10 and 11 September Groups from all over Italy will meet in San Giovanni Rotondo
The Padre Pio Prayer Groups meet again in San Giovanni Rotondo on the occasion of the National Conference now in its 33rd yearto edition. Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 September 2022the Maria Pyle auditorium will host the spiritual children of the Saint who will come from all over Italy to fraternally live the charisma of the Father Founder.
“It is prayer that spreads God’s smile and blessing” will be the theme that will guide them in these two days and throughout the pastoral year 2022/2023.
“As every year – explains Father Luciano Lottigeneral secretary of Padre Pio’s Prayer Groups – the choice of the theme is important, because in some way, through a phrase of Padre Pio, a reading of the reality that surrounds us is proposed. And we have the reality under our eyes: Covid, the war and the ecological crisis have caused a strong economic and social crisis. Many speak of hope and optimism and many ask to be helped to regain hope and then it is necessary to believe that certain things can be given to us by the Lord, we ask him for the gift of his smile and his blessing.“.
During the first day of the congress, after the greetings of Father Franco Moscone and Michele Giuliani, respectively president of the Opera di San Pio and general manager of Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, the archivist Marianna Iafelice and the director of Padre Pio TV Stefano Campanella will present the figures of blessed Olinto Marella and Maria Gargani whose life is steeped in the spirituality of Padre Pio and his teachings.
On Sunday morning, the journalist Lucia Ascionehistorical TV presenter 2000, will meet the world of Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza told through the testimonies of the health workers of the Hospital of San Pio.
At the end of the works, Father Franco Moscone will deliver the new training aid to the participants titled “It is prayer that spreads the smile and blessing of God”, which contains the catechesis-guides designed for the Groups and suggested for the new pastoral year.
“It is prayer that spreads God’s smile and blessing” is an expression that the Saint of Pietrelcina wrote in his speech released on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the inauguration of the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza (1966): “in the full speech – Father Franco explains – Padre Pio uses a whole series of verbs to define the action of prayer: “it moves, renews, sustains, comforts, heals, sanctifies, elevates, gives”. Prayer is not an individual attitude and is not resolved in an interpersonal relationship between us and God, but according to Padre Pio, who follows the teaching of the Gospel, it must be lived with others, not for nothing the first and fundamental prayer of the Holy Mass is called “collection”, because together we unite with each other and with Christ, our mediator with the Father. It is community prayer, therefore, that attracts the smile and blessing of God“.
SOURCE OPERADIPADREPIO