Gospel: May 26, 2025
May 26, 2025 (Monday)
6th Week of Easter
Psalter: Week 2 / (White)
St. Philip Neri, priest
Ps 149:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6a & 9b
The Lord takes delight in his people.
1st Reading: Acts 16:11-15
Gospel: John 15:26—16:4a
From the Father, I will send you the Spirit of truth. When this Helper has come from the Father, he will be my witness, and you, too, will be my witnesses, for you have been with me from the beginning. I tell you all this to keep you from stumbling and falling away. They will put you out of the synagogue. Still more, the hour is coming, when anyone who kills you will claim to be serving God; they will do this, because they have not known the Father or me. I tell you all these things now so that, when the time comes, you may remember that I told you about them. I did not tell you about this in the beginning, because I was with you.
Reflection:
“The master of prayer”
Saint Philip Neri was always quick to say that all the miracles done through him were the work of the Holy Spirit. All his life Philip had a great devotion to the Holy Spirit, in response to his mystical experience of 1544, when, while praying in the catacombs of Rome, he experienced the Holy Spirit as a ball of fire entering him and filling his heart; a living flame of love that made his heart swell.
Saint Philip, the founder of the Oratorians, described the Holy Spirit as “the master of prayer,” who “causes us to abide in continual peace and cheerfulness, which is a foretaste of Paradise.” Ledby the Holy Spirit, Philip Neri became renowned for his joy, his sense of humor, his great charity and his passionate preaching, which focused on encouraging people to lead a good life.
In the face of trials or persecution, Saint Philip said “we must keep our eyes on God.” May the Spirit of Truth, the Helper, fill our hearts and minds with truth and love, so that we might serve God in our neighbor, in peace and cheerfulness.
