(REMEMBER TO PRAY IN THIS MONTH OF NOVEMBER FOR YOUR RELATIVES, LOVED ONES AND FRIENDS WHO HAVE DIED).
COLLECT: “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 CONSTANTLY BE 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.
Rom 12:5-16; Ps 67:2,4,6-7,20-21 and Lk 14:15-24.
Saint Charles was born into a wealthy family in Italy. He became a lawyer. Later, his uncle, Pope Pius IV summoned him to Rome and made him a Cardinal Deacon and a Papal legate (although he was still a layman). Charles worked hard to implement the Council of Trent.
He was eventually ordained and was made Archbishop of Milan. He was an ideal shepherd and dedicated himself entirely to serving his people. He founded seminaries and corrected abuses and heresies. He instituted new parishes and monasteries, won innumerable souls from the practice of witchcraft, preached extensively, and distributed Holy Communion for hours at a time.
During a great famine, he provided food for over 3,000 poor people, even going into debt for them when his own funds and those he had solicited from others became exhausted. He died at the age of 46. He is Patron Saint of Catechists, and he is invoked against pestilence. “He who desires to make any progress in the service of God must begin every day of his life with new ardour, must keep himself in the presence of God as much as possible, and must have no other view or end in all his actions but the divine honour” (St. Charles Borromeo).
In today’s first reading, Paul describes how each of us should live in the Body of Christ, the Church for that matter. “We, though many, are one Body in Christ and individually parts of one another”. Our gifts are varied and different, and we have to harness and put together our individual gifts and talents for the growth and development of the Church and the community, for that matter. Paul has enumerated some of the gifts and he tells us how to use each of these gifts. We are encouraged to identify our gifts and use them accordingly.
This is quite different from the invited guests in Jesus’ parable in the Gospel are living: they are wrapped up in their own pursuits and businesses, interested in only what will benefit them and not what will benefit others. This attitude does not bring growth and development to the community or society.
If God invites us to know him in faith, we are expected to sacrifice any human interest on the altar of God’s invitation. We should not use that not to respond to God’s call or invitation, no matter how lawful, noble or cultural it may be. The objections we sometimes tend to put forward and the duties we appeal to are really just excuses. This is why the ungrateful invitees are blameworthy.
Compelling people to come into the banquet as we have it in the parable, is not a matter of forcing anyone’s freedom – God does not want us to love him under duress – but of helping us to make right decisions, to shrug off any human respect, to avoid occasions of sin, to do what we can, to discover the truth.
In that case, a person can only be “compelled to come in” through prayer, the example of a Christian life, friendship - in a word, apostolate. “If, to save the earthly life, it is praiseworthy to use force to stop a man from committing suicide, are we not allowed to use the same force to (holy coercion) to save the Lives of many who are stupidly bent on killing their souls?” (Bl. J. Excriva, The Way, 399). May Saint Charles Borromeo intercede for us. Stay blessed and happy feast to all who bear the name Charles Borromeo.
WE MEDITATE TODAY, TUESDAY, ON THE SORROWFUL MYSTERIES: ‘THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN, THE SCOURGING AT THE PILLAR, THE CROWNING WITH THORNS, THE CARRYING OF THE CROSS AND THE CRUCIFIXION’ (WE PRAY FOR SORROW FOR SIN, PURITY, COURAGE, PATIENCE, AND PERSEVERANCE) “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners, now and the hour of our death, Amen”.
PRAYER: “MAY THE SACRED MYSTERIES OF WHICH WE HAVE PARTAKEN, O LORD, WE PRAY, GIVE US THAT DETERMINATION WHICH MADE SAINT CHARLES BORROMEO FAITHFUL IN MINISTRY AND FERVENT IN CHARITY. THROUGH CHRIST OUR LORD. AMEN”.
Rev. Fr. Aloysius Kpiebaya, Catholic Diocese of Wa, UW/R, Ghana. (00233) 0207867239/0545462863. Email: aloybaya20@yahoo.com
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