Feast of St. Charles Borromeo

The Catholic Church has evolved in the last two thousand years into a complicated hierarchy. Times and again, she needs saintly pastors as well as competent administrators. Very few people possess both qualities. Imagine a saintly preacher. No problem. What about a saintly negotiator or a holy diplomat? No way. It is a semantic contradiction! Today, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast day of St. Charles Borromeo (1538-1584) who embodied such a semantic contradiction. If you want a more detailed biography, visit the Catholic Encyclopedia site. St. Charles Borromeo was the driving force behind the badly needed reforms in a sickened Church at the time of Reformation. He humbly exerted his personal influences to effect essential changes in the church life.

Romans 13 turns her attention to the relation between Christians and the state. Perhaps Paul was living in an era when the Roman Empire was not yet hostile to Christians. According to the Acts of the Apostles, Paul had made used of his Roman citizenship to his advantage. The Roman army protected him from an assassination plot. That probably explains why St. Paul had said very little against the Empire. He encourages and explains why we should obey the state authorities.
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God (Romans 13:1).
Having thus said, Paul continues to elaborate, tracing the chain of earthly authorities to God. If you disobey earthly authorities, you disobey God whom these people represent. It is hard to imagine Paul doing a theology of social justice that criticizes earthly authorities.
for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain; he is the servant of God to execute his wrath on the wrongdoer (Romans 13:4).
The question about paying tax had long been settled by Paul before the gospels were written.
For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing (Romans 13:6).
Paul also has his answer to the question of the greatest commandment. He sums it up in Love your neighbour as yourself. But isn't this commandment the second greatest? True. But St. Paul could not ram the "Shema Israel" down the throats of his Gentile readers. He must do it skilfully in a more acceptable way to them.

To sum up this section of moral teachings, Paul left us some memorable verses.
Besides this you know what hour it is, how it is full time now for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed;
the night is far gone, the day is at hand. Let us then cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light;
let us conduct ourselves becomingly as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy.
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires (Romans 13:11-14).
Some of these ideas, Paul would more fully develop in other epistles.

Dear Lord, teach me to deal with authority figures in a constructive way. Amen.
St. Charles Borromeo. Pray for us.