Events, Videos

Community Mass – 25th Sunday Ordinary Time

| St. Charles Borromeo


Please join us to celebrate the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time on Sunday, September 19, 2021.

Our current Mass times are:

  • 9 AM EDT – Morning Mass – in person
  • 11:15 AM EDT – Community Mass – in person and streamed online
  • 7 PM EDT – Evening Mass – in person

    Watch the video live or on replay via YouTube Live by clicking in the window above.

Entrance: We Gather Together – 638
Responsorial Psalm & Readings -1165
Offertory: Make Me a Channel of Your Peace – 828
Communion: Taste and See – 930
Closing: Canticle of the Sun – 576

The Gather 3rd Edition Hymnal/Missals are now 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 here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091221.cfm

Homilies

24th Sunday Ordinary Time – Homily (Fr. Smith)

| St. Charles Borromeo

Think of the images of the year to date. The Capital invaded, emergency rooms overflowing, ecological revenge in fire and water, people on life support from the delta variant and most recently Afghanis hanging on to airplanes taking off from Kabul. Yet for me the most lasting image will be of Marine Corps Sergeant Nicole Gee holding a baby that was I hope eventually transported out of Afghanistan and posting “I love my job”. She was killed two days later. This is tragic, ironic, and poignant all at the same time, but also an illustration of what the Gospel means by “take up your cross and follow me.”  

Marks’s audience knew that Jesus had been crucified and believed that he had been resurrected. This was an act of power which overshadowed the Roman Empire. Yet Rome was still persecuting them. Throughout the gospel, Mark and indeed all the gospel writers will show that Jesus is bringing the kingdom that is both already here, but not yet complete. The disciples can expect misunderstanding and persecution from their own families, communities, and the empire itself. Christians will be expected to give an account of their beliefs, and this will be difficult. It is literally the cross: they must confess that Jesus both died and rose. Jesus’ demand is that we show integrity when we are challenged and continue this proclamation and live its consequences. A person may be killed but the truth of the cross will set a Christian free, to hide in mere human power will enslave. Thinking like human beings and not like God has its consequences.  

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Events, Videos

Community Mass – 24th Sunday Ordinary Time

| St. Charles Borromeo


Please join us to celebrate the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time on Sunday, September 12, 2021.

Our current Mass times are:

  • 9 AM EDT – Morning Mass – in person, not streamed
  • 11:15 AM EDT – Community Mass – in person and streamed online
  • 7 PM EDT – Evening Mass – in person, not streamed

    Watch the video live or on replay via YouTube Live by clicking in the window above.

The Gather 3rd Edition Hymnal/Missals are now 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/ .

Entrance: As We Gather at Your Table – 839
Responsorial Psalm and Readings – 1162
Offertory: Precious Lord, Take My Hand – 955
Communion: Shepherd Me, O God – 35
Closing: Let There Be Peace on Earth – 829

Today’s readings are also available to read online here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091221.cfm

Scriptual Commentary

Don’t Outsource Compassion

| St. Charles Borromeo

Saint Martin and the Beggar, El Greco, 1597–1599, National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC)

If a brother or sister has nothing to wear
and has no food for the day,
and one of you says to them,
“Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well, ”
but you do not give them the necessities of the body,
what good is it?
(James 2:15-16)

Fr. Smith’s Commentary on the Second Reading
Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
James 2:14-18
September 12, 2021

Today’s selection from the “Letter of St. James” is often interpreted as a criticism of St. Paul. It seems to contrast salvation by faith with salvation by works. This lies behind Martin Luther’s statement that James wrote the “Epistle of Straw.” This is not the case indeed Paul and James are both good Jews and share a common set of beliefs and attitudes.

They both held that the LORD wished to create a covenant with humanity. A covenant is a sharing of life and love so close that one becomes part of the same family. Through this covenant we are not only “related” to the LORD but to all his people as well. This attitude is found throughout scripture.

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