30th Week, Saturday, Nov 4
Roman 11:1-2, 11-12, 25-29 / Luke 14:1, 7-11
Old baseball fans remember Jimmy Piersall. He was a sensational young ballplayer who came up with the Boston Red Sox in 1952. Fans also remember his book Fear Strikes Out, the bittersweet story of his life. In his rookie year in the majors, Jimmy suffered a severe nervous breakdown. He had to be committed to a mental hospital. During this trying time, his wife, Mary, was constantly at his side, loving him, encouraging him, helping him. Commenting on Mary's touching loyalty, Albert Cylwicki says: “Mary's fidelity to Jim is a reflection of God's fidelity toward us. St. Paul's letter to the Romans refers to this fidelity when he writes: “The gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.'”
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How faithful and loyal are we to loved ones when tough times come? “'It is possible to give without loving, but it is impossible to love without giving." Richard Brounstein
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If a trusted friend proves disloyal, we feel badly hurt and find it almost impossible to remain faithful. Not so with God. He remains faithful to Israel, of which all but a small rest abandoned him. Yet, the Jews keep a role in God’s plans by facilitating, beyond the possible exclusiveness of one people, the entrance of pagan nations.
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Usually, when we talk of a dilemma, we are probably talking about a problem offering two possibilities, neither of which is practically acceptable. In other words, in our minds, it is the worst-case scenario with two choices. The imagery would be like that of a choice of a crash landing on a rock or on a hard ground. In the dilemmas of life, when life seems like a mess of rotten scrambled eggs, what come to the minds of people would be to press the self-destruct button and end it all.
In the 1st reading, St. Paul opened a discussion about God's chosen people: Has God rejected His people? Or have the Jews fallen forever or have they just stumbled? Trying to come to a conclusion would leave the discussion in a dilemma, but as St. Paul said, "There is a hidden reason for all this" And this hidden reason is to make us realize that the truth of life can only be known through humility.
And from the parable that Jesus told in the gospel, we know this truth about life. When we want to exalt ourselves, we end up in the dilemma of the worst-case scenario - either embarrassment or humiliation. But when we humble ourselves, we will be in the best-case scenario. So, to be humble or want to be exalted is our choice, but we will have to face the dilemma of our choice.
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The Pharisees are known for their swollen ego, but Jesus asks them to be humble. To be humble means to empty oneself of the problem of ‘I’ — that is, ego. If we are humble, we will be asked to ‘move up higher’ — or nearer to God. Humility is a ladder that helps one climb closer to divinity. But if we are not humble, if we do not accept our rightful place in the world, God will show us our place, like the guest at the banquet. Humility is facing the truth: acknowledging who I am, a human person with my limitations. The message is: Be humble or else you will tumble.
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Our Lord invites us to his table. He knows that we are people with faults, people who have hurt him and others, by the wrong we done and the good we have failed to do. Knowing who we are, he still loves us and invites us as his friends to join him at his table. Let us humbly take part in his meal and ask the Lord to make us more open to the humble, to people who have erred, and to the poor.
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Prayer
Our Father, who lift up the lowly, your Son Jesus came into our world as the servant of all and he cherished the helpless. With him, make us respect and appreciate the weak, the defenseless and the humble, and accept to be numbered among them. Dispose us to help them and to seek their help, for you have poured out your mercy on us too, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen
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Saint Charles Borromeo, 1538-1584
Feast Day November 4
Charles Borromeo was born in northern Italy in 1538 to an established and wealthy family. Trained in civil and canon law in Pavia, he was called to Rome as a young man by his uncle, Pope Pius IV, to be secretary of state at the Vatican. “Always clear and precise in his views, firm in his demeanor, and constant in the execution of his projects,” as one biographer has remarked, he played an important role in convincing Pius to reconvene the Council of Trent, which sought to address corruption in a sixteenth-century church beleaguered by Protestantism. Under the auspices of that council, beginning in 1563 Borromeo supervised the writing of an accurate catechism, rewrote liturgical texts and music, and began enforcing clerical reform in Rome. Pope Pius IV named Borromeo archbishop of Milan but kept him in Rome performing a multitude of official functions.
When Borromeo arrived in Milan, he faced a daunting task. Milan was the largest archdiocese in Italy at the time, with more than 3,000 clergy and 800 thousand people. Both its clergy and laity had drifted from church teaching. The selling of indulgences and ecclesiastical positions was prevalent; monasteries were “full of disorder”; many religious were “lazy, ignorant, and debauched,” and some did not even understand how to properly administer the sacraments. The city had seen no resident bishop for 80 years. Borromeo immediately called a synod of his bishops to inform them of the new decrees. Setting an example of personal frugality and order, Borromeo reduced his household staff, forbade his retainers to accept any presents, and sold some of his property to help feed the poor. He began preaching in churches and monasteries, combining “exhortation with intimidation.” He also addressed the backsliding of laypeople, curtailing Sunday entertainments and requiring that all teachers profess the faith. Always interested in religious education, Borromeo established the Confraternities of Christian Doctrine to teach religion to children, and the organization grew to include 740 schools, three thousand catechists, and forty thousand students in Sunday schools.
Borromeo’s rigor predictably made him enemies. Before Borromeo went to Milan, while he was overseeing reform in Rome, a nobleman remarked that the latter city was no longer a place to enjoy oneself or to make a fortune. “Carlo Borromeo has undertaken to remake the city from top to bottom,” he said, predicting dryly that the reformer’s enthusiasm “would lead him to correct the rest of the world once he has finished with Rome.” Once Borromeo arrived in his own diocese, he was forced to excommunicate and imprison some Milanese nobles, including some civil authorities, for defying his new policies. Some Milanese complained to the pope about Borromeo’s allegedly excessive rigor, but the archbishop was vindicated. When he ordered the reform of a wealthy and corrupt religious order, the Humiliati, foes attempted to assassinate him.
Borromeo also displayed a gentler aspect, however, and many of his people loved him. During a plague in 1576, he stayed in the city and cared for the sick, ordering that decorative church hangings be tailored into clothing for the destitute. During a famine he incurred great debts to feed more than 60,000 people. In more ordinary times, he liked to wander the city praying with the people. He established hospitals, colleges, orphanages, and other charitable institutions.
An energetic reformer who took “always the most austere and stringent interpretation” of the dictates of the Council of Trent, Charles Borromeo was instrumental in helping reinvigorate the church during the Counter-Reformation. His work, it is said, “gave new confidence to a shaken church.” He died in 1584, at age forty-six, tired from his labors. He was canonized in 1610 and is the patron saint of catechists.
