Events, Videos

Community Mass – Trinity Sunday

| St. Charles Borromeo

On Sunday, June 12, 2022, join us in person or online for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.

Our current Sunday Mass times are:

The readings will be from Cycle C.

Entrance: Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty! – 567

Readings/Psalm – 1088

Offertory:  Eye Has Not Seen – 728

Communion: How Great Thou Art – 578

Closing: O God, Almighty Father – 566

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

Holy Trinity Sunday – Ministry of Service

| Fr. William Smith

The Trinity, Andrei Rublev
1411 or 1425–27, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
(About this Image)

Fr. Smith’s Commentary on the Second Reading
Most Holy Trinity
Romans 5:1–5
June 12, 2022

This week, we celebrate the solemnity of the Blessed Trinity, and the church has chosen a selection from the letter of Paul to the Romans as our second reading. We looked at Romans in some detail two years ago and will not review the background again for this passage. (You may find the earlier commentary at Introduction to the Letter to the Romans.) Paul’s style may be somewhat convoluted for our taste, but this passage is well worth following to a most satisfactory indeed inspiring conclusion.

Besides decidedly Pauline themes, we will find some areas of connection with the Gospel readings from St. John of last few weeks. We begin with “Therefore” and can be relatively certain that a conclusion follows. In this case, Paul has developed the concept of justification for four chapters and in chapter five, which we read today, he will tell us the benefits of being justified. Briefly and superficially justified means that a person has a relationship with God. The Greek word from which it derives, dikaiosunē, means righteousness. We are made righteous by the death and resurrection of Jesus. For Catholics, this is a process that requires being led by the Spirit and thus is a this worldly and in that sense very practical experience.

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Homilies

Pentecost – Homily (Fr. Smith)

| St. Charles Borromeo

Today’s gospel reading may sound familiar. It was read the week after Easter. I did not want to repeat myself too much so I reread my homily for that day. This is not for the faint of heart. There was something wrong with it and it was at first hard to define exactly what that was. The interpretation of the scriptures was fine, the examples were good and phrasing acceptable. But then I remembered a quip by the famous British Catholic wit G K Chesterton. When asked by a newspaper to answer the question what is wrong with the world. He answered, “I am what is wrong with the world.’ What is wrong with that homily? I am what was wrong with that homily.

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Events, Videos

Community Mass – Pentecost Sunday

| St. Charles Borromeo

On Sunday, June 5, 2022, join us in person or online for Pentecost Sunday.

Our current Sunday Mass times are:

The readings will be from Cycle C.

Entrance: Come, Holy Ghost – 559

Readings/Psalm/Sequence – 1084

Offertory: O Breathe on Me, O Breath of God – 902

Communion: One Bread, One Body – 932

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

Pentecost – Filled with the Holy Spirit

| Fr. William Smith

Detail of Holy Spirit Hole,
Saints Peter and Paul, Söll, Austria
(About this Image)

And suddenly there came from the sky
a noise like a strong driving wind,
and it filled the entire house in which they were.
Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire,
which parted and came to rest on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
(Acts 2:2–4)

Fr. Smith’s Commentary on the First Reading
Pentecost Sunday
Acts 2:1–11
June 5, 2022

We celebrate this week the feast of Pentecost. It is a Jewish feast indeed one of the great pilgrimage feasts when Jews were encouraged to go to Jerusalem and offer sacrifice. It was originally a harvest celebration but quickly became connected with the Exodus and the giving of the Law. Pentecost means 50 and it is celebrated by Jews 50 days after the Passover and commemorates Moses bringing the law to the people.

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