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Charity has as its close relatives joy and peace. Joy is born of happiness at possessing what we love. Now, from the moment at which the soul knows God, it is naturally led to love Him. If the soul follows this natural impulse which is caused by the Holy Spirit, it is already loving the Supreme Good. This fortunate soul already possesses the beautiful virtue of love. By loving God the soul is certain of possessing Him. When a person loves money, honours and good health, unfortunately, he does not always possess what he loves, whereas he who loves God possesses Him at once.
This idea is not the product of my own mind but is to be found in Holy Scripture where we read: He who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him . What does this scriptural passage mean to tell us? Does it not, perhaps, mean that the soul devoted to God out of love belongs entirely to God, while God gives Himself entirely to that soul?
Joy, then, is an offspring of love, but if this joy is to be true and perfect it must be accompanied inseparably by the peace which pervades us when the good we possess is supreme and certain. Now, is not God the Supreme Good which the soul loves and which it possesses as the result of loving Him?

As regards mortification of the flesh St. Paul warns us that those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires . From this holy apostle?s teaching it is apparent that anyone who wants to be a true Christian, that is to say, who lives according to the true spirit of Jesus Christ must mortify his flesh for no other reason than devotion to Jesus, who for love of us mortified his entire body on the cross. The mortification must be constant and steady, not intermittent, and it must last for one?s whole life. Moreover, the perfect Christian must not be satisfied with a kind of mortification which merely appears to be severe. He must make sure that it hurts.

This is how mortification of the body is to be practised, for not without reason does the apostle tall it crucifixion. However, someone may take a stand against this and ask why the flesh is to be treated so severely. Foolish, one, for if you considered your words attentively, you would realize that all the evils which hurt your soul can be traced to failure to practise due mortification of the flesh, either through ignorance or lack of the will to do so. If you want to be cured, if you want to remedy your trouble at the very roots, you must master your flesh and crucify it, for it is the source of all evil.

Thank you for posting this beautiful letter from Padre Pio.

I went to the source link hoping to find more letters, but it seems to be a very odd site.

Do you know if there are more letters of Padre Pio available, either at that site or elsewhere?

Thanks for your help.