Padre Pio wanted to be a missionary; food, sleep, and prayer

When there was the possibility of Padre Pio being transferred to a different location, he was ready to go, but he preferred the mission field.  He even wrote to his superiors for permission to work as a missionary in India.  This permission was refused.[1]

Padre Pio said: “How much I desire, and how happy I would be, if I could find myself there in India so as to offer my poor work for the spread of the Faith.  But if that good fortune is not reserved for me, but for other souls more noble and more dear to Jesus, I will exercise my mission with humble, fervent and efficacious prayer.”[2]

Food and sleep

By 1945, Padre Pio’s intake of food was measured at three and half ounces a day, yet he weighed more than one hundred and seventy pounds.[3]  The amount of food and drink that Padre Pio had would not have sustained the life of an infant.[4]

When Padre Pio was able to sleep well, which was not often, he slept for about two to three hours.  Many nights were spent without sleeping at all.  This lack of sleep amazed doctors; they were baffled as to how he could work without being refreshed by sleep.[5]

Prayer and Padre Pio

When Padre Pio’s spiritual Father asked Padre Pio to redouble his prayers, Padre Pio said that this was not possible because his time was “all spent in prayer.”[6]

Padre Pio said: “What mankind lacks today is prayer.”[7]

Padre Pio: “We seek God in books, but it is in prayer that we find Him.  Prayer is the key that opens the heart of God.”[8]

Padre Pio: “All prayers are good when they are accompanied by good intentions and good will.”[9]

Padre Pio recommended people to make short mental prayers, offering everything they did, no matter how trivial, to Jesus Christ.[10]

Padre Pio, Letter, December 14, 1916: “Try to practice mental prayer, that is holy meditation, and let this habitually be on the life, passion and death of Jesus.[11]

Padre Pio would have his penitents recite the following prayer: “My past, O Lord, to your Mercy, My present to Thy Love, My future to Thy Providence!”[12]

Padre Pio said: “The Lord only allows me to recall those persons and things he wants me to remember.  In point of fact, on several occasions our merciful Lord has suggested to me people whom I have never known or even heard of, for the sole purpose of having me present them to Him and intercede for them, and in this case He never fails to answer my poor feeble prayers.  On the other hand, when Jesus doesn’t want to answer me, he makes me actually forget to pray for those persons for whom I had firmly decided and intended to pray.”[13]

In a letter on September 16, 1916, Padre Pio said: “Pray for the re-establishment of God’s reign; for the propagation of the Faith; for the exaltation and triumph of our holy mother, the Church.  Pray for ...the unfaithful, for heretics and for the conversion of sinners.”[14]

Padre Pio on distractions in prayer: “You must not be distracted voluntarily.  But if you are distracted, continue to pray, and you will have great merit, for Our Savior knows that you are not an angel praying to Him, but a poor woman.  Go on praying without ceasing.  And when you find it difficult to concentrate, don’t waste more time stopping to consider the why and the wherefore.  It’s like a traveler who loses his way.  As soon as he realizes he is on the wrong road, he immediately sets himself on the right road again.  So you must continue to meditate without stopping to reflect on your lack of concentration.”[15]