The Spirituality of St Philip 6: Poverty

The Spirituality of St Philip

Poverty

Jesus warns, “…whoever of you does not renounce all that he has he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14.33).

Detachment from the things of this world and poverty are like the travelling companions of the other virtues. St Philip always showed  great freedom from, and indifference to, worldly possessions and an unconditional confidence in Divine Providence. His disciples were called to be in solidarity with those who earn their bread by the sweat of their brow.

Evangelical poverty should not be disassociated from daily duties and work. Work, in fact, is the first form of solidarity and poverty.

Being detached from affection for all that people possess is necessary to every Christian. It is even more necessary for those who have chosen the Lord as their portion and their inheritance.

There is no vow of poverty in the Oratory. St Philip told his own followers to have possessions, but to live in the spirit of the Gospel.

Poverty is a source of blessedness and a way of securing eternal life (Matt 5.3). This includes self-restraint in the use of possessions, detachment of the heart, and confidence in God, who is Father and who “has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away” (Luke 1.53).

Our Constitutions recommend doing good works for the benefit of the Congregation and for the needy with everything one may have, and freeing oneself from the spirit of avarice by not accumulating worldly goods.

Our Holy Father gave an extraordinary example of this throughout his life; he who even sold his own books and rejected gifts and a considerable inheritance. Whatever he accepted he gave to the Church and to the poor. In the conclusion of his will, dated 2nd October 1581, Philip wrote, “…having this alone in mind always, what worries and frightens me is how wealth can be a greater impediment to spiritual progress and to peace than poverty, since worrying about wealth can cause moral laxity” (Istruzione per Esercizi Spirituali, p.51).

Holy Father Philip often said, “Leave your purse behind if you want to earn souls; you cannot gain souls and things at the same time.”

St Paul indicates that greed is the root of all evil (1 Tim 6.9). St Philip said, “God will not fail to give you things, but be sure that when you do have things you do not lack spirit…. If you go after material goods and want money I won’t look after you, because having them without the proper caution makes men incapable of having spirit.” He said, “Give me ten really detached men and with them I will have enough spirit to convert the world.”

Philip wrote to his niece who was a nun, Anna Maria Trievi, “To acquire the love of God there is no truer and shorter route than to detach oneself from the love of things, even if they are small and inconsequential, and from the love of self, while loving the will and service of God more than we love our own will and self-satisfaction” (Gasbarri, Filippo Neri nella Testimonianza, p.191).

Fr Marciani said that St Philip, “would never recognise as his sons those in the Congregation who would seek after things” (Marciani, ‘dell’Oratorio di Napoli’ in Pregi della Congregazione dell’Oratorio di San Filippo Neri, p.58).

Definitively, poverty for St Philip is to be able to say with St Paul, “Not that I complain of want; for I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content, I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want” (Phil 4.11-12).