O glorious Padre Pio,
when you set up Prayer Groups you “placed us alongside Casa Sollievo, at the forefront of this little Citadel of Charity”, and you assured us that our vocation is to be “nurseries of faith and centres of love in which Christ Himself is present”.
In this time of Pandemic it is impossible to unite physically as Prayer Groups, but each of us knows that we are a person of prayer in communion with many others – many of whom we know the names and faces.
In this tragic time, o glorious Padre Pio, let us feel that we are truly united as one large Group which embraces the whole world and is the voice of all the Citadels of Charity which struggle, suffer and pay with their professionalism to overcome this evil of the Coronavirus.
O glorious Padre Pio, be a mediator of our prayer to Christ Crucified, from whom you became a Cyrene for humanity.
Through your mediation we wish to intercede:
- for people affected by the virus and for those who have left this world through this scourge;
- for the families of the deceased and the sick, marked through intimate bonds “unarmed victims” of an enemy who came as a thief to modify things and relationships;
- for those in forced isolation in quarantine, almost an experience of “house arrest” not for any crime they have committed but touched by an incomprehensible event, perhaps infected whilst carrying out their professional duty;
- for family doctors and first aiders: “in the trench” with little safety and without the means to fight an invisible enemy;
- for doctors, nurses, health workers and all workers of hospital wards: “battle fields” without hours, shifts and with forces that seem to diminish;
- for those responsible for civil life, rulers and administrators: leaders in times of calamity, obliged to make decisions which appear bitter and unpopular;
- for the world economy, for workers, entrepeneurs of all categories, who see their work activities weakened and fear resistance in having to rebuild their businesses themselves: at the end of this “war” so that creativity and good will be strengthened in them;
- for the forgotten: the elderly and people who live alone, beggars and the homeless, all categories who have remained as “excluded” by social circles which were already suffering and weak;
- for those who are no longer mentioned in journalistic or televised news: migrants, the refugees who risk their lives crossing “our sea” on boats. All these still exist as before and continue their calvary;
- for each one of us, who live with a wounded heart at this time but who know in a situation like this, that we must be even more a nursery of faith and centre of love.
Help us o glorious Padre Pio, to intercede for all these people: they are the flesh of Christ, they are the Eucharist which we cannot receive these days: they are the living Eucharist, made up of weak and suffering people……the face of the Son of God shines on their faces. “Sweet Jesus Crucified and Risen”.
Amen!
† Franco MOSCONE crs
Archbishop Manfredonia-Vieste-San Giovanni Rotondo
General Director for Padre Pio Prayer Groups
