Brothers and sisters: None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself.
For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord;
so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
For this is why Christ died and came to life, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. (Rom 14:7-12)
We are the Lord’s . . . of infinite value, infinite worth. We have dignity, not of our own making, but because we belong to Christ. Saint Charles benefitted from nepotism. His uncle, the pope, appointed him archbishop of Milan and cardinal. At the ecumenical council of Trent, Saint Charles voted to reform the church and to abolish nepotism. He was also responsible for inventing seminaries to educate clergy. Up to that time seminaries didn’t exist in the church, and clergy were basically uneducated, all of which resulted in the Protestant Reformation. Saint Charles can also claim the founding of the Confraternity for Christian Doctrine (CCD), Sunday School in other words. For one who came up in the ranks by nepotism, he didn’t do too bad. And he was an excellent pastor to his people.
