A Reflection for the Memorial of St. Charles Borromeo
Find today’s readings here.
“Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; humbly regard others as more important than yourselves.” (Phil 2:3)
My wife’s Catholic school organized an annual walk-a-thon fundraiser when she was a student there. One year, she and her friend were chasing each other through the crowd before the walk began. They accidentally rammed straight into a grownup.
“Sorry!” they said, embarrassed, picking themselves up off the ground.
“It’s fine, it’s fine,” the man said gently. “Are you two O.K.?”
They were. They giggled and bounded away blushing.
Not long after, organizers asked the diocesan bishop to come up to the stage to say a prayer. The bishop came up and, sure enough, it was the kind man my wife and her friend had crashed into. She was mortified.
She still talks about that bishop. Before Christmas Vigil, she would find the bishop sitting by himself in one of the pews in the cathedral, often with his eyes closed, listening to the choir sing carols. Whenever he would meet someone new, the bishop would always introduce himself simply: “Hi, I’m Matthew.”
The bishop passed away before I had a chance to meet him. But from my wife’s stories alone, I get a picture of a kind, humble man who loved God and God’s people and never looked down on anyone.
I’m thinking about him today as the church remembers St. Charles Borromeo. The Italian saint served as the archbishop of Milan until his death in 1584. He stayed in the city during a time of famine and plague to care for the poor using his own money.
I don’t know if my wife’s old bishop is a saint, but like St. Charles, I think of him as a model of humility. Humility is tricky. The saints don’t actively strive to be humble. Humility instead seems to be something that happens to them when they’re busy doing something else.
Perhaps today’s Gospel inspired St. Charles, who was born into a noble family. Jesus tells a leading Pharisee that if he has a banquet, he should “invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.”
Jesus calls the Pharisee to welcome and honor the marginalized. When giving to others, he should not think of the benefits or accolades that might come of it. Instead, by his actions, he should seek only to glorify God. We should too.
