Messages from the Pastor

21st Sunday of Ordinary Time – Responding in Unity and Community

| Fr. William Smith

Jesus Giving Peter the Keys

Twenty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time
Romans 11:33-36
August 23, 2020

Several weeks ago when we looked at the ending of Romans 8 we saw that Paul can write individual passages that are so beautiful that we can forget that they are not meant to stand alone but to bring a section of the letter to a conclusion. We see the same today. This week’s passage is also meant to do double duty: conclude Paul’s teaching on the relationship between Jewish and Gentile Christians, Rom 9-11, but also the entire letter that went before. Paul as an artist was up to the task.

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Homilies, Videos

20th Sunday Ordinary Time – Homily (Fr. Smith)

| St. Charles Borromeo

Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-730437.

The Jesus who we see in today’s gospel is disconcerting. His treatment of the Canaanite woman seems dismissive and condescending. Is this the good shepherd? Yes, it is, but here he is speaking and more to the point acting as a prophet. The Jews who first heard and observed him would have understood immediately as would the members of Matthew’s community who were born Jews. Those born gentile and indeed we ourselves may need some background to understand what Jesus is saying and doing and how it affects us. 

As on only child I bring a particularly valuable perspective to this passage because it has to do with being chosen. Only children are chosen. We are the center of the universe for our parents who must be particularly careful that we do not think that we are the center of the universe for anyone else. Otherwise the singleton can easily become an insufferable prig. This was the case with the Jewish people. They were chosen by God and he both lavished his unconditioned love on them but also needed to show “tough love” lest they forget that they were missionaries to the Nations. They were called indeed created and formed to make the presence of God known beyond their tribes or nation. 

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Events, Videos

Community Mass – 20th Sunday Ordinary Time – 8/16 11:15 am EDT

| St. Charles Borromeo

Please join us for our Community Mass for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Sunday, August 16 at 11:15 AM EDT. It will be a public Mass celebrated in the church and also streamed online.

Instructions to view the Mass are available here. You can also watch the video via YouTube Live in the window here.

Messages from the Pastor

20th Sunday of Ordinary Time – The Mystery of God’s Salvation

| Fr. William Smith

The Assumption of the Virgin, Titian, 1516–18, Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari

Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Romans 11:13–15, 29–32
August 16, 2020

Last week, we began to examine St Paul’s teaching about the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. We saw that for Paul the major issue was the faithfulness of God. He promised the Jews that he would never abandon them, and they would always remain chosen. Yet with the death and resurrection of Jesus, it seems that he has raised up a new people and displaced the Jews. For Paul this would make God a liar and is thus inconceivable.

As we saw Paul reminded the people, Jew and Greek, that God could transform them as a community just as he transformed him as an individual Jew. Although, certainly for us and most likely for his original audience this was a difficult concept, Paul found it important enough to review it and indeed expand on it. Our reading today reflects this, and I would like to remind you that not only does it contain some difficult concepts the passage skips around Romans 11. We will need to fill in a lot of material.

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