I credit Padre Pio with bringing me back to the faith, after having learned of him in the mid 1970’s. He made it possible for me to believe what before I could not believe. I thought that the Bible and all of the stories of Catholic saints were just fairy tales. But after looking at Padre Pio’s life, I could no longer hold that view.

Recently I was mowing my lawn. I was walking backwards, finishing the last strip. What I didn’t realize was that I was about to walk backwards into a large support beam on my children’s swing set while pulling the running lawn mower. In the instant before I would have walked backwards into the swing set, Padre Pio popped into my head and said, “I’m right behind you.” This caused me to pause. With my very next step I felt my heel come against the post that I was about to collide with. I have no doubt that I would have fallen, pulling the lawnmower over my feet and lower legs. I wasn’t thinking about or praying to Padre Pio at the time that he popped into my head. This leads me to believe that I received special protection. I praise God for giving us Padre Pio. He has helped those like me who could not believe, to believe! And I praise God and I thank Padre Pio for saving me from this accident. In Jesus and Mary,

– Joe Fusco