Lectio et Oratio

Episode 40 -- Life of St Philip Bk IV.40 -- Prophecy and Other Charisms

Do troubles arise for holy souls?

We will hear about one of the first very serious illnesses that St Philip endured after her was ordained. In his childhood, St Philip suffered from a terrible fever. In 1555, he again experienced a fever that almost took his life. In the same year, St Philip warned one of his friends not to run from the cross that God allowed him to carry. The friend made a mistake in his living arrangements. Difficulties began. He tried to change the situation. But St Philip warned him to accept the situation or he would forever be restless. He did not listen.

Last episode we read about St Philip's special sense of smell. He could smell virtue and vice at certain special times. St Paul says that we are supposed to be the "the good odour of Christ unto God, in them that are saved, and in them that perish." (2 Corinthians 2:15). This gift of St Philip's was known to exist among some of the early desert Fathers in the 4-5th centuries. St Philip was like a desert Father set down in 16th century Rome!

Episode 39 -- Life of St Philip Bk IV.39 -- Smell of Virtue and Vice

Do sins give off bad odours?

We will read about a gift that St Philip had for identifying sins. Like various ancient desert Fathers, St Philip detected a stench emanating from someone who had committed a sexual sin. The smell had nothing to do with a recently committed act. People would be astonished that he knew what they had done. "It is your bad smell," he would say. St Philip had a similar experience with a woman possessed by a devil.

Last episode we read about St Philip's fascination with purity. He loved that virtue and loved to tell others about it. He would encourage others to pursue it and to pray for it. People who listened to St Philip and spent time with him often experienced a desire to practice purity. By purity, we keep our bodies for the Lord. We use our bodies for good and holy purposes. St Philip was zealous to help those who were tempted to lust. He helped them by his advice, his prayers, and by his encouraging words. He loved to help those who were not tainted by this vice to remain pure. How we need to keep St Philip in mind in our struggle for purity of heart. He can help us too!

Episode 38 -- Life of St Philip Bk IV.38 -- Love for Chastity

Did St Philip's chastity have an effect on others?

We will read about some of the effects that St Philip's purity of heart, his chastity, had on others. Chastity means the successful integration of one's sexuality within the whole of one's life. Sexual desire is part of life. According to our mission and vocation, chastity helps us to control our desires. Chastity helps us to be free of the slavery of our sexual desires. St Philip had a special grace to help other people achieve this freedom.

Last episode we read about the special grace St Philip was given. His power for sexual desire was completely transformed and made subject to his mind enlightened by faith. He was delivered from the smallest urges and movements of disordered desire. It was as if he was given the chastity of Adam before the Fall or rather the chastity of Christ Himself. There was in St Philip, at least in this area, a return to the grace of Original Justice.

Original Justice = the inner and outer harmony that our first parents experienced as a result of their intimate friendship with God.

Original JUSTICE was the result of original HOLINESS, original intimacy. The grace, the original holiness, that united our first parents to God overflowed into their whole lives.

• As they were in harmony with God in their mind and heart, so all their powers (emotions, imagination, memory, etc) were in harmony with the mind and heart.

• The body was in harmony with the soul.

• The man and woman were in harmony.

• The rest of creation was in harmony with humanity.

Justice is giving what is due or owed to another. Everything in creation gave to the man and woman what was "due" to them, what belonged to them as friends of God. The first human beings had a kind of mastery over themselves and creation. Work was not a burden. The man and woman were naked without shame.

The sign of their friendship with God (original holiness) was his creating them in a garden, a place of life and fruitfulness, in which they cooperated with God to bring forth new life. The state of original holiness and its consequence, original justice (harmonious ordering of their whole life), was lost by the sin of our first parents. To read more about this state of original justice, look at

Episode 37 -- Life of St Philip Bk IV.37 -- Grace of Original Justice and Chastity

How unusual was St Philp's degree of chastity?

We will read about some of the remarkable effects of the gift of chastity that St Philip received. Gallonio compares his condition to our first parents before they fell. St Philip's desires were radically transformed. Some of the details may seem hard to believe!

Last episode we read about the remarkable victory St Philip was given over a sexual temptation. Like St Thomas Aquinas, he was forced into a room with a prostitute. Like St Thomas, his cooperation with the grace of God brought as a reward a extraordinary degree of chastity.

Episode 36 -- Life of St Philip Bk IV.36 -- Demonic Disturbances by Means of a Prostitute

What kinds of attacks did the devil carry out on St Philip in 1555?

As St Philip made greater progress in the spiritual life and drawing people to the Lord, the devil tried to both scare him and lead him to sin. We will read about how the devil tried to scare him while spending time with others and while spending time in prayer. "The devil hates nothing more than prayer," St Philip would later say. But the devil also inspired one of the most beautiful woman of Rome to try and seduce St Philip. But the Lord gave him the grace to escape!

Last episode we read about a connection St Philip has with Pope Paul IV. He became Pope on the same day in May when St Philip was ordained a priest. St Philip knew his life was especially connected to other people in the Mystical Body of Christ. St Philip was the eventual confessor of the lowliest labourer in Rome and the Pope himself. St Philip often helped his penitents in spiritual and physical ailments. In 1554 he obtained the healing of a young medical student suffering from heart disease.

Episode 35 -- Life of St Philip Bk III.35 -- Healing of Heart Disease and Living in the Heart of the Church

Did St Philip perform any other miracles early in his priesthood?

In this episode we will look at another miracle obtained by St Philip's prayers. A man with a heart disease was freed of his illness by St Philip's prayers. We will also see a connection between St Philip and Pope Paul IV.

Last episode we read about St Philip's prayers for his spiritual son, Prospero Crivelli. St Philip was made heir to his will. To avoid this St Philip offered his own life for the recovery of Prospero.

Episode 34 -- Life of St Philip Bk III.34 -- Being Heir and Praying for a Miracle

Did St Philip ever work miracles?

We look at a miracle of healing that God did through St Philip. Usually people are happy when they are heirs in a will. St Philip was not. He prayed for the man to get better. And he did.

Last episode we read about two accounts of St Philip’s prophetic knowledge of future conversions. St Philip was on fire for people to know Christ Jesus and His love. But he was also full of discretion. He knew that he could not rush God’s time table.

Episode 33 -- Life of St Philip Bk III.33 -- Two Conversion Predictions

Did St Philip have special graces to know the future conversion of certain people?

In this episode we will read about a famous encounter between St Philip and Jewish friend of his. St Philip encouraged him to pray for light to know Christ. The man's response prompted St Philip to predict his future baptism. St Philip also foresaw the change of heart of a man who was opposed to his wife's frequentation of the sacraments.

Episode 32 -- Life of St Philip Bk III.32 -- Bringing People to the Lord

In this episode we read about some of St Philip"s practical methods for guiding men in the practice of charity. Besides frequenting the sacraments and joining in daily meetings to discuss spiritual things, he employed his spiritual sons in taking care of those in the Roman hospitals.

Episode 31 -- Life of St Philip Bk III.31 -- Love of Christ the Bridegroom

Episode 30 -- Life of St Philip Bk III.30 -- Patience Wins Out

How did the persecution of the newly ordained St Philip end?

In this episode we will read about how the terrible persecution by the leader of the Confraternity of Charity and his two sacristans ended. The persecution lasted two years. St Philip never lost his patience exteriorly. And finally the sacristans had a deep change of heart. But not before one of them almost killed the other! Even Vincenzio Teccosi was converted and became a spiritual son of St Philip. How did St Philip endure this trial? Our Lord spoke to him with a clear interior voice at one of his darkest times.

Last episode we read about the envy of the leader of the Confraternity of Charity towards St Philip. St Philip lived at the church run by the Confraternity. And Vincenzio Teccosi developed an intense dislike to the new priest. Two ex-priests were working as sacristans. They made St Philip"s life very difficult. As St Philip said Mass everyday, their chances to insult him were daily!

Episode 29 -- Life of St Philip Bk III.29 -- Persecution of Newly Ordained

Did everyone like the newly ordained Fr Philip Neri?

Having read about St Philip"s life as a newly ordained priest in terms of his offering of Mass, hearing confessions, and daily distribution of the word of God, we read in this episode about the hatred the two sacristans at St Jerome"s church felt towards St Philip. We will read how they persecuted him and tried to make him want to leave. Their tactics are somewhat surprising!

Episode 28 -- Life of St Philip Bk III. 28 -- Daily Discourses on the Word of God

In this episode we read about St Philip's first efforts to gather Catholics in his rooms at St Jerome's for reading and discussion and preaching. St Philip was not content with getting them to daily Mass and frequenting Confession. He wanted to educate them in the ways of God. He wanted to lead them to greater holiness. He began his practice of daily discourses on the word of God.

Episode 27 -- Life of St Philip Bk III.27 -- Hearing Confessions of Women

Did St Philip treat everyone the same way?

In this episode we will read more about how St Philip interacted with different kinds of penitents. He tried to find the right balance between being all things to all people and protecting himself from temptations. St Philip had self-knowledge and generosity.

Last episode we read about St Philip's special mission as a confessor. He took up this task, not from a personal wish, but from a sense of mission. God called him to this special work. And St Philip zealously carried out what he realized was God's will. He really sought to please the Lord and follow the will of others, as much as was prudent.

Episode 26 -- Life of St Philip Bk III.26 -- Confession Questions

How important was hearing confessions to young Fr Philip Neri?

In this episode we begin looking at St Philip as a confessor. What motivated him to hear confessions? What were the fruits of his labours? As a layman, St Philip always had a regular confessor and made frequent confessions. As a priest, he continued to go to confession, but now made himself available to hear confessions. He welcomed all kinds of persons seeking forgiveness and growth in holiness.

Last episode we read about St Philip's love for the Sacrifice of the Mass. We read about his intense and eager way of receiving the Body and Blood of Christ. Having offered up the Body and Blood of Christ in the Mass, St Philip longed to receive this heavenly food and drink. His remarkable manner of receiving shows a man deeply aware of his spiritual hunger and his spiritual emptiness without Christ. St Philip lived amidst crosses and spiritual trials. He cherished the time of his communion above all other times of his day. He understood the value of Holy Communion as few others have. How the Holy Spirit filled him with lights to grasp the power of the Eucharist.

Episode 25 -- Life of St Philip Bk III.25 -- Eucharistic Sacrifice and Communion

Did anything unusual happen when St Philip received Holy Communion during his Mass?

In this episode we read about some of the things that characterized the way St Philip received Communion after he was ordained. Fr Gallonio reports that St Philip showed an incredible eagerness to receive the Sacred Body of Christ and drink the Precious Blood. Those who were close testify that St Philip seemed to be tasting something very delightful. We know that St Philip would wear off the gilding at the rim of the chalice. St Philip even left his teeth marks in the chalice. What are we to make of these details? What do they mean?

Last episode we read about the way the Holy Spirit filled St Philip's heart and body with the effects of divine love during Mass. The Mass is the gift of Christ's love. The Mass is where the love of Christ is made most present to us. The Eucharist is the means by which we become loving persons. It is as though the Holy Spirit made St Philip into a living lesson about the value of the Mass. As many sections of Europe in the 16th century were rejecting the Mass and forgetting about its power, the Holy Spirit did marvels in the life of St Philip during Mass. St Philip reminds us that the Mass is where we encounter the Holy Spirit and are filled with the love of God.

Episode 24 -- Life of St Philip Bk III.24 -- Darts of Divine Love at Mass

What kind of things started happening to St Philip when he first offered Mass?

In this episode, Fr Gallonio will tell us about the darts of divine love that the Holy Spirit would send into St Philip"s heart during Mass. These experiences would sometimes make it hard for St Philip to keep going at Mass. He would have to pause to regain his strength. Fr Gallonio explains what happened to St Philip in light of the Song of Songs: "The King has brought me into his wine cellar, he has ordained charity in me; stay me with flowers, encompass me with apples, for I am faint with love" (2:4-5).

Episode 23 -- Life of St Philip Bk III.23 -- Understanding the Mass

In this episode we read about how St Philip"s mind and heart were especially absorbed in the mystery of the Mass starting at the offertory. He would have trouble pouring the water into the wine (symbol of humanity"s union with divinity). Without much effort, St Philip was caught up in the meaning of what he was doing as a priest. When the consecration took place, as he elevated the host, he felt like Someone was raising up off the ground. It was very hard for him to lower his arms. These and other events were not his own doing, but the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit used St Philip to rekindle in the Church a holy wonder at the mystery of the Mass.

Episode 22 -- Life of St Philip Bk III.22 -- Love for the Priesthood

Did St Philip, after his ordination, have a special charity for priests?

In this episode we will read about one particular story during St Philip’s first year as a priest. The story is about St Philip’s ability to share what little food he had with a need priest during a period of scarcity. But we also will read about St Philip the Vocations Director! He drew other men to the priesthood soon after his ordination.

When he was ordained a priest, St Philip continued certain practices he had begun as a layman. In particular, he continued to be careful about the quantity and expense of his food. He also continued to live a very simple life, happy to make use of money he was given, but not interested in money for its own sake. At the same time, St Philip changed certain things about his way of life, especially where he lived. He took of residence in a house for priests attached to the church of St Jerome (San Girolamo della Carita). He lived with like minded secular priests who were dedicated to a serious prayer life and helping people frequent the sacraments.

Episode 21 -- Life of St Philip Bk III.21 -- Surrounding Ourselves with Good People

With whom would St Philip live as a priest?

After St Philip was ordained a priest, the question arose where he should live. What kind of priest would he be? With whom would he associate? He chose to live at San Girolamo della Carita, the church were his confessor lived. A group of priests lived there without any vows, without any common meals, but dedicated to a life of holiness.

Last episode we read about St Philip’s ordination to the priesthood on May 23, 1551. St Philip was almost 36. Without his being aware, God had been preparing him for this step for a long time. Having completed all his philosophy and theology studies, with a good grasp of Latin, a love for the liturgy, the scriptures, and prayer, St Philip was an excellent candidate for the priesthood. How often in the previous year, with all the pilgrims, had his confessor realized what great good St Philip would do as a confessor! And so he put before St Philip he need he had to consider seriously becoming a priest. St Philip accepted!