Author: St. Charles Borromeo

Videos

Palm Sunday 2020 – Fr. Gribowich Homily

| St. Charles Borromeo

Okay – good morning, everyone! I hope that you’re still all here with us. Like I promised, it was going to be a little messy, because the story that we had just heard is messy, right?

And this story, of course, is something that we know inside and out. I mean how many Holy Weeks have we gone through where we’ve heard the Passion. For those of us who participate in the service on Good Friday, we end up hearing two versions of the Passion throughout the week – today, and of course then on Friday, as well.

Yet, none of us have heard the Passion during the time that we’re facing right now, with this Coronavirus. In a certain sense, what we just heard, I think has a brand new relevance in our lives, and I think we can relate very much to Jesus screaming on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why have you abandoned me?” Continue reading “Palm Sunday 2020 – Fr. Gribowich Homily” →

Events

Sunday 9 AM Faith Sharing Group Continues Past Lent

| St. Charles Borromeo

Our Sunday 9 AM faith sharing group continues to meet online. While it was originally planned to be a Lenten faith sharing group, the group will continue to meet during this extraordinary time of no public Masses.

All are welcome even if you are joining for the first time. You can connect via our public Zoom meeting ID (819 741 616). Full instructions, including a way to join by phone, are available here.

Please note that the Sunday evening faith sharing group will no longer be meeting.

Messages from the PPC

Message from Josephine Dongbang, PPC

| St. Charles Borromeo

St. Charles family, how are you holding up? For those of you that don’t know me, I’m Josephine Dongbang and before these unprecedented times, I usually attended the 7 PM Mass.

But let’s talk about these unprecedented times. Every morning, I hear about folks losing jobs and businesses, Asian Americans being attacked and even assaulted, healthcare professionals falling ill on the front lines because they don’t have masks, and neighbors having to say farewell to loved ones over the phone because they must maintain distance. It breaks my heart every day and it brings tears to my eyes (again) as I write this. I, as I’m sure many of you, have also been personally impacted by the pandemic. It makes all of my prior problems feel so trivial and in these moments of despair and weakness, I am humbled knowing that we have so little control. Continue reading “Message from Josephine Dongbang, PPC” →

Messages from the Pastor

Fr. Smith’s Commentary on the First Reading

| St. Charles Borromeo

Photo by Srinivasan Venkataraman on Unsplash

Palm Sunday
Isaiah 50:4–7
April 5, 2020

Readers of these reflections with a good memory will note that this is the usual Old Testament reading for the Mass for Palm Sunday. It is considered so important that it is used other times of the year as well (24th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B). We read it this year during the coronavirus pandemic and its message is even stronger and more pertinent.

As with so many of the passages we have examined, we must return to the mindset of the people who rebuilt Jerusalem around 520 BC. A miracle had occurred. Jerusalem and the temple had been destroyed and the leaders brought into exile in Babylon. This should have been the end of the Jewish people. Yet God through the unlikely intermediary of Cyrus, Prince of Persia, has given them a chance to start again. Enough decided to return to the ruins of Jerusalem that they could contemplate reconstruction. Yet they needed a second miracle to know why they were there. Continue reading “Fr. Smith’s Commentary on the First Reading” →