St Charles Borromeo, Man of God and Servant of the Church
Today, Monday 4 November 2024, as we are celebrating the feast of St Charles Borromeo, one instinctively moves my heart, the receptivity and the mission of this great man of God and servant the Church.
To follow Hans Urs von Balthasar’s schema of how saints are made, in this great, able, practical and humble holy cardinal I see three values which are so important in the lives of each and everyone of us. First, contemplation, second receptivity, third mission. Suffice for me to look at the second reading of the liturgy of the hours of the feast taken from a sermon he gave during the last synod he attended. Already the title of his speech, Practice what you preach, tends to beautifully harmonise all the three holy dispositions or virtues Von Balthasar is talking about.
From this speech we can easily say how St Charles Borromeo was walking with his flock, particularly the clergy. He had hand’s on regarding the challenging and critical moment the Church was passing through. As a wise and responsible pastor for the well-being of his priests St Charles not only mentions the problems but also, as our auxiliary bishop in Malta Mons. Joseph Galea-Curmi rightly highlights in his pastoral theology classes at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Malta: Whenever you criticize, give solutions. This is the trail St Charles is faithfully following when he said:
I admit that we are all weak, but if we want help, the Lord God has given us the means to find it easily. One priest may wish to lead a good, holy life, as he knows he should. He may wish to be chaste and to reflect heavenly virtues in the way he lives. Yet he does not resolve to use suitable means, such as penance, prayer, the avoidance of evil discussions and harmful and dangerous friendships. Another priest complains that as soon as he comes into church to pray the office or to celebrate Mass, a thousand thoughts fill his mind and distract him from God. But what was he doing in the sacristy before he came out for the office or for Mass? How did he prepare? What means did he use to collect his thoughts and to remain recollected?
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.
Are you in charge of a parish? If so, do not neglect the parish of your own soul, do not give yourself to others so completely that you have nothing left for yourself. You have to be mindful of your people without becoming forgetful of yourself.
Adding to this fact we are noticing the importance of contemplation in the life of a priest. How can that priest grow in holiness and be of great aid to his community if he does not pray? Moreover, and as it clearly emerges from Pope St John Paul II Letter to Priests for Holy Thursday 1994, prayer makes the priest and the people he serves as one family. In his characteristic way Pope Wojtyla writes:
What an experience it was for each of us, and, at the same time, for our parents, our brothers and sisters and those dear to us, when we celebrated our first Holy Mass! What a great thing that celebration was for our parishes and the places where we grew up! Every new vocation makes the parish aware of the fruitfulness of its spiritual motherhood: the more often it happens, the greater the encouragement that results for others! Every priest can say of himself: “I am indebted to God and to others”. There are many people who have accompanied us with their thoughts and prayers, just as there are many who by their thoughts and prayers accompany my own ministry in the See of Peter. This great prayerful solidarity is a source of strength for me. People really do place their trust in our vocation to serve God. The Church prays constantly for new priestly vocations and rejoices at their increase; she is saddened at the lack of vocations in certain places, regretting the lack of generosity of many people (no.4).
In his last speech St Charles beautifully carves out the importance of contemplation in the life of a priest. He said: My brothers, you must realise that for us churchmen nothing is more necessary than meditation. We must meditate before, during and after everything we do. The prophet says: “I will pray, and then I will understand.” When you administer the sacraments, meditate on what you are doing. When you celebrate Mass, reflect on the sacrifice you are offering. When you pray the office, think about the words you are saying and the Lord to whom you are speaking. When you take care of your people, meditate on how the Lord’s blood that has washed them clean so that “all that you do becomes a work of love.”
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.
In simple yet eloquent words, St Charles is saying that it is thanks to meditation that the priest can say his YES to God and to his holy people by translating that Yes into a life of service. Adding to this, when we meditate on saints like St Charles Borromeo, our hearts are drawn to the serving Christ who is the beginning and the end of every transformative pastoral activity. Pope St John Paul II did likewise. In his address to the sacred college of cardinals on the feast of St Charles Borromeo, on Saturday, 4 November 1978, he confessed:
St Charles! How often I have knelt before his relics in Milan Cathedral; how often I have thought about his life, contemplating in my mind the gigantic figure of this man of God and servant of the Church, Charles Borromeo, Cardinal, Bishop of Milan, and a man of the Council. He is one of the great protagonists of the deep reform of the 16th century church, carried out by the Council of Trent, which will always remain linked with his name. He is also one of the creators of the institution of ecclesiastical seminaries, which has been reconfirmed in all its substance by the Second Vatican Council. Moreover, he was a servant of souls, who never let himself be intimidated; a servant of the suffering, of the sick, of those condemned to death.
Preserve in the midst of your people, we ask, O Lord, the spirit with which you filled the Bishop Saint Charles Borromeo, that your Church may be constantly renewed and, by conforming herself to the likeness of Christ, may show his face to the world. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
St Charles Borromeo, Man of God and Servant of the Church, Pray for us.
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