1. The Mass today was offered for Ron and Ginny Galecki for their 45th wedding anniversary. Congratulations and blessings on them!
2. Novena to the Holy Spirit: Day Five
The novena is live-streamed every night at 7:30 from the parish facebook page. Again, the prayers are available here. The video for today's video is available here.
3. Sign ups: The sign up sheet for the daily Masses this week is here. There are still slots available Wed - Fri
4. Confessions. Friday confessions are available. I've added some evening slots as well. Sign ups are here.
Today is the memorial of the great St. Philip Neri, known as the "Apostle of Rome" for the incredible sanctifying influence he had on the city. Below I've compressed some of the juiciest bits from the entry in the Catholic encyclopedia about his life.
He lived and worked in the 1500s, combating many of the abuses that had done much to spark the Protestant revolt. He grew up in Florence, but eventually felt a divine tug to go to Rome. For seventeen years Philip lived as a layman in Rome, working as a tutor, but also taking classes in philosophy and theology. When he considered that he had learnt enough, he sold his books, and gave the money to the poor. Though he never again made study his regular occupation, whenever he was called upon to cast aside his habitual reticence, he would surprise the most learned with the depth and clearness of his theological knowledge.
In Rome he devoted himself entirely to the sanctification of his own soul and the good of his neighbor. His active apostolate began with solitary and unobtrusive visits to the hospitals. Next he induced others to accompany him. Then he began to frequent the shops, warehouses, banks, and public places of Rome, melting the hearts of those whom he chanced to meet, and exhorting them to serve God. In 1544, or later, he became the friend of St. Ignatius. Though he "appeared not fasting to men", his private life was that of a hermit. His single daily meal was of bread and water, to which a few herbs were sometimes added, the furniture of his room consisted of a bed, to which he usually preferred the floor, a table, a few chairs, and a rope to hang his clothes on; and he disciplined himself frequently with small chains. Tried by fierce temptations, diabolical as well as human, he passed through them all unscathed
In the catacomb of St. Sebastian in Rome, a few days before Pentecost in 1544, the well-known miracle of his heart took place. A biographer describes it thus: "While he was with the greatest earnestness asking of the Holy Ghost His gifts, there appeared to him a globe of fire, which entered into his mouth and lodged in his breast; and thereupon he was suddenly surprised with such a fire of love, that, unable to bear it, he threw himself on the ground, and, like one trying to cool himself, bared his breast to temper in some measure the flame which he felt. When he had remained so for some time, and was a little recovered, he rose up full of unwonted joy, and immediately all his body began to shake with a violent tremor; and putting his hand to his bosom, he felt by the side of his heart, a swelling about as big as a man's fist, but neither then nor afterwards was it attended with the slightest pain or wound." The cause of this swelling was discovered by the doctors who examined his body after death. The saint's heart had been dilated under the sudden impulse of love, and in order that it might have sufficient room to move, two ribs had been broken, and curved in the form of an arch. From the time of the miracle till his death, his heart would palpitate violently whenever he performed any spiritual action.
During his last years as a layman, Philip's apostolate spread rapidly. In 1548 he founded the Confraternity of the Most Holy Trinity for looking after pilgrims and convalescents. Its members met for Communion, prayer, and other spiritual exercises, and the saint himself introduced exposition of the Blessed Sacrament once a month. At these devotions Philip preached, though still a layman, and we learn that on one occasion alone he converted no less than thirty dissolute youths.
In 1551, however, he received a true vocation from God. At the bidding of his confessor — nothing short of this would overcome his humility — he entered the priesthood. Philip, who as a layman had been quietly encouraging the frequent reception of the sacraments, encouraged all, and especially the young, to receive Communion frequently, and to go to Confession even more frequently. His confessional soon became the center of a mighty apostolate. He stayed in church, hearing confessions or ready to hear them, from daybreak till nearly midday, and not content with this, he usually confessed some forty persons in his room before dawn. He would sometimes tell a penitent his most secret sins without his confessing them; and once he converted a young nobleman by showing him a vision of hell. He is perhaps best known for starting the Oratorian Congregation of priests. One of their main works was to organize evenings of prayer, devotion, and learning for young and old alike.
His devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, like the miracle of his heart, is one of those manifestations of sanctity which are peculiarly his own. So great was the fervor of his charity, that, instead of recollecting himself before Mass, he had to use deliberate means of distraction in order to attend to the external rite. During the last five years of his life he had permission to celebrate privately in a little chapel close to his room. At the "Agnus Dei" the server went out, locked the doors, and hung up a notice: "Silence, the Father is saying Mass". When he returned in two hours or more, the saint was so absorbed in God that he seemed to be at the point of death.
The last years of his life were marked by alternate sickness and recovery. In 1593, he showed the true greatness of one who knows the limits of his own endurance, and resigned the office of superior which had been conferred on him for life. In 1594, when he was in an agony of pain, the Blessed Virgin appeared to him, and cured him. At the end of March, 1595, he had a severe attack of fever, which lasted throughout April; but in answer to his special prayer God gave him strength to say Mass on May 1st in honor of Sts. Philip and James. On May 15th he predicted that he had only ten more days to live. On May 25th, the feast of Corpus Christi, he went to say Mass in his little chapel, two hours earlier than usual. "At the beginning of his Mass", writes his biographer, "he remained for some time looking fixedly at the hill of St. Onofrius, which was visible from the chapel, just as if he saw some great vision. On coming to the Glory to God he began to sing, which was an unusual thing for him, and sang the whole of it with the greatest joy and devotion, and all the rest of the Mass he said with extraordinary exultation, and as if singing." That night he passed away.
It is perhaps by the method of contrast that the distinctive characteristics of St. Philip and his work are brought home to us most forcibly. We hail him as the patient reformer, who leaves outward things alone and works from within, depending rather on the hidden might of sacrament and prayer than on drastic policies of external improvement; the director of souls who attaches more value to mortification of the reason than to bodily austerities, protests that men may become saints in the world no less than in the cloister, dwells on the importance of serving God in a cheerful spirit, and gives a quaintly humorous turn to the maxims of ascetical theology.
I think my favorite story about him is that to grow in humility he sometimes would only shave half his face! In any case, I hope you're inspired by the example of this saint who was also known as "the lovable saint."