My Beloved Readers,
8 years ago this week I started work on Padre Pio and You while I still lived in London, I remember walking up to Bayswater, the fog like sheer white veils dancing before me and the frost coated trees in Hyde Park looking severe, and wondering if I was lying to myself everyone around me because it felt so daunting a task that I'd never get it done. I went down the row of embassies, each one like a sparkly wedding cake for Christmas and in the hustle of High Street Ken, amid a throng in a shop, I bought a journal; a-ha, a purchase, a start! I felt inadequate; thinking that other people had at least gotten a smell of roses from Pio, while I never had. It was only when I got home and saw that the journal had in gold lettering on the cover, "COMING UP ROSES".
Then 2 years ago, I began re-writing this 40 chapter tome. Just recently, to my own amazement I was content with the contents. I have the great pleasure of telling you that my book, PADRE PIO AND YOU is being published by the renowned Sophia Press and is available for pre-order. The picture above is the book cover, which is a dream come true for me, and an artistic feat on behalf of the designer. The fine team at Sophia gave the book this lovely write-up:
Sometimes the saints can seem distant to us, although the Faith teaches that they are waiting to be our dearest friends and guides to Heaven. One of the most powerful modern-day saints and spiritual fathers is St. Pio of Pietrelcina (1887–1968) — and he is waiting to meet you, wherever you are, just as he introduced himself to his spiritual daughter Mary O’Regan, who wrote these wonderful pages.
Padre Pio, an Italian Franciscan, continues from his place in Heaven to seek out souls from every walk of life to nurture and protect. In Pio you will find a father who prays for you to receive extraordinary graces, guides you through hard times, and helps you discern your vocation. Pio told a beloved spiritual daughter that he saw all his children in spirit when he offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Is yours one of the souls he is seeing now?
Through the lens of Pio’s letters to his directees, his counsels on various spiritual themes, and little-known historical events — from World War II “flights,” to hidden trials, to dramatic conversion stories, to humorous anecdotes — you will come to know the stigmatic friar as never before. You will absorb fascinating details about his life, beginning with his infancy in the care of saintly parents, and learn:
- The heart-pounding story of his first bilocation at age seventeen
- Ways that he was attacked and is able to assist you in the spiritual combat
- The role of dryness and darkness in prayer and temptations to unite you closer to God
- Five means he gave to his spiritual children to assist them on the path to salvation
- How to grow in more ardent love for Our Lady and go to Confession with true contrition
- How to triumph over corruption and persecution and genuinely forgive
Padre Pio led people in unique ways and offered profound insights on suffering; as a renowned Confessor, he provided healing for souls. This “humble friar who prays” had astonishing mystical gifts—as recounted in these pages—which were, in turn, shared by some of his spiritual children.
In the words of Padre Pio, “I have made a pact with the Lord, I will take my place at the gate of Paradise but I shall not enter until I have seen the last of my spiritual children enter…. When I have raised a soul, I never let it fall.” St. Pio waits for you.