If you told me in January that the entire world would essentially shut down because of a pandemic I would have assumed that it was the return of the black plague which could kill over half the population of a city in weeks. If you clarified that although many would be afflicted by the virus it would kill a relatively small percentage of those infected, I would have assumed that it must target children. Yet at the very beginning it was thought that children would be relatively protected from it and that its main targets would be the old, the poor and people with preexisting conditions. This is extraordinary. Indeed, it is an act of almost unimaginable “pro-life” generosity. And as someone who woke up one day and found himself in the elderly category, I want to thank you for your consideration. But something is missing. The generosity may be worldwide, but the vision somewhat myopic.  Continue reading “Sixth Sunday of Easter – Homily (Fr. Smith)” →

The 4^th Sunday of Easter is called Good Shepherd Sunday – the Gospel reading is always about the Good Shepherd. It has been an opportunity for priests to speak about their own vocations. My story is very boring. I wanted to be a priest since 2^nd grade, went the usual route through all the stages of seminary life in due order and without any real doubt. I was ordained and have been a priest for over 40 years. I have been very happy; indeed, I think happier than I would have been doing anything else. No drama, no trauma, and no real hook for the homily until we look at the full meaning of today’s Gospel. Here, there is certainly drama, and if I hook you in, perhaps some trauma.

It begins after the story of the Man born blind that we read this Lent.  The leaders, shepherds, of the people did not behave well. Rather than being open to the experience of Jesus, they ejected the formerly blind man from the synagogue and sought to persecute Jesus. Jesus was not intimidated and told them “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.”(Jn 9:9) Continue reading “Good Shepherd Sunday – May 3, 2020 – Homily (Fr. Smith)” →

Good afternoon, everyone – I think it’s past, no it’s not past noon yet, right? That’s good morning everyone, and it’s great to be, of course, here with you again. Hopefully you can hear us all right. I know that this still gets a little complicated when we’re trying to balance moving so many different moving parts here, with the video and everything. But it’s great to be here with you, even though it’s virtual.

So today, we hear the great story of the discovery of Jesus on the way to Emmaus, and the story makes me think of a lot of things, but I think perhaps it particularly makes me think about coming from Pennsylvania, actually from Allentown. There’s a town close by called Emmaus, and of course the town is used in light of the biblical reference, and so there’s different places that are kind of named after the biblical town. So for example, there’s a religious goods store and they call the store The Way to Emmaus, and then there is a store that sells running shoes and other types of things and they call it the Run-Inn, so I-N-N like the inn where Jesus stayed with these disciples, and whenever I’d like to go home to Allentown, I like to stop into Emmaus, because I do go to the Run-Inn because that’s where I’ll buy my running shoes and I’ve been doing it for years, because I was teaching at Central Catholic High School in Allentown for many, many years and working with the track team and the cross-country team, and we would always go there to buy our running shoes. So I still go there every now and then when I’m back home, and I like going there picking out my shoes and then right when I bring them up to the counter to pay for them I’ll just kind of slightly say oh you know I used to work for Central Catholic and then BOOM, that’s when the eyes open up and like oh you worked for Central, we’ll give you a discount and so it’s a nice little perk that we have. Well going to the Run-Inn, where you get a Central Catholic discount even though I’m not even working in there anymore. Continue reading “3rd Sunday of Easter – Fr. Gribowich Homily” →

When I was growing up in Jackson Heights, many of my friends and neighbors were from India. They were slightly older and certainly more mature than I was, and I tried to keep up with them. Yet sometimes I did not understand what they were saying. They constantly used words like bowler – which I thought was a hat – wicket – which I thought was a kind of small bush, and popping crease which totally mystified me. I finally realized that they lived and breathe that most inscrutable sport, Cricket, and these were all technical terms. After I read an article from Encyclopedia Britannica – for younger people, this is what we had before Wikipedia – I could at least navigate the  conversation. 

This is the case with today’s Gospel passage. Unless we realize that everyone speaking about the resurrection is a Pharisee we will be, at very least, very confused and possibly miss what Jesus is proclaiming.   Continue reading “5th Sunday of Lent – Fr. Smith Homily” →

Good morning, once again. I know this is so unusual for many of us to have to be experiencing that this way, so thank you for being patient with us and we’re learning as we go here, as well.

And of course I haven’t seen you in a long time – and I still don’t see you now –  so I can kind of empathize with the blind man that we hear in our gospel today. So to be back in Brooklyn, to be able to be part of the St. Charles community is always a very great blessing for me ,and to not actually have you in the same physical spaces, of course a very trying thing for me, and I’m sure it is for you, too.

So we are together, united through what may take place here at this Mass through the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ comes to us in three ways: of course, we experience the Body of Christ by meditating upon the body that was nailed to the cross and rose from the dead. Continue reading “4th Sunday Lent – Fr. Gribowich Homily” →