On the Feast of St. Charles Borromeo

Both T and I found ourselves in situations this week that challenged us to choose between inconvenient but respectful neighborliness and personally convenient inaction.  As we talked about our respective situations, I was reminded of how I often find it difficult to live out virtues I consider most important: selfless love, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control.  I managed to find some encouragement tonight from today's feast day saint, St. Charles Borromeo.  I guess people struggled with this in the sixteenth century too. 

"Be sure that you first preach by the way you live. If you do not, people will notice that you say one thing, but live otherwise, and your words will bring only cynical laughter and a derisive shake of the head. We must meditate before, during and after everything we do. The prophet says: “I will pray, and then I will understand.” This is the way we can easily overcome the countless difficulties we have to face day after day, which, after all, are part of our work. In meditation we find the strength to bring Christ to birth in ourselves and in other men."

- Saint Charles Borromeo