Novena to Padre Pio - The Last Day

There's Always Hope

Because gnomes live inside my phone,¹ every photo I’ve ever taken of Amelia is available to me instantaneously. Periodically, Google puts some old pictures together, to show me how our little pea has grown—

Same smile, just more teeth.

This can sometimes be disheartening, to compare. But we also still get to enjoy our time together for as long as we can.

Also, there still may be hope. While current treatments won’t help Amelia, scientists are always researching new ways to improve the lives of, and even cure, MLD patients.

I recently came across a paper exploring the idea of using CRISPR technology to repair damage due to MLD. In an interview on the subject, one of the researchers, Dr. Justin Antony, said:

The team wants to start preparing a clinical trial and believe the technology can be deployed soon with the help of an industrial partner. “This work can be rapidly finished within a year. Ideally, we could reach the clinic within one or two years,” Dr Antony reveals.

I reached out to him personally to ask where he was at, and he wrote:

Our therapy is still in the preclinical stage (not tested in humans yet) and I am trying to establish a start-up to develop a CRISPR-based therapy for MLD patients. I have received several such emails from the patient family, I completely understand the pain. That's why I am trying my best to create a company for this although the current market situation is scary for any biotech start-up initiative.

I don’t know any more about biotech startups than I do about how cell phones work. But if you do, let me know, and I can give you his contact information. It’s possible through God’s grace and human ingenuity, a cure can still be found.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

O St. Pio, we come to you today knowing that you are truly a miracle worker. As one who is close to Jesus, we ask that you would pray for these our intentions:

Please heal Amelia of her metachromatic leukodystrophy.

We pray with the words of Pope John Paul II as we beg for your prayers on her behalf:

Glorious, humble and beloved Padre Pio. Teach us, we pray, humility of heart, so that we may be counted among the little ones of the Gospel to whom the Father promised to reveal the mysteries of His Kingdom. Help us to pray without ceasing, certain that God knows what we need even before we ask Him.

Obtain for us the eyes of faith that will help us recognize in the poor and suffering, the very face of Jesus.

Sustain us in the hour of trouble and trial and, if we fall, let us experience the joy of the sacrament of forgiveness. Grant us your tender devotion to Mary, mother of Jesus and our Mother.

Accompany us on our earthly pilgrimage toward the blessed Homeland, where we too, hope to arrive to contemplate forever the Glory of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

In closing, St. Pio, we pray the prayer you composed for Confidence and Trust in God’s Mercy:

O Lord, we ask for a boundless confidence and trust in Your divine mercy, and the courage to accept the crosses and sufferings which bring immense goodness to our souls and that of Your Church.

Help us to love You with a pure and contrite heart, and to humble ourselves beneath Your cross, as we climb the mountain of holiness, carrying our cross that leads to heavenly glory.

May we receive You with great faith and love in Holy Communion, and allow You to act in us as You desire for your greater glory.

O Jesus, most adorable Heart and eternal fountain of Divine Love, may our prayer find favor before the Divine Majesty of Your heavenly Father.

Amen.

All glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.

St. Padre Pio, Pray for us!

1. I don’t know how anything works.