Here and Now with Francis 2/9/16 (Padre Pio, prayer, trust, mercy, compassion, sickness, Church)

By Anonymous

It [prayer] is the greatest strength of the Church which we must never abandon.

From an address
Prayer, therefore, is not a good practice to get some peace of heart; nor is it a devout means to obtain from God what is useful to us. If it were so, it would be moved by a subtle egoism: I pray to be well, as if I took an aspirin. No, it’s not so. I pray to obtain this thing. But this is to do business. It is not so. Prayer is something else, it’s something else. Prayer, instead, is a work of spiritual mercy, which wishes to lead everything to God’s heart. “You take charge, who are a Father.” It should be this way, to say it simply. Prayer is to say: “You take charge, who are Father. Look at us, who are Father.” This is relation with the Father. Prayer is this. It is a gift of faith and of love, an intercession of which there is need as of bread. In a word, it means to entrust... Prayer, therefore, as Padre Pio loved to say, is “the best weapon we have, a key that opens God’s heart.” ... This is so important: to cure the sickness but above all to take care of the sick person. They are two different things, and both are important: to cure the sickness and to take care of the sick person. [full text]

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