Scriptual Commentary

Fifth Sunday of Easter – Transforming the World

| St. Charles Borromeo

Christ Roi,
Noel Bonardi, 1984, Col de Verghio, Corsica
(photo by Rogiro)
(About this Image)

I give you a new commandment: love one another.
As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.
This is how all will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.”
(John 13:34–35)

Fr. Bill’s Commentary on the Second Reading
Fifth Sunday of Easter
Book of Revelations: 21:1–5a
May 15, 2022

The Book of Revelation, as we have seen repeatedly, makes extensive use of the Old Testament. John the Seer’s audience would have included a substantial number of Jewish-born members and many second-generation Christians with a good Jewish pedigree. They knew the references we have quoted very well. Gentiles from the Greek-thinking world would have been expected to learn the Jewish background. The Jewish scriptures are alluring and helpful but were not their immediate thought world and some areas would be difficult for them to emotionally connect. If that is so for them, it is more a problem for us.

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Homilies

4th Sunday of Easter – Homily (Fr. Smith)

| Fr. William Smith

This year Mother’s Day occurs on the 4th Sunday of Easter. It is often called Good Shepherd Sunday. Every year we read about the Good Shepherd from the 10th Chapter of St John’s Gospel. This is fitting as the closest example of Good Shepherding is Mother love. To see this, let us examine the text itself and although we will begin in the ancient holy land we will end in contemporary South Asia.

This section of John’s Gospel follows a dispute between Jesus and the Pharisees. He has cured the man born blind on a sabbath. Covering their jealousy with piety they condemned Jesus for breaking the sabbath. Indeed, they not only threaten Jesus but also the cured man and his family. Jesus tells these enlightened leaders that they were blind. He then talks about shepherds.

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Bulletin

Family Fellowship Gathering Next Sunday at 10 AM

| St. Charles Borromeo

(photo: Paula Katinas; reprinted with permission)

Our Young Family Fellowship group will meet next Sunday around 10 AM (after the 9 AM Mass ends). Weather permitting, we will meet in the rectory backyard with snacks/drinks to share. Later in June, we will have our rescheduled talk with Susan Walsh, principal of St. Saviour Academy on Sunday June 26 at 10 AM.

For more information about our group, please check out the article in this week’s Tablet in which we were featured: “At St. Charles, a Baby Boom Brings Parents Together in Fellowship.” The full article is available on our website and is excerpted below:

[T]here’s a new family fellowship in the church that’s specifically designed to bring parents of young children together to tell their stories, share advice and discuss raising their children in the Catholic faith.
[…]
At that first session, parents spent time discussing their choices for the best books with religious themes to read aloud to children, Father Smith said.

Events, Videos

Community Mass – 3rd Sunday of Easter

| St. Charles Borromeo

On Sunday, May 8, 2022, join us in person or online for the 4rd Sunday of Easter, Good Shephard Sunday.

Our current Sunday Mass times are:

The readings will be from Cycle C.

Entrance: Joyful, Joyful, We Adore You – 614

Readings and Psalm – 1072

Offertory:  The King of Love My Shepherd Is – 712

Communion: Gift of Finest Wheat – 940

Closing: How Can I Keep from Singing? – 685

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

4th Sunday of Easter – The Love of the Good Shepherd

| Fr. William Smith

The Good Shepherd stained glass window
at St. Charles Borromeo

“My sheep hear my voice;
I know them, and they follow me.”
(John 10:27)

Fr. Smith’s Commentary on the Second Reading
Good Shepherd Sunday
Rev. 7:9, 14b–17
May 8, 2022

Last week, we read the section of the Book of Revelations in which the Lamb of God ascended to heaven and was deemed worthy to open the seven seals of the scroll. Today, we read the passage immediately before the seventh seal was opened. In the two chapters between these two events, John the Seer has shown the great power of God revealed in the resurrection of Jesus the lamb. Remember that Revelation means “unveiling”—pulling aside those things which prevent us from seeing the truth. For John the Seer, the world is revealed as it is through the Resurrection. This, however, presents a problem. If Jesus has risen triumphantly, what about those who have followed him but have been persecuted even put to death. Where was the power of God for them?

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