Recent events, including the ongoing Israeli genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza and the craven murders of two employees of Israeli Embassy to the United States of America by a nihilist who tried to crawl away after his heinous crime, have required to me to postpone another commentary on the coronascam jabs to write part seventeen in this series.
Please pray to Our Lady through her Most Holy Rosary for true peace in the Middle East and everywhere else in the world, namely, the peace of her Divine Son, Christ the King, that is the fruit of the conversion of souls to the true Faith and of His abiding presence in those souls by means of Sanctifying Grace.
Today is the Feast of Saint Philip Neri, the founder of the Oratorian Fathers among whose members have been such converts as Father Frederick William Faber, John Henry Cardinal Newman, and the Commemoration of Pope Saint Eleutherius.
Saint Philip Neri was the Apostle of Rome and an Apostle of Joy.
I made it a point to visit the Church of Santa Maria in Vallicella, also known as Chiesa Nouva, each of the six trips I have made to Rome (1984, 1987, 1993, 1995, 1996, and 2005) to pray in front of the incorrupt body Saint Philip Neri. Indeed, I spent a lot of time there to pray for the help of Saint Philip Neri in my life.
The prayer that Dom Prosper Gueranger composed in honor of Saint Philip Neri concludes by noting that, though he was the Apostle of Joy (Saint Philip Neri once demonstrate a tennis stroke to young boys and, while extending his arm back before completing the stroke, broke a glass pitcher of water that had been situated behind his back; upon doing this, our Saint smiled and said, “Yes, Father Philip gets results”), he was also greatly grieved by the Protestant Revolution and wanted to do everything possible to extirpate this heresy:
Thy love of the Church, O Philip, was most fervent: there can be no true sanctity without it. Though thy contemplation was of the sublimest kind, yet did it not make thee lose sight of the cruel trials which this holy Spouse of Christ had to endure in those sad times. The successful efforts of heresy stimulated thy zeal: oh! get us that keen sympathy for our holy Faith, which will make us take an interest in all that concerns its progress. It is not enough for us that we save our own souls; we must, moreover, ardently desire, and do our utmost to obtain the advancement of God’s Kingdom on earth, the extirpation of heresy, and the exaltation of our holy Mother the Church: if these are not our dispositions, how can we call ourselves Children of God? May thy example urge us to take to heart the sacred cause of our common Mother. Pray, too, for the Church militant, of which thou wast one of the bravest soldiers. Shield with thy protection that Rome which loves thee so devoutly because of the services which she received at thy hands. Thou didst lead her children to holiness during thy mortal career; bless her and defend her now that thou art in heaven. (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year, Feast of Saint Philip Neri, May 26.)
Indeed, how can anyone call themselves Children of God if we do not seek to extirpate heresy and thus exalt Holy Mother Church?
Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.
Saint Philip Neri, pray for us.
Pope Saint Eleutherius, pray for us.