“The Lord led the just in right paths. And the Lord showed him the kingdom of God.”
[Saint Charles Borromeo’s (1538-1584)] love is good, simple, and at the same time intense. He loves God like a child, and he takes it for granted that one ought to bring everything to God. But then he has a certain system of love, which is certainly beautiful but also a bit complicated. He brings all his worries and everything that occupies him, and lays it before God. And he often commends it to him with vehemence. He also often simply allows it to ripen under God’s gaze. And at first he leaves it to his own intuition how he ought to treat the things he brought before God in order for God to accept them (emphasis mine; von Speyr, Book of All Saints, 2008).
We beseech Thee, O Lord, keep Thy Church under the continual protection of Saint Charles Thy Confessor and Bishop; and as his pastoral care made him glorious, so may we through his intercession every grow in fervor of love for Thee.