Events, Videos

Sunday Mass – 4th Sunday Ordinary Time

| St. Charles Borromeo

On Sunday, January 30, 2022, join us in person or online for the 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time. Our new Bishop Robert Brennan will be joining us to celebrate the 7 PM Evening Mass. You can stream the Mass by clicking play in the YouTube window below.

Our current Mass times are:

  • 9 AM EST – Morning Mass
  • 11:15 AM EST – Community Mass
  • 7 PM EST – Evening Mass

    Watch the video live by clicking in the window above.
    Subscribe to our YouTube channel at youtube.com/stcharlesbklyn .

The readings will be from Cycle C.

Entrance: Gather Your People – 837
Readings and Psalm – 1103
Offertory: You Are Mine – 721
Communion: Ubi Caritas – 696
Closing: City of God – 766

The Gather 3rd Edition Hymnal/Missals are available for use in the church – pick one up as you enter and return it after Mass. Instructions on how to use the hymnal missal are available here: https://www.stcharlesbklyn.org/hymnal-missal/ .

Today’s readings are also available to read online at the USCCB website https://bible.usccb.org .

Scriptual Commentary

4th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Building a Community Through Love

| Fr. William Smith

Brow of the Hill Near Nazareth, James Tissot,
c. 1886–1894, Brooklyn Museum
(About this Image)

When the people in the synagogue heard this,
they were all filled with fury.
They rose up, drove [Jesus] out of the town,
and led him to the brow of the hill
on which their town had been built,
to hurl him down headlong.
But Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away.
(Luke 4:28–30)

Fr. Smith’s Commentary on the Second Reading
Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time
1 Cor 12:31–13:13
January 30, 2022

Today’s reading is among the most beloved passages in the Bible. It is a hymn to love and is by far the most popular reading at weddings. It is indeed beautiful by itself, but as we may suspect from our examination so far of 1 Corinthians, it is immeasurably more so in context. Although we as members of the Global North may have some trouble appreciating its wider context.

Paul is writing to a mixed group Jews, Greeks, slave, free, rich, poor. They are very impressed by oratory, and he will use many rhetorical techniques to reveal his familiarity with “proper speech.” Some of these are extremely effective and provide significant clarity but would take undue time to explain. We will look at this passage from the perspective of community. As we have seen the Corinthian church was not only composed of people from every land but from every class. It was a boom town in constant flux. A religion, indeed, any new society, would experience great tension keeping itself together. The more elite sections would expect to be given the places, positions, and privileges of their station. We see this in 1 Cor when the rich who gave their houses for the communion meeting—Eucharist—would expect better food and wine than the more common members. Others, however, sensed this as a new opportunity and sought to gain status by their participation in the Church. As Paul reminds us, all Christians have been given spiritual gifts and there is always the tendency to hold mine as the most important. We still find this today with people who claim the benefits of “meritocracy.”

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Homilies

3rd Sunday Ordinary Time – Homily (Fr. Smith)

| St. Charles Borromeo

This year our Mass readings will be primarily from the Gospel of St Luke so let take some time to see who he was and grasp his methods and intentions. Conveniently today’s gospel is in two sections: the first tells us what he is doing and the second indicates why he is doing it. 

Luke is a second-generation Greek speaking, Christian. This is important. He is writing about 80 AD to other Greek speakers who were not born Jews. He is not an eyewitness of these events and indeed most of those have died. They left many writings and as Paul has already reminded us in today’s second reading there were authorized teachers to pass them down. These documents included the Gospel of Mark, some stories shared with Matthew and a few unique to Luke. Also, as Luke is interested in all the events that formed the early church, he will write a “second volume” the “Acts of the Apostles” which will take the story to Rome itself. This will be read during Easter time and there are some sections in which Luke will imply that he was with Paul and was himself an eyewitness.  

It is often noted that Luke writes excellent Greek and was an educated man. He knew that many people like him were entering the Church. This gospel is written for Theophilus who whether an historical figure or not represents the kind of person who would require that the story be presented in an “Orderly sequence”. He assures his readers through Theophilus that he has investigated everything and can attest to the truth of what he has written.  

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Bulletin

Last Chance to Join Synod Discussions Next Sunday, 12:15 PM

| St. Charles Borromeo

Our final synod discussion session will be next Sunday, January 30, around 12:15 PM once the 11:15 AM Mass ends. We’ve had several good discussions in December and thank those who participated. If you didn’t have a chance then, you can join us next Sunday either in-person at church or via Zoom.

As Fr. Bill mentioned, Pope Francis organized the synod for us to discern the Church’s future together. We want to hear you. No topics are off the table.

We will be reflecting on the following questions:

  1. In what areas is the Church not hearing you?
  2. What have your experiences been in talking about your faith with others both within and outside our faith community?
  3. How might the Church be more inviting? How do we get people back in the pews?
  4. Is there anything else that the Holy Spirit is calling you to say? What would you like to hear from the Holy Spirit?
Bulletin

Help Ordering Free At-Home COVID Tests After Morning Masses

| St. Charles Borromeo

This week, the federal government and USPS launched a website where you can order four free at-home COVID test kits to be shipped to you. It’s recommended to order your test kits now so you have them when you need them.

You can order your at-home COVID test kits by visiting https://special.usps.com/testkits.

If you or someone you know does not have Internet access, help is available this Sunday morning (Jan. 23). Parish volunteers with computers will be available in the back of the church following the 9 AM and 11:15 AM Masses to help you fill out the website form to order the test kits.