Tuesday, May 26th, 2020

Many who think of Rome are unsurprised saints can be made in Rome: those who know Rome are always surprised - but not utterly, as saints can be made by God anywhere - even in Rome.  And this is part of the beauty of St Philip Neri.  Not merely that he was a priest who became a saint - but that he was able to become a saint in Rome of all places, and the flagrantly debauched and corrupt Rome of the 16th century.  This is also an encouragement to us: we can be a saint wherever we are.  That in fact is our mission.  And it is as a missionary that St Philip did his work.  This sounds strange to us: he didn’t travel!  He stayed all his life in Rome.  Yet Rome was his pagan world.  Where early in his life he was counselled to make Rome his desert of retreat, and he did, later in life he was told to make Rome his India - a destination of missionaries at the time.  And he did.  Just one person in a large city, with the Lord, he was able to transform it.  That’s all we need to do too.  Be with the Lord.