Today our Church celebrates the feast of one of the "greats" whose lived largely contributed to the building of a strong, well-educated clergy. St. Charles Borremeo. If you are reading this blog, you should read a brief but full account of this unique individual's life and value to our Church. It is worth the read.
The readings today call us to take a few moments to examine our own lives just as did St. Charles, St. Paul and Jesus himself. You and I, each of us is called to a vocation of service by our baptism. Your service, my service, may be very different. However, the Church, as we know, is built with many different living stones. St. Paul in the section of Romans we read today (13:8-10), teaches that should not allow ourselves to "owe nothing to anyone," except our love. In his mind and heart this very act of loving one another is a fulfillment of the law. Recall, it is the second part of what we hear called the greatest commandment: first, love God; second, love one another.
It is through our time in prayer that we have the opportunity to come to a deeper knowledge of who we are. Each person as a child of God, as you have read in these reflections, comes to this earth with an intention from God. Like Paul, like Charles, we can, in our prayer, discover what God hopes we can become.
Charles Borremeo came to see his vocation as a ministry to the Church is two specific ways: (a) service to the poor and (b) providing the means for priesthood candidates to be well-educated and formed in the spiritual life.
And you? How do you see God's intention for you in relation to your service to the Church, to the people of God? The picture above is an invitation for you to sit with your inner self for a while in consideration of this question: do I understand what God's intention for me is? Am I using the gifts, the talents that God entrusted to me as a human being, as his creation in our world and this time in its history? Do I know what those gifts are?
"Blessed is the man who is gracious and lends to those in need."
(responsorial)
(responsorial)
