Today we celebrate the feast of a great man, St. Francis Borgia. He came from a most evil and destructive family; his great grandfather being the disgusting Pope Alexander VI.
The difference between Francis and the vast majority of his relatives was that he said yes to God instead of no. His mother and aunt had begun the influx of grace into the Borgia line by turning to God and praying for their children. These prayers and their sacrifices bore fruit most wonderfully in Francis.
When he was a young adult, Francis accompanied the body of Empress Isabella to her burial place. Along the way he insisted on seeing it, because she was a woman of great renown for her physical beauty. When he saw the effects of death on her corpse, he immediately chose to serve God and went on to become a great saint, thus atoning in some way for the harm done to the name of Borgia.
All of us can choose to become evil or holy, good or bad. Choose to be good. Bad is ugly. Both last forever.
