“Peace is simplicity of spirit, serenity of mind, quietness of soul, and the bond of love.”
—letter to Father Agostino of San Marco in Lamis, July 10, 1915
Peace can be a rather elusive state for us. Perhaps it’s because it seems too big and overwhelming of a challenge and so we give up the fight. Padre Pio, however, had a remedy for that feeling of discouragement: Always turn to God. Only then will we even have a chance of finding any peace. As he went on to say in the letter to Father Agostino, peace “is the holy joy of a heart in which God reigns.”
Sit quietly with God for a few minutes and let him lead you toward peace. He will show you the way.
In Padre Pio’s Own Words
There is only one name in which we can hope for salvation, and the apostles declared that truth to the Jews: “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” [Acts of the Apostles 4:12].
The eternal Father wanted to subject all things to him, so “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth” [Philippians 2:10]. This is what the apostle says, and it is true. Jesus is indeed worshiped in heaven. Moved by gratitude and love, the blessed unendingly sing to him what St. John heard and saw in one of his visions: “They sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and by your blood you ransomed men for God’” [Revelation 5:9].
This most holy name is reverenced on the earth because all the graces we ask for in the name of Jesus are fully granted by the eternal Father: “If you ask anything of the Father,” the divine Master tells us, “he will give it to you in my name” [John 16:23]. This divine name is also venerated—who would imagine it?—even in hell, because that name is the terror of demons, who find themselves overthrown and cast down: “In my name they will cast out demons” [Mark 16:17].
(To Raffaelina Cerase, November 4, 1914)
Prayer
St. Pio, in times of turmoil, remind us to seek peace and comfort in God’s presence.
For it is in Christ’s arms that we will find the answers we seek.
