Day 7 — Penance

Words of Padre Pio

"If the poor world could see the beauty of the soul without sin, all sinners, all unbelievers would be converted in an instant."

Meditation

We know penance as the "punishment" the confessor imposes after absolving us. But there is also Penance as an exercise we can impose on ourselves, with the due permission of our spiritual director, to mortify our passions and senses, and to atone for sins already forgiven. Padre Pio was very penitent and lived his whole religious life in austere penances without losing joy.

Prayer of the Day

O passionate lover of Jesus in the Eucharist, who each day adored the Divine Master in the Holy Host, your only strength and support in days of illness, make us also worthily and often feed on the Divine Bread to obtain the prize of eternal life! O Lord, in imitation of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, set our hearts on fire with love for You! Amen.

Prayer to Saint Pio of Pietrelcina (for all days)

Most beloved Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, you who bore on your body the stigmata of Our God Jesus Christ; you who also bore the cross for all of us, enduring the physical and moral sufferings that lashed your soul and body in a painful martyrdom: we beg you to intercede with almighty God that each of us may know how to accept the small and great crosses of life, transforming every suffering into a sure bond that binds us to eternal life.

(Our Father, Hail Mary, and Gloria.)