Decoding the Divine Will: Journeying with St. Michael, Padre Pio, and Luisa Piccarreta

Decoding God’s Divine Will for your Life

My in-room altar! Complete with your Rosaries! I’ll add them to the site once I return home! They will be taken to the Black Virgin (on a different mountain than the one I’m on), St. Michael’s cave (also a different mountain lol), and of course to Padre Pio’s body in the tomb beneath the church.

Back in 2023, during a Franciscan retreat, my spiritual director, Father Kevin, shared something with me that felt like a call from deep within—a teaching I hadn’t encountered before. He spoke about The Divine Will and how, if we’re brave enough to surrender, much like Mother Mary saying, “Let it be done unto me,” we can live in alignment with God’s perfect plan for our lives.

I was immediately intrigued, and before I knew it, I had a copy of The Book of Heaven by Luisa Piccarreta in hand. It’s a thick book, and though I’ve only read parts of it, the teachings have been life-changing. I’ve even shared quotes from it during my Good Morning episodes, HERE and HERE.

Interestingly enough, one of my favorite messages falls on my Grandma Maxine’s birthday (10/4/25), which is also the feast day of St. Francis!  I keep Grandma’s memory close to my heart and have placed her photo on my altar here in Italy (see header image). She’s always on the altar of my Heart.

While walking home from church yesterday, something extraordinary caught my eye—a large home with a statue of St. Michael on top.  That’s what caught my eye. My mom wanted a bracelet made of miraculous medals for her and her sister, so I ordered them online, and they arrived in the mail the day I left for Italy. In the package was a gift- a golden statue of St. Michael the Archangel. It was a lovely surprise, but as I had no real connection to him, other than the fact that I had read that near to my destination is a cave where he is reported to have appeared in the 400’s, I didn’t think much of it.  But much like the book about the Black Virgin, I put it in my carry-on, and brought it with me. His name kept coming up more and more— in my Bible readings and in many of the books I was reading along the way about Padre Pio (who unbeknownst to me until this trip, has a great devotion to him). He says, “Consecrate yourself to St. Michael and to the angels. You will need the help of St. Michael living in this world.”

Padre Pio would even send people on pilgrimage to that St. Michael cave, before allowing them to come to him for confession. I’m heading there, today! They say whatever fears you enter with flee, and whatever desires will help your soul, get fulfilled! Saint Michael’s name means ‘who is like God?’. You can find him in the Bible in Daniel 10:13,21, 12:1, Jude 1:9, and Revelation 12:7.

When I asked my guardian angel to find me a companion for that dark mountain road, I also (not a coincidence) started praying the St. Michael Prayer (I was also practicing ceaseless gratitude— 3500 ‘thank yous’ on my little finger counter!). The prayer to St. Michael had become familiar to me because my priest back home (the same one I learned the Salve Regina from) ends every Mass with it. I memorized it on my first day here, and now, it’s something I say throughout the day—when I wake, before I sleep, and even while walking the dark path to early morning Mass. I have come to know St. Michael as my guardian angel. They are one.

“Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.”

Back to my walk home to the spiritual center and hotel. As I walked down the street and saw the St. Michael statue on top of that building, I thanked God for the beauty of these signs. I looked down and saw the words on the building: LUISA PICCARRETA— apparently a GoOD friend of Padre Pio, and the prophetess of the Divine Will. For many decades, she abstained from food, surviving on the Holy Eucharist alone. A follower of hers had this home/center built and dedicated to her, right next to Padre Pio’s home and church!

“The world will be full of Luisa. The third millennium will see her light.”- Padre Pio

My heart skipped a beat. I couldn’t believe it. You know me—I rang the doorbell, but no one answered. Still, I was certain I was on the right track. The image of the Pietà on the sign, which I had seen last year in Rome, also helped me feel reassured.

my phone’s lock screen 

The Pietà is the statue of Mother Mary holding her crucified son, Jesus, and while I didn’t fully grasp its significance when I first encountered it in St. Peter’s Basilica, I now understand that it speaks to the heart of what I am being called to.

The day before, I had written this during a quiet moment of reflection at Padre Pio’s tomb:

You are Mother Mary of the Pietà, holding Him, recounting, remembering, grieving, loving. ‘I remember. I saw. I was there when they scourged you.’ The memories flicker, but the Love is steady.

That Love, the steady Love of Christ, has drawn me deeper into the writings of Luisa Piccarreta, and a book I had never heard of  before popped up during a search on Amazon. I read the introduction and KNOW it was an answer to the prayer I’d been whispering my whole life. It’s a .99 cent Kindle book that I believe is meant for you, too. If you don’t have time to read, let Alexa read it to you. I would love for you to join me in studying and loving Love as Christ in a deeper way, today. As soon I publish this, I’m opening it back up. Some of my favorite quotes from the intro- 

“With your mind, know ten thousand things;

with your heart, feel only one reality.” -Rupert Spira

As I’ve been meditating on the Divine Will and reflecting on the words of St. Michael and Padre Pio, I’ve come to realize how much we rely on the help of angels—our guardian angel, especially.

“Angel’ is the name of their office, not of their nature. If you seek the name of their nature, it is ‘spirit’; if you seek the name of their office, it is ‘angel’: from what they are, ‘spirit’, from what they do, ‘angel.” With their whole beings the angels are servants and messengers of God. Because they “always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven” they are the “mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word”.- St. Augustine

Padre Pio believed that we are all born with an angel assigned to us, and I’ve learned to acknowledge mine more fully, thanking him (as Michael), joking about my persistence and annoyance. You can ask your angel to pray with you, to help you focus and be less distracted, to hide you from harm and danger, to accompany you when you’re scared. Whatever you need. Talk to him like he’s right there, always. Act like he’s right there so you’ll act right lol. Tell him to show you. Assign a task. Tell him to go to Padre Pio and join your prayers to his, to mine! Then you won’t need to take my word for it. Results are instant. Peace.

I’ve found that angels operate outside of time and space, and their ability to help us is far beyond what we can comprehend. They are always present, ready to guide, protect, and assist us in every step. Only Love is here, but while we appear to be here, we can ask for help. Rupert Spira reminds us that though we may be aware of all the things (to include angels!), in our Heart we know only One. Only Love.

I asked my angel why we should talk to and acknowledge our ever-present angel, and he said, because presently we feel unworthy of speaking to and acknowledging our ever-present Jesus. Levels, haha.

Here are the most powerful pages from the ‘Send Me Your Guardian Angel’ book I shared about yesterday! There’s only one copy on Amazon for $70 dollars, but look what I found for you! Read it and be forever changed with me!

Middle paragraphs! Put it to the test today and report back!!

(start at ‘whilst waiting…’)

And now, as I reflect on everything that’s happened and all that I’ve learned, I want to share something Padre Damian told me yesterday: “Don’t forget your identity. You are His, and you are very important to Him. You are so loved. All of this—look around, all of this He did and made for you.” (He’s from Nigeria (studying in Rome) but here for a month. He’s the priest that’s been celebrating the Mass each morning and I was able to visit with him for confession and general chatting about our respective paths!)

These words have been a constant reminder of God’s boundless Love for each of us. If you ever doubt how much you’re loved, look at everything around you—the world, your life, your journey—and know that all of it is part of His great Plan.

Speaking of Nigeria— This song from Victor Thompson called, ‘Nonstop Deep Yoruba Worship’ has been on nonstop repeat! No idea what he’s saying (maybe a Yoruba friend can translate in the comments!), but I can feel every bit of It! I hope it inspires you, too!

Finally, know this— there’s only one outlet in my whole room and it’s smooth across the room, nowhere near the nightstands. That one simple design keeps me off this phone. I didn’t bring my computer so I wouldn’t work. Now my work is harder cause posting with these thumbs, on a website meant for a desktop, ain’t easy! I love you that much!

Love Love Love,

Nik

P.S. The driver who picked me up today is named Michael, of course. It couldn’t be any other way. Thank God for God.

The view from this morning while you slept! I had just left Mass-

Look. You’ve been desensitized. You see a story. A fiction. At most, a past. But I am. Present. Presence. Alive. The present. Feel, please. The Light that bled. That bleeds.