St Phillip Neri

Today we celebrate the feast of St Philip Neri. A saint very close to Don Bosco's heart and to Salesian spirituality. Philip was born in Florence and worked for many years in Rome where he established the congregation of the oratory. Don Bosco used him as an icon of cheerfulness which he saw as a pathway to holiness and shared many stories of the saint to encourage his young people.

But he was not just a figure of cheerfulness and fun, he was also a skilled listener and confessor who guided many people towards health and wholeness through his kindness. He encouraged people to do their best and not take themselves so seriously.

He wrote:

Let us aim for joy rather than respectability.

Let us make fools of ourselves from time to time

and thus see ourselves as the all wise God sees us.

When you read about Don Bosco's optimistic common sense in dealing with young people and his emphasis on regular confession, you can see the same values echoed in the life of St Philip.

The Pulitzer prize winning author Phyllis McGinley wrote this about St Philip Neri in the last century:

:

Two books he read with most affection

The Gospels and a joke collection;

And sang hosannas set to fiddles

And fed the sick on soup and riddles.

So, when the grave rebuke the merry

Let them remember Philip Neri

So, on this his feast day, have a cheerful word, a joke, or a surprise to share on your Gospel path. "Here we make holiness consist in being cheerful" said Don Bosco, St Philip would have agreed and cheered at those words.