St. Philip Neri said.....
Moderator: Denise
"To obtain perfectly the gift of humility, four things are required: to despise the world, to despise no person, to despise one's self, to despise being despised."
Devotion to the souls in Purgatory contains in itself all the works of mercy, which supernaturalized by a spirit of faith, should merit us Heaven. de Sales
JB, maybe this might help
St. Philip Neri Homily 2015
Fr. Joseph IlloApostle of Renaissance Rome
The Roman people, and the Roman Church, call St. Paul of Tarsus the First Apostle of their city. But they also call St. Philip of Florence the Second Apostle of Rome. And the Rome St. Philip made his home in 1535 was not unlike Paul’s Rome in that it was undergoing a “renaissance,†shaking with the rebirth of art, ideas, and wealth. St. Philip did not despise anything good in the Renaissance, but neither was he overawed by these new dynamisms of the human spirit. His long nights in the catacombs prepared him to keep human achievements in perspective, bringing a winning humility to the regnant hubris of Renaissance Rome. Though very much alive to the world (he remained a secular priest and commanded his followers to do the same), he kept his heart fixed on heaven. “To obtain perfectly the gift of humility,†St. Philip said, “four things are required: to despise the world, to despise no person, to despise one’s self, to despise being despised.†It is in this insight, I think, that St. Philip reveals his effectiveness as the Second Apostle of Rome.
To despise the world
St. Philip “despised†the world. He refused to let it dazzle him, holding always man’s final end before his mind. “What will you do in life?†he asked a young nobleman. “I plan to study law and become an attorney.†St. Philip pressed him: “And then?†he asked. “And then,†the young man replied, “I will be a successful lawyer.†“And then?†Philip again asked his young friend. “And then people will speak well of me and I’ll have a good reputation. “And then?†came the question once again. “And then I shall lead an easy life and be happy.†St. Philip asked a final time: “And then?†Across the centuries Good St. Philip asks us: where do you want to be at the end of it all? For what are you making such a tremendous exercise of your beautiful human spirit if not for God and heaven?
To despise no man
St. Philip despised no person. Like Mother Teresa of our own time, he saw Christ before him in every man, each made in the image of God. Those who take faith seriously in a secular society are tempted to hold aloof from irreligious people; what have we to do with them, and how can we even hold a meaningful conversation? St. Philip took a keen interest in every man and woman, holding no one in contempt. This was a grace, but a grace to which he responded, sometimes at great personal cost.
To despise myself
St. Philip despised himself. He did not despise the image of God in himself, nor discount the great good that he was to all of humanity. But he knew every man needs to offset the egocentrism inherent in all who inhabit their own skins. So he did his best not to take himself too seriously, often using an odd humor to deprecate his own and others’ egos. People shook their heads, some considering him completely loony, at the crazy stunts he pulled off among Rome’s gentile classes.
To despise sadness
And finally, St. Philip despised being despised. I’m not exactly sure what that means, but I think he is taking a stick to overly pious and fraudulent asceticism. Plenty of us think that our sufferings, of themselves, our being despised by the world in itself, is a sure sign of our true holiness. Not so, says St. Philip. In the end, it is joy, not moroseness, which manifests true holiness.
This last “requirement for true humility,†to despise being despised, puts humility back into God’s hands. We cannot manufacture our own humility, or our one sanctity. We can only commend ourselves, with loving trust and true joy, into God’s hands. It is this carefree joy that marks St. Philip’s life, and, let us hope, his sons in the Oratory he founded.
St. Philip Neri Homily 2015
Fr. Joseph IlloApostle of Renaissance Rome
The Roman people, and the Roman Church, call St. Paul of Tarsus the First Apostle of their city. But they also call St. Philip of Florence the Second Apostle of Rome. And the Rome St. Philip made his home in 1535 was not unlike Paul’s Rome in that it was undergoing a “renaissance,†shaking with the rebirth of art, ideas, and wealth. St. Philip did not despise anything good in the Renaissance, but neither was he overawed by these new dynamisms of the human spirit. His long nights in the catacombs prepared him to keep human achievements in perspective, bringing a winning humility to the regnant hubris of Renaissance Rome. Though very much alive to the world (he remained a secular priest and commanded his followers to do the same), he kept his heart fixed on heaven. “To obtain perfectly the gift of humility,†St. Philip said, “four things are required: to despise the world, to despise no person, to despise one’s self, to despise being despised.†It is in this insight, I think, that St. Philip reveals his effectiveness as the Second Apostle of Rome.
To despise the world
St. Philip “despised†the world. He refused to let it dazzle him, holding always man’s final end before his mind. “What will you do in life?†he asked a young nobleman. “I plan to study law and become an attorney.†St. Philip pressed him: “And then?†he asked. “And then,†the young man replied, “I will be a successful lawyer.†“And then?†Philip again asked his young friend. “And then people will speak well of me and I’ll have a good reputation. “And then?†came the question once again. “And then I shall lead an easy life and be happy.†St. Philip asked a final time: “And then?†Across the centuries Good St. Philip asks us: where do you want to be at the end of it all? For what are you making such a tremendous exercise of your beautiful human spirit if not for God and heaven?
To despise no man
St. Philip despised no person. Like Mother Teresa of our own time, he saw Christ before him in every man, each made in the image of God. Those who take faith seriously in a secular society are tempted to hold aloof from irreligious people; what have we to do with them, and how can we even hold a meaningful conversation? St. Philip took a keen interest in every man and woman, holding no one in contempt. This was a grace, but a grace to which he responded, sometimes at great personal cost.
To despise myself
St. Philip despised himself. He did not despise the image of God in himself, nor discount the great good that he was to all of humanity. But he knew every man needs to offset the egocentrism inherent in all who inhabit their own skins. So he did his best not to take himself too seriously, often using an odd humor to deprecate his own and others’ egos. People shook their heads, some considering him completely loony, at the crazy stunts he pulled off among Rome’s gentile classes.
To despise sadness
And finally, St. Philip despised being despised. I’m not exactly sure what that means, but I think he is taking a stick to overly pious and fraudulent asceticism. Plenty of us think that our sufferings, of themselves, our being despised by the world in itself, is a sure sign of our true holiness. Not so, says St. Philip. In the end, it is joy, not moroseness, which manifests true holiness.
This last “requirement for true humility,†to despise being despised, puts humility back into God’s hands. We cannot manufacture our own humility, or our one sanctity. We can only commend ourselves, with loving trust and true joy, into God’s hands. It is this carefree joy that marks St. Philip’s life, and, let us hope, his sons in the Oratory he founded.
Devotion to the souls in Purgatory contains in itself all the works of mercy, which supernaturalized by a spirit of faith, should merit us Heaven. de Sales
"A man ought to mortify his understanding in little things, if he wishes easily to mortify it in great ones, and to advance in the way of virtue."
Devotion to the souls in Purgatory contains in itself all the works of mercy, which supernaturalized by a spirit of faith, should merit us Heaven. de Sales
"Without mortification nothing can be done."
Just a note here
Mortification of the flesh
is an act by which an individual or group seeks to mortify, or put to death, their sinful nature, as a part of the process of sanctification. In Christianity, common forms of mortification that are practiced to this day include fasting, abstinence, as well as pious kneeling.
Of the senses
The active night of the senses involves our own effort, supported by grace, to mortify the inordinate desires of the senses (St John of the Cross often uses the phrase, “mortification of the appetitesâ€). ... John of the Cross refers to this change of heart as a “transformation†or “reformation of desireâ€.
Just a note here
Mortification of the flesh
is an act by which an individual or group seeks to mortify, or put to death, their sinful nature, as a part of the process of sanctification. In Christianity, common forms of mortification that are practiced to this day include fasting, abstinence, as well as pious kneeling.
Of the senses
The active night of the senses involves our own effort, supported by grace, to mortify the inordinate desires of the senses (St John of the Cross often uses the phrase, “mortification of the appetitesâ€). ... John of the Cross refers to this change of heart as a “transformation†or “reformation of desireâ€.
Devotion to the souls in Purgatory contains in itself all the works of mercy, which supernaturalized by a spirit of faith, should merit us Heaven. de Sales
"St. Peter and the other apostles and apostolic men, seeing the Son of God born in poverty, and then living so absolutely without anything, that He had not where to lay His Head, and contemplating Him dead and naked on a cross, stripped themselves also of all things, and took the road of the evangelical counsels."
Devotion to the souls in Purgatory contains in itself all the works of mercy, which supernaturalized by a spirit of faith, should merit us Heaven. de Sales
"In this life there is no purgatory; it is either hell or paradise; for to him who serves God truly, every trouble and infirmity turns into consolations, and through all kinds of trouble he has a paradise within himself even in this world; and he who does not serve God truly, and gives himself up to sensuality, has one hell in this world, and another in the next."
Devotion to the souls in Purgatory contains in itself all the works of mercy, which supernaturalized by a spirit of faith, should merit us Heaven. de Sales
"To get good from reading the Lives of the Saints, and other spiritual books, we ought not to read out of curiosity, or skimmingly, but with pauses; and when we feel ourselves warmed, we ought not to pass on, but to stop and follow up the spirit which is stirring in us, and when we feel it no longer then to pursue our reading."
Devotion to the souls in Purgatory contains in itself all the works of mercy, which supernaturalized by a spirit of faith, should merit us Heaven. de Sales
"We have no time to go to sleep here, for Paradise was not made for poltroons."
A poltroon is a coward. Poltroons have a lack of courage and fortitude. Poltroon is an old-fashioned word for a type of person that exists in every time period: a coward.
A poltroon is a coward. Poltroons have a lack of courage and fortitude. Poltroon is an old-fashioned word for a type of person that exists in every time period: a coward.
Devotion to the souls in Purgatory contains in itself all the works of mercy, which supernaturalized by a spirit of faith, should merit us Heaven. de Sales