Homilies

19th Sunday Ordinary Time – Homily (Fr. Smith)

| St. Charles Borromeo

The Eucharist makes us Catholic Christians, but we can only understand the Eucharist by thinking like Jews. We see this very clearly in today’s Gospel. 

The great insight of the Jews was that God loved them. This runs throughout the entire Old Testament. At the very beginning they understood that creation was not an accident or a cruel joke as most ancient peoples believed but the act of an all loving and all-powerful deity. The first humans did not find themselves in a wasteland but rather in Paradise, a place of perfection. They saw as well the meaning of Sin. God forbade Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for then they would die. They are in paradise, what would they know of evil? The sin of Adam and Eve, as ours, is to think we at we can do better than God. Our creation would be better than his. They ate and died.  

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Events, Videos

Community Mass – 19th Sunday Ordinary Time

| St. Charles Borromeo


Please join us to celebrate the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time on Sunday, August 8th.

Our current Mass times are:

  • 9 AM EDT – Morning Mass – in person, not streamed
  • 11:15 AM EDT – Community Mass – in person and streamed online
  • 7 PM EDT – Evening Mass – in person, not streamed

    Watch the video live or on replay via YouTube Live by clicking in the window above.

The Gather 3rd Edition Hymnal/Missals are now 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/ .

Entrance: Gather Your People – 837
Readings and Responsorial Psalm – 1147
Offertory: Ubi Caritas – 696
Communion: Taste and See – 930
Closing: Sing of the Lord’s Goodness – 610

Today’s readings are also available to read online here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080821.cfm

Scriptual Commentary

19th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Humbly Following the Spirit

| Fr. William Smith

Cross of the Eucharist, Peter Winfried Koenig, 2005,
St Edward’s Church, Kettering UK
(About this Image)

I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.
(John 6:51)

Fr. Smith’s Commentary on the Second Reading
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Ephesians 4:30–5:2
August 8, 2021

Whether written by Paul or a disciple, “The letter to the Ephesians,” is an exhortation. It does not give doctrinal instruction as much as encourage early Christians to embrace the consequences of what they already believed. But for us to understand their world we must try to reconstruct what indeed the author and his audience would have held. This week, we will focus on the Holy Spirit.

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Homilies

18th Sunday Ordinary Time – Homily (Fr. Smith)

| St. Charles Borromeo

We in Brooklyn Heights are experts in nonverbal communication. Living here requires communicating with dogs and babies. After 5 years on Sidney place, I am proud to say that I have mastered puppy and infant and progressing nicely with dog and toddler. It is amazing how effectively both groups can express basic instincts most particularly hunger without saying a word. A dog will look at you with the saddest eyes and an infant after a few warning signs will start crying. As we emerge from Covid we have seen that many people have discovered that they are hungry but are not certain for what and don’t have the language to express it. Luckily, St John wishes to teach us this language.

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Events, Videos

Community Mass – 18th Sunday Ordinary Time

| St. Charles Borromeo

Please join us to celebrate the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time on Sunday, August 1st.

Our current Mass times are:

  • 9 AM EDT – Morning Mass – in person, not streamed
  • 11:15 AM EDT – Community Mass – in person and streamed online
  • 7 PM EDT – Evening Mass – in person, not streamed

    Watch the video live or on replay via YouTube Live by clicking in the window above.

The Gather 3rd Edition Hymnal/Missals are now 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/ .

Entrance: Glory and Praise to Our God – 606
Readings and Responsorial Psalm – 1144
Offertory: Lord, When You Came – 781
Communion: I Am the Bread of Life – 945
Closing: Rain Down – 582

Today’s readings are also available to read online here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/071821.cfm