Spiritual Maxims of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina

• “Pray, hope and don’t worry”
• “Prayer is the best armor we have, it is the key which opens the heart of God.”
• “Whoever does not meditate, is like someone who never looks in the mirror before going out, doesn’t bother to see if he’s tidy, and may go out dirty without knowing it. The person who meditates and turns his mind to God, who is the mirror of his soul, seeks to know his faults, tries to correct them, moderates his impulses, and puts his conscience in order.”
• Someone complained to Padre Pio of being excessively distressed by sins he had committed. Padre Pio replied: “That which you feel is pride; it is the demon which inspires you with this sentiment, it is not true sorrow.” The penitent replied: “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?” “You will distinguish it,” replied Padre Pio, “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.”
• “God enriches the soul which empties itself of everything.”
• “The habit of asking ‘Why’ has ruined the world.”
• “You must speak to Jesus, not only with your lips, but also with your heart; actually, on certain occasions, you should speak with only your heart.”
• “Humility is truth, truth is humility.”
• “Sin against charity is like piercing God in the pupil of the eye, what is more delicate than the pupil of the eye? To sin against charity is like a sin against nature.”
• “Where there is no obedience there is no virtue, where there is no virtue there is no good, where there is no good there is no love, where there is no love, there is no God, and where there is no God there is no Paradise.”
• “The Cross will not crush you; if its weight makes you stagger, its power will also sustain you.”
• “In the spiritual life, the more you run the less you get tired; moreover, peace, the preclude to eternal joy, will come upon us, and we shall be happy and strong according to the extent that we live in this study of making Jesus live in us, and of mortifying ourselves.”
• “Charity is the measure by which Our Lord judges all things.”
• “Let us climb Calvary without getting tired, carrying our Cross and be certain that the climb will lead us to the beatific vision of our dear Savior.”
• “The sacred gift of prayer is in the right hand of our Savior, and according to the measure that you empty yourself of yourself, that is if love of your senses and of your own will, and make progress in rooting yourself in holy humility, to that extent the Lord will speak to your heart.”
• “Bear in mind that the more the enemy assaults you, the closer God is to your soul. Think about, and penetrate this great and comforting truth.”
• “Even if you were to commit all the sins in the world, Jesus would repeat to you: “Many of your sins are forgiven because you have loved much.”
• “Once I take on a soul, I also take on the entire family as my spiritual children.”
• “I will ask the Lord to let me remain at the Threshold of Paradise and I will not enter until the last of my spirtual children has entered”