Padre Pio Prayer Groups

National Office

St. Francis Renewal Center
1901 Prior Road
Wilmington, Delaware 19809

Dear Spiritual Children and Friends of Padre Pio,

The Lord give you peace!

This brief letter is to introduce you to a tool I hope will take hold and serve to bring us together spiritually each day. The present Calendar has a quote from Padre Pio for each day of the month. The quotes are taken at random from past calendars I have. Since they are in Italian, I thought that most of the Padre Pio Spiritual Children either do not receive them or, if they’ve received them, may not understand them. On the reverse side of the this month’s calendar are prayers selected for each day of the week and a closing prayer to God through Padre Pio’s intercession.

It is my hope that all the members of our Prayer Groups in the USA will take one monthly Calendar as I send them out each month and use them in following way: read the quote from Padre Pio for the specific day of the month; say the prayer for the day of the week; and then recite the closing prayer that is the same each day. These prayers may change every month. The importance is not the specific prayer that we say but the spirit of unity with which we pray them.

Our country is so vast. The numbers of our Groups are increasing. Each Prayer Group has its own particular procedures for fulfilling its monthly meetings. Some groups have other spiritual and service activities that they fulfill in the course of each month, beyond the regular monthly Eucharist, Rosary and faith sharing and “business” meeting. I am offering this calendar and prayers not as an obligation for each to do. My role as National Coordinator is not to make up new prayer forms and tell people they must pray them. I offer this calendar and prayers as a suggestion to bring us, beyond the miles that separate us, closer together in a daily spiritual practice that takes only a few moments each day. As we read the quote and take it to heart for the day, as we say the daily prayer to Padre Pio with its concluding prayer to God, we are reminded of our sisters and brothers of the Prayer Groups around the USA who are doing the same thing everyday with us. Thus, we are united in the spirit of prayer and a common word from Padre Pio.

Every month I plan to get a simple calendar out to each Group. It will be sent to the Group Leader and/or Spiritual Director, and I hope that someone will copy them for each member of the Group to take home with them. Scriptures reminds us that Jesus said: Father that they may be one as we are one. In unity there is strength. And we are also reminded that: Our help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. As we are united with each other in this way each day, we raise our voice in a common bond and this loud united voice will rise to God from the depths of our hearts.

Thank you for considering this proposal. May summertime be a pleasant one for all of you. May the Lord bless you; our Lady guide, guard, and protect you; and Padre Pio watch over you, his Spiritual Children, with loving care.

Fr. Francis A. Sariego, O.F.M. Cap.
National Coordinator