<p>From 23 September, day after day, enter into the spirituality of Padre Pio by meditating on his writings!</p><p>Saint Padre Pio inspired many people during his lifetime and has inspired even more since his death.</p><p>He has inspired them to entrust their lives to the Lord...</p><p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Join, be inspired and offer your life to Christ who is King!</strong></p><p class="hoz_quote">&#34;Padre Pio&#039;s first concern was that people should return to God, that they might experience his mercy and, interiorly renewed that they rediscover the beauty and joy of being Christians, of living in communion with Jesus, of belonging to the Church and practising the Gospel&#34;</p><p><em>Benedict XVI</em></p><p class="hoz_important" style="text-align:center;"><strong>This, with St Padre Pio&#039;s, Mary and Jesus&#039; help, is our purpose!</strong></p><p><br /></p><p>Padre Pio (1887-1968), a Capuchin priest and saint of mercy and humility, is probably one of the most extraordinary saints in the history of the Church.</p><p>He is the only priest to have received and worn the stigmata of Our Lord for more than 50 years, he spent his priestly life between the confessional and the altar, and through the intercession of Jesus and Mary, many graces of conversion, physical, moral and spiritual healings of all kinds, and spiritual cures for a multitude of people.</p><p>Now that he is in Heaven he continues to intercede and to be a spiritual guide for the men and women of our time.</p><h2>Depose your prayers</h2><p>Depose you prayers here and at the end of the three months and three days, all the prayer intentions received will be placed near Padre Pio&#039;s tomb in San Giovanni Rotondo.</p><h2>The Programme</h2><p>Every day from the 23 September, feast day of Saint Pade Pio, to Christmas, receive:</p><ul><li>A quote from the Saint. 📖</li><li>An accompanying meditation and encouragement to prayer. 🪔</li><li>Conclude every day with a beautiful prayer written by St John Paul 2. 🙏</li></ul><p><br /></p><p><strong>Become more imbued with his spirituality as an aid to our sanctification.</strong></p><h2>Padre Pio</h2><p>Born in 1887, Padre Pio joined the Capuchins in 1903 and was ordained a priest in 1910. A few months later, he received the so-called invisible and non-permanent stigmata, in 1918, he received the visible and permanent stigmata, which he kept until his death in 1968.</p><p>He confessed 12 to 15 hours a day, and celebrated Mass while living the Passion.</p><p>He suffered violent attacks from the devil, and was at times slandered and persecuted by his hierarchy, but he always remained faithful to the Church and a witness to the truth.</p><p>An immense devotee of the Virgin Mary, Padre Pio prayed the rosary, which he called &#34;his weapon&#34;, from morning to night, and recommended to his spiritual sons that they too pray it without ever growing weary.</p><p>His spiritual testament is for many: <strong>&#34;Love Our Lady and make her loved. Always recite the Rosary&#34;.</strong></p><p>He created the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza hospital to relieve the suffering, as well as the Padre Pio Prayer Groups, now spread throughout the world. He guided many spiritual sons and daughters.</p><p>Padre Pio was beatified by John Paul II in 1999 and canonised in 2002. His incorrupt body can be venerated at San Giovanni Rotondo.</p><h2>Some more</h2><p>Submited by Gino Testa, leader of the Padre Pio Prayer Groups in Paris and member of the General Council of the Padre Pio Prayer Groups of San Giovanni Rotondo from 2016 to 2022.</p><p><a href="http://gruppidipreghiera.operapadrepio.it/en/home-en/" target="_blank">Link to discover</a> more about Saint Padre Pio.</p>

 3 Months & 3 days with St Padre Pio to guide you to Christmas

Padre Pio, teach us, we pray, humility of heart, so that we may be
counted among the little ones of the Gospel to whom the Father promised to
reveal the mysteries of His Kingdom.
Help us to pray without ceasing, certain that God knows what we need
even before we ask Him.
Obtain for us the eyes of faith that will help us recognize in the poor and
suffering, the very face of Jesus.
Sustain us in the hour of trouble and trial and, if we fall, let us
experience the joy of the sacrament of forgiveness.
Grant us your tender devotion to Mary, mother of Jesus and our
Mother.
Accompany us on our earthly pilgrimage toward the blessed Homeland,
where we too, hope to arrive to contemplate forever the Glory of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit.    Amen

<h2>What is the purpose of this community of prayer?</h2><p>The purpose is to find peace of mind and heart by putting our trust in God through prayer, meditation, and abandoning ourselves to the Lord. We will encourage you throughout this Novena and lift each one of you in prayer. </p><h2>&#34;What if....?&#34;</h2><p>Many of us suffer from worry, anxiety, and fear. These negative feelings can easily overwhelm us, up to the point where we begin struggling with our faith. </p><p>Indeed, there are so many reasons to develop fear and worry today. Wars, violence, crime, natural disasters, unemployment, illness, future uncertainty... The list goes on. </p><p>We keep asking ourselves &#34;What if?&#34; while imagining the worst outcomes; living under the weight of this uncertainty eventually takes its toll on both our physical and mental health. </p><p>While there is no way to know what future will hold, <strong>we do have a powerful weapon against fear: trusting in God who loves us</strong>. Jesus came to save us, to set us free from all of our enemies. Putting our trust in God, we can gradually overcome all negative thoughts we&#039;re constantly fighting. No, it&#039;s not a miraculous cure, but <strong>God can work wonders in hearts that believe in His power.</strong> </p><h2>Every day, for the duration of the Novena, you&#039;ll receive:</h2><ul><li>A Bible verse to fight fear and anxiety.</li><li>A prayer.</li><li>A short meditation. </li></ul><p class="hoz_important">if you are suffering from depression and/or anxiety, and/or having suicidal thoughts, please seek professional help. Prayer does help and accomplishes miracles, but no one in their right mind would tell a cancer patient to &#34;just pray their cancer away.&#34; The same applies to mental illnesses. Emergency international resources can be found <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicide_crisis_lines">here</a> and <a href="https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/">here</a>.  </p><h2>Click Join to receive the prayers</h2><p><a href="https://hozana.org/en/intentions">Click here to leave your prayer intention.</a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><strong>Photo </strong>by Gorjan Ivanovski on Unsplash. </p>

Novena for Peace of Mind

Kneeling at your feet, sweet Mother of God and Queen of Peace, I, your loving child, confidently turn to you in my need, seeking your intercession for peace of mind and comfort to my troubled heart. (Mention your petition here.)
O listen to me, dear heavenly mother. Come to my aid and refuse me not as I cry to you. For you are my mother, and you fail no one who has recourse to you, O Consoler of the afflicted, O Queen of Peace. 
Amen.

<h2>A Walk of Faith for Valentine&#039;s Day!</h2><p>Now is the time to experience the spirit of Valentine&#039;s Day, by confidently entrusting our desires to live a Christian marriage to St. Valentine, a great martyr and the patron saint of lovers.</p><p>Be assured that we share your hopes and keep your intentions in our hearts every day!</p><h2>The Grace of Love: a Gift from God</h2><ul><li>Pray for yourself: pray that you meet someone in accordance with the Lord &#039;s heart.</li><li>Pray for yourself: entrust God with your desire to live a fruitful Christian marriage.</li><li>Pray for a single person you know who suffers from loneliness.</li><li>Pray for all those who desire to get married.</li><li>Pray that marriages be based on the « Rock of Faith » .</li><li>Pray for young people who are not looking to commit to the Sacrament of Marriage </li><li>Pray that the world regains a deep sense of commitment to sacraments.</li></ul><p>… other ideas? Share them with us!</p><p><strong>St. Valentine will certainly be happy to hear them and present them to the Lord!</strong></p><h2>Commitment</h2><p>Commit yourself to offer your thanks to St. Valentine: if you feel that he answered your prayers, celebrate his Feast Day in a spirit of gratitude for his intercession on your behalf!</p><h2>Click Join to receive the prayers</h2><p><a href="https://hozana.org/en/intentions">Click here to leave your prayer intention.</a></p>

Meet Your Soulmate with the Novena to St. Valentine

Loving Father,
You know that the deepest desire of my heart is
to meet someone that I can share my life with.
I trust in Your loving plan for me and ask that I may soon meet
the person that you have prepared for me.
Through the power of Your Holy Spirit,
open my heart and mind so that I recognize my soulmate.
Remove any obstacles that are in the way of this happy encounter,
So that I might find a new sense of wholeness, joy and peace.
Give me the grace too, to know and accept, if you have another plan for my life.
I surrender my past, present and future into the tender heart of Your Son, Jesus,
full of confidence that You will hear and answer my prayer.
AMEN.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in You.
St Valentine, pray for me.

<h2 class="hoz_important">Our Next Novena<br><strong>We'll be praying the Novena to the Holy Spirit in the run up to Pentecost, starting 22nd May.</strong></h2><h2>Praying to the saints</h2><p>The Church encourages us to ask for the intercession of the saints, to locate our prayer within the annual round of the Church's year, and to make our prayer in the tradition of the great figures of Scripture. The novenas we'll be praying in this community help us to pray in all of these ways. We'll be praying novenas for many different needs and intentions once a month.</p><h2>What's a novena?</h2><p>A novena is a way of praying, often for a particular need or grace. It consists of a prayer or prayers said over nine days. The word novena is originally Latin, and means “in a group of nine”. This is because a novena lasts for nine consecutive days; on each day, there is a particular prayer to be said, or devotional practice to be made.</p><h2>Why nine days?</h2><p>The original novena, the model for all the rest, is the nine days between Christ's Ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, when, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, “all these [Apostles] joined in continuous prayer, together with several women, including Mary the mother of Jesus”. The Church still asks Christians to pray with particular intensity between these two feast days for the Holy Spirit to renew the Christian community.&nbsp;</p><h2><strong>Other Communities from CTS</strong></h2><p><strong>Daily Prayers During the Coronavirus Pandemic </strong>:<br>https://hozana.org/en/community/8859-daily-prayers-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic</p><p><strong>Divine Mercy Chaplet for an End to Coronavirus :</strong><br>https://hozana.org/en/community/8946-divine-mercy-chaplet-for-an-end-to-coronavirus</p><h2>About CTS: The Catholic Publishing Charity</h2><p>We believe in providing honest and compelling answers to life's deepest questions.&nbsp;</p><p>We use the written word to support and encourage people at every stage of their journey. You can rely on us to tackle the important issues of life and faith, and to make the complicated easy to understand.</p><p><strong>CTS: Truth, beautifully told.</strong></p><p><em>Since 1868</em></p><p><a href="http://ctsbooks.org">ctsbooks.org</a></p>

Ora Pro Nobis: Monthly Novenas

O Mother of Christ, Cause of our Joy!

We lift up our hearts in praise and thanksgiving to God our Father, for the abundant blessings that He bestows upon us, His children through baptism.

We ask this day for your powerful intercession for the Catholic Truth Society, as we place its mission to evangelise into your loving hands.

May the CTS, by God's bountiful grace, always be fearless, faithful and steadfast in proclaiming the beauty of His Truth.

May it always seek to encourage, equip, educate and enlighten those who truly seek the face of God.

Amen.