From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   How Truth Instructs us in Silence  (I)   
      
   THE DISCIPLE. `Speak, Lord, for Your servant hearest'(I Sam 3:9) `I am   
   Your servant; grant me understanding, that I may know Your   
   testimonies.' (Ps. 119:125) `Incline my heart to the words of Your   
   mouth; (Ps. 128:1) let Your speech descend on me like the dew.' (Deut.   
   32:2) The people of Israel of old time said to Moses, `Speak with us   
   and we will hear: let not God speak with us, lest we die.'( Ex. 20:19)   
   But I do not pray thus, O Lord; but with the Prophet Samuel, I humbly   
   and earnestly beg, `Speak, Lord, for your servant hearest.' Let not   
   Moses or any of the Prophets speak to me, but rather do You speak, O   
   Lord God, who inspire and enlighten the Prophets. You alone can   
   perfectly instruct me without their aid, but without You they can do   
   nothing.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3, Ch 2   
      
      
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   May 26th - St. Philip Neri, Reformer   
      
   When Martin Luther complained in the early 16th century that moral   
   life in Rome was lax, he was correct. Other reformers who remained   
   within the Church agreed. The main problem was how to overcome the   
   spirit of worldliness that tainted Romans from the popes on down to   
   the tradesmen. Nobody likes to be reformed!   
      
   What was needed was not just a series of new rules imposed from above,   
   but a new spirit working up from below. God now gave to the Eternal   
   City several saints who served as new yeast. The most outstanding was   
   St. Philip Neri. Despite the fact that the apostles Peter and Paul   
   were revered as founders of Roman Christianity, Philip came to be   
   known as the “Apostle of Rome.”   
      
   Philip was not a native Romano. He was born in Florence, the son of a   
   notary public. From childhood on, he had a winning way about him that   
   attracted everybody. People even called the lad “Pippo buono” (“good   
   little Phil”) He was slated for a business career: and he would, in   
   fact, have proved a skilled salesman. But at age 18 he underwent a   
   spiritual experience that completely redirected his career.   
      
   Converted totally to God, Philip, like many other Spirit-shaken   
   persons in history, decided to become a hermit. But to do so, he went,   
   not to a desert, but to the city of Rome. His “hermitage” was a little   
   room under the eaves. There, nevertheless, he did withdraw as much as   
   possible from social contacts for the next two years. He occupied   
   himself with prayer and with forms of self-denial that were effective   
   without being extreme.   
      
   When two years were up, Neri suddenly left his little cloister and   
   plunged into the crowds that coursed through the streets of the   
   metropolis. Using his talent for friendliness, he would pick up   
   conversations with those he met, especially promising young men. He   
   won their attention by his cheerful work, his banter, and even by   
   clowning around. Then, when he had won listeners, he would ask, “Well,   
   brothers, when shall we begin to do good?”   
      
   The program through which he led them, like a pied piper, included   
   group pilgrimages to the catacombs and the “seven churches” of Rome;   
   and ended up in the hospitals, where they volunteered to serve the   
   sick.   
      
   About this time, Philip had one of his many mystical experiences.   
   Praying for the gifts of the Holy Spirit, he saw a globe of fire   
   plunge into his mouth and enter his heart. With it came an intense   
   emotionality that evidenced itself afterwards whenever he thought   
   about God. As a matter of fact his physical heart was so enlarged from   
   that moment that his ribs were broken.   
      
   He had the gift of distinguishing the pure from the impure by the   
   sense of smell. When he spoke to any one who was impure, he   
   experienced such a stench that he had to hold handkerchief before his   
   nose. He therefore said to more than one dissipated youth whom he met:   
   "You savor ill, my son, you savor ill." He, on the contrary perceived   
   the most agreeable odor from those whose life was pure.   
      
   Thus far, Neri was a layman. In 1551, urged by priests, he became a   
   priest at age 36. Soon he and a few other reform-minded priests joined   
   to form a society he called the “Congregation of the Oratory.” They   
   scheduled regular group-devotions in the large church hall which they   
   called their “oratory.” Crowds of people, from cardinals on down,   
   gathered to give or listen to sermons, read church history and saints’   
   lives, discuss religious subjects, and pray. Music was also   
   introduced, and the religious cantata called the “oratorio” probably   
   derived its name from Philip’s “Oratory” program. Philip was available   
   to all, and crowds called at his office. (One day an observer saw four   
   cardinals visiting the saint at the same time.) His recommendation to   
   all was frequent confession and daily communion.   
      
   Why did Philip Neri attract people as a magnet attracts nails? Partly   
   because of his spontaneous challenges. Sometimes he would bully his   
   pupils or box their ears, as a father might his son’s. Sometimes he   
   would break their self-love by ordering them to do something absurd.   
   But they didn’t mind. They recognized that he made closeness to God a   
   social reality, and they kept coming to his services. By the end of   
   his life, this “holy clown” had begun to alter the whole moral   
   atmosphere of Rome.   
      
   Philip, you see, firmly believed that “the soul of reform is the   
   reform of the soul;” and he communicated to his followers the   
   optimistic view that they could “begin to do good.” Typical of his   
   homely piety were his axioms “God tries no one too far.” and “He   
   leaves everyone some bone to gnaw.” By his own example he convinced   
   people that serving God should be and could be a joyful experience.   
      
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "It is an old custom with the servants of God always to have some   
   little prayers ready and to be darting them up to heaven frequently   
   during the day, lifting their minds to God out of the filth of this   
   world. He who adopts this plan will get great fruit with little   
   pains."   
   --Saint Philip Neri   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   For as by the disobedience of one man, many were made sinners: so also   
   by the obedience of one, many shall be made just.  [Romans 5:19]  DRB   
      
      
   <><><><>   
    Prayer against Covetousness   
      
   O Lord Jesus Christ, who though Thou wast rich yet for our sakes didst   
   become poor, grant that all over-eagerness and covetousness of earthly goods   
   may die in us, and the desire of heavenly things may live and grow in us;   
   keep us from all idle and vain expenditures, that we may always have to give   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)