It’s perfectly normal to worry about sinning.
But what happens if you worry TOO much about your sins?
Remember what Padre Pio said: pray, hope, and don’t worry.
A legendary mystic and stigmatic, above all Padre Pio was a great saint. Padre Pio was distinctly known for his devout prayer life, calling it the best weapon we possess, the key that opens the heart of God.
In fact, he said this prayer every single day of his life that he called a “secret weapon.”
When someone complained to Padre Pio of being excessively distressed by sins they
committed, he said:
“That which you feel is pride; it is the demon which inspires you with this sentiment, it is not true sorrow.”
The penitent then asked Padre Pio: “Father, how can you then distinguish what comes from the heart and is inspired by Our Lord, and that which instead is inspired by the devil?”
Padre Pio replied with a piece of mystic wisdom:
“You will distinguish it, always by this: The spirit of God is a spirit of peace, and also in the case of grave sin, it makes us feel tranquil sorrow, humble, confident, and this is due precisely to His mercy. The spirit of the demon, on the contrary, excites, exasperates, and makes us in our sorrow feel something like anger against ourselves, whereas our first charity must be to ourselves, and so if certain thoughts agitate you, this agitation never comes from God, who gives tranquility, being the Spirit of Peace. Such agitation comes from the devil.”
π Padre Pio, pray for us!
How much do you know about the life of Padre Pio? See what you know about his life and watch his last Mass here!
Photo credit: Luis Fraga / Shutterstock.com
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