Saint Charles Borromeo, Bishop

Jesus talks about a man who starts building a tower. What should he do before he starts?

The gun went off in the middle of evening prayer. Archbishop Charles Borromeo was kneeling before the altar of his chapel in Milan with his household when a man in a priest’s dress stepped in and fired at his back. St. Charles did not move. He kept praying, and only when the prayers were finished did anyone go to him. The bullet had fallen away; he was not even bleeding. The shooter belonged to a religious order St. Charles had been trying to reform.

What did St. Charles do when the gun went off during prayer?

St. Charles in his cardinal’s robes and cap, kneeling before an altar with a crucifix, a book open beside him. Color his robes scarlet red, the altar cloth white, the book’s pages cream, and the crucifix brown and gold.

Read one question and answer from the catechism at dinner and have each child say one thank you for your parish priest out loud.

A book that teaches what the Church believes, usually in questions and answers, so that everyone learns the same true Faith.

Blessed are the clean of heart: they shall see God.

Why does Jesus say we have to hate our mom and dad?

Lord Jesus, thank you for our priest, Father [name], and for our bishop, [name]. Give them courage to be holy. St. Charles Borromeo, pray for them, and pray for everyone who is sick tonight. Amen.

The lives of the saints are woven together like a beautiful tapestry. When St. John Vianney’s father was a young boy, his family sheltered and fed the poor, including St. Benedict Joseph Labre, who had just discerned out of a Trappist monastery. Perhaps in a mysterious way, St. Benedict’s brief visit had an impact on John Vianney’s father, which in turn influenced his son. Baptized the day he was born, on May 8, 1786, in Dardilly, France, John Vianney would one day become the patron saint of priests. Ironically, he almost never became a priest due his struggles with Latin. But as He so often does, God raised up this humble man to do His work.

We need to pray for perseverance. When I was a young brother studying theology, we were told to pray for perseverance in our vocation. And so I pray every day to continue faithfully in my call as a Christian through my Baptism, as a Franciscan friar, and as a priest. And each one of us, according to our situation, should pray for the grace to persevere — the grace never to walk away from Jesus and never to let our hearts become separated from Him by disbelief, insincerity, fear, or selfishness.

Tomorrow, November 5, is a “lost coin” hunt: set aside a coin to hide, and review the Act of Contrition (it is printed in the back of most missals and catechisms). The cemetery visit for the Holy Souls indulgence is open through Sunday, November 8; if you have not gone yet, Saturday is a good day, with Confession the same afternoon. Saturday, November 7: an empty jar for the family almsgiving jar.