“Pray simply. Do not expect to find in your heart any remarkable gift of prayer. Consider yourself unworthy of it. Then you will find peace. Use the empty cold dryness of your prayer as food for your humility. Repeat constantly: I am not worthy; Lord, I am not worthy! But say it calmly, without agitation.”

                                           -St. Macarius of Optina

For Reflection:

If a saint gives this advice, then I can suppose the saint discovered it through his own experience. How does this encourage me in moments of dryness? How can even these difficult moments be the cause of growth in holiness with a proper disposition of the heart?

(See tomorrow’s Grace Line for yet another encouragement during times of difficulty in prayer.)

Padre Pio’s Spiritual Direction for Every Day 

Gianluigi Pasquale 
Pb 272 pgs
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Introduction, Page viii

A thought for the day from Padre Pio–and I don’t think I am being too bold in affirming this –is a thought for the day for us from Jesus, the one who fully loves and heals us. Both of them were pierced with “the nails of history,” the stigmata. This was historically the case for Jesus and occurred through grace for Padre Pio, but for both of them it was physical.