“The Lord Will Not Abandon His People”
November 4th Readings Reflection: Memorial of Saint Charles Borromeo, Bishop
Today is the feast of St. Charles Borromeo, a holy Italian archbishop who lived during the Protestant Revolt. St. Charles recognized the need to educate the clergy to combat heresy, as well as the need to reform certain aspects of the Catholic Church. St. Charles ended the practice of selling indulgences, which is a grave sin of simony. Unfortunately, some corrupt clerics at the time of St. Charles were disregarding the Church’s authoritative teaching on indulgences, but St. Charles worked tirelessly to put an end to this sacrilege. Through the many colleges and seminaries that he founded, St. Charles greatly contributed to the Catholic Counterreformation, in which the Catholic Church strengthened herself against heresies and curbed prevalent abuses within the Church.
We live in a world that oftentimes makes hope difficult. We are surrounded by immorality, and news headlines are continually dismal. Even within the Church, there is much going on that can be concerning. The verse from today’s Responsorial Psalm gives us hope in the midst of darkness, a hope that is very fitting for the feast of St. Charles Borromeo: “The Lord will not abandon [H]is people.”
Despite the darkness of the times in which St. Charles lived, he never gave up hope, instead working tirelessly to uphold the truth. In addition to his establishing schools and seminaries, St. Charles also spent his life practicing works of charity. Instead of giving into despair over the darkness in the world and in the Church, St. Charles set about changing what he could and helping others as much as he was able.
This is an important lesson for us. We cannot change the world, but God has made us stewards of the things he has given us. Instead of despairing that we can never bring about world peace by ourselves, we should instead imitate St. Charles and devote our lives to serving others. There is a saying that when we help others, we change the world, and Our Lord taught us that we can save souls through works of charity. We may not change the whole world, but if we lead even a single soul to God, our lives have not been spent in vain.
God will not abandon His people, no matter how dark things in this life may seem. While injustice and sin may appear to prevail on earth, our merciful and just Judge will give to each man his due in the life to come. May St. Charles Borromeo pray for us, that we may persevere in hope and tirelessly pour ourselves out in works of charity, trusting that God will reward us eternally for our faithfulness.
I married a Protestant. When we were first married, we visited many churches to decide which one we wanted to be a member of, including Catholic. We settled on a Protestant church.
Every so often, the Protestant churches that I have attended talk about Catholics. I look at the preacher like he is from Mars; what they are discussing bears no resemblance to the church that I know and love. Well, thanks for spelling out some of the mechanics as to why!
This is a great story, and I would love to know a bit more. When did he live? What are some of the universities that he founded? What else was a part of the counter-reformation?
This is one of the great untold stories of Western Civilization. Two men were moved that their institution had gone astray. One worked within (St. Borromeo) and one went outside (Luther). They both can have their place, but I wish that more was done to tell Borromeo's story.
With all my heart I thank you for this reflection. I have been down lately due to the state of the Church, and the world. I needed this reflection!