EVERYTHING  FADES

EVERYTHING!

Quote for the Day - September 25, 2010

"Over the greatest beauty hangs the greatest ruin."

Italian proverb

WOO! WOW!

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 25 Saturday in Ordinary Time is, “Woo! Wow!”

That’s what I found myself muttering last night after I read today’s first reading from the book of Ecclesiastes or Qoheleth. [Cf. Ecclesiastes 11:9 to 12:8]

It’s a fascinating reading and I found myself going to the several biblical commentaries that I use for reference. Listen to the introduction to this book from The Anchor Bible, “Ecclesiastes is the strangest book in the Bible, or at any rate the book whose presence in the sacred canons of Judaism and of Christianity is most inexplicable.” (1)

The Collegeville Bible Commentary in its introduction to this book puts it this way: "The Book of Ecclesiastes is the most damnable book in the Bible and yet the most satisfying for those who have learned to live comfortably with doubt. That it is damnable seems clear; it has been denounced many times as cynical and provides great comfort for those who are willing to face life honestly is also a fact." (2)

In other words, “Why is this book in the Bible - a book that says God can’t be known by reason?”

In other words, “Woo! Wow! Why in the world did they put this book in the Bible? And the commentaries give evidence that this question was asked – because it’s so different from all the other books in the Jewish Bible. (3)

The only answer I could come up with is that it answers a need for some people – those who have doubts, those who are reflective, those who are skeptical, and those who are pessimistic.

After all, there are dark days. Sometimes God seems to have disappeared. And things do break down – including our bodies.

TO YOUNG PEOPLE

In today’s reading – from near the end of his book – we notice that he’s talking to young men.

I suggest you read the whole book – or at least today’s first reading – slowly and quietly and off to the side. Picture his images.

He’s telling the young to enjoy your youth – it’s not going to last.

He tells them to notice the sun – it goes down. Notice the rain and the clouds. Things are not always bright sunshine. Notice the old man who is bent over. Notice the mill. There’s not much happening there. The grinders are idle. Look in the windows and see how little is happening inside.The door is shut. The birds are silent. One day you’ll fear heights. People die. Notice the mourners walking in the street. He says that “the caper berry is without effect.” I looked up what that reference to the caper berry – losing it’s effect – meant. Surprise it was the Viagra of the day. (4) He continues. The silver cord that holds up an ornamental light is broken. The water pitcher at the well is shattered. The rope for the pulley at the well breaks and falls into the well. You can hear it going “Caplunk!”

Woo! Wow!

He’s telling the young men of his day that time is ticking. Death will turn us into dust and our life breath will return to God.

Woo! Wow!

Haven’t any of us over 70 had streams of thoughts like this when we’re watching young people playing sports and we’re in the stands or the sidelines? Or we’re at a red light on Main Street or at the bottom of Main Street and we see a dozen young people pass in front of our car – bouncing and laughing?

Woo! Wow!

It’s a universal thought – when old – to notice the young moving in ways we can longer move. Jesus tells his disciples in today’s gospel the day is going to come when I’m going to be handed over to others. However, they don’t pay attention to what he’s saying. I assume they are in the thrill of the moment – young men following and walking with and bouncing with this famous preacher Jesus and they don’t want to look at the future – just be in the immediate.

CONCLUSION

Today’s first reading is geared for young men. Let me close with a poem by John Crowe Ransom [1888-1974] called “Blue Girls” – which could be found in this same book called, “Ecclesiastes” - because it has a similar tone or flavor . It’s one of my favorite poems – especially because I can picture it – and it has a “Woo! Wow!” to it.

BLUE GIRLS

Twirling your blue skirts, traveling the sward (5)
Under the towers of your seminary, (6)
Go listen to your teachers old and contrary
Without believing a word.

Tie the white filets then about your lustrous hair
And think on more of what will come to pass
Than bluebirds that go walking on the grass
And chattering on the air.

Practice your beauty, blue girls before it fail;
And I will cry with loud lips and publish
Beauty which all our power shall never establish,
It is so frail.

For I could tell you a story which is true:

I know a lady with a terrible tongue,
Blear eyes fallen from blue,
All her perfections tarnished – and yet it is not long
Since she was lovelier than any of you.


(1) Proverbs Ecclesiastes, The Anchor Bible, translated with an introduction and notes by R. B. Y. Scott, page 191.

(2) Proverbs Ecclesiastes, The Anchor Bible, translated with an introduction and notes by R. B. Y. Scott, pages 191-208.

(3) The Collegeville Bible Commentary, The Book of Ecclesiastes, p. 64 in # 24, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther – Commentary by James A. Fischer, C.M. Confer also The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, under Ecclesiastes (Qoheleth) by Addison G. Wright, S.S. pp. 489-491

(4) Proverbs Ecclesiastes, The Anchor Bible, translated with an introduction and notes by R. B. Y. Scott, note 5, page. 255.

(5) "sward" - a grassy patch

(6) "seminary" - their school

THE ABUSE

OF 

POWER

Quote for the Day - September 24, 2010


"The love of power is oppressive in every sphere, but in the religious most of all."

Romano Guardini, The Church and the Catholic, 1953

THE KNOWN 

TO THE UNKNOWN

Quote for the Day - September 23, 2010

"Love of men leads to the love of God."


Hindustani Proverb


Found this quote ... then wondered if the original language supports men and women in the translation into English. I would translate it this way: "Love of those around us leads to the love of God who surrounds us." Or do I say, "... to the love of God which surrounds us"?

CEMETERY

Quote for the Day - September 22, 2010


"Take away love and our earth is a tomb."


Robert Browning (1812-1889)

LOVE IN SPITE OF ….

Love in spite of….
That’s love.
It takes a long time
and a lot of inner conversations –
especially after a hurt or
a misunderstanding
or a broken expectation – to get this.
The scene, situation or classroom
for this learning is usually
marriage or family – or
any big relationship.
We first have to be stopped,
stuck, struck, to see, to hear,

to twist and turn different “What if’s”
and of course, this is not love yet.
Love is a choice, a decision,
an “Oh no!” and then, “Oh, okay!
I know!” within self, within God,
unless we’re a practicing or
non-practicing atheist.
That can make it different or more difficult,
but once we make that decision to love
in spite of what happened
or is happening with mom, dad,
spouse, son, daughter, another,
then … then something new can erupt.
Get that and you can come
off the cross and out of the tomb

and rise to a new morning – a joyful life.
Don’t get it – you’re still
somewhere, sometime, on some Friday,

or some other day of the week - but not

yet celebrating an Easter Sunday morning,

catching fish and breakfast with Jesus. Amen. (1)

(1) Cf. John 21

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2010

This is the 1000 item on this blog -

thanks to the idea of a "Quote for the Day."

Praise God! In the future, I'll try

to have more Reflections -

if you're following all this. Amen.

THEIR MESSAGE
GOES OUT TO ALL THE EARTH

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for today’s feast of St. Matthew is today’s Psalm Response: “Their Message Goes Out To All The Earth.”

Today, September 21, being the feast day of St. Matthew, we can certainly say that of Matthew, “His message – his Good News – His Gospel about Jesus – went out to all the earth.”

He certainly heard the call and helped build up the Body of Christ as today’s first reading puts it.

Today, like many days, in Catholic churches around the world, people will hear the words, “A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew.”

LITURGY CHANGES

Those of you who are as old as me know that before the liturgical changes of Vatican II, folks in church didn’t get all the Bible – even if they came to Mass on weekdays besides Sundays.

We had the same Sunday gospels every year. Matthew appeared on 21 Sundays, Luke 18, John 12 and Mark only 3 Sundays. Now we have a three year cycle. There are some repetitions – but there is obvious more focus on in Ordinary Time with one synoptic gospel - the one featured that year – Matthew, Mark or Luke. We’re now in Cycle C – the year of Luke and next year, Year A, we’ll be back to Matthew.


Vatican II told the church to open up the treasures of the scriptures to the faithful – and that has certainly been done. No one can say the Catholic Church is holding back on the scriptures from the people of the Church. # 51 of the Document on the Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, December 4, 1963 says, “The treasures of the bible are to be opened up more lavishly, so that richer fare may be provided for the faithful at the table of God's word. In this way a more representative portion of the holy scriptures will be read to the people in the course of a prescribed number of years.”


That has certainly happened. I’ve met many Catholics who have worn out Bibles – a Bible that sits next to their easy chair – or travels with them. Every year parishes have the opportunity to provide classes, workshops, pamphlets on the gospel writer of that year.

MATTHEW

Every 3 years, when it’s Matthew’s year, we hear that his audience was Jewish much more than the Mark or Luke. So there is the regular refrain and argument all through Matthew, “You have heard …. You have learned …. It is written …. It has been said….” He appeals to the Old Testament more than the others.

Specialists tell us that Matthew’s gospel is well organized and well planned – compared to the loose organization found in Mark. Scholars point out that Matthew has 7 sections. I like today’s gospel. It pictures Mathew sitting there in a tax collector booth – like a toll booth along the highway – with his ledgers – and money collection methods. He’s organized. He’s ready for making and taking in money – that is, till Jesus comes along and reorganizes his life with one call. I like today’s gospel because when we hear, “This man eats with tax collectors and sinners....” I can see Matthew pointing to himself. Me!

It should be noted that the Early Church as well as the Church up till Vatican II, preferred Matthew over Mark.

Scholars like to point out that there probably was an Aramaic Gospel of Matthew before the Greek Gospel of Matthew that we now have. I was taught that this earlier Mathew probably simply consisted of a list of Jesus’ sayings and teachings. Then Matthew Greek organized it into what we have today.


Of course this is conjecture. It helps people who are teaching courses on Matthew. The amazing surprise would be if they found an Aramaic Matthew in some cave or monastery in the middle east at some future date. This is not a far fetched possibility. The famous German scripture scholar Constantine von Tischendorf [1815-1874] figured if there was any hidden scripture texts, they would be in a place like St. Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai Desert. Surprise, in 1859, that’s where he found the famous document called, “Codex Sinaticus” – which provided the earliest copy of the Septuagint Old Testament and New Testament to date. It helped him and other scholars figure out the best Greek text New Testament – which had variant texts in copies in hand.

CONCLUSION

If you have time today, go through the gospel of Matthew and pick out your favorite text, parable, story or scene. For example: the parable of the sheep and goats or the call of Matthew as pictured in today’s gospel or the Sermon on the Mount or the Visit of the Magi. Or if you’re busy, make it your practice to keep to pray and meditate on the gospel of the year. This Advent we’ll be back to Matthew after finishing a year on Luke.







Sculpture on top - part of an unfinished statue of Matthew by Michaelangelo [1475-1564]

VOCATION  TEST

Quote for the Day - September 21,  2010


"The test of a vocation is the love of the drudgery it involves."


Logan Pearsall Smith [1865-1946], Afterthoughts (1931), "Life and Human Nature".

Questions:

What is a vocation?

Do you have one?

What do you find "drudgish"?

AN ALARM  CLOCK 

CALLED "DEATH"! 

Quote for the Day - September 20, 2010


"Death destroys a man: the idea of Death saves him."


E. M. Forster [1879-1970], Howards End (1910), Chapter 27.


Comment: This comment could generate more food for thought than a half-hour sermon - better: a month of sermons. Try it. "Amen. Come Lord Jesus" (Revelation 22:20)

MONEY?
WHAT’S YOUR TAKE ON MONEY?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Money? What’s Your Take on Money?”

Money is funny. Money is tricky. Money opens doors. Money shuts doors and mouths and consciences. Money is tempting. Money is necessary. Money gets folks in trouble. Money makes life easier – but sometimes money makes life more difficult. Money? What’s your take on money, honey?

When I began working as a priest – after 9 ½ years of studies after high school – I soon realized I knew nothing. I slowly learned that’s true for lots of people. Young people today – as well as some methods of education – have apprenticeships – but most of us learn on the job – and hopefully our education prepared us on how to learn.

One evening – that first week – in my first assignment as a priest– a young couple came in to see me to plan ahead for their marriage. I said to them – sort of accidentally – “I read in the paper today – The New York Daily News – that the 3 big problems in marriage are: money, sex and in-laws.”

And they said, “Oh!”

And that’s all they said. So I guess they too were going to have to learn if that was true or what have you.

It’s now 45 years later – do they or do I know any more now than we knew back then?

For myself, sometimes I say, “Yes!” and sometimes I say, “No!”

And what ever happened to Harry and Frances? All I remember was that they were in a motor cycle club: the Hell’s Angels – and that’s how they went off on their honeymoon.

Today, in this homily, I’m concentrating on money – because that’s an issue that comes up in today’s gospel and first reading.

Money? What’s Your Take on Money?

ALWAYS OR OFTEN TALKING ABOUT MONEY?

Did you ever notice that Jesus often talks about money?

I’ve heard that about different priests down through the years – but Jesus – was he always talking about money?

No – but listen to this comment I read yesterday in preparing this homily, “Jesus talked about money in 16 out of 38 of His parables; and 1 out of 10 verses in the Gospels. The Bible devotes 500 verses to prayer, less than 500 verses to faith; but over 2,000 verses to money and possessions.”

I’m not going to check out those numbers – but come to think about it – there are many references to money in the gospels and the rest of the Bible. Last week we heard about the lost coin and the Prodigal Son who got his half of the inheritance – early – and quickly squandered it all. Next Sunday we’re going to hear about the Rich Man who never noticed the poor man, Lazarus, at his gate – and the Rich Man ends up in hell and the poor man in heaven. And today we have the story of a steward who took care of his master’s property – but was ripping off his boss – and then cheating even more to set himself up for when he finds himself out of work.

Some find this gospel confusing. I don’t. I simply hear Jesus saying, “You got brains, smarts, skills, use them for good not evil.”

I hear Jesus saying the same thing about money. If you got it, use it for good – not just for self.

LEARNING ABOUT MONEY

Where did Jesus learn about money? Where did he get his take on money?

Did he watch Joseph and how he earned money as a carpenter – to feed Jesus, Mary and himself? Did he watch people putting money in the poor box in the temple? We know he did that later on as an adult. We know about the time he noticed a poor widow quietly putting in her two cents worth into the poor box while the others were putting in their coins with show and out of their abundance. Did he hear today’s first reading from Amos in the synagogue – a message from some 700 plus years earlier? Did he wince when heard Amos preaching against people who cheated on coins and scales – the buying and selling of people as slaves? Did he cringe when he heard the Prophet’s Amos’ words, “We will buy the lowly for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals?” Hearing that did he voice an “Amen” to Amos in his mind – because he too saw the same things happening in the marketplace in his time – people treating people as commodities – and not as people?

And at the end Jesus got betrayed for 30 pieces of silver.

Money? What’s Your Take on Money?

MONEY OR THE PRINCIPLE OF THE THING

Isn’t there a quote, “When someone says, ‘It’s not the money. It’s the principle of the thing.’ It’s the money!”?

When it comes to money, what are your principles? Are you aware of your principles?

Cheat or never cheat - or sometimes cut corners?

Saver or a spender?

In the red or in the black?

Frugal or generous?

Tight or a good tipper?

Pay on time or put off?

Aware of the consequences of my work and my money habits?

When it comes to money, what are my attitudes and awareness’s?

Money is tough right now – as we all know. Do we wince and worry about all those people who are out of work? Do we feel their stress? Are we aware of any way we might be in on this mess?

People are dipping into their retirement funds.

I have a vow of poverty – but I’ve never really felt the pinch of poverty. What has been your money trail? Your money history? Your money stories?

FURTHER QUESTIONS

Money? What’s My Take on Money?”

That’s the question I’m asking in this homily?

Am I aware of my take on money?

Am I aware of mom and dad’s and other’s take on money?

What have I learned about money – and who and how did I learn what I learned?

Have I ever had a good money conversation with my family and others?

Would I be willing to lose my job – if I realized there is something funny going on at work – and if I speak up, I’m dead meat? I could lose my job. And then comes the big, “Uh oh!”

Would I speak up when I hear nonsense or at least ask a question about something I find myself wondering about? Is this true or untrue? Is this what true we’re promoting around here – whether it’s in advertising, in spenditures, in blaming, or what have you?

Does anyone ever ask ethical questions when it comes to political debate – TV talk shows – blame games? Does anyone who babbles on and on and on – ever really do their homework? Does anyone on staffs – from any side or political position ask, “Is this true? Can we say this? Are we saying this for a TV niche – and pull in the TV advertising dollars? Are we doing this for the polls or votes – regardless of the truth? This money is being sent our way to promote a position – I dare say to bribe us? Something’s just not right here?" Does anyone ever say these things – knowing they might be looking for another job the following day? How would Jesus cast today’s gospel in today’s TV and various other communication markets? He would certainly say there are lots of clever people out there.

In today's gospel there were two characters. The clever steward said to the first one, “You owe my master 100 measures of olive oil. Quick make that 50?” He said to the second, “You owe my master 80 kors of wheat. Here is your promissory note. Make it 80” If I were either of those two would I do make the change?

What have I learned about work and money and life and values so far?

Jesus ends today’s gospel with some tough words.

“No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon.”

SOME PERSONAL STORIES

As I began thinking about all this I came up with these stories. I mention them, because I found out if I do this, people begin thinking about their own stories – not mine.

My first job in life was in the late 1940’s. I was an altar boy and somehow I got a job as candle boy at our church. Altar boys used to sometimes get a dollar for serving weddings – but that went into the kitty for the altar boy boat ride to an amusement park in Rye Beach New York every June. Candle boys – there were just two of us – however, got paid $2.50 a week – to work Wednesday afternoon after school and Wednesday evening, Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. $2.50 a week. It was a lot for a kid 9 and 10 years of age. However, I did learn: never work for the church.

Next at 12 I had a paper route and I learned I liked getting new customers but I hated it when customers no longer wanted the paper I was delivering, The Brooklyn Eagle. I went into the red – because I was scared at times to tell the boss that these customers no longer wanted the paper. Not good. So I decided to become a priest.

The summer after my first year in college I worked for Coca Cola. If a delivery truck delivered more than 150 cases, the union demanded the driver had to have a helper. I had to join the Teamsters and each morning there was a shapeup. I learned that first week – the secret of work. I got chosen that first Monday – didn’t get chosen that first Tuesday – and I got chosen every day for the rest of the summer after that. I learned the following. When we arrived at a stop that first Wednesday I said to the driver, “You just sit there and tell me what to do and I’ll do it all.” Sucker! It worked. Obviously he wanted me every day – and when he went on vacation he told a buddy, “Get this guy. He does all the work. You just have to sit there and give him directions.” I got my $75 every week after that first week of making only $60.

CONCLUSION

Enough, I’m getting paid by the hour. The title of my homily was, "Money? What’s Your Take on Money?" That’s your homework for this week.

Let's take some time this week to look at our work habits – spending habits - money patterns. Everything I do impacts people – not statistics. Money impacts people.

IF THE GLOVE 

DOESN'T FIT,

VOTE TO ACQUIT!

Quote for the Day - September 19,  2010


"A clean glove often hides a dirty hand."


Proverb