Events, Videos

Community Mass – 3rd Sunday Ordinary Time/Sunday of the Word of God

| St. Charles Borromeo

Please join us to celebrate the 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time – the Sunday of the Word of God – on Sunday, January 24:

  • 9 AM EST – Morning Mass – In Person at the Church, not live streamed.
  • 11:15 AM EST Community Mass In Person at the Church and also streamed online and available for playback.

    Instructions to view the Mass are available here. You can also watch the video via YouTube Live in the window above.
  • Please note that some people have experienced sporadic issues with YouTube this morning. If you have issues connecting via YouTube, you can also join via Zoom at stcharlesbklyn.org/zoom.

Today’s readings and hymns are available to download here:

2021-01-24Download

Scriptual Commentary

3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time – Being Exceptional Without Exception

| Fr. William Smith

The Calling of Saint Peter and Saint Andrew, James Tissot, 1886-1894, Brooklyn Museum

Fr. Smith’s Commentary on the First Reading
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jonah 3:1–5, 10
January 24, 2021

The book of Jonah is difficult to date with great precision, but scholars suggest that it was written sometime between 300 and 250 BC. This would have been after the conquest of Judea by Alexander the Great in 332 BC and the breakup of his empire after his death in 323 BC. Even the most biblically illiterate person knows of it because of the story of Jonah and the whale, but its message is sublime and one that we may need to ponder now.

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Events, Videos

Community Mass for Racial and Social Justice

| St. Charles Borromeo

Please join us to celebrate the Mass on Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday, January 18:

Homilies, Videos

2nd Sunday Ordinary Time – Homily (Fr. Smith)

| St. Charles Borromeo

The call of the Apostles in the Gospels seems artificial and contrived. Despite some differences in the individual Gospels, the Apostles give up everything to answer a call from someone they have only just met. It seems very unlikely as a journalistic account, but it very accurately describes if not the moment when the call is first heard the moment when it is understood. I can relate to this myself and can also see it in the life of Martin Luther King, but here with one enormous difference.

The Apostles were the first leaders of the Church, but we see them today as disciples, followers of Jesus like the rest of us. They were not of the poorest class, Peter and Andrew seemed to be rather prosperous and some may have been better educated than the average Jew. We see in today’s Gospel that the immediate group had some connection with John the Baptizer, so they were knowledgeable and interested in religion. Being the disciple of a famous rabbi would have allowed social and most likely financial improvement. Yet there was significant risk, Jesus’ message was as strange then as now. There is a kingdom coming, but it will not be brought by war and power, but by love and nonviolence. No matter when or how a person hears this, realizing what it really means is always a revelation and always requires a firm decision. Today we read the Apostles’ “yes”.

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