Maxim-ising Our Spiritual Life (8)
One of St Philip’s early biographers, Fr Bacci, tells of a young man who came to Fr Philip for help. His was a difficult case:
He could not by any means be persuaded to forgive an injury which he had received. The Saint did all he could to induce him, but his heart seemed only to get harder than ever. One day, seeing that no other means were of any avail, he took a crucifix, and said to him very briskly, “Look at this, and think how much Blood our Lord has shed for the love of you; and he not only pardoned his enemies, but prayed the Eternal Father to pardon them also. Do you not see, my poor child, that every day when you say the Our Father, instead of asking pardon for your sins, you are calling down vengeance upon yourself?” When he had said this, he ordered him to kneel down, and repeat after him a prayer to the crucifix, in which the Saint by exaggerating the hardness and obstinacy of his heart, showed clearly to him what a grievous sin he was committing. The youth obeyed and knelt down, but trying to repeat the prayer, he could not pronounce a word, but began trembling all over. He remained a long time in this state, and at last getting up, he said, “Here I am, Father, ready to obey you; I pardon every injury I have ever received; your Reverence has only to order me to make what satisfaction you please for my sin, and I will do it directly,” which promise he faithfully fulfilled.
While we sing of Philip as “the Saint of gentleness and kindness”, we should not forget that, when occasion demanded it, he could be quite fierce, especially when the good of souls was at stake. Like Our Lord himself, he would speak of the reality of hell and the equally real danger of our ending up there, should we fail to shape our lives by the precepts of the Gospel and keep the commandments of Christ. All Philip’s ministry was directed to the one end of drawing souls to Christ the Saviour and leading them to a bright eternity, life in God, or heaven. If we fail to let ourselves be transformed by the grace of God, we cannot grow in holiness. So, the young man who found it impossible to forgive was jeopardising his eternity by refusing to follow the example of the one he called Lord, who had prayed for the forgiveness of his murderers as he hung on the cross. St Philip knew this and needed to communicate this truth to the youth, managing to do so in that somewhat dramatic manner.
His warning is clear:
He who continues in anger, strife, and a bitter spirit, has a taste of the air of hell. (6 August)
On a lighter note, Fr Bacci records the story of Antonio Fantini, one of Philip’s penitents:
...who on one occasion was troubled by a gentleman’s servant who used to pass under the window and behave in a manner very displeasing to Antonio, who warned him to leave off, or he should repent of it. The servant, however, continuing to act as before, Antonio in a fit of anger inwardly resolved to assassinate him. He remained in this intention three days, when a feast came on which he had always gone to confession and communion without fail. He did violence to himself, therefore, and went to the holy father, and kneeling down, he told him all the behaviour of the servant and his own resolution to murder him. When the Saint heard it all, he merely put his hand on Antonio’s head, and said laughingly to him, “Go away; God be with you; this is nothing;” and at the very instant, Antonio, who had come distracted with trouble, felt himself all at once filled with joy and light-heartedness, and the temptation wholly gone. Nay, when he met the servant, he was not conscious of the slightest movement of anger towards him; and what is even more remarkable, the servant never passed in front of his house again.
Of course, there are some offences that are hard to forgive, wounds that cut deep and will take time to heal, requiring a good deal of prayer for the will to forgive, even to want to begin to forgive. Other things, as St Philip observed, are not perhaps so bad as we might imagine, and we need the grace to see that and hear him say to us: “God be with you; this is nothing.”
We are celebrating the launch of our new edition of St Philip’s Maxims this summer by exploring some of those maxims together each week.