LAUGHTER

Quote of the Day: January 30,  2010




“Fanatics seldom laugh. They never laugh at themselves.”




James M. Gillis, C.S.P., [1867-1957]

WHY WE NEED ETERNITY?

Missed opportunities. Too many of them….
Funerals we couldn’t attend.
Conversations never finished
or much more significant:
conversations we should have had.
Lots of questions,
especially, “What ever happened
to what’s her or his name?”
Forgiveness – lots of forgiveness
with an eventual end to every “I’m sorry for ….”
Grace: lots of grace

because too often I been so ungraceful.
A chance for a zillion tears and laughs.
Healings. Many healings….
Surprises – that bring laughter
and many a big, “O my God!”

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2010

Photo - not mine.
Would acknowledge

if I knew whose photo

it is.

FLOWING BY,

GOING BYE BYE

Some days I’m ice.
Some days I’m mist.
But most days
I’m like the river:
flowing by, going by, “Hi!”
I’m dark loose liquid,
flowing, making my way
down to the sea,
so tell me what you
want to tell me, now,
fast, before I’m gone?
“Hi! Bye! Bye!”

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2010

QUARTER

Spotted a silver quarter
on a January sidewalk –
“Wow! It’s usually a penny.”
It felt cold in both
my hand and my pocket.
Wondering: did the inventor
of the battery think about
how stones hold cold,
how stones hold heat,
like my laundry in a pile
on my bed three hours
after I take it out of the dryer
and it’s still so warm?
How does it do that?
So too a heated argument
or a cold comment
that lays there
on the sidewalk
of my soul for hours –
sometimes for winter weeks,
sometimes for the longest time.
Why?

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2010

WINTER WALKING, WINTER TEA

Wanting to walk faster, but one has to be careful walking in the snow …. Walking past hedges wearing expensive looking ermine wraps …. Walking under dark empty trees – with raised arms …. Walking down these cold white sidewalks…. You never know where there might be black ice beneath the snow, beneath one’s feet. Walking – talking to myself. I wasn’t hearing the sound of stepped on snow. I didn’t hear the snow complaining that my steps were ruining the canvas – the work of art being formed on the street just beneath my feet. Talking and walking with oneself is good. On today’s walk I was only hearing past words – memories – remembering talking to you about so many things in those wonderful conversations we’ve had on winter afternoons. Then there was tea – Irish tea – and so many slices of freshly baked rye bread from the Neighborhood Bakery – with cold butter – the knife making that acute cutting cold butter clinking sound on plate – and then with knife and fingers putting the butter on the bread – the bread you went and bought in the cold when I called and said, “I’ll be home this afternoon.” That was so long ago. Today walking in the falling snow – grey misty sky – evokes so many memories. You’re dead. You rise in the remembering – along with cold butter, rye bread, hot tea, and walking in the snow – and those long afternoon conversations. You’re dead now. It’s winter. I miss you and at times as time becomes years, I’m afraid I’m starting to hear the sound of snow instead of you as I walk down these winter streets. I miss you mom.

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2010

RELATIONSHIPS

Relationships, connections, reconnections,
small words, small touches, small looks,
“across a crowded room”
as the South Pacific,
“Some Enchanted Evening,” song goes,
but there also all those other evenings
when the other is no stranger,
all those scenes across the kitchen table,
the movie of our lives’ small scenes,
holding hands on the way into church
or at a movie or after a fight,
aware of, appreciative of,
small signs that we’re still thinking of the other,
needed, needed, needed,
to sustain and grow a life together.

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2010

PHOTOGRAPHY:  DIANE ARBUS

Quote of the Day: January 29,   2010

“I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn’t photograph them.”

Diane Arbus, [1923-1971], Quote 1972, Photograph by Diane Arbus, "Identical Twins, Roselle, N.J., 1967

PHOTOGRAPH

Quote of the Day: - January 28,  2010

“A photograph is not only an image (as a painting is an image), an interpretation of the real; it is also a trace, something directly stenciled off the real, like a footprint of a death mask.”

Susan Sontag [1933-2004] New York Review of Books, June 23, 1977

TAKE WHAT YOU GET!

A sliver of silver light
slid through his door -
the door of his empty room –
but he didn’t get out of bed ….
He wanted a greater sign
but a greater sign would
not be given him as
Jesus said in the scriptures.*
Sometimes you have to take
what your get and get moving –
because sometimes all you’re going
to get is a sliver of silver light
coming through a slightly open door
in a empty room.

*Mark 8:12

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2010

FABRIC

A bolt of fabric laying there,
like a dead body
after a catastrophe,
waiting to become suits, ties,
curtains, coverings….
Is there hope?
Is there resurrection?
Is there life after death?
Is there recovery after a tragedy?
In the meanwhile we bury our dead.
We unroll the bolt of fabric.
Then we move upwards
and outwards from the grave.
We pick up scissors, needle
and thread and sew together
the future – and wear it well.
As to eternal Easter, I want to
be like Jesus, more than rolled up
linen cloths;* rather I want to be
risen, rising, bringing peace
and the kingdom to those
who can squeeze through
the I of the needle.**



* John 20: 6-7
** Mark 10;25; John 12;24

A hope for Haiti.

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2010

FACE IT

Quote of the Day: January  27, 2010

“A man of 50 is responsible for his face.”

Frank L. Stanton [1857-1927]

__________________________________________________________

Questions:

Does your face look more like your mom or dad's face or neither?

Do you like your face?

When you see group shots - and you're in it - is your face the first face you look for?

Have you ever gathered family pictures from your childhood - and studied your face in each picture? What were you thinking? Whom were you next to? What memories do the different pictures trigger?

The picture on top is a scene from our 2008 St. Mary's Annapolis, Maryland High School graduation. 

Thanks to Norm Constantine [with yellow around his neck] - Tim Russert [left - blue tie] gave the commencement address. He died a few weeks later: June 13, 2008. 

Do you have any interesting photographs in which your face appears? 

Notice all 4 are smiling. 

The big fellow in red is Father Jack Kingsbury - pastor at the time. I don't go in for academic robes - so I did the black priest suit outfit thing.

SILENT WALK:

TAKE A HALF HOUR QUIET WALK

AND COME BACK AND TELL ME

GOD DIDN'T SAY SOMETHING!

Quote of the Day: - January 26,  2010

“It is in silence that God is known, and through mysteries that He declares himself.”

Robert Hugh Benson, [1871-1914], The Confessions of a Convert.

HOW  GOD  WORKS

January 25, 2010

Quote of the Day:

“God’s will is as energetic in the bewildering rush of the current as in the quiet sheltered backwater.”

Robert Hugh Benson, [1871-1914], The King’s Achievement.

CERTAINTY

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Certainty.”

I noticed in today’s gospel, the word, “certainty” and I began to reflect upon it.

Certainty! Not certainly – but certainty. However, those two words are certainly close.

I don’t remember thinking about the topic of certainty – or ever preaching a homily or a sermon on it.

Certainty!

Are you interested in thinking about certainty today or this week? I would hope you would say, “Certainly!” or said in another way, “Amen, amen!”, the yell of the crowd in today’s first reading. One of my hopes for a homily is that it gives something to chew on and think about that week.

Certainty.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s gospel is interesting. It begins with the opening words of the Gospel of Luke – chapter 1, verses 1 to 4. Then it skips the infancy narratives – all those wonderful stories in early Luke that we hear at Christmas time – and it jumps to chapter 4 – when Jesus starts his ministry as an adult – coming back to his hometown of Nazareth.

And as you know the Church presents on a 3 year cycle, A, B, and C, Matthew, Mark and Luke.

This year, letter C, is the year of Luke and we’ll be listening to his Gospel all year – in ordinary time. So parishes offer workshops and talks and writers write books on the gospel of the year.

Listen again to how Luke begins his gospel.

“Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning and ministers of the word have handed down to us, I too have decided, after investigating everything accurately anew, to write down in an orderly sequence for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received.”

If you have time, read the beginnings of the 4 gospels and compare them. Interesting – very interesting.

So Luke is telling us that he did a lot of investigation into the life of Jesus. He tells us that there are various people who have done the same thing. We do have snippets of some of these gospels – but thank God they didn’t get accepted into the canon of our scriptures – because they have some odd stuff – like the little kid Jesus making mud birds and he told them to fly and they flew.

Thankfully, Luke's gospel survived. Praise God. And as you know, Part 2 of his gospel, The Acts of the Apostles, is his investigation of the story of the Early Church as well.

He tells us that he is writing for a Theophilus. Those of you who are from Philadelphia – hear the Greek word, “philos” in that name. It’s one of the Greek words for “love” – “philos” – as in Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love. "Adelphos" is the Greek word for "City".

And you who are word smiths can hear in the word “Theophilus” – the first syllable – the Greek word for “God” – “Theos”. So Theophilus is a “Lover of God”. We don’t know for certain whether Theophilus was a specific person – or whether Luke is writing his account for anyone who wants to be a “Lover of God”.

In today’s gospel reading when we jump to Chapter 4 of Luke, verses 14 to 21, we find out that Jesus was brought up in Nazareth – that there was a synagogue there – and that the scriptures were written on scrolls - - that were rolled open or closed from either side.

We then heard Jesus’ words of his inaugural address – or homily – which is a commentary on scripture. It’s only 9 words in English – 10 words in Greek. But first he reads from Isaiah – chapter 61.

We don’t know if Jesus was standing on a platform or a pulpit – like the platform in today’s first reading – when Ezra stands up and speaks from daybreak till midday. Now that was a long, long sermon.

Jesus reads Isaiah’s great words:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to bring glad tidings to the poor.

He has sent me

to proclaim liberty to captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

and to proclaim a year

acceptable to the Lord."

Then he rolls up the scroll and hands it back to the attendant in the synagogue and sits down for his homily. Luke says everyone is looking at him. Then he gives his 9 or 10 word homily or inaugural address, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”

That’s it.

Would you want all homilies to be that short?

All eyes were fixed on the speaker and all mouths said, “Certainly.”

Then Jesus leaves the synagogue and starts to put those words into practice.

Action speaks louder than words.

CERTAINTY

That word “certainty” in Luke’s gospel grabbed me. I looked it up in the Greek, the language of the Gospel of Luke.

The Greek word used is “asphaleia” and the Greek dictionaries say it means, “firm, not liable to fall, steadfast, safe, sure.”

I began to wonder if the word “asphalt” is also rooted in this word and I found evidence that some word scholars think that.

We want certainty. We want security. We want firmness. We want sureness. We want safety. We want strength.

We want the asphalt road ahead of us to be certain. We don’t expect the earth to quake.

We don’t want potholes either.

The reports from Haiti are telling us that the people are scared – hesitant – about everything – worried about another shock, another earthquake.

If we had an accident on West Street – where St. Mary’s cemetery is, every time we drove by that spot, we feel it. Or if a loved one is buried in the cemetery of that earth – we feel it every time.

When I drive over the spot where my mother was hit while walking across the street – 59th Street and 6th Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, in a hit and run accident that killed her, that spot screams a loud, loud scream every time - and several times I avoided that spot.

Imagine being in Haiti – when every inch of earth is screaming – here is where he or she or they died. Imagine the hurt and shake and uncertainty that is everywhere – especially coming from the very ground one is standing on.

We want certainty.

GOING DEEPER

Going deeper, but I have to do a lot more thinking about this – and I hope to do that this week – this issue of certainty is certainly a major human concern.

We want certainty in our homes – in our marriages – in our families – in our jobs – in our bodies.

We take so much for granted – till there is an earthquake. The doctor tells us we have a heart problem. We find out we have a lump. A spouse says or does something that is an “Uh oh!” We notice one of our married kids showing a bit too much affection to someone else.

We watch TV and we hear about someone who had bomb material in his underwear – and we’re going on a airplane flight next week.

The stock market takes a tail spin.

Certainty.

We’ve all heard the old saying, “Nothing is certain in this world but death and taxes.”

GOING EVEN MORE DEEP

Going even more deep, let me make a paradoxical statement – but something we all know down, down deep.

What makes life and love so wonderful is the uncertainty. The other doesn’t have to love me, but if they do, then I experience the wonder of love and appreciation.

If the other had or has to love me – and stay married to me – then that can be boring or hell – but it’s heaven when love is freely given.

The weather can be nasty; isn’t that why we love a beautiful day?

I can’t be certain that I am going to wake up tomorrow morning. Isn’t that the excitement of every new day of life - when I do wake up in the morning?

The plane lands on the runway. We made it. Phew! Isn’t that the silent reflection of every passenger on every plane trip? Okay, you’re flying all the time and you never think of that. Guess what, a lot of passengers are.

The family, the place we work, the parish, is like a body as we heard in today’s second reading – with all kinds of different parts and characters – and most of life’s problems are people problems – personality clashes. So when the body, the group, the world, with all these different characters, all these different nationalities, all these different talents and takes, when all cooperate and are united, then life is fabulous.

CONCLUSION

We can be certain that every homily has a conclusion.

Stay tuned to Luke. He’ll take us on a journey with Jesus – from Nazareth to Jerusalem. He’ll tell us what he heard Jesus said and did. He’ll tell us how Jesus put into practice what he read from Isaiah that opening day in Nazareth. He brought Good News to the poor. He proclaimed freedom to those who felt captive or trapped. He helped those who were blind to see. He let the oppressed go free.

Stay tuned to Luke this year. You’ll see your story in the Gospel stories that Jesus told us.

Stay tuned to Luke this year. You’ll see that Jesus had the reality of certainty in God his father – but he had to deal with the uncertainty of others. You’ll see that Jesus knew life was a road – but it had twists and turns and you couldn’t be certain was around the next bend. The road will be narrow at times and it will be crossy at times.

Stay tuned to Luke this year. You’ll find out that the closer Jesus got to Jerusalem, the tougher life became. Luke will tell us that the cross is ahead – darkness and death is ahead – uncertainty is ahead.

Stay tuned to Luke this year because you’ll find out that there is light at the end of that darkness. There is the certainty of morning and resurrection.

Stay tuned because in The Acts of the Apostles, Part II of Luke, the Sequel, you’ll hear the same story repeated, where the Early Church had to go through this same process.

Stay tuned because each generation has the same story – and that’s why Luke took the time to tell us how it goes with certainty.