Beloved Padre Pio, today I come to add my prayer to the thousands of
 prayers offered to you every day by those who love and venerate you.
 They ask for cures and healings, earthly and spiritual blessings, and
 peace for body and mind. And because of your friendship with the Lord,
 he heals those you ask to be healed, and forgives those you forgive.
.
 Through your visible wounds of the Cross, which you bore for 50 years,
 you were chosen in our time to glorify the crucified Jesus. Because the
 Cross has been replaced by other symbols, please help us to bring it
 back in our midst, for we acknowledge it is the only true sign of
 salvation.
.
 As we lovingly recall the wounds that pierced your hands, feet and
 side, we not only remember the blood you shed in pain, but your smile,
 and the invisible halo of sweet smelling flowers that surrounded your