Saint of the Day: Philip Neri

Saint Philip Neri, the Apostle of Joy, Feast day is today, it is also the 500th anniversary of Saint Philip Neri's birth, Pope Francis earlier today sent a message to the Congregation of the Oratory, which said, “St. Philip Neri remains a luminous model of the permanent mission of the Church in the world." Luminous, means to shed a light, bright or shining, especially in the dark. St. Philip Neri embodied that all through his life, at a young age he knew how to bring out the best in people.

St. Philip Neri founded the Congregation of the Oratory, the congregation is a pontifical society of apostolic life of Catholic priests and lay-brothers who live together in a community bound together by no formal vows but only with the bond of charity. 

 St. John Paul II said that "As is well known, the saint used to put his teaching into short and wise maxims: 'Be good, if you can'... .He did not choose the life of solitude; but, in exercising his ministry among the common people, he also wished to be "salt" for all those who met him. Like Jesus, he was equally able to enter into the human misery present in the noble palaces and in the alleys of Renaissance Rome."

Let us pray to this Saint of Joy that he might help us live like

 he did full of cheerfulness and humility.

Prayer to St. Philip Neri

O holy St. Philip Neri, patron saint of joy, you who trusted Scripture’s promise that the Lord is always at hand and that we need not have anxiety about anything, in your compassion heal our worries and sorrows and lift the burdens from our hearts. We come to you as one whose heart swells with abundant love for God and all creation. Hear us, we pray, especially in this need (make your request here). Keep us safe through your loving intercession, and may the joy of the Holy Spirit which filled your heart, St. Philip, transform our lives and bring us peace. Amen.

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Ta, Ta for Now!