Saint Charles Borromeo was a true reformer of the Church. Growing up during the time of the Protestant Revolution in the 16th century, he was present at the Council of Trent and tirelessly labored to promote moral formation and religious education in his diocese.
Saints
Saint Teresa of Avila: Virgin and Doctor of Prayer
St. Teresa teaches us above all that the goal of the human person is union with Divine Beauty: our loving and wondrous God and Father. It is only in and through and with God that we can attain perfect happiness, human fulfillment and total completion. In fact, without God, as she so often emphasizes, we have nothing and are nothing. However, he who has God possesses everything. St. Teresa proclaims: God alone suffices!
The Passion of John the Baptist: A Man Who Gave His Life for What is True
If we comply with the corruption of this age, living according to its evil tenets and communicating it to others through our willing adherence to its errors, we might well live more comfortably: we might receive approbation from the powerful and attain to high status among a society gone awry, plagued by moral fragmentation. In the end, however, we will have lost everything that really matters.
Saint Augustine of Hippo: Defender of Truth
St. Augustine’s life provides us with an example of the sublime fruits of grace which Christ bestows upon those who fall in love with the Divine Teacher of Truth. In doing so, Augustine was drawn to the Catholic Church, the holy dwelling place in which the fullness of truth subsists through the ages.
Saint Clare and The Path of Simplicity
We learn from St. Clare both the importance of giving one’s life to Christ as well as the sublime, eternal rewards of doing so. When we leave the fleeting, temporary created objects of the world behind, no longer placing our trust in them, we are freed from the burden of heavy, material chains and thus allowed to more clearly perceive the beautiful and sublime bounty of the Beloved.