FRIENDS OF PADRE PIO
I BELONG TO EVERYONE. EVERYONE CAN SAY:
"PADRE PIO IS MINE."
PENANCE AND REPARATION
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
We pray for those we love. We pray for those who are suffering, lost or in need of guidance. We pray because our LORD asks us to. We pray because He lives within us, and that Life within cries out for a Voice.
Prayer changes lives, both our own and those we pray for.
“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 3
Prayer, born of suffering, takes the form of penance and reparation, both greatly practiced by the saints. Prayers of penance show sorrow and remorse on behalf of the penitent; prayers of reparation are acts of suffering that allow purification of soul. The greatest act and foundation for reparation is the Mass, its sacrifice and atonement for sin. All acts of reparation must be united to the Sacrifice of the Mass.
“There is but one price at which a soul is bought, suffering united to My suffering on the Cross.”
Jesus to St. Faustina 1
Such acts of penance include the participation of fasting, Adoration, Reconciliation and the receiving of the Eucharist. These acts show remorse for sin.
“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 1
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 ful-
filling 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 4
Reparation are acts we offer to God to mortify our self-will and bring us closer to Him. We offer these for the sorrow we feel
for our past behavior and in our desire to be closer to Him, We offer them as an offering to accompany a request.
“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 1
Acts of reparation bring us out of ourselves. They relieve us of self-will and allow Christ to enter, thereby, sanctifying 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
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 1
These acts of reparation strive against our sinful nature: anger, impatience, lack of faith, desires of the flesh, etc. They offer an act to abolish it. 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 people God is placing on our hearts, attending Reconciliation monthly, attending daily Mass, volunteering for a position at church, or attending Adoration at an
inconvenient time. Reparation is as different as the person completing it.
“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 5
When in doubt what reparation to do, it is best to seek the advice of your Spiritual Director, as St. Faustina and St. Pio often did.
WHEN AND WHERE
There are two areas in our life where suffering occurs: in the daily life of living, and in the sufferings God brings to us. In the daily events, trials come in different forms: heavy morning traffic making us late to work, unruly neighbors, a burned dinner, running late to pick up a child from school, an employer who has acted unfairly. These events come to us as “the stuff of life”, the Providence of God. They can be offered as
a daily sacrifice.
“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 6
Living the daily “stuff of life”, we offer what comes our way. It is the little stuff God uses to make us His. We learn to look more closely at what we do, think
and say, as everything becomes an offering.
“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 2
“Here is a rule for life: Do not do anything which you cannot offer to God."
St. Vianney 5
In the second area, where God brings trial and suffering into our life, He has a Heavenly purpose.
“The trial to which God the Father has subjected you is not a punishment for your unfaith-
fulness. 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 7
These are often the hardest, most difficult to get through as they get to the heart of our soul. As in the life of Job, they often involve those things most close and valuable to us:
family, home, social position, body and health, finances and death. They are a means of sanctification. They are His Hand in our life.
“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 8
These are the trials where we ask others to pray for us. It is the time we battle Satan for our faith, where we say in our pain, "LORD, I choose You." There is no greater prayer than one said in distress. The greater the trial, the greater the purification. It is also here that we offer the most powerful intercession for
another because we offer up our pain. We wrap the other around our soul and offer us both to the LORD for healing. It is an opportunity for others to embrace our pain as well. Thereby, we become a community of reparable souls.
HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE?
Suffering is natural. It occurs in life along side joy and happiness. God is the Author of both.
“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 9
All suffering can be offered freely to our LORD: the pain that comes the "stuff of life", or directly from His Hand. Suffering offered as penance or reparation may be on behalf of a loved one, or for purification in our own soul. We offer these acts of penance and reparation to the degree they have meaning for us, or to the degree we wish
to sacrifice for another. Our place is to open ourselves to His guidance so that how we live our lives can be used to help those we love live theirs.
“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 3
Our place is to open ourselves to His guidance so that how we live our lives can be used to help those we love live theirs.
“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 7
“Every suffering they bear from any source…is of infinite worth, and so satisfies the offer
that deserved infinite penalty."
St. Catherine of Siena 3
When we pray and offer our sacrifice to Him Who is able to change a circumstance in an instant,
“Then we shall be offering the most beautiful, the most noble of prayers because our
prayers will have sprung from sacrifice."
St. Pio 10
When we learn to embrace the pain in our life, and offer it for others, it has purpose.
“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 7
“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 1
We can say with Mother Teresa,
“I accept whatever he gives, and give whatever He takes.” 11
We will be able to,
“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
Whatever your pain, whether it comes from “the stuff of life”, a reparation or penance you offer, or a suffering He has allowed into your life, we are more
than conquerors.
“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 3
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
11. Kolodiejchuk, Brian M. C (Ed.). Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light. New York: Doubleday, 2007.
“You will save more souls through prayer and suffering than a missionary
through his teachings and sermons alone.”
Jesus to Saint Faustina 1
We pray for those we love. We pray for those who are suffering, lost or in need of guidance. We pray because our LORD asks us to. We pray because He lives within us, and that Life within cries out for a Voice.
Prayer changes lives, both our own and those we pray for.
“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 3
Prayer, born of suffering, takes the form of penance and reparation, both greatly practiced by the saints. Prayers of penance show sorrow and remorse on behalf of the penitent; prayers of reparation are acts of suffering that allow purification of soul. The greatest act and foundation for reparation is the Mass, its sacrifice and atonement for sin. All acts of reparation must be united to the Sacrifice of the Mass.
“There is but one price at which a soul is bought, suffering united to My suffering on the Cross.”
Jesus to St. Faustina 1
Such acts of penance include the participation of fasting, Adoration, Reconciliation and the receiving of the Eucharist. These acts show remorse for sin.
“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 1
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 ful-
filling 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 4
Reparation are acts we offer to God to mortify our self-will and bring us closer to Him. We offer these for the sorrow we feel
for our past behavior and in our desire to be closer to Him, We offer them as an offering to accompany a request.
“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 1
Acts of reparation bring us out of ourselves. They relieve us of self-will and allow Christ to enter, thereby, sanctifying 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
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 1
These acts of reparation strive against our sinful nature: anger, impatience, lack of faith, desires of the flesh, etc. They offer an act to abolish it. 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 people God is placing on our hearts, attending Reconciliation monthly, attending daily Mass, volunteering for a position at church, or attending Adoration at an
inconvenient time. Reparation is as different as the person completing it.
“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 5
When in doubt what reparation to do, it is best to seek the advice of your Spiritual Director, as St. Faustina and St. Pio often did.
WHEN AND WHERE
There are two areas in our life where suffering occurs: in the daily life of living, and in the sufferings God brings to us. In the daily events, trials come in different forms: heavy morning traffic making us late to work, unruly neighbors, a burned dinner, running late to pick up a child from school, an employer who has acted unfairly. These events come to us as “the stuff of life”, the Providence of God. They can be offered as
a daily sacrifice.
“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 6
Living the daily “stuff of life”, we offer what comes our way. It is the little stuff God uses to make us His. We learn to look more closely at what we do, think
and say, as everything becomes an offering.
“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 2
“Here is a rule for life: Do not do anything which you cannot offer to God."
St. Vianney 5
In the second area, where God brings trial and suffering into our life, He has a Heavenly purpose.
“The trial to which God the Father has subjected you is not a punishment for your unfaith-
fulness. 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 7
These are often the hardest, most difficult to get through as they get to the heart of our soul. As in the life of Job, they often involve those things most close and valuable to us:
family, home, social position, body and health, finances and death. They are a means of sanctification. They are His Hand in our life.
“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 8
These are the trials where we ask others to pray for us. It is the time we battle Satan for our faith, where we say in our pain, "LORD, I choose You." There is no greater prayer than one said in distress. The greater the trial, the greater the purification. It is also here that we offer the most powerful intercession for
another because we offer up our pain. We wrap the other around our soul and offer us both to the LORD for healing. It is an opportunity for others to embrace our pain as well. Thereby, we become a community of reparable souls.
HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE?
Suffering is natural. It occurs in life along side joy and happiness. God is the Author of both.
“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 9
All suffering can be offered freely to our LORD: the pain that comes the "stuff of life", or directly from His Hand. Suffering offered as penance or reparation may be on behalf of a loved one, or for purification in our own soul. We offer these acts of penance and reparation to the degree they have meaning for us, or to the degree we wish
to sacrifice for another. Our place is to open ourselves to His guidance so that how we live our lives can be used to help those we love live theirs.
“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 3
Our place is to open ourselves to His guidance so that how we live our lives can be used to help those we love live theirs.
“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 7
“Every suffering they bear from any source…is of infinite worth, and so satisfies the offer
that deserved infinite penalty."
St. Catherine of Siena 3
When we pray and offer our sacrifice to Him Who is able to change a circumstance in an instant,
“Then we shall be offering the most beautiful, the most noble of prayers because our
prayers will have sprung from sacrifice."
St. Pio 10
When we learn to embrace the pain in our life, and offer it for others, it has purpose.
“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 7
“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 1
We can say with Mother Teresa,
“I accept whatever he gives, and give whatever He takes.” 11
We will be able to,
“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
Whatever your pain, whether it comes from “the stuff of life”, a reparation or penance you offer, or a suffering He has allowed into your life, we are more
than conquerors.
“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 3
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
- Michalenko, St. Sophia, C. M. G. T. The Life of Faustina Kowalska: The Authorized Biography.Cincinnati: St. Anthony Messenger Press, 1999.
- St. Therese of Lisieux.The Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of the Little Flower. Charlotte: TAN CLASSICS, 2010.
- St. Catherine of Siena. (2010). The Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena(A. Thorold, Trans.). Charlotte: TAN CLASSICS.
- Code of Canon Law. Washington, D. C.: Canon Law Society of America, 1983.
- St. Jean-Marie Vianney. The Little Catechism of The Cure of Ars. Charlotte: TAN Books, 2011.
- St. Juliana of Norwich. (1998). Revelations of Divine Love(E. Spearing, Trans.). London: Penguin Classics.
- St. Pio of Pietrelcina. (1999). Words of Hope. E. Bertanzetti (Ed.). Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor, 1999.
- O’Boyle, Donna-Marie Cooper. The Kiss of Jesus.San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006.
- The New American Bible: St. Joseph Edition. New York: Catholic Book Publishing Company, 1991.
11. Kolodiejchuk, Brian M. C (Ed.). Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light. New York: Doubleday, 2007.
| Penance and Reparation |
RESOURCES AND INFORMATION FOR PADRE PIO PRAYER GROUPS, HIS MISSION AND HIS TEACHING
2018
2018