CULTIVATING FRIENDSHIP WITH THE TRUTH

 


ST PHILIP NERI, PRIEST

Act 16:15-15; Ps 149:1-6,9; Jn 15:26-16:4

Familiarity with the Truth

Our Lord Jesus Christ states that the Father is the one who draws anyone who comes to believe in him. We have also explained how the Father draws us through the human nature he gave us. By nature, we have a propensity for the word of God, for God made us the temple of the Eternal Word. The Father gave us a rational nature that can know natural truths and live them out. He draws us by this natural propensity for the truth of the word of God and other natural truths commensurate to our nature. Hence, our coming to Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word, does not start on the day we hear the Gospel but happens daily as we receive the truths in our daily living and live faithful to what we know to be true. The daily openness to the truth makes us disciples of the Eternal Word even before we encounter him in the Gospel. Our faithfulness in little things prepares us to be faithful in higher things, such as faith in Jesus Christ. In this sense, we understand that the Father draws us daily to Jesus Christ, his Son. He draws us with our consent to the salvation he prepared for us before he made the earth. If we refuse the messengers of the Father each day by closing our minds to what we know to be true, then we cannot blame God for missing out on the main engagements of salvation. The understanding of this mystery of truth makes us to be ready every time and every day.

The story of Paul and his companion’s encounter with the faithful lady Lydia at Philippi illustrates this truth. Saint Paul and his companion went to the riverside to preach and talked to some women gathered there. Among them, Lydia was drawn in a particular way to the Gospel and received baptism. “After a few days in this city, we went along the river outside the gates as it was the sabbath and this was a customary place for prayer. We sat down and preached to the women who had come to the meeting. One of these women was called Lydia, a devout woman from the town of Thyatira who was in the purple dye trade. She listened to us, and the Lord opened her heart to accept what Paul was saying.” She and her household were baptised and entertained Paul and his companion in their house. The Lord opened her heart because she is used to receiving and entertaining the word of God in her heart and her household. Her devotion to the truth is why she is called a devout woman. The truth stays in her house as in her heart. “If you really think me a true believer in the Lord,’ she said, ‘come and stay with us’, and she would take no refusal.

To be made witnesses of the life and death of Jesus Christ, truth must never be a stranger to our hearts and our households. By receiving and entertaining the truth of the word of God daily, God transforms us into his holy temple, where the Holy Spirit dwells. “When the Advocate comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who issues from the Father, he will be my witness. And you too will be witnesses, because you have been with me from the onset.” It will be difficult, if not impossible, to house or work with the Holy Spirit if we are not companions or relatives of the Son of Man. We are celebrating Saint Philip Neri because of his long familiarity with the word of God and the gift of his heart to be a temple of the Holy Spirit, inflamed with love for the youths. He was born in Florence in 1515. He travelled to Rome at eighteen to become a tutor. During this time, he got immersed in charitable work among the young men and formed a brotherhood to help the sick, poor, and pilgrims. Learning that his good works would flourish more as a priest, he accepted ordination and later started the Congregation of the Oratory. A story is told of him that the Holy Spirit entered his heart during the celebration of Mass as a globe of fire, making him tear his garment due to the holy and loving heat caused by the divine flames. The joy and freedom of the Holy Spirit marked his life to the extent that he is known as an enemy of solemnity and conventionality. His company was joyful and refreshing for everyone. He died in Rome in 1595.     

Let us pray: O God, who never cease to bestow the glory of holiness on the faithful servants you raise up for yourself, graciously grant that the Holy Spirit may kindle in us that fire with which he wonderfully filled the heart of Saint Philip Neri. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. 

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