Memorial of Saint Charles Boromeo, bishop

Memorial of Saint Charles Boromeo, bishop

Biographical Information about Saint Charles Boromeo, bishop
Readings for Saturday

Reading 1
Phil 1:18b-26

Brothers and sisters:
As long as in every way, whether in pretense or in truth,
Christ is being proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.
Indeed I shall continue to rejoice,
for I know that this will result in deliverance for me
through your prayers and support from the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
My eager expectation and hope
is that I shall not be put to shame in any way,
but that with all boldness, now as always,
Christ will be magnified in my body,
whether by life or by death.
For to me life is Christ, and death is gain.
If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.
And I do not know which I shall choose.
I am caught between the two.
I long to depart this life and be with Christ,
for that is far better.
Yet that I remain in the flesh is more necessary for your benefit.
And this I know with confidence,
that I shall remain and continue in the service of all of you
for your progress and joy in the faith,
so that your boasting in Christ Jesus may abound on account of me
when I come to you again.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 42:2, 3, 5cdef

R. My soul is thirsting for the living God.

As the hind longs for the running waters,
so my soul longs for you, O God.

R. My soul is thirsting for the living God.

Athirst is my soul for God, the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?

R. My soul is thirsting for the living God.

I went with the throng
and led them in procession to the house of God.
Amid loud cries of joy and thanksgiving,
with the multitude keeping festival.

R. My soul is thirsting for the living God.

Gospel
Lk 14:1, 7-11

On a sabbath Jesus went to dine
at the home of one of the leading Pharisees,
and the people there were observing him carefully.
He told a parable to those who had been invited,
noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table.
“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet,
do not recline at table in the place of honor.
A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him,
and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say,
‘Give your place to this man,’
and then you would proceed with embarrassment
to take the lowest place.
Rather, when you are invited,
go and take the lowest place
so that when the host comes to you he may say,
‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’
Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table.
For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,
but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

I admit that we are all weak, but if we want help, the Lord God has given us the means to find it easily. Would you like me to teach you how to grow from virtue to virtue and how, if you are already recollected at prayer, you can be even more attentive next time, and so give God more pleasing worship? Listen, and I will tell you. If a tiny spark of God's love already burns within you, do not expose it to the wind, for it may get blown out. Keep the stove tightly shut so that it will not lose its heat and grow cold. In other words, avoid distractions as well as you can. Stay quiet with God. Do not spend your time in useless chatter.

If teaching and preaching is your job, then study diligently and apply yourself to whatever is necessary for doing the job well. Be sure that you first preach by the way you live. If you do not, people will notice that you say one thing, but live otherwise, and your words will bring only cynical laughter and a derisive shake of the head. We must meditate before, during and after everything we do.

The prophet says: "I will pray, and then I will understand." This is the way we can easily overcome the countless difficulties we have to face day after day, which, after all, are part of our work. In meditation we find the strength to bring Christ to birth in ourselves and in other men. - Saint Charles Borromeo

Reflection:

“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

I suppose this little piece of scripture today has special meaning for everyone, but it is extremely important for anyone in a leadership position in the Church. It is one of those exquisite checks and balances the Lord gives us so we do not fall into the trap that James and John did when they argued about who would sit at Jesus’ right hand and who at his left when he entered his kingdom.

For those in positions of leadership, this scripture hits us two different ways. First, we are reminded that we, ourselves, must be humble (although a very wise person, Monsignor Bob Lundsford, once told me, “Never pray for humility, God will always find a way to see you are humiliated.”).

Since I write from the prospective of a Deacon of the Church and have now been ordained for over 20 years, I can say that, even though from my earliest formation back in 1980, we were taught the necessity of maintaining the humble servant’s attitude, it is a constant struggle to maintain that humility in my parish environment. I hate to admit the number of times I have been at some function and have felt I should have had a place of honor because of my status in the Church.

It seems to me that the higher one rises in the esteem of one’s peers, the easier it is to be humble. I expect that if I ever met the Pope, he would be the most humble member of the clergy I would ever meet.

I was once in the Army and assigned as Charge of Quarters (CQ) at the VIP quarters on North Post, Fort Meyer in Virginia. That fort is adjacent to the Pentagon and is where all of the general and flag officers stay when they come into town (if they can get a spot, there are only 9 suites in Wainwright Hall). A few times while I was assigned there, General Omar Bradley came in to stay with us. He was the most humble, unassuming and gentle person I have ever met. We had a formula for deciding who would be the least troublesome when I was there. The most difficult people we had to deal with were the full Colonels, they were after their first star (as General) and somehow felt they had to prove their worth and authority to everyone. Next most difficult were the Lieutenant Generals (three stars), they were worried about making full General (4 stars) and worse than them were their wives (at that rank, wives often traveled with their husbands and if the Lt. General was not assertive enough, their wives often made up for it.)

If we use this same formula on people in general, we find that it fits. The most humble person ever to walk the face of the earth was our Lord, Jesus Christ. His antithesis is of course Satan. It fits. We need to ask ourselves where we fit in this range of self importance to humility and ask ourselves; which direction we are headed in and why? There is a good reason the Pontiff’s first title is “Servant of the Servants of God”. He operates as the Lord commanded at the Last Supper - as the one who washes the feet of his friends.

There we have our example and our challenge. When we go among our friends and family today, let us remember the servants mantra; “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Pax