THE WAY OF PADRE PIO
The acts of penance and reparation offer both the one praying and the one being prayed for the purification of soul. The greatest act and foundation for reparation and expiation of sin is the sacrifice of the Mass. Therefore, every act of penance and reparation must be united to the sacrifice of the Mass. It is the standard for expiation and forgiveness. Without this, the soul is under the Old Law and judged by it. St. Faustina tells us why:
PENANCE AND REPARATION
"God will refuse me nothing when I entreat Him with the voice of His Son. My sacrifice is nothing in itself, but when I join it to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, it becomes all-powerful, and has the power to appease divine wrath."3
The finite is immersed into the Infinite. It is the infinite value of love that gives value to the finite act of suffering when we join it to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Only the Infinite can appease the Infinite.
The prayer of penance shows sorrow and remorse on behalf of the penitent; the act of reparation offers to amend a wrong—often per- formed with great difficulty and pain, to demonstrate the sincerity and sorrow of the act for which the reparation is offered.
In granting St. Faustina a request for the conversion of others, Jesus said, “Every conversion of a sinful soul demands sacrifice.”4 This tells us the need for and value of sacrifice. Sacrifice is expressed through penance and reparation.
The sacrifice of reparation and penance through suffering, united to the Sacrifice of the Mass, through the power of the Holy Spirit, enables our suffering to have meaning, clarity, and purpose. These acts sanctify ourselves and others. They not only compensate for the sin. They alter the nature that caused it, through self-denial, thereby, purifying the will and uniting it to God. Jesus, using the act of sacrifice, explained the difference between knowing about His Passion and participating in it as a way to participate in His nature.
As St. Faustina was suffering in her obedience, Jesus told her, “But when your mind is dimmed and your sufferings are great, it is then that you take an active part in My Passion, and I am conforming you more fully to Myself.”5 Suffering absorbs us into the very being of God whereby our bodies become His and our souls belong completely to Him. As He bore our guilt and expiated it through suffering, so we can, in our suffering, help Him rescue souls from sin. This is why Jesus said to St. Faustina, “I have need of your sufferings to rescue souls.”6 Our suffering, united to His, completes what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of His body, which is the church (Colossians 1:24). Such is the cornerstone of penance and reparation when united to His suffering on the Cross.
Penance
When we offer penance for our sins, we offer remorse. In the act of reconciliation, confession, we bring our sins committed in darkness into the light. We place them on the altar before God and acknowledge our sin. This is the beginning of healing and cleansing of the soul. St. Pio told one penitent that although the saint knew his sins, the penitent still had to confess them. He also told his children to attend confession every eight days. He knew the value and importance of confession so much he spent two-thirds of the day at it.
A god-fearing spiritual director is a great grace from God. Without the confessor God gave to St. Faustina, she could not have completed the work He gave her to do. Jesus explained to her,
“And now I am going to tell you something that is most important for you: boundless sincerity with your spiritual director. If you do not take advantage of this grace according to My instructions, I will take him away from you, and then you will be left to yourself and all the torments, which you know very well, will return to you. It displeases Me that you do not take advantage of the opportunity when you are able to see him and talk with him. Know that it is a great grace on My part when I give a spiritual director to a soul.”7
Reparation
Reparation is an act of sacrifice offered to God to make amends for an offense. The value of the sacrifice we offer as reparation for our sin is expressed in the degree of suffering we give to Christ. The reparation can be for ourselves, or another. Reparations help to mortify our self-will, to purify us and bring us closer to Him. The act causes us to come out of ourselves, to deny our will and seek His. We offer reparation for the sorrow we feel for our past behavior and the need to make it right. In our desire to be closer to Him or to help another, we offer a sacrifice as an offering to intensify a request made and to amend a wrong. We seek to purify our soul in light of His holiness through these sacrifices. A reparation is a sacrifice.
“Daughter, I need sacrifice lovingly accomplished because that alone has meaning for Me. Enormous indeed are the debts of the world... pure souls can pay them by their sacrifice, exercising mercy in spirit.”9 (Jesus to St. Faustina)
Acts of reparation relieve us of self-will and allow Christ to enter and, thereby, sanctify us. The sanctification of soul brings power and strength to our prayer of intercession.
“I have granted the grace you asked for on behalf of that soul, but not because of the mor- tification you choose for yourself. Rather, it was because of your act of complete obedience to My representative that I granted this grace to that soul for whom you interceded and begged mercy. Know that when you mortify your own self-will, then Mine reigns within you.”10 (Jesus to St. Faustina)
These acts of reparation strive against our sinful nature: anger, impatience, lack of faith, distrust, desires of the flesh, etc. They obtain for us the graces needed to remove all that is not of the Father from our lives. They are our cross we must pick up daily. “Just as the body needs nourishment, so does the soul need the cross, day after day, to purify it and detach it from creatures”11 (Padre Pio).
Acts of reparation can include fasting, rising early to pray and read scripture, completing a deed of charity for a person we do not care for, praying for someone God has placed on our hearts, attend- ing reconciliation monthly, daily Mass, volunteering for a position at church, or attending adoration, and of course, praying the Rosary. Reparation is as different as the person completing it. Remember, the greater the sacrifice (reparation), the purer the love, the greater the power to intercede.
“My daughter, I want to instruct you on how you are to rescue souls through sacrifice and prayer. You will save more souls through prayer and suffering than will a missionary through his teachings and sermons alone. I want to see you as a sacrifice of living love, which only then carries weight before Me... And great will be your power for whomever you intercede.”12 (Italics mine)
Suffering, pain, sacrifice—we cannot escape these undeniable virtues. They are weapons against sin when united to the sacrifice of the Cross; freely given, they empower Christ to move in our lives and others.
In St. Pio’s Own Words
“O God, show Yourself more and more to this poor heart of mine, and complete in me the work You have begun. I hear deep within me, a voice which says to me repeatedly—sanctify yourself and sanctify others.”25
“It is the Lord who works within you, and you must do nothing except leave the door of your heart wide open so that He may work as He pleases.”26
“Oh 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.”27
“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.”28
(Excerpts from The Way of Padre Pio, Christian Faith Publishing, 2023)
____________________________
3. Michalenko, p. 110 (#482).
4. Ibid, p. 163 (#961).
5. Ibid, p. 257 (#1697).
6. Ibid, p. 242, (#1612).
7. Ibid, p. 233 (#1561).
9. Michalenko, p. 197 (#1316).
10. Kowalska, p. 164 (#365).
11. Pio, 2018, p. 44.
12. Kowalska. p. 627 (#1767).
25. Allen, 2012, p. 363.
26. Pio, 1999, p. 70.
27. Pio, 2018, p. 122.
28. Ibid, p. 44.
MORE ON PENANCE AND REPARATION
“You will save more souls through prayer and suffering than a missionary through his teachings and sermons alone.”
Jesus to Saint Faustina 1
“I have never made more progress in the spiritual life as when I began to devote my life to praying for others."
St. Therese of Lisieux
“The soul cannot live without love. She always wants to love something because love is the stuff she is made of, and through love I created her. …, That is why I have put you among your neighbors: so that you can do for them what you cannot do for Me – that is, love them without any concern for thanks and without looking for any profit for yourself.”
St. Catherine of Sienna
“There is but one price at which a soul is bought, suffering united to My suffering on the Cross.”
Jesus to St. Faustina
“I recall that I have received most light during Adoration which I made lying prostrate before the Blessed Sacrament for half a hour everyday throughout Lent."
St. Faustina
The Church has Days of Penance we are to observe:
“The Divine Law binds all the Christian faithful to do penance each in his or her own way. In order for all to be united among themselves by some common observance of penance, however, penitential days are prescribed on which the Christian faithful devote themselves in a special way to prayer, perform works of piety and charity, and deny themselves by fulfilling their own obligations more faithfully and especially by observing fast and abstinence,
according to the norm of the Canon."
Code of Canon Law: Chapter Two: 1249
“I want to see you as a living sacrifice of love, which only then carries weight before Me…
and great will be your power for whomever you intercede.”
Jesus to St. Faustina
“I have granted the grace you asked for on behalf of that soul, but not because of the mortification you choose for yourself. Rather, it was because of your act of complete obedience to My representative that I granted this grace to that soul for whom you interceded and begged mercy. Know that when you mortify your own self-will, then Mine reigns within you."
Jesus to St. Faustina
“Oh, how I like those little mortifications that are seen by nobody, such as rising a quarter of a hour sooner, rising for a little while in the night to pray.”
St. Vianney
“And I saw that nothing truly happens by accident or luck, but everything by God’s wise providence…for matters that have been in God’s for seeing wisdom, since before time began, befall us suddenly, all unawares; and so in our blindness and ignorance we say that this is an accident or luck, but to our LORD it is not so.”
St. Juliana of Norwich
“When I speak of mortification, I do not mean the kind of penance practiced by the saints...All I did was to break my self-will, check a hasty reply, and do
little kindnesses without making a fuss about them…”
St. Therese of Lisieux
“Here is a rule for life: Do not do anything which you cannot offer to God."
St. Vianney
“The trial to which God the Father has subjected you is not a punishment for your unfaithfulness. This is not so, I repeat, for he has forgotten everything. The trial has been sent to you in order to make you a more and more worthy bride of His beloved Son. This harsh trial is offered to you to enable you to collect more and more prizes and crowns to be presented to your Spouse when you are united with Him in Heaven.”
St. Pio
“Pain and suffering have come into your life, but remember, pain, sorrow, suffering are but the Kiss of Jesus – a sign that you have come so close to Him that He can kiss you."
Mother Teresa
“Consider the work of God; who can make straight what he has made crooked? On a good day, enjoy good things, and on an evil day consider: Both the one and the other God has made, so that man cannot find fault with Him.”
Ecclesiastes 7:13-14
“Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, especially when you make some sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for You, for the love of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”
Our Lady of Fatima
“Your weeping has power over Me and the pain in your desire binds Me like a chain.”
St. Catherine of Siena
“Live calmly and do not worry excessively, because in order to work more freely in us, the Holy Spirit needs tranquility and calm. And for you, every anxious thought is a mistake, as you have no reason to fear. It is the LORD who works within you, and you must do nothing except leave the door of your heart wide open so that he may work as He pleases.”
St. Pio
“Every suffering they bear from any source…is of infinite worth, and so satisfies the offer that deserved infinite penalty."
St. Catherine of Siena
“Then we shall be offering the most beautiful, the most noble of prayers because our prayers will have sprung from sacrifice."
St. Pio
“We do not want to accept the fact that suffering is necessary for our soul, that the Cross must be our daily bread. Just as the body needs nourishment, so does the soul need Cross,…to purify it and detach it from creatures."
St. Pio
“I thirst. I thirst for the salvation of souls. Help Me, My daughter, to save souls. Join your suffering to My Passion and offer them to the Heavenly Father for sinners.”
Jesus to St. Faustina
“I accept whatever he gives, and give whatever He takes.”
St. Mother Teresa
“Pray and wait for God to speak to you, because one day He will pronounce words of peace and consolation to you, and then you will know that your suffering served a good purpose and your patience was useful.”
St. Pio
“My love permits these temptations, for the Devil is weak. He can do nothing by himself unless I allow him. So let him tempt you because I love you, not because I hate you. I want you to conquer, not to be conquered, and to come to a perfect knowledge of yourself and Me.”
St. Catherine of Siena
The acts of penance and reparation offer both the one praying and the one being prayed for the purification of soul. The greatest act and foundation for reparation and expiation of sin is the sacrifice of the Mass. Therefore, every act of penance and reparation must be united to the sacrifice of the Mass. It is the standard for expiation and forgiveness. Without this, the soul is under the Old Law and judged by it. St. Faustina tells us why:
PENANCE AND REPARATION
"God will refuse me nothing when I entreat Him with the voice of His Son. My sacrifice is nothing in itself, but when I join it to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, it becomes all-powerful, and has the power to appease divine wrath."3
The finite is immersed into the Infinite. It is the infinite value of love that gives value to the finite act of suffering when we join it to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Only the Infinite can appease the Infinite.
The prayer of penance shows sorrow and remorse on behalf of the penitent; the act of reparation offers to amend a wrong—often per- formed with great difficulty and pain, to demonstrate the sincerity and sorrow of the act for which the reparation is offered.
In granting St. Faustina a request for the conversion of others, Jesus said, “Every conversion of a sinful soul demands sacrifice.”4 This tells us the need for and value of sacrifice. Sacrifice is expressed through penance and reparation.
The sacrifice of reparation and penance through suffering, united to the Sacrifice of the Mass, through the power of the Holy Spirit, enables our suffering to have meaning, clarity, and purpose. These acts sanctify ourselves and others. They not only compensate for the sin. They alter the nature that caused it, through self-denial, thereby, purifying the will and uniting it to God. Jesus, using the act of sacrifice, explained the difference between knowing about His Passion and participating in it as a way to participate in His nature.
As St. Faustina was suffering in her obedience, Jesus told her, “But when your mind is dimmed and your sufferings are great, it is then that you take an active part in My Passion, and I am conforming you more fully to Myself.”5 Suffering absorbs us into the very being of God whereby our bodies become His and our souls belong completely to Him. As He bore our guilt and expiated it through suffering, so we can, in our suffering, help Him rescue souls from sin. This is why Jesus said to St. Faustina, “I have need of your sufferings to rescue souls.”6 Our suffering, united to His, completes what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of His body, which is the church (Colossians 1:24). Such is the cornerstone of penance and reparation when united to His suffering on the Cross.
Penance
When we offer penance for our sins, we offer remorse. In the act of reconciliation, confession, we bring our sins committed in darkness into the light. We place them on the altar before God and acknowledge our sin. This is the beginning of healing and cleansing of the soul. St. Pio told one penitent that although the saint knew his sins, the penitent still had to confess them. He also told his children to attend confession every eight days. He knew the value and importance of confession so much he spent two-thirds of the day at it.
A god-fearing spiritual director is a great grace from God. Without the confessor God gave to St. Faustina, she could not have completed the work He gave her to do. Jesus explained to her,
“And now I am going to tell you something that is most important for you: boundless sincerity with your spiritual director. If you do not take advantage of this grace according to My instructions, I will take him away from you, and then you will be left to yourself and all the torments, which you know very well, will return to you. It displeases Me that you do not take advantage of the opportunity when you are able to see him and talk with him. Know that it is a great grace on My part when I give a spiritual director to a soul.”7
Reparation
Reparation is an act of sacrifice offered to God to make amends for an offense. The value of the sacrifice we offer as reparation for our sin is expressed in the degree of suffering we give to Christ. The reparation can be for ourselves, or another. Reparations help to mortify our self-will, to purify us and bring us closer to Him. The act causes us to come out of ourselves, to deny our will and seek His. We offer reparation for the sorrow we feel for our past behavior and the need to make it right. In our desire to be closer to Him or to help another, we offer a sacrifice as an offering to intensify a request made and to amend a wrong. We seek to purify our soul in light of His holiness through these sacrifices. A reparation is a sacrifice.
“Daughter, I need sacrifice lovingly accomplished because that alone has meaning for Me. Enormous indeed are the debts of the world... pure souls can pay them by their sacrifice, exercising mercy in spirit.”9 (Jesus to St. Faustina)
Acts of reparation relieve us of self-will and allow Christ to enter and, thereby, sanctify us. The sanctification of soul brings power and strength to our prayer of intercession.
“I have granted the grace you asked for on behalf of that soul, but not because of the mor- tification you choose for yourself. Rather, it was because of your act of complete obedience to My representative that I granted this grace to that soul for whom you interceded and begged mercy. Know that when you mortify your own self-will, then Mine reigns within you.”10 (Jesus to St. Faustina)
These acts of reparation strive against our sinful nature: anger, impatience, lack of faith, distrust, desires of the flesh, etc. They obtain for us the graces needed to remove all that is not of the Father from our lives. They are our cross we must pick up daily. “Just as the body needs nourishment, so does the soul need the cross, day after day, to purify it and detach it from creatures”11 (Padre Pio).
Acts of reparation can include fasting, rising early to pray and read scripture, completing a deed of charity for a person we do not care for, praying for someone God has placed on our hearts, attend- ing reconciliation monthly, daily Mass, volunteering for a position at church, or attending adoration, and of course, praying the Rosary. Reparation is as different as the person completing it. Remember, the greater the sacrifice (reparation), the purer the love, the greater the power to intercede.
“My daughter, I want to instruct you on how you are to rescue souls through sacrifice and prayer. You will save more souls through prayer and suffering than will a missionary through his teachings and sermons alone. I want to see you as a sacrifice of living love, which only then carries weight before Me... And great will be your power for whomever you intercede.”12 (Italics mine)
Suffering, pain, sacrifice—we cannot escape these undeniable virtues. They are weapons against sin when united to the sacrifice of the Cross; freely given, they empower Christ to move in our lives and others.
In St. Pio’s Own Words
“O God, show Yourself more and more to this poor heart of mine, and complete in me the work You have begun. I hear deep within me, a voice which says to me repeatedly—sanctify yourself and sanctify others.”25
“It is the Lord who works within you, and you must do nothing except leave the door of your heart wide open so that He may work as He pleases.”26
“Oh 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.”27
“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.”28
(Excerpts from The Way of Padre Pio, Christian Faith Publishing, 2023)
____________________________
3. Michalenko, p. 110 (#482).
4. Ibid, p. 163 (#961).
5. Ibid, p. 257 (#1697).
6. Ibid, p. 242, (#1612).
7. Ibid, p. 233 (#1561).
9. Michalenko, p. 197 (#1316).
10. Kowalska, p. 164 (#365).
11. Pio, 2018, p. 44.
12. Kowalska. p. 627 (#1767).
25. Allen, 2012, p. 363.
26. Pio, 1999, p. 70.
27. Pio, 2018, p. 122.
28. Ibid, p. 44.
MORE ON PENANCE AND REPARATION
“You will save more souls through prayer and suffering than a missionary through his teachings and sermons alone.”
Jesus to Saint Faustina 1
“I have never made more progress in the spiritual life as when I began to devote my life to praying for others."
St. Therese of Lisieux
“The soul cannot live without love. She always wants to love something because love is the stuff she is made of, and through love I created her. …, That is why I have put you among your neighbors: so that you can do for them what you cannot do for Me – that is, love them without any concern for thanks and without looking for any profit for yourself.”
St. Catherine of Sienna
“There is but one price at which a soul is bought, suffering united to My suffering on the Cross.”
Jesus to St. Faustina
“I recall that I have received most light during Adoration which I made lying prostrate before the Blessed Sacrament for half a hour everyday throughout Lent."
St. Faustina
The Church has Days of Penance we are to observe:
“The Divine Law binds all the Christian faithful to do penance each in his or her own way. In order for all to be united among themselves by some common observance of penance, however, penitential days are prescribed on which the Christian faithful devote themselves in a special way to prayer, perform works of piety and charity, and deny themselves by fulfilling their own obligations more faithfully and especially by observing fast and abstinence,
according to the norm of the Canon."
Code of Canon Law: Chapter Two: 1249
“I want to see you as a living sacrifice of love, which only then carries weight before Me…
and great will be your power for whomever you intercede.”
Jesus to St. Faustina
“I have granted the grace you asked for on behalf of that soul, but not because of the mortification you choose for yourself. Rather, it was because of your act of complete obedience to My representative that I granted this grace to that soul for whom you interceded and begged mercy. Know that when you mortify your own self-will, then Mine reigns within you."
Jesus to St. Faustina
“Oh, how I like those little mortifications that are seen by nobody, such as rising a quarter of a hour sooner, rising for a little while in the night to pray.”
St. Vianney
“And I saw that nothing truly happens by accident or luck, but everything by God’s wise providence…for matters that have been in God’s for seeing wisdom, since before time began, befall us suddenly, all unawares; and so in our blindness and ignorance we say that this is an accident or luck, but to our LORD it is not so.”
St. Juliana of Norwich
“When I speak of mortification, I do not mean the kind of penance practiced by the saints...All I did was to break my self-will, check a hasty reply, and do
little kindnesses without making a fuss about them…”
St. Therese of Lisieux
“Here is a rule for life: Do not do anything which you cannot offer to God."
St. Vianney
“The trial to which God the Father has subjected you is not a punishment for your unfaithfulness. This is not so, I repeat, for he has forgotten everything. The trial has been sent to you in order to make you a more and more worthy bride of His beloved Son. This harsh trial is offered to you to enable you to collect more and more prizes and crowns to be presented to your Spouse when you are united with Him in Heaven.”
St. Pio
“Pain and suffering have come into your life, but remember, pain, sorrow, suffering are but the Kiss of Jesus – a sign that you have come so close to Him that He can kiss you."
Mother Teresa
“Consider the work of God; who can make straight what he has made crooked? On a good day, enjoy good things, and on an evil day consider: Both the one and the other God has made, so that man cannot find fault with Him.”
Ecclesiastes 7:13-14
“Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, especially when you make some sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for You, for the love of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”
Our Lady of Fatima
“Your weeping has power over Me and the pain in your desire binds Me like a chain.”
St. Catherine of Siena
“Live calmly and do not worry excessively, because in order to work more freely in us, the Holy Spirit needs tranquility and calm. And for you, every anxious thought is a mistake, as you have no reason to fear. It is the LORD who works within you, and you must do nothing except leave the door of your heart wide open so that he may work as He pleases.”
St. Pio
“Every suffering they bear from any source…is of infinite worth, and so satisfies the offer that deserved infinite penalty."
St. Catherine of Siena
“Then we shall be offering the most beautiful, the most noble of prayers because our prayers will have sprung from sacrifice."
St. Pio
“We do not want to accept the fact that suffering is necessary for our soul, that the Cross must be our daily bread. Just as the body needs nourishment, so does the soul need Cross,…to purify it and detach it from creatures."
St. Pio
“I thirst. I thirst for the salvation of souls. Help Me, My daughter, to save souls. Join your suffering to My Passion and offer them to the Heavenly Father for sinners.”
Jesus to St. Faustina
“I accept whatever he gives, and give whatever He takes.”
St. Mother Teresa
“Pray and wait for God to speak to you, because one day He will pronounce words of peace and consolation to you, and then you will know that your suffering served a good purpose and your patience was useful.”
St. Pio
“My love permits these temptations, for the Devil is weak. He can do nothing by himself unless I allow him. So let him tempt you because I love you, not because I hate you. I want you to conquer, not to be conquered, and to come to a perfect knowledge of yourself and Me.”
St. Catherine of Siena
RESOURCES AND INFORMATION FOR PADRE PIO PRAYER GROUPS, HIS MISSION AND HIS TEACHING
2023
2023