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St Philip Neri (1515-1595) is known as the Apostle of Rome and the founder of the Congregation of the Oratory. This translation of his maxims and sayings is the work of Fr Faber, first published in 1847. His Maxims emphasise the constant teaching of the masters of the spiritual life, going back to the Desert Fathers (themselves always the favourite reading of St Philip). Full of good sense, they present us with an essential spirituality, presented as easily accessible reflections for each month of the year.
St. Philip Neri is one of the best-loved saints of all time. Known as the ಘApostle of Rome', he set in motion a great renewal of Christianity at the heart of the Church's capital city during the 1500's. St. Philip's foundation of the Oratory began by stimulating young laymen to conversion, prayer, and apostolic works, and through them gradually brought about a reform of the entire Church, at all levels of society. St. Philip inspired many through his words, his miracles and his spiritual gifts, which show many similarities with other great saints such as Padre Pio and St. John Vianney. This account of Philip's life, written by his disciple Antonio Gallonio soon after the saint's death, captures well his holy zeal for God's work in the face of a corrupt and decadent Rome; his great sense of humor, which he would often use to remind people of hidden spiritual realities; and the many extraordinary miracles and conversions wrought by St. Philip both during his lifetime and after his death. This is the first ever English translation of the affectionate biography, published originally in Latin in the Jubilee Year 1600. Unusually for the time, it was written in chronological order; it also bears the original footnotes by Gallonio, in which he refers to eyewitnesses and makes comparisons with the lives of canonized saints, intending thereby to assist in the promotion of Philip's cause for elevation to the altars. Additional notes and a comprehensive index make this a most interesting and useful book for devotees of St. Philip, as well as a very readable introduction to the saint for those who do not yet know him.
The Maxims and Sayings of St. Philip Neri is a series of truisms from St. Philip Neri. Brief, succinct, and illuminating comments on how to be blessed and flourish in the spiritual life.
The following pages are a translation of the Ricordi e Detti di San Filippo Neri, published at Turin. Their purpose cannot be better described than in the words of the Italian editor: “It was the aim and study of the holy father, Philip Neri, to introduce among Christians a daily spiritual repast. His children, who have drunk of the spirit of their holy father, have always sought to cultivate this custom of a spiritual repast among devout persons; and among the plans which they have tried, and the practices they have introduced, one, gentle reader, is a collection of the sayings and doings of the Saint, distributed into the number of the days of the year, to the end that every one might have each day, either a maxim to meditate upon, or a virtue to copy.
Excerpt: First Maxim: The Knowledge of God and the knowledge of self By the ladder of sanctity, men ascend and descend at the same time All Christian sanctity is contained in two things: the knowledge of God, and the knowledge of self. 'Lord, that I may know Thee' cried St. Augustine, 'and that I may know myself'. A short prayer, but one opening out on to an infinite horizon. The knowledge of God elevates the soul; knowledge of self keeps it humble. The former raises the soul to contemplate something of the depths of the divine perfections, the latter lowers it to the abyss of its own nothingness and sin. (1) The amazing thing is that the very knowledge of God which raises man up, at the same time humbles him by the comparison of himself with God. Similarly self-knowledge, while it humbles him, lifts him up by the very necessity of approaching God in order to find solace in his misery. Marvellous ladder of sanctity, whereon men descend even as they ascend. For the true elevation of man is inseparable from his true humiliation. The one without the other is pride, while the latter without the former is to be unhappy without hope. Of what use would be the most sublime knowledge of God to us, if the knowledge of ourselves did not keep us little in our own eyes? Similarly, would we not fall into terrible despair, if the knowledge of our exceeding meanness and misery were not counterbalanced by our knowledge of God? But this two-fold knowledge serves to sanctify us. To be a saint, we must know and admit that we are nothing of ourselves, that we receive all things from God in the order of nature and grace, and that we expect all things from Him in the order of glory. By the knowledge of God, I do not mean abstract and purely ideal knowledge such as was possessed by pagan philosophers, who lost their way in vain and barren speculations, the only effect of which was to increase their pride. For the Christian, the knowledge of God is not an endless course of reasoning as to His essence and perfections, such as that of a mathematician concerned with the properties of a triangle or circle. There have been many philosophers and even theologians who held fine and noble ideas of God, but were none the more virtuous or holy as a result of it. The knowledge we must have is what God Himself has revealed concerning the Blessed Trinity; the work of each of the Persons in creating, redeeming and sanctifying us. We must know the scope of His power, His providence, His holiness, His justice and His love. We must know the extent and multitude of His mercies, the marvellous economy of His grace, the magnificence of His promises and rewards, the terror of His warnings and the rigour of His chastisements; the worship He requires, the precepts He imposes, the virtues He makes known as our duty, and the motives by which He incites us to their practice. In a word, we must know what He is to us, and what He wills that we should be to Him. This is the true and profitable knowledge of God taught in every page of Holy Scripture, and necessary for all Christians. It cannot be too deeply studied, and without it none can become holy, for the substance of it is indispensably necessary to salvation. This should be the great object of our reflection and meditation, and of our constant prayer for light. Let no one fancy that he can ever know enough, or enter sufficiently into so rich a subject. It is in every sense inexhaustible. The more we discover in it, the more we see there is yet to be discovered. It is an ever-deepening ocean for the navigator, an unattainable mountain height for the traveller, whose scope of vision increases with every upward step. The knowledge of God grows in us together with our own holiness: both are capable of extending continually, and we must set no bounds to either.
`Give me a word, Father', visitors to early desert monks asked. The responses of these pioneer ascetics were remembered and in the fourth century written down in Coptic, Syriac, Greek, and later Latin. Their Sayings were collected, in this case in the alphabetical order of the monks and nuns who uttered them, and read by generations of Christians as life-giving words that would help readers along the path to salvation.
This manual of devotion consists of a series of chapters or instructions upon important points of Christian teaching which Saint Alphonsus calls "Considerations". As the Saint describes, "These Considerations are written for the purpose of pricking or of wounding the conscience... that so it may be thoroughly aroused and awakened." The Considerations deal with such doctrines and facts as have a universal application, which admit of no dispute, and which are always confirmed by some passage from Holy Scripture. Preparation for Death is essentially a guide to prayer. It represents, from its beginning to its end, the continual outpouring of heart before God, an outpouring that is at times expressed in the very same words which imply a new phase of thought. Regarded as a Manual of Mental Prayer, each of these "Considerations" has a technical and special signification. They treat of life and death, the value of time, the mercy of God, the habit of sin, the general and particular judgments, the love of God, Holy Communion, and other subjects equally important.
Introduces young readers to Catholic beliefs as expressed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Harvard psychologist and philosopher William James' The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature explores the nature of religion and, in James' observation, its divorce from science when studied academically. After publication in 1902 it quickly became a canonical text of philosophy and psychology, remaining in print through the entire century. "Scientific theories are organically conditioned just as much as religious emotions are; and if we only knew the facts intimately enough, we should doubtless see 'the liver' determining the dicta of the sturdy atheist as decisively as it does those of the Methodist under conviction anxious about his soul. When it alters in one way the blood that percolates it, we get the Methodist, when in another way, we get the atheist form of mind."