FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY

I would like to thank everyone in the parish for your kind thoughts and prayers for my 40th Anniversary Mass and remind you that you are invited to my 50th Anniversary street party in 2029. About 10 years ago for the year of the priest I was asked by The Tablet to write reflections on priestly ministry. You may find them here: “Priesthood is who I am not what I do”.

– Fr Bill

COMMUNION AND LIBERATION:
Communion and Liberation is an ecclesial movement in the Church that recognizes the importance of culture and especially beauty in developing our faith. Several members of St Charles attended their annual “Encounter” last February and were positively impressed. They also sponsor the “Way of the Cross” on Good Friday. It begins at St James Cathedral at 10 AM and ends at St Peter’s Church in Manhattan at 1:30 PM. Information below:

First Reading
Fifth Sunday of Lent
April 7, 2019
Isaiah 43:16-21

As we have seen, the Exodus from the call of Moses to the entry into the Promised Land has provided much of the imagery for the parts of the Old Testament that were originally written or edited after the return of some of the Jewish leaders from exile in Babylon to Jerusalem about 500 BC. It formed not only the vocabulary they used, but the mindset behind their writings. Sometimes this remains in the background, but today it is explicit and obvious – its meaning is subtle and surprising. Continue reading “Fifth Sunday of Lent – Who I Am, Not What I Do” →

The Crucifixion:

Our series continued this week with a review of the many ways of interpreting the effects of the Cross.  We asked the following questions:

How do you experience the Love of Jesus?

Do you think that Jesus atoned for your sins?

Have you seen the victory of Jesus in this world?

The talk, hymns and prayers may be found on our podcast, but the discussions are key and we urge you to attend the final session at Grace Church this Thursday.

First Reading

Fourth Sunday in Lent

March 31, 2019

Jos 5:9A 10-12

Today’s reading marks an important transition in the history of Israel. We must see it, however, as part of a larger story in which Joshua plays a key part. He is clearly Moses’ successor but is both more and less than that.

The Israelites have been wandering in the desert for 40 years. They were not abandoned by God, indeed he has taken a great and personal interest in them. He has cared for them spiritually, giving them the law, and physically providing manna. They have resisted both: worshiping a golden calf and grumbling about the food. Indeed, after forty years only Moses, Joshua and Celeb remained of those who left Egypt. Moses was permitted to see the promised land but only Joshua and Caleb were allowed to enter it.

This was at Gilgal:

²⁰ At Gilgal Joshua set up the twelve stones which had been taken from the Jordan,

This reflects Moses action at the beginning of their time in the desert:

⁴ Moses then wrote down all the words of the LORD and, rising early the next day, he erected at the foot of the mountain an altar and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. Exodus 24:4 (NAB)

The comparison continues:

“In the future, when the children among you ask their fathers what these stones mean, ² you shall inform them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan here on dry ground.’ ²³ For the LORD, your God, dried up the waters of the Jordan in front of you until you crossed over, just as the LORD, your God, had done at the Red Sea, which he dried up in front of us until we crossed over; Joshua 4:21-23

This brackets off the Exodus, although it took 40 years of penance and conversion God has fulfilled his promise:

⁸ Therefore I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the country of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Exodus 3:8 (NAB)

This had a predictable effect on the peoples of the Canaan:

¹ When all the kings of the Amorites to the west of the Jordan and all the kings of the Canaanites by the sea heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the Israelites until they crossed over, they were disheartened and lost courage at their approach Joshua 5:1 (NAB)

Yet one thing remained. They needed to be seen clearly as the People of the Lord

² On this occasion the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelite nation for the second time.” ⁵ Though all the men who came out were circumcised, none of those born in the desert during the journey after the departure from Egypt were circumcised. Joshua 52. 5

Circumcision was the distinctive physical reminder that the Jews were a distinctive people. That the males were not circumstanced was a sign of the disobedience of the “founding generation” in the wilderness years.

⁶ Now the Israelites had wandered forty years in the desert, until all the warriors among the people that came forth from Egypt died off because they had not obeyed the command of the LORD. For the LORD swore that he would not let them see the land flowing with milk and honey which he had promised their fathers he would give us. Joshua 5:6 (NAB)

The people who were purified in the wilderness are now able to be truly marked as people of God. This will allow them to be ritually able to celebrate the Passover.

¹⁰ While the Israelites were encamped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they celebrated the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth of the month. Joshua 5:10

Thus, the first act of the exodus was celebrating the Passover and now it is the first act in the promised land;

¹¹ On the day after the Passover they ate of the produce of the land in the form of unleavened cakes and parched grain. On that same day ¹² after the Passover on which they ate of the produce of the land, the manna ceased. No longer was there manna for the Israelites, who that year ate of the yield of the land of Canaan. Joshua 5:11–12 (NAB)

The manna had fed them in the desert while they were wanderers but now they have their own land and can live by its produce but they will have to earn it.

³ While Joshua was near Jericho, he raised his eyes and saw one who stood facing him, drawn sword in hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you one of us or of our enemies?”

¹⁴ He replied, “Neither. I am the captain of the host of the LORD and I have just arrived.” Then Joshua fell prostrate to the ground in worship, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?” ¹⁵ The captain of the host of the LORD replied to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy.” And Joshua obeyed. Joshua 5:13–15(NAB)

This is clearly a reference to God’s appearance to Moses at the beginning of his mission in Exodus 3

³ So Moses decided, “I must go over to look at this remarkable sight, and see why the bush is not burned.”

⁴ When the LORD saw him coming over to look at it more closely, God called out to him from the bush, “Moses! Moses!” He answered, “Here I am.”

⁵ God said, “Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. Exodus 3:3–5 (NAB)

This prepares Joshua for his role as a chieftain. He will fulfill it with bloody efficiency. This is distasteful to our modern sensibilities. We need always remember that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob clearly works in and through history and that means with the people as they are. This can be as we have seen disconcerting. It should not distract us from the basic reality of this passage; the form of leadership may change, but the source is always from God.

A Note on Our Financial Report

I would like to thank the members of the parish who read the Financial Report. It is important that we understand where our donations are going. As I noted last year, and some people have commented this year, the budget does not have a line for the poor or indeed any outside agency or activity. This does not reflect a lack of interest, but rather our difficulty in breaking even with regular expenses. This can be addressed more directly when the renovation of the Church is completed but that, alas, is years away.

Until then, I have a suggestion, a policy change and a request.

Please give to the Annual Diocesan Appeal. The money collected does not go to the general fund of the Diocese but to the programs and agencies specifically listed. These include the obvious, e.g. Catholic Charities and Migration Services, and the important things that can remain hidden; e.g., Hospital Chaplains and the care of elderly Diocesan Priests. These are all areas which we as a Parish might wish to donate, and may one day do so, but now we must depend on the generosity and compassion of our members as individuals. We have always met our goal, and in this time of confusion and need, I pray that we will do so again.

The money in our poor boxes and from the candles is put aside for charitable purposes. There has been no set policy on how it is dispensed. Originally, they were both to be given to the St Vincent de Paul Society. As we do not have a SVD chapter, the monies will be collected and given each month to Catholic Charities of Brooklyn & Queens, directed by Msgr. Al. They are the professionals and will be able to put it to better use than my guessing what might be a good use.

Before we distributed the financial report, the Parish Council shared the “Pastoral Plan for St Charles Borromeo”. It is very well thought out and will add much to our parish and community. Some of the items, however, are not in our budget and although we had savings in a few areas, the repairs on the rectory are continuing. In order to finance these ideas, the PPC will be writing to you to ask for an Easter Donation for pastoral activities. They will be specific, and we ask you to be generous.

-Fr. Bill

Building Matters

Nick Strachovsky, KOW Building Consultants
Parish Construction Representative/Manager

I am very pleased to welcome spring back to Brooklyn Heights.  The warmer weather will bring about a much-anticipated increase in speed of work.  The new gutters are in the process of being replaced.  Some roof deck repair work was discovered and is being completed.  At the tower, the statue area and the louvers are being re-supported and repaired and the exterior sand stone and brownstone is being repaired and painted.  This work will increase pace over the next few weeks with portions of scaffold coming down as it is done from top to bottom.  We are hoping to begin to see some of the highest levels come down in the next few months.  Masonry pointing and repair is slated to begin again April 1.  Window repair and stained glass repair will also begin.  Roof replacement is mostly complete at the sloped slate roof.  The flat roof areas are scheduled to be completed once the brick in those areas is completely restored.  The restoration team is running smoothly with very good communication between the architect and contractor. We are looking forward to a productive spring.

First Reading

Third Sunday of Lent

March 24, 2019

Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15

The Pentateuch – or first five books of the Bible – form the great Jewish national epic. As we have seen, it was composed of laws and proclamations but mostly stories handed down for a millennium before being committed to a written edition around 500 BC. It showed the people who had themselves endured captivity in Babylon that their God was alive, caring, and powerful beyond human expectation and measure. Today’s selection from the Book of Exodus expresses a key moment in this epic. It does so, however, in a way that for us is very disconnected.

The original audience would have understood the underlying unity and the reason for it. The deepest scar on the Jewish psyche was the loss of the Northern Kingdom, Israel, to the Assyrians in 721 BC. Their deepest hope was that God would anoint someone to reunite all the people. Messiah and Christ both mean “Anointed One” and this was one of his prime responsibilities. Therefore, the authors of the Pentateuch took great pains to bring in materials from not only north and south, but different theological positions as well. We have already seen that there are several stories of creation; we find the same here with the call of Moses. This extends from Exodus 2:23 to 4:17. Every element of this call is repeated twice.

This need not directly concern us. The most important element is that God remembered his covenant:

²³ A long time passed, during which the king of Egypt died. Still the Israelites groaned and cried out because of their slavery. As their cry for release went up to God, ²⁴ he heard their groaning and was mindful of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. ²⁵ He saw the Israelites and knew… Exodus 2:23–25

The situation of the Israelites was not the result of one bad pharaoh, but would be continual.  “Remembered” does not indicate that God forgot, but that now he would give it his full attention. This is active, not passive – something would be done. The covenant with Abraham, which we discussed last week, is permanent, and God is always connected to his people.

Again, as we saw last week, the Jews could not understand themselves without prophecy and convent. Despite the repetition and – for us – other extraneous diversions, the authors bring this together very clearly today.

Note that Moses is called in the manner of a prophet. We have seen before the calls of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The parallels with Isaiah are particularly striking: angels, fire, fear and a sense of the Holy. We should see the Burning Bush in this light as well: God’s call to Moses as prophet and leader.

God shows himself as the God who revealed himself to Abraham and made the covenant with him:

⁶ I am the God of your father,” he continued, “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.”. Exodus 3:6

The prophet’s words and actions always refer to the Covenant. They do not proclaim philosophical and theological principles, but the experience of the God who had entered their lives and history.

He will not permit them to be slaves to anyone; they will be freed from the Egyptians and given a new land of their own. Moses asked:

¹³ “But,” said Moses to God, “when I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ if they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?” ¹⁴ God replied, “I am who am.” Then he added, “This is what you shall tell the Israelites: I AM sent me to you.” Exodus 3:13–14

There is an understanding of this passage that believes that two traditions are represented. One finds the revelation of God in history, and another which is more philosophical and speaks of the being of God. This is appealing as the key word here is “I AM”. Nevertheless, it is inexact, and comes from the translation of the Pentateuch into Greek around 200 BC. Some of the sense of the Hebrew word for “Being” as a dynamic reality was lost. In Hebrew, “Being” means a concrete, active, and powerfully effective existence.

Cardinal Walter Kasper in his book “Mercy” draws out the consequences of this.

The revelation of God’s name constitutes his promise: I am “the one who I am there” . I am with you in your distress and I will accompany you on your way, … The revelation of God’s name is immediately connected with the ratification of God’s Covenant with the Patriarchs.

It was thought that to know someone’s name was to have power over them. All that God will tell us is that all that we need to know is that he is with us and will be so for all time.

¹⁵ God spoke further to Moses, “Thus shall you say to the Israelites: The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. “This is my name forever; this is my title for all generations. Exodus 3:15

Cardinal Kasper asks us to look at one other time that God appears to Moses. Moses had left the Israelites and gone up the mountain to receive the 10 Commandments. In his absence, the people formed and worshipped the Golden Calf. On his return, Moses broke the original tablets with the commandments and went up Mt. Sinai to obtain new ones.

⁵ Having come down in a cloud, the LORD stood with him there and proclaimed his name, “LORD.” ⁶ Thus the LORD passed before him and cried out, “The LORD, the LORD, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity, ⁷ continuing his kindness for a thousand generations, Exodus 34:5–6 (NAB)

Whatever we come to believe about God and our relationship to Him, the key must always be that he is faithful to His Covenant, and in that faithfulness, we will experience mercy for a thousand generations.

THE  CRUCIFIXION

The first session of lecture, prayer and discussion on the Crucifixion met last Thursday. It was wonderful seeing members of St Charles and Grace Church praying and discussing a matter of our common faith so intently together. You may find the Podcast of the address and the music at our website here. I hope you will find the talk enlightening and the music uplifting, but the most valuable part of the evening was the discussion. This is the kind of topic which calls out for an examination from as many perspectives as possible. I hope that you will be able to attend next Thursday’s session at Grace Church and add your heart and voice to our Lenten journey.

(A question on Gnosticism arose at the meeting; you will find an excellent article on this at the end of this post.)

FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF ORDINATION TO THE PRIESTHOOD

I will be celebrating my 40^th Anniversary of Priestly Ordination on Sunday, March 31^st at the 11:15 AM Mass. I ask for your prayers and thank you for the tremendous affection and support you have shown me in my relatively brief time at St Charles. As this is Lent, there will be no reception or other commemoration. I expect to be alive for my 50^th Anniversary and will have something then.

– Fr Bill

FIRST READING

Second Sunday of Lent

Genesis 15:5–12, 17–18

Today we read a section from the 15^th chapter of Genesis. It is the origin story of the Jewish people. Dating the portrayed events – much less separating fact from legend – is essentially impossible. Memories would have been passed down for a millennium before they were written down about 500 BC. Along the way they would have been influenced by historical events, theological assumptions, and real estate conflicts. What we shall see, however, is that the Jews could not understand themselves without prophecy and covenant.
Continue reading “2nd Sunday of Lent – Look at the Stars” →

Upcoming events this week

• Living Lent Prayer Groups: 2 groups meeting at 8 am and 6 pm at the Rectory starting this Sunday
• Book Club: in the Sacristy after the 11:15 AM Mass this Sunday. Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Latham 
• Eucharistic Adoration: Weekdays from 9 am – noon. Spend an hour with Jesus.
• Media & Communications Committee Meeting: Monday at 7 PM at the Rectory

Think Out of the Box:
See what you can do to Celebrate, Reflect, Worship, Connect and Act! Download our flyer with all of our opportunities this Lent:
Lent Flyer 2019 – St. Charles Borromeo

The Crucifixion: prayer and discussion series

Thursdays at 7 PM from 3/14 – 4/4

Every week at Mass we make our Profession of Faith and say: “For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, suffered death and was buried.”.

Would your relationship with Jesus be any different if we proclaimed instead that he died by hanging or decapitation?

Together with our neighbors at Grace Church we will examine why the Crucifixion is so important in knowing and loving Jesus and in our own attempts to follow him. We will use Fleming Rutledge’s stunning book “The Crucifixion” as our text, but compliment this with prayer and discussion. We are most happy to have Fr. Allen Robinson, the Rector of Grace Church, joining us here at St. Charles and inviting us to continue our exploration at Grace Church next week. The first lecture/discussion will be at St. Charles this Thursday. A light collation will be served at 7:00 PM.

150th Anniversary of the Church Building

As many of you may be aware, St. Charles Borromeo Parish was founded in 1849 and the original church building was on the site of what is now Mary McDowell Friends High School. The original church edifice was badly damaged by fire in 1868 and the parish moved into our current home on May 23, 1869.

So this Memorial Day weekend will be the 150th Anniversary of our beloved St. Charles church building. To celebrate and commemorate this important hallmark in our parish and community history, we will be holding an anniversary celebration on the following weekend, June 2. There will be food and beverages, live performances, icebreakers, games, and so much more! Our goal is to host an event that will be enjoyable for every member of our parish family. In order to make this possible, we are looking to recruit some volunteers (meaning it is a short term commitment) to help us plan and execute our celebration. If you are interested in participating and helping plan the celebration, please speak to me after mass or email [email protected].

First Reading
First Sunday of Lent
Deuteronomy 26:4–10

The book of Deuteronomy is the last book of the Pentateuch or Torah – the first five books of the Bible. It is written as discourses by Moses to the Israelites as they are about to enter the promised land. This would have been about 1250 BC. But as we have seen when we have discussed the Pentateuch, its final edition was around 500 BC after a substantial number of the Jewish leadership returned to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon. We will need to keep both these experiences in mind as we read today’s passage.

¹ “When you have come into the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you as a heritage, and have occupied it and settled in it, ² you shall take some first fruits of the various products of the soil which you harvest from the land which the LORD, your God, gives you, and putting them in a basket, you shall go to the place which the LORD, your God, chooses for the dwelling place of his name. (D 26:1-2)

It is assumed here that Joshua has successfully invaded the land and that the Israelites have become farmers. This would mean that they are settlers and are able to have a permanent sanctuary – place of worship and a permanent priesthood. As herders they would not have had a place of worship but would have offered sacrifice whenever and wherever they could. They would also not have had a permanent and hereditary priesthood, but the sacrifices would have been offered by the chief or clan leader. This is a fundamentally different world.

³ There you shall go to the priest in office at that time and say to him, ‘Today I acknowledge to the LORD, my God, that I have indeed come into the land which he swore to our fathers he would give ⁴ The priest shall then receive the basket from you and shall set it in front of the altar of the LORD, your God. Deuteronomy 26:4 (NAB)

Having been given the land the Jew is to live in a state of permanent thanksgiving and their rituals as we read today were designed to celebrate this.

The first part is telling the story.

⁵ Then you shall declare before the LORD, your God, ‘My father was a wandering Aramean who went down to Egypt with a small household and lived there as an alien. But there he became a nation great, strong and numerous. .’ Deuteronomy 26:5 (NAB)

They entered Egypt as a clan, not really a nation. In Egypt they prospered and because of their common worship became a people. They were then oppressed, but saved by the power of God. Now they offer thanks to God for their deliverance, prosperity, and community.

¹⁰ Therefore, I have now brought you the first fruits of the products of the soil which you, O LORD, have given me.’ And having set them before the LORD, your God, you shall bow down in his presence. Deuteronomy 26:10

Our selection for Mass ends here but the celebration of thanksgiving continues with a meal:

¹¹ Then you and your family, together with the Levite and the aliens who live among you, shall make merry over all these good things which the LORD, your God, has given you. Deuteronomy 26:11

As with the more formal temple worship that will develop after Solomon, the offering – sacrifice – ends with a meal. The situation assumes a very prosperous farmer. Note that he has a family and a Levite – house priest. Note especially that as the Jews were once aliens, they are commanded to bring those aliens among them to their thanksgiving table.

Thanksgiving must be shared and the passage which follows this speaks of a special tithe every three years:

¹² “When you have finished setting aside all the tithes of your produce in the third year, the year of the tithes, and you have given them to the Levite, the alien, the orphan and the widow, that they may eat their fill in your own community, ¹³ you shall declare before the LORD, your God, ‘I have purged my house of the sacred portion and I have given it to the Levite, the alien, the orphan and the widow, just as you have commanded me. In this I have not broken or forgotten any of your commandments.

Notice that the care of those who have been ignored or dispossessed is not “charity” or a matter of discretion, but a commandment and thus a matter of Justice. It is part of the covenant that has and is as important and essential as sacrifice itself.

Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the next section recommits the people to that covenant:

This day the LORD, your God, commands you to observe these statutes and decrees. Be careful, then, to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.

17 Today you are making this agreement with the LORD: he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways and observe his statutes, commandments and decrees, and to hearken to his voice.

18 And today the LORD is making this agreement with you: you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you; and provided you keep all his commandments,

19 he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory above all other nations he has made, and you will be a people sacred to the LORD, your God, as he promised.” Deuteronomy 26:16–19

This would have been especially important to the Jews struggling to restore the temple but also their way of life in Jerusalem. They needed to be reminded that they must maintain proper worship and that meant one centered on gratitude to God and inclusion of all. It also meant that worship could be conducted with great solemnity and precision, but if it was not matched by care of the poor and obedience to the commandments, it would be not only ineffective but blasphemous. They would not be peculiarly the people of God.

So indeed, it is with us. The world Eucharist means “to give thanks”, and we do so for greater reason than the Jews and to celebrate a deeper freedom. Our Exodus is not to a promised land but to a new existence.