The month of November is only a few days old, but already we have had some major celebrations in the Church. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we celebrated All Saints Day and All Souls Day. Yesterday, we celebrated St Martin de Porres, a saint of social justice from Lima, Peru who was born in the 16th century. Today, we not only celebrate the First Friday Mass dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a favorite devotion of mine, but we also celebrate St Charles Borromeo.
Charles Borromeo was born in the tumultuous 16th century, the era of the Protestant Reformation. A book I read a couple of years ago was entitled: True Reformers: Saints of the Catholic Reformation. We often think of the reformers who brought about the Protestant Reformation, as Reformation is commemorated in Protestant church on October 31 each year. However, there was a lot of renewal and reform going on in the Catholic Church in this same era, which may not be common knowledge for a lot of Catholics. In that book, Charles Borromeo is listed as one of the reforming saints in the era of the Reformation, along with St Thomas More, St Ignatius of Loyola, St Teresa of Avila, St John of the Cross, and St Francis de Sales. In many ways, Charles Borromeo made an unlikely reformer. He was a member of the influential Medici family. His uncle became Pope Pius IV in 1559. While he was still a young man, Charles was named deacon-cardinal and administrator of the Archdiocese of Milan. He later became the secretary of state for the Vatican, assuming responsibility for the papal states. He was ordained a priest at the age of 25 and became the Bishop of Milan. Charles was very influential at the Council of Trent, keeping the sessions on track when they were on the verge of falling apart. In addition, he is well-known for promoting the system of seminaries that we have today to educate our priests. He could have lived a life of great luxury and privilege, but he gave much of his wealth to charity, led a very simple life, and took out enormous debts in order to feed the victims of the plague in his city.
Our Gospel today talks about the stewardship of our treasures. We can definitely see in the life of Charles Borromeo a dedication to the good stewardship of all that the Lord gave to him, of all that was entrusted to him for the people of God. We unite our prayers with the prayers of St Charles Borromeo today. May his spirit of renewal and charity be alive in our Church today.
No comments:
Post a Comment