Prayer after recieving Holy Communion — by Padre Pio
Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to have You present so that I do not forget You. You know how easily I abandon You.
Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak and I need Your strength, that I may not fall so often.
Stay with me, Lord, for You are my life and without You I am without fervor.
Stay with me, Lord, for You are my light and without You I am in darkness.
Stay with me, Lord, to show me Your will.
Stay with me, Lord, so that I hear Your voice and follow You.
Stay with me, Lord, for I desire to love You very much and alway be in Your company.
Stay with me, Lord, if You wish me to be faithful to You.
Stay with me, Lord, as poor as my soul is I want it to be a place of consolation for You, a nest of Love.
Stay with me, Jesus, for it is getting late and the day is coming to a close and life passes, death, judgment and eternity approaches. It is necessary to renew my strenth, so that I will not stop along the way and for that, I need You. It is getting late and death approaches, I fear the darkness, the temptations, the dryness, the cross, the sorrows. O how I need You, my Jesus, in this night of exile!
Stay with me tonight, Jesus, in life with all its dangers, I need You.
Let me recognize You as Your disciples did at the breaking of the bread, so that the Eucharistic Communion be the Light which disperses the darkness, the force which sustains me, the unique joy of my heart.
Stay with me, Lord, because at the hour of my death, I want to remain united to You, if not by Communion, at least by grace and love.
Stay with me, Lord, for it is You alone I look for, Your Love, Your Grace, Your Will, Your Heart, Your Spirit, because I love You and ask no other reward but to love You more and more.
With a firm love, I will love You with all my heart while on earth and continue to love You perfectly during all eternity.
Amen.
Love Padre Pio…what happened to your post on the Carmelites getting kicked out of their parish?
Comment by Jessica — June 29, 2007 @ 7:55 am
Hi Jessica.
I think I had better stick to posting about “prayer and spirituality”. Whenever I deviate from that, it seems to be trouble. News and politics can be had on many blogs, I think I will leave it to those more qualified to present such topics. It struck me that the Carmelites were being asked to leave this parish after so many years (especially since the name of the parish is Our Lady of the Scapular) but as I suspected, and mentioned, there is probably more to the story than that.
Anyway, from now on, I think I will try to stay away from the news as much as possible…
Comment by aeternus — June 29, 2007 @ 8:18 am
Very understandable your desire to be true to your “blog charism.” However, what do you mean “it seems to be trouble” when you deviate from spirituality?
Comment by Jessica — June 29, 2007 @ 8:25 am
The same happens to me, Aeternus.. it’s almost like a form of gossip. The news is never really “news” anyhow. It is the Good News that needs disseminating, and that’s where our focus must be. I’ve taken down blog after blog, because I cannot stick to simply prayer and spirituality! Thank you for staying true to yourself and Him.
Comment by C.O. — June 29, 2007 @ 9:34 am
Dear C.O.
You are so right, the only news is the Good News. The daily details of our life’s struggle are the cross we carry and give to our Lord on our final day as a sign of our love and fidelity to Him. It is the love, not the trivialities [or as in this case "news items" ] that really matter.
So yes, we must see the bigger picture. “As you say, News” should be subordinate and secondary to talking about authentic Catholic spirituality (in its various sanctioned charisms) and the life of prayer and supplication to our God.
Lord help your servant to see You and to love You faithfully and humbly…
Comment by aeternus — June 29, 2007 @ 10:42 am
This is a lovely prayer. It illustrates so well the level of intimacy the soul can achieve and the dread of ever being deprived of or removed from this life giving source.
Thanks for adding my site to your blogroll. I don’t have a blogroll as such but instead i intend introducing small numbers of bloggers in monthly posts.
Comment by Ann — June 30, 2007 @ 9:23 am
I love the prayer, and I’ve been thinking since I first saw this post and read the comments how (until Ann), we hadn’t really spoken much of Padre Pio or the prayer.. and I think it’s because we all already feel quite close to him, and because this prayer is not foreign to our hearts. Isn’t it funny, tho’ — the one person I know who met Padre Pio and who was named for him, is a bit scared of him. I can’t imagne it, tho’ I know he was one tough confessor! But in his writings and letters, he is so gentle.
Comment by C.O. — June 30, 2007 @ 10:25 pm
This prayer is so very special to me - especially the first line! How wonderful it always is to start your day with prayer, silent meditation and then the Holy Mass. When you receive our Lord in Holy Communion sometimes the happiness is almost too much to bear! I like to recite this prayer sometime before I leave the chapel and in a way BEG our Lord to remain with me. And, here is the catch, once you leave His chapel, it is SO VERY difficult to remain with Him. I want to, I beg to, but it just does not always happen…
I think that there is a certain ebb and flow of life which naturally increases and decreases our fervor and even physical “peace”. That is how we grow! I just always hope to be living in that “nest of Love” even when I don’t “feel it”!
Oh, and I know many people who are a little freightened by Padre Pio. I think it is a holy fear though which as they say is the “first stage of wisdom”!
Comment by aeternus — July 2, 2007 @ 12:24 pm