Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we commemorate the life and the examples of St. Charles Borromeo, also known as San Carlo Borromeo, a great saint and reformer of the faith and the Church, who was the Metropolitan Archbishop of Milan, one of the principal and most important sees of Christendom, and a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church.
At that time, the Church and the faithful were assailed greatly and terribly by the forces of the so-called Protestant ‘reformation’ where misguided people and their leaders took it into their hands to change and alter the teachings and traditions of the Church as they pleased and wished, and many people went astray following their own path and their own wishes.
And so many people, so many souls were lost forever as a result of such an unfortunate turn of events, and many people were misguided to follow the path of their error and worldliness into the damnation of hell. However, that is not all, as even within the Church, many people did not truly serve the Lord and rather than dutifully carrying out their responsibilities as members and ministers of the Lord’s Church and community, these people served their own interest first.
All these were the works of the devil and his agents, who sowed the seeds of obstinate behaviour, pride, greed, stubbornness and the seeds of sin into the hearts of men, and by tempting many with the temptation of money, pleasures of the world and other things, he succeeded in luring many away, and brought about much confusion in which he thrived and managed to lure away even more souls away.
He also contributed immensely to the Council of Trent, the very important and crucial gathering of the Church designed to reform the Church, condemn the falsehoods of the Protestant heresy and to help bring back many souls into God’s grace and salvation. He proposed many disciplines and practices that could help purify the Faith and the Church so as to make it much more resilient against future heresies and threats from both outside and inside the Church.
In the end, many people returned to the Holy Mother Church, and many of them repented from their sins. What St. Charles Borromeo and many other holy men and women, servants of God had done at that time was truly beneficial and good, and because of their great efforts and dedication, they helped restore the hope to countless people who would otherwise have fallen into eternal damnation of hell.
Today we heard St. Paul exhorting the faithful on how to fulfil completely the Law and commandments of God, that is by showing love and care for one another. The Law of God is truly about loving our God, and not just that, but also loving one another in the same way as we have loved ourselves and God. And this was exactly what St. Charles Borromeo and his contemporaries had done, for the love of their fellow men, fallen and lost to the darkness, they worked their best to save them from their fate.
In the Gospel today, we heard Jesus our Lord speaking about readiness to give it all to the Lord, and readiness to leave behind everything that have severed us and kept us away from truly being able to call ourselves the children of God. And He also spoke of wisdom, of the need for us all to think and reflect of the consequences of our actions and the need to be ready for everything that is to come.
And thus, we have to think of the consequences of our actions and how these will impact the state of our souls in the end of time. Have we made ample preparations for the day of judgment that is to come? If we sit still and do nothing, then I fear all of us are headed for a sure and certain destruction and damnation in hell. It is just like what Jesus told the people, like a king who did not consult with his advisers and went to war against another stronger than him, and in the end, only defeat and misery awaited him.
What do we need to do then, brothers and sisters in Christ? We all need to devote ourselves to help our brethren in need, those who are less fortunate than us, and just as St. Charles Borromeo had shown us, also by helping those who have been misled and misguided by heresy and by the lies of Satan, so that all of us may find our way out of the trap of sin and destruction, and eventually proceed to eternal glory of heaven, and receiving the whole eternal inheritance meant for us.
Let us all therefore from now on work together as one people, as one Church, by working together to achieve the common goal of justification and sanctification for the eternal life. May God bless us and guide us in our endeavours and efforts, and may He bring us to eternal glory in Him. Amen.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 