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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Homilies

7th Sunday of Easter – Homily (Fr. Smith)

| Fr. William Smith

We began this week with a senseless killing of a man on a subway many of us use, going to brunch, which many of us do. It continued with the murder of young children and their teachers in a school in Texas. This is after the racially motivated killings in Buffalo the week before and the background violence of the suicides of working-class white men and gay teens of all colors. There is a dispiritingly futile debate on why this is and what can be done. Can we as Christians add something beyond echoing the horror? 

I think we can, and St. John today shows us both what we have to offer and why we may not do it. But before we get to St. John, let us look at St. Paul and then what we mean by love.

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Events, Videos

Community Mass – 7th Sunday of Easter

| St. Charles Borromeo

On Sunday, May 29, 2022, join us in person or online for the 7th Sunday of Easter.

Our current Sunday Mass times are:

The readings will be from Cycle C.

Entrance: Baptised in Water – 903

Readings and Psalm – 1082

Offertory: At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing – 536

Communion: Come to the Water – 584

Closing: Let All Things Now Living – 635

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 .