“Confession is the soul’s bath. You must go at least once a week. I do not want souls to stay away from confession more than a week.”
—Padre Pio
Over the years, Padre Pio heard millions of confessions. People flocked to him, so much so that he would spend long days sitting in the confessional. Frequent confession was a priority for him. He often used the example of dusting a room, pointing out that even if you dust a room, when you come back the next week it will need to be dusted again. But he also had the gift of seeing one’s soul and was not afraid to call out those he felt were not truly sorry for their sins or had simply come to see the priest with the stigmata.
The act of baring one’s soul and sins before God was extremely important to him and he expected that same respect for the sacrament from those seeking absolution.
In Padre Pio’s Own Words
Be careful not to lose sight of the divine presence in any of your actions. Never undertake any work or activity without first having lifted your mind to God and committing that activity to him with holy intentions. Do the same when you offer thanks for the outcome of all your actions. Always examine whether things unfolded in accord with the right intentions you had at the outset, and if you find anything defective, humbly ask the Lord for forgiveness with a firm resolution to amend your failings.
You must not be disheartened or sink into sadness if your actions do not attain the perfection you intended.
What do you expect? We are all fragile, we are earth, and not every plot of land produces the fruit intended by the farmer. Let us always humble ourselves after our failures, recognizing that we are completely helpless without divine assistance.
(To Raffaelina Cerase, December 17, 1914)
Prayer
St. Pio, inspire in us the yearning to take advantage of the Sacrament of Penance offered to us, so that we may clear our minds and souls of our sins and once again be in communion with God.
