Day 1: Pray, hope, and don't worry

The first day opens the novena with Padre Pio's most famous spiritual counsel.

Padre Pio's words

"Pray, hope, and don't worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer."

This phrase appears repeatedly in Padre Pio's letters to spiritual directees. It is the foundation of the novena and is to be returned to whenever anxiety threatens to overtake the petitioner.

Reflection

The novena begins not by asking but by trusting. Padre Pio, who carried the stigmata for fifty years, who heard confessions for sixteen hours a day, who saw the suffering of thousands across his lifetime, summarized the Catholic answer in three words: pray, hope, don't worry. The worry is what keeps prayer from being prayer; the hope is what makes the prayer trusting.

Prayer

Saint Padre Pio, you who told the troubled souls who came to you to pray, hope, and not worry, intercede for me. Quiet the anxiety in my heart. Help me to entrust to God the intention I bring to this novena, that I may rest in the mercy you witnessed all your life.

O Lord God, hear the prayer of Padre Pio for me. Amen.

Conclude with one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be.