FEATURES

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The Battle of St. Michael & the Devil

"And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery. And another portent appeared in heaven; behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth; she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which to be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Rejoice then, O heaven and you that dwell therein! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!"

And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had borne the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river which the dragon had poured from his mouth. Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea."

The Angels & Padre Pio

A teacher and his wife who both taught at the same school, one day came home from school and found their child ill with fever. They tried all their household medicines, but without result. It was already midnight.

Then the man said to his wife: "We must go to bed now, for tomorrow we have to go to school again. Sleep here with the child. I shall go to bed in the other room." But before going to bed he remembered having read in books on Padre Pio, that one could send one’s Guardian Angel to him.

He did this, and noted it was five to one in the morning. At three O’clock, he woke up. His first thought was, how is the child? He went to look, and found his little son healthy in his bed.

With great joy, he awakened his wife, and said: "Our child has been cured!"

His wife wept with happiness.

"It is a grace of Padre Pio," she answered. "Before going to bed, I sent my Guardian Angel to Padre Pio."

So it turned out that both had done the same. And in gratitude, the man drove to San Giovanni Rotondo some weeks later, to thank him in person.

As he went into the sacristy, Padre Pio was surrounded by a crowd of men, but when he saw the man, he said, humorously, and pointing his finger at him: "With you, one can’t have any peace, even at night!"

The man wanted to thank him.

"Go to the tabernacle, or to Our Lady!" was the stern reply.

But the man was abashed and timid (as everybody was looking at him) added: "Padre Pio, may I ask you whose Guardian Angel was with you first, my wife’s Angel, or mine?"

Smiling, Padre Pio answered: "Your Guardian Angel was with me at five minutes to one; that of your wife a little later."