31st Week, Monday, Nov 4th
Philippians 2:1-4 / Luke 14:12-14
Look to each other's interests; Be united in spirit.
On May 6, 1954, Britain's Roger Bannister became the first man to break the four-minute mile. Millions of people applauded Bannister's feat, but few realized it was a team effort. First of all, Bannister didn't think he could break the record, but his coach did. It was his coach's confidence in Bannister that convinced him that he could. Second, Bannister was helped greatly by teammate friends Brasher and Chataway. Brasher paced him the first half of the race, and Chataway paced him the final half. The kind of unity of spirit that made Bannister's achievement possible is the kind of unity of spirit that Paul talks about in today's reading.
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How willingly and cooperatively do we place ourselves at the service of others? "Be humble toward one another. . . . And look out for one another's interests, not just for your own." Philippians 2:3-4
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As there were divisions also in Philippi, Paul asked his Christians to work toward unity, a unity based on unselfishness, humility and concern for the good of others.
We are inclined to love and invite those who love and invite us. Is this genuine love according to God’s standards? True love is gratuitous and opens itself to the poor and to outcasts. This is beautiful to say but hard to do. What is our practice?
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In its most basic meaning, happiness is defined as an emotion that is generally associated with behaviours like laughter and smiles and maybe even a bit of euphoria. Usually, happiness is generated when we experience good luck and good fortune and a good outcome, and hence the corresponding behaviour.
So what brings out happiness in us is when we have something nice happening to us. But when something nice happens to others, will we also be just as happy? In the 1st reading, St. Paul tells the Philippians that the one thing that will make him completely happy is when they are united in their convictions and united in their love, with a common purpose and a common mind. For St. Paul, his happiness lies more in whatever good happens to others, than in whatever good happens to him.
The gospel also has the same message when Jesus told His host, one of the leading Pharisees that a man is fortunate when people can't repay him back for whatever good he had given them.
Unfortunately, that is not our idea of happiness. For whatever good we do unto others, we want it back and maybe more than we give. We would be happier still when we are constantly on the receiving end of every good thing that we want to happen to us. But are we determined by what happens to us? Or are we who we choose to become?
May we choose to be happy for others when good things happen to them, and be even happier for them when they grow in virtue and in goodness. In doing so, we have already chosen to be happy people.
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Break the Chain
Much of what unfolds in human commerce is self-interest couched in mutuality. “You scratch my back, and I will scratch yours” is the principle that generally guides interactions, be it at a personal level or national or international levels. It is said that the 1994 Rwandan genocide did not move powerful nations to intervene precisely because they had nothing to gain out of intervention there – no minerals, no oil fields! On smaller and subtle scales we do the same in our little worlds as well, which Jesus points out today. He invites us to be more redemptive and unconditional; to share our blessings and tables with those who may not return the favor. In other words, give without counting the cost and with no expectations; and very specially, to invite those on the margins to the center of our lives. And he promises to remember our good deeds on the day that counts most!
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Opening Prayer
Lord our God and Father, we come together here as a people to share in the feast of Jesus, our Saviour. Let this celebration be the sign of the feast without end that you have prepared for us. Make us rejoice with you and welcome all with open arms, people from everywhere, all nations, the poor and the rich, the weak and the strong. May all accept your invitation, that we may rejoice with all in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
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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.
