Please download the worship aid to participate in Friday’s evening prayer, which will begin at 5 PM.
Instructions on how to join are available here.
Community Mass – 5th Sunday of Lent
On Sunday, March 26, 2023, join us in person or online for the Fifth Sunday of Lent.
Our current Sunday Mass times are:
- 9 AM ET – Morning Mass
- 11:15 AM ET – Community Mass
- 7:00 PM ET – Evening Mass
Watch the video live by clicking in the window above.
Automated closed captioning is available.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel stcharlesbklyn at this link to watch on your Internet enabled TV or viewing device.
Today’s readings will be from Cycle A.
Readings/Psalm – 1028
Entrance: Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days – 479
Offertory: Hosea – 484
Communion: I Am the Bread of Life – 945
Closing: Sing with All the Saints in Glory – 539
The Gather 3rd Edition Hymnal/Missals are available for use in the church – they are at the ends of the pews. Please return the missals to the end of the pew 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 .
- Support our Parish – Please contribute to our General Collection online here.
- Help us support Catholic Charities Food Pantries in Brooklyn and Queens online
Holy Week and Easter Schedule
Sunday, April 2 – Palm Sunday: 9 AM, 11:15 AM, and 7 PM Masses
Monday, April 3 – Reconciliation Monday: 8 AM Mass. Priests available for confession after the 8 AM Mass and from 4 to 8 PM
Tuesday, April 4 – 12:10 PM Mass
Wednesday, April 5 – 12:10 PM Mass
Thursday, April 6 – Holy Thursday: 7 PM Mass
Friday, April 7 – Good Friday: 3 PM Service; Stations of the Cross at 7 PM
Saturday, April 8 – Easter Vigil: 8 PM Mass
Sunday, April 9 – Easter Sunday: 9 AM, 11:15 AM Masses (no evening Mass)
5th Sunday of Lent – Walking in Charity
Resurrection of Lazarus, James Jacques Tissot,
1886-1894, Brooklyn Museum
Jesus told her,
“I am the resurrection and the life;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?”
She said to him, “Yes, Lord.”
(John 11:25–27)
Fr. Smith’s Commentary on the Second Reading
Fifth Sunday of Lent
Romans 8: 8–11
March 26, 2023
We return to Paul’s letter to the Romans. We have read this letter twice before this Lent and examined it in some detail during the summer of 2020. Indeed, most of this reading we saw before on July 8, 2020. We will use some of the same material today but focus on our Lenten themes and practices.
Today’s reading answered a question from the previous chapter:
Miserable one that I am!
Who will deliver me from this mortal body?(Ro 7:24)
To our modern ears this may seem as if Paul is dividing the human being into body and soul: body, physical and bad, soul, spiritual and good, this reflected the prevailing Greek ideas of Paul’s time. Paul did not believe this, nor did his readers in Rome who were born Jews and maintained a “Jewish anthropology”. As such they would have understood and appreciated the modern philosophical statement that “we do not have a body; we are our bodies.” We are not naturally immortal. Immortality means that the true and important part of us—spirit, soul—leaves the body at death. The body ultimately deteriorates into ashes, it was just a necessary shell. Jews and Christians believe that human beings are composed of “Body and Soul” and that we need both to be human. Thus, we experience the resurrection of the body. This is the new life promised in the scriptures and can only be given by God. Paul realized that this is now accomplished through Jesus. A body is in our future, but it is one totally dedicated to the work of God.
Continue reading “5th Sunday of Lent – Walking in Charity”
Homily – 4th Sunday of Lent (Fr. Smith)
We modern people have difficulty accepting the black-and-white statements of Jesus. We pride ourselves on seeing the exceptions, the grey parts of life. Given the world’s present clumsy polarization, this is quite ironic and perhaps we can now acknowledge that Jesus has a particularly pertinent insight. He reveals who is good, bad, or ridiculous but perhaps we could better say who will be good, bad or ridiculous.
Continue reading “Homily – 4th Sunday of Lent (Fr. Smith)”Community Mass – 4th Sunday of Lent
On Sunday, March 19, 2023, join us in person or online for the Fourth Sunday of Lent.
Our current Sunday Mass times are:
- 9 AM ET – Morning Mass
- 11:15 AM ET – Community Mass
- 7:00 PM ET – Evening Mass
Watch the video live by clicking in the window above.
Automated closed captioning is available.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel stcharlesbklyn at this link to watch on your Internet enabled TV or viewing device.
Today’s readings will be from Cycle A.
Readings/Psalm – 1025
Entrance: We Are the Light of the World – 592
Offertory: Open My Eyes – 651
Communion: Behold the Lamb – 939
Closing: Jerusalem My Destiny – 492
The Gather 3rd Edition Hymnal/Missals are available for use in the church – they are at the ends of the pews. Please return the missals to the end of the pew 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 .
- Support our Parish – Please contribute to our General Collection online here.
- Help us support Catholic Charities Food Pantries in Brooklyn and Queens online
4th Sunday of Lent – Walking in the Light
The Good Shepherd, c. 300–350,
at the Catacombs of Domitilla, Rome (Wikipedia)
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
(Psalm 23:1-3a)
Fr. Smith’s Commentary on the Second Reading
Fourth Sunday of Lent
Ephesians 5:8–14
March 19, 2023
We have all heard that Christians must be in the world but not of it. The author of Ephesians today shows us that this idea was with us from the beginning. As we have seen when we examined the letter to the Colossians last year and Ephesians the year before, we are not sure if these letters were written by Paul or a successor. The church has clearly taught that both are inspired and trustworthy. Let us keep in mind that Paul wrote in Romans that “Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect” (12:2). There is at least continuity. These are the concerns of cosmopolitan urban Christians: now as well as then.
Continue reading “4th Sunday of Lent – Walking in the Light”