you must defend yourselves by distancing him and despising his evil insinuations in the name of God and holy obedience.

5. Observe well: provided that temptation will displease you, there is nothing to fear. But why are you sorry, if not because you don't want to hear her?
These temptations so importunate come from the malice of the devil, but the sorrow and suffering that we suffer from them come from the mercy of God, who, against the will of our enemy, withdraws from his malice the holy tribulation, by means of which he purifies the gold he wants to put in his treasures.
I say again: your temptations are of the devil and hell, but your pains and afflictions are of God and of heaven; the mothers are from Babylon, but the daughters are from Jerusalem. He despises temptations and embraces tribulations.
No, no, my daughter, let the wind blow and don't think that the ringing of the leaves is the sound of weapons.

6. Do not try to overcome your temptations because this effort would strengthen them; despise them and do not hold back on them; represent in your imaginations Jesus Christ crucified in your arms and on your breasts, and say kissing his side several times: Here is my hope, here is the living source of my happiness! I will hold you tight, O my Jesus, and I will not leave you until you have placed me in a safe place.

7. End it with these vain apprehensions. Remember that it is not sentiment that constitutes guilt but consent to such sentiments. Free will alone is capable of good or evil. But when the will groans under the tempter's test and does not want what is presented to it, not only is there no fault, but there is virtue.

8. Temptations do not dismay you; they are the proof of the soul that God wants to experience when he sees it in the forces necessary to sustain the fight and weave the wreath of glory with his own hands.
Up to now your life was in infancy; now the Lord wants to treat you as an adult. And since the tests of adult life are much higher than those of an infant, that is why you are initially disorganized; but the life of the soul will acquire its calm and your calm will return, it will not be late. Have a little more patience; everything will be for your best.

9. Temptations against faith and purity are goods offered by the enemy, but do not fear him except with contempt. As long as he cries, it is a sign that he has not yet taken possession of the will.
Thou shalt not be disturbed by what you are experiencing on the part of this rebel angel; the will is always contrary to its suggestions, and live calmly, because there is no fault, but rather there is the pleasure of God and the gain for your soul.

10. You must have recourse to him in the assaults of the enemy, you must hope in him and you must expect every good from him. Do not voluntarily stop on what the enemy presents to you. Remember that whoever runs away wins; and you owe the first movements of aversion against those people to withdraw their thoughts and appeal to God. Before him bend your knee and with great humility repeat this short prayer: "Have mercy on me, who am a poor sick person". Then get up and with holy indifference continue your chores.

11. Keep it in mind that the more the assaults of the enemy grow, the closer God is to the soul. Think and interpenetrate well of this great and comforting truth.

12. Take heart and do not fear Lucifer's dark ire. Remember this forever: that it is a good sign when the enemy roars and roars around your will, since this shows that he is not inside.
Courage, my beloved daughter! I utter this word with a great feeling and, in Jesus, courage, I say: there is no need to fear, while we can say with resolution, although without feeling: Long live Jesus!

13. Keep in mind that the more a soul is pleasing to God, the more it must be tried. Therefore courage and always go on.

14. I understand that temptations seem to stain rather than purify the spirit, but let's hear what the language of the saints is, and in this regard it suffices to know, among many, what St. Francis de Sales says: that temptations are like soap, which widespread on the clothes seems to smear them and in truth purify them.

15. Confidence I always inculcate you; nothing can fear a soul who trusts in his Lord and places his hope in him. The enemy of our health is also always around us to snatch from our heart the anchor that must lead us to salvation, I mean confidence in God our Father; hold on tight, hold this anchor, never allow it to abandon us for a moment, otherwise everything would be lost.

16. We increase our devotion to Our Lady, let's honor her with true filial love in all ways.

17. Oh, what happiness in spiritual battles! Just wanting to always know how to fight to certainly emerge victorious.

18. Walk with simplicity in the way of the Lord and do not torment your spirit.
You must hate your flaws, but with a quiet hatred and not already annoying and restless.

19. Confession, which is the washing of the soul, must be made every eight days at the latest; I don't feel like keeping souls away from confession for more than eight days.

20. The devil has only one door to enter our soul: the will; there are no secret doors.
No sin is such unless it was committed with the will. When the will has nothing to do with sin, it has nothing to do with human weakness.

21. The devil is like an angry dog ​​on the chain; beyond the limit of the chain he cannot bite anyone.
And you then stay away. If you get too close, you get caught.

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

23. Our enemy, conjured against us, becomes stronger with the weak, but with whoever confronts him with the weapon in his hand, he becomes a coward.

24. Unfortunately, the enemy will always be in our ribs, but let us remember, however, that the Virgin watches over us. So let us recommend ourselves to her, reflect on her and we are sure that the victory belongs to those who trust in this great Mother.

25. If you manage to overcome the temptation, this has the effect that the lye has on messy laundry.

26. I would suffer death countless times, before offending the Lord with my eyes open.

27. With thought and confession one must not go back to the sins accused in previous confessions. Because of our contrition, Jesus forgave them in the penance court. There he found himself before us and our miseries as a creditor in front of an insolvent debtor. With a gesture of infinite generosity he tore apart, destroyed the promissory notes signed by us by sinning, and which we certainly could not have paid without the help of his divine clemency. Going back to those faults, wanting to resurrect them only to still have their forgiveness, only for the doubt that they have not been really and largely remitted, would perhaps not be considered as an act of mistrust towards the goodness of which he had shown, tearing himself every title of the debt contracted by us by sinning? ... Come back, if this can be a reason of comfort to our souls, let your thoughts also turn to the offenses caused to justice, to wisdom, to the infinite mercy of God: but only to cry over them the redemptive tears of repentance and love.

28. In the tumultuar of passions and adverse events, the dear hope of his inexhaustible mercy sustains us: we run confidently to the tribunal of penance, where he anxiously awaits us at father's moment; and, while aware of our insolvency before him, we do not doubt the solemn forgiveness pronounced on our errors. We place on them, as the Lord has placed it, a sepulchral stone!

29. Walk happily and with a sincere and open heart as much as you can, and when you cannot always maintain this holy joy, at least never lose courage and confidence in God.

30. The trials to which the Lord submits and will subject you are all marks of divine delight and gems for the soul. My dear, winter will pass and the interminable spring will be all the more full of beauties, the harsher the storms.