“Pray, hope, and don’t worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer.”
—Padre Pio
It has been said by many that this phrase was St. Pio’s motto. He also used the phrase to counsel people. For him, the message seemed obvious. If God is watching over and caring for us, there is no need to worry. Padre Pio’s ability to hand things over to God is enviable.
All too often we get stuck on things that we really have no control over. Yet for some reason we worry about them anyway. Try to remember that no matter what, we are in God’s care and his loving embrace.
Think about Padre Pio’s words below. How can we totally surrender our worries to God?
In Padre Pio’s Own Words
You know, dear daughter, the remedy I heartily recommend is tranquillity of spirit, and I always forbid excessive worry. You must seek to restore your spirit to a state of rest and tranquillity after having been agitated by the work of the evil one. Do this by thinking of the spiritual rest that our souls should always have in God’s will, wherever his will leads us. My daughter, live in this valley of tears for as long as it pleases God, with total submission to his holy will.
We are very much indebted to divine goodness for making us so fervently desire to live and die according to his pleasure.
My daughter, let us trust that our great Savior, who gives us the intention to live and die in our enjoyment of him, will give us the grace to live that way.
(To Annita Rodote, May 28, 1917)
Prayer
St. Pio, teach us how to hand over what we cannot control to God. Help us remember that we are always protected in God’s loving embrace.
