Invite your godparents, godchildren or your children’s godparents to attend our Godparents Mass this Sunday at 11:15 AM. We will celebrate the special godparent/godchild relationship and all that godparents contribute to the amazing journey of faith for their godchildren.
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Asking God for What We Need
Parable of the Unjust Servant,
Fr. Smith’s Commentary on the Second Reading
Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
1 Timothy 2:1–8
September 18, 2022
Last week, we began to read the first letter of St Paul to Timothy. The letter presumes that this is the same Timothy that Paul met in Lystra (Ac. 16:1-2) and is now his legate in Ephesus. It was a major city in the empire and was a fertile place for the gospel to grow. It was also a place where other religious concepts had taken root. Paul is instructing, perhaps better mentoring, Timothy on how to approach this wonderful opportunity but one fraught with danger as well.
We saw last week that there were false teachers who were leading some of the Christians away from what Paul had taught. They were most likely born Jews who were baptized Christian but now used Greek techniques of Bible interpretation and had many Greco-Roman assumptions. We will see some of these reflected in today’s reading but mostly Paul will concentrate on how the Christians should interact with the wider society.
Continue reading “25th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Asking God for What We Need”
Friday Evening Prayer at 5 PM
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.
Homily – 24th Sunday Ordinary Time (Fr. Smith)
Today’s Gospel passage has been called the greatest short story ever written. Its power is undeniable, and we must admire Luke’s economy of words. Yet it is misnamed. The younger son we call Prodigal appears only briefly. The father, however, is found in each of the five episodes of the parable. Indeed, when we remember that prodigal originally meant extravagant or imprudent it is the father who seems to better fit the description. He gave his love totally and unreservedly not only to the impetuous younger son but to the cold-hearted older one. Neither one of them seemed to appreciate or respond to it. I think we might better call this the parable of gratuitous love.
The dictionary definition of gratuitous is “lacking a good reason” and the synonyms are unjustified and unearned. The first example supplied is ‘gratuitous violence”. It has a theological meaning as well which was not commonly used until Popes Benedict and Francis revived it. (see below 1)
They both believed that living in a consumerist society where we can easily define ourselves by what we have, not who we are, and love can be made a mere transaction. If you do this for me, I will do that for you, and we will call it love. It is very rational and perhaps more common than we are comfortable admitting.
Continue reading “Homily – 24th Sunday Ordinary Time (Fr. Smith)”Community Mass – 24th Sunday Ordinary Time
On Sunday, September 11, 2022, join us in person or online for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Our current Sunday Mass times are:
- 9 AM EDT – Morning Mass
- 11:15 AM EDT – Community Mass
- 7 PM EDT – 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.
The readings will be from Cycle C.
Entrance: Sing to the Mountains – 519
Readings/Psalm: 1163
Offertory: Amazing Grace – 645
Communion: I am the Bread of Life – 945
Closing: Canticle of the Sun – 576
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 .
- Please follow the instructions of the ushers, and observe all of the posted health precautions so that we can continue to worship together safely.
- Support our Parish – Please contribute to our General Collection online here.
- Help us support Catholic Charities Food Pantries in Brooklyn and Queens online
Beginning and Ending with Jesus
The Prodigal Son in Modern Life: The Return,
James Tissot, c. 1882, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes
(About this Image)
So he got up and went back to his father.
While he was still a long way off,
his father caught sight of him,
and was filled with compassion.
He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.
(Luke 15:20)
Fr. Smith’s Commentary on the Second Reading
Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
1 Timothy 1:12–17
September 11, 2022
For the next month we will be reading the 1st and 2nd letters to Timothy. Together with the Letter to Titus, they form what have been called for several centuries the “Pastoral Epistles.” Scholars disagree if they were written by St. Paul, but all acknowledge that the format is different from the undisputed Pauline letters. They were addressed to individual disciples of Paul instructing them how to be a Pastor. They have more recently been called the “mentoring letters” and as we begin the synodal process again we should take them very much to heart. (Paul wrote the letter to the individual Philemon, but as we saw last week this was a very exceptional case and does not diminish the uniqueness of the mentoring letters.)
Friday Evening Prayer at 5 PM
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.