SPEAKER_00: Today the church celebrates the feast of St.
SPEAKER_00: Philip Neri.
SPEAKER_00: And there's a line in today's gospel I think every Christian has to wrestle with.
SPEAKER_00: Peter says to Jesus, We've given up everything and followed you.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus does not deny it.
SPEAKER_00: He does not say, No, Peter, it wasn't that much.
SPEAKER_00: No, he acknowledges the sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Following Christ will cost you something.
SPEAKER_00: It cost Peter his boats.
SPEAKER_00: It cost Matthew his tax booth.
SPEAKER_00: It cost Paul his old life.
SPEAKER_00: It cost the martyrs their blood.
SPEAKER_00: And for many of us, it cost comfort.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because Christianity is not an add-on to life.
SPEAKER_00: It is a surrender for a new life.
SPEAKER_00: But then Jesus says something extraordinary.
SPEAKER_00: No one has left anything for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will fail to receive a hundred times more.
SPEAKER_00: Notice what Jesus does not promise.
SPEAKER_00: He does not promise ease, he does not promise comfort.
SPEAKER_00: He explicitly says, with persecution.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we forget that part.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel gives abundance, but also crosses.
SPEAKER_00: It gives us joy, but also sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Gives us a hundredfold, but also Calvary.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe that is why today's saint is so perfect.
SPEAKER_00: Because Saint Philip Neri understood something beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: Holiness is not misery.
SPEAKER_00: Philip Neri was known as the apostle of Rome.
SPEAKER_00: He lived during a very difficult period in church history.
SPEAKER_00: Rome needed renewal.
SPEAKER_00: The church needed saints.
SPEAKER_00: And God sent Philip.
SPEAKER_00: Not a severe saint, not a gloomy saint, a joyful saint.
SPEAKER_00: He laughed, he joked, he played practical jokes, he walked through Rome speaking to young people.
SPEAKER_00: He gathered them, he listened to them, he prayed with them, led them to confession, led them to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He's famous for saying a joyful heart is more easily made perfect than a downcast one.
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
SPEAKER_00: Because some people think holiness means becoming serious at all times.
SPEAKER_00: Philip would disagree.
SPEAKER_00: He understood that joy is evangelical.
SPEAKER_00: People are attracted to joy.
SPEAKER_00: The saints attract joy.
SPEAKER_00: They do not repel.
SPEAKER_00: And yet underneath all that joy was tremendous sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Philip spent long hours in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: He heard confessions for hours.
SPEAKER_00: He gave himself completely to souls.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, his love for God became so intense that during prayer he experienced a mystical enlargement of the heart.
SPEAKER_00: Doctors later discovered broken ribs that has expanded outward because of this expanded heart.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine loving God so much that your heart physically grows.
SPEAKER_00: And then today's first reading hits hard.
SPEAKER_00: Be holy because I am holy.
SPEAKER_00: That is one of the most frightening lines in Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the most beautiful too.
SPEAKER_00: Because God does not say be successful, be famous, be admired, be comfortable.
SPEAKER_00: No, he says be holy.
SPEAKER_00: That's the goal.
SPEAKER_00: Not merely to be good people and to do good things.
SPEAKER_00: No, be saints.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe this is where Philip Neri helps us.
SPEAKER_00: Because holiness is not becoming less human, it's becoming fully human, fully alive, fully joyful, fully surrendered.
SPEAKER_00: Peter gave up everything.
SPEAKER_00: Philip gave up everything, the saints always do.
SPEAKER_00: And yet none of them would tell you they lost anything.
SPEAKER_00: They all received that hundredfold Jesus promises.
SPEAKER_00: Not necessarily money, not necessarily comfort, but joy, meaning, purpose, Jesus Christ Himself.
SPEAKER_00: And I wonder if that's what some people are searching for without realizing it.
SPEAKER_00: Not more possessions, not more things, not more success, meaning, life that matters, a reason to wake up every day, a fire in the soul.
SPEAKER_00: Saint Philip found it.
SPEAKER_00: Peter found it.
SPEAKER_00: The saints all found it.
SPEAKER_00: They found Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So I want to end with one of Philip Neri's prayers because I think it's it's one that every Christian should pray.
SPEAKER_00: Here it goes.
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, Philip will betray you.
SPEAKER_00: I love that prayer because it's humble, it recognizes weakness and it recognizes dependence.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe today that's your prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, watch over me.
SPEAKER_00: Because without you I cannot be holy.
SPEAKER_00: But with you, saints are possible.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.