Devotion to Padre Pio: his thoughts today August 22nd

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!