Archbishops of Milan

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Monday, 4 November 2024 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Charles Borromeo, Bishop (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded that as Christians, our first and foremost calling and mission in life is to show love to one another, and to be full of love in us, just as the Lord Himself is all full of love, for God is Love, and the love that He has shown to us, we too should also bear in our every actions, our every words and interactions with each other, our deeds and all the every parts of our lives. If we do not have love in us and if we do not love others around us generously as we all should have, then how can we truly call or consider ourselves as true and genuine Christians? That is because without love, then our faith as Christians, as those who believe in the Lord, it is truly dead, because faith without action, which are founded on love, is indeed dead and meaningless.

This is why, as we all listened to the first reading today, from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful people of God in Philippi in Greece, we are all presented with the Apostle’s kind reminder to the faithful in the city of Philippi that they all should truly embody their Christian faith through their love for one another, and for them all to be truly united as one people, all believing in the same Lord and God, the same Saviour Jesus Christ, Who has saved them all through His most wonderful manifestation of the perfect and selfless love that He has poured down on all of us from His Cross, at the moment of His Passion, His suffering and death. St. Paul pointed out that they all share the same Spirit of Christ, and therefore, they all should love one another, putting the needs of others above one’s own selfish desires and interests.

Contextually, at that time, during St. Paul’s missionary journeys which brought him all throughout many parts of the Mediterranean region including to the city and region of Philippi itself, there were a lot of divisions within the Christian communities especially between those followers and converts from the Gentiles, the non-Jewish populations like the local Greeks and the Romans, as well as many other people and then the Jewish diaspora population, many of whom were also divided in their allegiances and ideals like those in Judea and Jerusalem, and many of them subscribed to the idea of the Pharisees in particular, which championed the imposition of Jewish ways and customs on all the Christian faithful, and the idea that the Jews had the exclusive right of salvation in God, which likely led to divisions and friction in the community of the people of God.

Thus, what St. Paul told the Ephesians made sense as he exhorted them to leave behind all those prejudices and attitudes which the people had held in them, and which they had acted to one another, leading to strife, conflicts and divisions in the Church. He reminded them and also all of us that we must always remain united in our common faith in Christ, our Lord and Saviour, and we should not lose our sight and focus on this faith which we ought to have in the Lord, our most loving God. Our faith must always be centred in the Lord and not in our own ideals and thoughts, our intellects and worldly wisdom, or else we will find that it is easy for us to be swayed by falsehoods and temptations of the world, by false ideals and ways that may distract us from the path of God’s righteousness and grace.

In our Gospel passage today from the Gospel according to St. Luke we then heard of the Lord Jesus saying to a man who had invited Him to a celebration or banquet before His disciples about how when one invite someone else to a banquet, then the host ought not to invite those who are of their own families and friends, those who are close and dear, precious and beloved to himself or herself, but rather, one should invite the less privileged, those who were poor and who had nothing to celebrate with, and the context that the Lord told the man and His disciples was that, if the host were to invite those who were his families, friends, and all those who were good to the host, then the invitation and goodwill can be easily repaid, while when inviting those who had little or nothing with them, it will in fact be the Lord Himself Who would reward those who had done such a wonderful deed.

Again, as with many of the Lord’s other words and teachings, we must understand fully the meaning and the intention behind the words that the Lord Himself had spoken and not be hasty to interpret His meaning plainly and literally as many would have done. He does not ask us to despise or dishonour our own families, relatives and friends, or to only be partial towards those strangers and people who are less fortunate. Rather, His intention as He said this was that, He wants us to break free of our attachments and our constant pandering to those around us who are jockeying and desiring for attention, rewards and expectations from one another. That is how our relationships in this world are usually built upon, that is upon transactional kind of relationships, and the Lord wants us to learn to show true and genuine love, one that is not transactional, to everyone around us, be it those known to us, or those others.

Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. Charles Borromeo, a great servant of God and His Church whose life and dedication to God should be an inspiration to each and every one of us as Christians. St. Charles Borromeo was a young noble from the influential Borromeo family and he was a relative of the Medici Pope, Pope Pius IV, who was his uncle. From his youth, the young St. Charles Borromeo had been brought up and prepared for career in law, and he had a good academic preparation and education. And his connection to the Pope eventually brought him to be appointed as the assistant to the Pope, which was common at that time. He was first appointed as a protonotary apostolic and then at the still young age of about eighteen, he was made a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church.

As a Cardinal, St. Charles Borromeo lived a simple and austere life, unlike many of his contemporaries. His connections to the Pope and being a member of the nobility did not make him proud, haughty or greedy. On the contrary, St. Charles Borromeo sought to deepen his relationship with God and to live his life and missions as best as he could. He took part in the Ecumenical Council of Trent in reforming the Church, and he spent a lot of time and effort in trying to implement the changes and reforms, especially after he was appointed as the Archbishop of Milan by the Pope, one of the greatest and most influential sees in Christendom at that time. He worked hard as Archbishop and resolved to reform the Archdiocese which at that time had faced a lot of worldly corruption and laxity in their spiritual and moral discipline.

He spent a lot of effort making pastoral visits and trips to visit his various flocks, reforming the seminaries that trained the new generation of priests and establishing various institutions to benefit the people throughout his Archdiocese. And he continued to be humble in his actions, devoting himself to the good of the people of God. He faced a lot of hardships and opposition, but St. Charles Borromeo never allowed all those difficulties and challenges to dissuade him from doing his best to glorify God and to show his constant love and care for his people, providing for their needs and guiding them through the right path in life, and he was also courageous in his campaign to root out and eradicate corruptions and wickedness in the Church and its institutions, until the last moments of his life.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have discussed earlier and from the life and examples of St. Charles Borromeo that we have listened to, clearly we can see that we must put our love for God and what He has entrusted to us, our missions and calling first and foremost, and not our personal ambitions and worldly desires, just as St. Charles Borromeo himself had done. If we allow those things to tempt and affect us, then very soon we may find ourselves distracted and misled down the wrong path. Hence, let us all renew our effort and conviction to follow the Lord ever more faithful and wholeheartedly in all things, now and always, and become good role models and inspirations for our brethren around us. Amen.

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Monday, 4 November 2024 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Charles Borromeo, Bishop (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 14 : 12-14

At that time, Jesus also addressed the man who had invited Him, and said, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends, or your brothers and relatives, or your wealthy neighbours. For surely they will also invite you in return, and you will be repaid.”

“When you give a feast, invite instead the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. Fortunate are you then, because they cannot repay you; you will be repaid at the resurrection of the upright.”

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Monday, 4 November 2024 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Charles Borromeo, Bishop (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 130 : 1, 2, 3

O Lord, my heart is not proud nor do I have arrogant eyes. I am not engrossed in ambitious matters, nor in things too great for me.

I have quieted and stilled my soul like a weaned child on its mother’s lap; like a contented child is my soul.

Hope in the Lord, o Israel, now and forever.

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Monday, 4 November 2024 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Charles Borromeo, Bishop (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Philippians 2 : 1-4

If I may advise you in the Name of Christ and if you can hear it as the voice of love; if we share the same Spirit and are capable of mercy and compassion, then I beg of you, make me very happy : have one love, one Spirit, one feeling, do nothing through rivalry or vain conceit.

On the contrary let each of you gently consider the others as more important than yourselves. Do not seek your own interest, but rather that of others.

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Saturday, 4 November 2017 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Charles Borromeo, Bishop (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Scriptures in which first of all we heard St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans, speaking about the matter between the salvation of the Jews and the pagan peoples. It was mentioned how the Jews stumbled so that the Lord might be able to save the pagan peoples, and through that, the Jews themselves might be saved.

This is related to what we have heard in the Gospel passage today, the familiar words of the Lord Jesus in which He related the story about the people who were clamouring and fighting over places of honour, using a wedding banquet or event as an example. He related to the people how it is often that many are seeking for the most important places, desiring prestige and honour, but only later humiliated because even more important guests came and took over their seats.

How does this relate to what we heard in the first reading? The Jews or the people of Israel were the ones whom God had first chosen and called from among all of mankind. He called their forefather Abraham and made a Covenant with him. As a result, the Israelites became a race that God had chosen to be His own, especially from the time when He directly intervened to bring them out from slavery in Egypt and into the land He has promised to them.

The Jews took great pride in this and they were always ready to boast that they were chosen by God to be His people, to the point that they actually looked down on the pagans and the non-Jewish people, whom they deemed to be less worthy of the Lord, because they were not chosen by God. Yet, they themselves were blind to their own shortcomings and faults, and through their constant disobedience and lack of faith, they have been punished many times.

And God did not intend to just call the Israelites and exclude all the other races and peoples. Ultimately, God wants everyone, every mankind to be reconciled to Him, for He created each and every one of us out of His great love for us, and because of that great love, He does not want any of us to perish in sin and in the darkness. Rather, He wants that each and every one of us can come into the light.

This is exactly the opposite of what the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had done. They prided themselves in obeying the tenets of the Law, and as Jesus mentioned, they liked to the praised and to be honoured. They were the epitome of those who came to the wedding banquet and sought the first and most important place in the room. Yet, the room and the place has not been given to them, because they have no God in their hearts, and in their pride, they have placed their own interests ahead of God’s interests.

That was why the Lord Jesus chided them and rebuked them, and saying that the tax collectors and the prostitutes were going faster towards the kingdom of heaven than them, even though these people were often seen and labelled as sinners and unworthy people, least of all those who were thought to be worthy of God and the heavenly glory He promised to all His faithful ones.

Why is that so? That is because, those people as we witnessed throughout the Gospels, were willing to listen to Jesus and His teachings, and many of them, in tears, turned themselves to the Lord in repentance for their old ways of sin, and recognising their sinfulness, they desired to be forgiven by God. They have been the last ones, but because of their humility and willingness to listen to God and to obey Him, God had raised them to greater glory.

As I have just mentioned earlier, the great problem that we now can see as the great obstacle preventing us mankind from reaching out to God, is pride. Our human pride, our ego and ambition makes us to be non-receptive to God’s love and mercy, and many of us had ended up hardening our hearts against Him, closing Him out of our hearts and minds, not letting Him to speak to us that we might know His will. Instead, often it is always about ‘I’ or ‘Me’.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all look at the examples of the holy predecessors, particularly, St. Charles Borromeo, the saint whose feast we celebrate today, as role models for us to follow, that we may know how to live a good and virtuous Christian life, and not engulfed by our pride and ego. St. Charles Borromeo was renowned as a great reformer of the Church, a Cardinal of the Church, as well as the influential and powerful Archbishop of Milan, perhaps second in its importance as compared to Rome.

Yet, St. Charles Borromeo, who was born to one of the most influential noble families in the region, who enjoyed close relationship with both the Church and the ruling class, did not let all these things to corrupt him or to make him proud of his lineage and position. When he was made a Cardinal and entrusted with the role of managing the Roman Curia, or the governance of the Universal Church in Rome, he lived in austerity and ordered the members of the Curia to do the same.

He helped to organise the great reforms of the Church through the Council of Trent, which helped to rejuvenate the faith in the Church and destroy or remove the impurities and excesses of the previous decades and centuries when the Church was filled with many corrupt individuals seeking for power, wealth and influence through the Church. And later on, as the Archbishop of Milan, he was also credited with the enforcement of the reforms among the clergy and laity in his Archdiocese.

He cared for the poor and the sick in his Archdiocese of Milan, and it was told that in one occasion, when the governor and the ruling class of Milan fled the city because of a great pestilence that struck it, St. Charles Borromeo remained behind to care for the people who were sick and provided for their needs. He was also known for leading a procession barefooted through the streets of Milan with a rope around his neck, as a sign of penitence and humility before God, asking Him to forgive the sins of His people.

The examples of St. Charles Borromeo should be an inspiration for all of us Christians today, that in all of our actions and deeds, we should be humble and not to listen to the voice of our ego, pride and human ambition. Let us all seek to be the last in worldly matters, but the first in the eyes of God, as the Lord Jesus reminded us in the Gospel passage today. Let us also not build for ourselves a temporary treasure in this world, but instead seek the eternal glory of heaven. St. Charles Borromeo, pray for us! Amen.

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Saturday, 4 November 2017 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Charles Borromeo, Bishop (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 14 : 1, 7-11

At that time, one Sabbath Jesus had gone to eat a meal in the house of a leading Pharisee, and He was carefully watched. Jesus then told a parable to the guests, for He had noticed how they tried to take the places of honour.

And He said, “When you are invited to a wedding party, do not choose the best seat. It may happen that someone more important than you has been invited; and your host, who invited both of you, will come and say to you, ‘Please give this person your place.’ What shame is yours when you take the lowest seat!”

“Whenever you are invited, go rather to the lowest seat, so that you host may come and say to you, ‘Friend, you must come up higher.’ And this will be a great honour for you in the presence of all the other guests. For whoever makes himself out to be great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

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Saturday, 4 November 2017 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Charles Borromeo, Bishop (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 93 : 12-13a, 14-15, 17-18

Fortunate the one You correct, o YHVH, the one You teach Your Law; You give them relief from distress.

YHVH will not reject His people, nor will He forsake His heritage. Justice will return to the just; and the upright will follow, in its wake.

Had YHVH not helped me, I would have fallen into the silence of death. No sooner did I say, “My foot is slipping,” Your kindness, o YHVH, held me up.

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Saturday, 4 November 2017 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Charles Borromeo, Bishop (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Romans 11 : 1-2a, 11-12, 25-29

And so I ask : Has God rejected His people? Of course not! I, myself, am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. No, God has not rejected the people He knew beforehand.

Again, I ask : Did they stumble so as to fall? Of course not. Their stumbling allowed salvation to come to the pagan nations, and, this, in turn, will stir up the jealousy of Israel. If Israel’s shortcoming made the world rich, if the pagan nations grew rich with what they lost, what will happen when Israel is restored?

I want you to understand the mysterious decree of God, lest you be too confident : a part of Israel will remain hardened, until the majority of pagans have entered. Then, the whole of Israel will be saved, as Scripture says : From Zion will come the Liberator, Who will purify the descendants of Jacob from all sin. And this is the Covenant I will make with them : I will take away from them their sins.

Regarding the Gospel, the Jews are opponents, but it is for your benefit. Regarding election, they are beloved, because of their ancestors; because the call of God, and His gifts, cannot be nullified.