Author: St. Charles Borromeo

Homilies, Messages from the Pastor

4th Sunday of Lent – Addressing the Real Needs of Our Time

| St. Charles Borromeo

Samuel Anoints David, François Victor Eloi Biennourry, 1841, École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts.

Fourth Sunday of Lent
1 Samuel 16:1B, 6–7, 10–13a
March 22, 2020

The relationship between King Saul and the Prophet Samuel is one of the most interesting in the Old Testament. The tensions are always there, but the reasons are hidden under a veneer of piety. Its relevance to our present situation as a church may indeed be obscured for the same reason.

Our opening line this week says:

The LORD said to Samuel: “How long will you grieve for Saul,
whom I have rejected as king of Israel?
Fill your horn with oil, and be on your way.
I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem,
for I have chosen my king from among his sons.”
(1 Samuel 16:1)

It may seem that Samuel was fond of Saul as the LORD asks him how long will he grieve for him. Yet in the next verse (Sa. 2a), Samuel tells the Lord: “How can I go? Saul will hear of it and kill me. With friends like this who needs enemies?” Continue reading “4th Sunday of Lent – Addressing the Real Needs of Our Time” →

Front Page

Urgent Update From the Diocese of Brooklyn 3/19/2020

| St. Charles Borromeo

Tonight, Bishop DiMarzio issued the following guidance given the current impact of the coronavirus.

As of tomorrow, Friday, March 20 at noon:

  • All churches  in the Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens will be fully closed;
  • Parish offices will be physically closed;
  • Funerals and wedding will not be permitted in church since limiting funerals and weddings to 10 people is proving not to be feasible. If absolutely necessary, a graveside service could be held, at the discretion of the cemetery administration. A memorial Mass for the deceased should be celebrated later. Weddings should be postponed.

Continue reading “Urgent Update From the Diocese of Brooklyn 3/19/2020” →

Front Page

Update on Parish Response to Coronavirus – March 15, 2020

| St. Charles Borromeo

Given the continuing and growing concern about the spread of the coronavirus, Bishop DiMarzio has determined that all public Masses be cancelled in the Diocese of Brooklyn beginning Monday, March 16, until further notice. This includes weekday Masses as well as Sunday Masses.

Funerals and weddings will be permitted but should be limited to family members only. Parish baptism celebrations should be limited to family only, if they cannot be postponed.

In accordance with the Bishop’s guidance, all public Masses and other in-person parish activities are cancelled.

  1. We will have a private Mass on Sunday at 11:15 AM that people can stream or dial in to. Below are further details about how to join the remote events via Zoom or by phone. Wherever possible we will use the same Zoom meeting for parish events. A recorded version will also be available on our website for later viewing.
  2. On weekdays, the church will still be open for Eucharistic Adoration and private prayer from 9 a.m. to noon, but we will not hold public weekday Masses.
  3. Other parish events will proceed on a remote-only basis, including Tuesday’s RCIA class, Thursday’s discussion group with Grace Church, and our Sunday faith sharing groups.
Until further notice, the Parish will stream a Sunday 11:15 AM Mass and other parish events live via Zoom. [Zoom dial-in info removed from website for security reasons]

In

Bulletin

Praying the Liturgy of the Hours

| St. Charles Borromeo

The Liturgy of the Hours is the official prayer of the Catholic Church. As its name suggests it is the concrete expression of the Church’s desire to fulfill St Paul’s injunction to “pray without ceasing.” (1 Thess. 5:17) It is composed mostly of Psalms and other “songs” from the Old Testament and readings from both. It is often referred to as “The Breviary.” The word is derived from “breviarium” which means brief summary.  We may not find it all that brief but it does put together the Church’s prayer in one place and is remarkably easy to master. Continue reading “Praying the Liturgy of the Hours” →

Homilies

3rd Sunday of Lent – Fr. Smith’s Homily

| St. Charles Borromeo

Christ and the Woman of Samaria, Rembrandt and student, c. 1655 (Met. Museum of Art, New York)

(The text of today’s Gospel, John 4:5–26, 39–42, can be found online).

The disciples were no doubt asking why they were in Samaria. Geographically Samaria is between Galilee to the north and Judea (Jerusalem) to the south. Obviously, it was easier to travel directly through it to get from Galilee to Judea but the Judeans (Jews of Judea and Galilee) and the Samaritans hated each other so much that it was a dangerous journey. This was a consequence of a centuries-old Assyrian colonization plan. After the death of King Solomon, the Kingdom of David split into the Kingdom of  Israel in the North and Judea to the South. The Assyrians destroyed the Northern Kingdom in 722 BC. Their policy was to replace a significant percentage of native people with immigrants from other nations. They would intermarry and be more dependent on Assyria than the memory of what was there before. These foreigners adopted many Israelite customs but were never accepted by the Judeans (Jews) and there was always conflict between them. Although their religious practices were quite similar, the major issue was where sacrifice was to occur: for the Samaritans: Mt Gerizim; for the Jews: Mt Zion. To inflame things even further, the Jewish King John Hyrcanus destroyed the Samaritan temple in 129B C. So now the disciples find themselves in enemy territory in the heat of the day with no food. Continue reading “3rd Sunday of Lent – Fr. Smith’s Homily” →