Friday 30 October 2020

St. Philip Neri and the Hidden Life

The following video was aired close to seven months ago by the Oratorian Fathers at the Toronto Oratory.

It speaks about the value of nourishing one's faith in a hidden manner, using the life of St. Philip Neri, who spent a number of years quietly studying the Faith and cultivating virtue in a Roman house before going on to make Rome his India. 

It is called "hidden" because we know comparatively little about that time in St. Philip's life as opposed to his public ministry and the founding of the Oratory. It is important to note he physically retreated from the world at large before coming onto the Roman scene, and it was this extended hidden life which contributed to his extraordinary feats in life.

Even though it was aired at the beginning of the present pandemic, it still offers plenty of food for thought, because while pandemics come and go, the need to cultivate and nourish one's faith and virtue in a hidden manner is ever-present. We are in a time where the current papal incumbent is allowing a globalist mindset to enter the Church of Christ through the back door through his own actions. He is causing broad confusion and all of the Church is suffering for it. His idol worship last October is likely what brought us to this present chastisement. It is of imperative importance that we secrete away some part of ourselves to marinate in the rich fertile earth of the unchanging teachings of the Church, Her prayers, and the writings of those who have come before us.

For if the present chastisement comes to an end with fire, brimstone, or the existence of a smaller Church without any of the present trappings, the fruits of our hidden lives may well be our only sustenance besides the Body of Christ.

If not - well, we will have a confident means to our particular salvation, so long as we make God our bedrock as St. Philip Neri and countless saints have done before us.

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