It hit me, here it is, just one day after Christmas, and the church hits
us with the horrible feast of St. Stephen.
Couldn’t they have waited another week at least?
But no, here’s the feast of St. Stephen, killed for being a follower of
Jesus, and it’s put just the next day after the sweet peace of Christmas day.
We hear in today’s gospel about the horrors of brother handing over brother - and a father a
child - because of Jesus. [Cf. Matthew
10: 17-22.]
And on Wednesday we have the feast of the Holy Innocents….. baby boys killed because of Christ.
And we turn on the evening news - Christmas eve or Christmas night - and
we hear of a shooting on the streets of Washington, Baltimore or many a big
city.
BROKEN
The title of my homily is “Broken.”
The nice neat toy - the kid opens up the box and goes, “Oooooh” over it -
on Christmas morning - and then the toy is
broken by 4 PM and the kid goes “Aaaagh!”
And we sit there with family on Christmas afternoon after a great meal and we hear good news -
accomplishments - about different members of the family - but we also hear of a broken marriage or drugs
or drinking. And our “Oooh” changes to “Aaagh.”
MESSAGE FROM
STEPHEN
And the great message from the feast of St. Stephen is forgiveness.
The great message from the life of Stephen is that he got the message of
Jesus from the cross and from the life of Jesus. Brokenness happens. Horror
happens. “Aaaagh” and dread happens.
There’s a wisdom statement from Jesus that is hitting more and more -
the older I get.
He said: what’s so great about being nice to those who are nice to us?
Everyone can do that. It’s when things
are going wrong - when we are hurt - and we deal well with those hurts - brokenness - it’s then we grow. Then we rise. Then we
know how to deal with life better.
CONCLUSION
So a message from Stephen is that things break - people throw stones - people
get hurt - and a hope is that we can be like Stephen and stop the cycles of
hell hurts - by forgiveness and acceptance - and let the beginning of a better
next start with us. Amen.
OOOOOOO
Painting on top: The Stoning of Stephen by Rembrandt Harmesz van Rijn 1609-1665
December 26, 2016
HURTING?
The person who is hurting
isn’t hearing anyone but
themselves - because they
are hurting. So … if you are
angry that nobody is listening to you, maybe you’re hurting too.
She was the nicest grandmother anyone would ever want.
And all she ever wanted was peace in the family.
Now by the time she was a grandmother, she knew what
every grandmother knows: peace in the family is relative - and most of the time
it has to do with relatives.
In-laws who can become out-laws … at times or for a time
- because of something said that was stupid. Brothers and sisters not talking
to each other because one does very well money wise and becomes uppity for a while
- hopefully just for a while.
And she knew peace in the family is held together with
crazy glue and duct tape - time - lots of forgiveness - patience - presence -
as well as absence - depending on the situation - and keeping one’s lips zipped
at the right time - and unzipped when someone needs a solid piece of wisdom -
rarely wanted - but sometimes it’s asked for - and sometimes it’s needed - but it
better be presented with delicacy. Otherwise ….
And she knew listening was 75 % of the deal and speaking
was only 5 % of the deal and the other 20 % needs to be well timed with well placed questions.
That December grandma was asked at least 100 times by her
5 kids and 15 grandkids, “Grandma … Nanny … Na Na … Nonny… what do you want for
Christmas?”
Sometimes she would say, “My two front teeth!
Then she would start singing, but not too well, “All I want for Christmas is my two front
teeth” and then she would grab her front teeth bridge by her thumb and
forefinger - semi-take them out her mouth a bit and then smile - and get a
great smile from whoever it was who asked her what she wanted for Christmas.
Next she would have her other throw-away comments for
what she wanted for Christmas: “You, just you - as my best Christmas gift” - and the little ones would give her great
hugs for that comment.
Or she would slowly repeat the question, “What do I want for Christmas?”
She would pause and then say, “Peace in the family and
peace on earth - peace in our world!” and that would not register too deep in
the soil and the soul of the next generation - but in time - she hoped that word
seed would germinate and resonate.
The phone rang….
It was her daughter….
“Mom we need your prayers. Nancy just had her baby - out
in Seattle. and it doesn’t look good. Something’s wrong with her heart.”
“Oooh,” silence.
“And,” her daughter continued, “since you’re our
designated prayer, and since this is your first great-grandchild, lots of
prayers. We need lots of prayers. We’re heading out to Washington State tomorrow. We suspect we will have Christmas
in Seattle as well as be sleepless in Seattle.”
“Okay.” Grandma said. “But wait…. Without interfering
make sure you tell Nancy and Steve to check out a teaching hospital there - get
second opinions if possible - and depending on what the story is - maybe there
are clinical trials.”
“Okay,” said her daughter. “Thank you mom. We can always count
on you for good advice as well as prayers and faith. Thanks.”
Silence.
Grandma then headed for her rocking chair - her prayer
chair - and started praying for her new great-granddaughter - the one in
Seattle - the one with the heart problem - whatever it is.
And “Ooops!” she thought, “I didn’t even ask what the new
baby’s name is.”
She began thinking - she began praying, “God bring these kids
of mine back to you - back to church - back to faith - back to prayers. Let this
little child - be the one - when they see the little one in the manager in some
church for Christmas in Seattle - let this little baby be the one who will open
up their Inn for Christ - and make more room for him in their lives.”
And she thought about Nancy - her granddaughter - and
Steve her husband, the parents of this new born baby. Their marriage is shaky….
Their nights, I hear, are not silent nights - nor are they calm - nor are they
bright…..so let his baby make them right.
She then began thinking about her life - how Christ was
there for them - not only at Christmas - but also especially for their Good
Friday - that Friday in August - many years ago - when John her husband had his
heart attack and died at work. Wow ……………………That was a tough time - a Bad Friday
- but we got through it. I got through it being a single mom at that point with
5 kids to raise.
Thank you God, we did it. College.
Marriages…. Helping with grandkids…. Now this new baby…. Help us God.
Help us, God, to realize these stories
in the Bible, not just for way back when - but for now - like right now - here
and now. And everyone’s life is messy at times - not a comfortable Inn but a
messy stable.
She asked Jesus in prayer, “Is that why you were born the
way you were born and where you were born?”
At that, like all grandmothers who pray, she fell asleep
in prayer in the Lord. Amen.
She’ll wake up with no solutions - only worries about
that baby and she’ll stand up saying her favorite saying, “Life: to be
continued….”
O O O O O O O
CHRISTMAS
STORIES
FOR
THOSE
WHO
BELIEVE
IN
CHRISTMAS
by Father
Andy Costello, C.Ss.R.
by Andy Costello
CONTENTS
Introduction
1) The Greatest Christmas Gift
2) Mack & Missy
3) Thousands of Christmas Photos
4) The Thinking Sheep
5) The Camel With the Great Smile
6) Roscoe
7) Footsteps In The Snow
8) House Painters
9) Christmas, Lima, Peru
10) His Last Christmas
11) Timmy’s Eight Christmas
12) Little Nell
13) Wise Fool
14) Fake Dog, Real Life
15) The Big Boy
16) Hamburgers For Five
17) Seeing Through The Back of Your Head
18) Recalculating
19) 2 Wise Women, 1 Wise Man
20) Real Christmas Tree or Fake Christmas Tree
21) The Present
22) Happy Ending
23) A Two for One Christmas Tree
24) All I Want For Christmas….
INTRODUCTION
Duff began our breakfast conversation
with, “Well, I finished that.”
“Finished what?” I asked.
“My Christmas story.”
“What Christmas story?”
“Oh, every year I write a
Christmas story for my niece in Boston.
I’ve been doing it for years.”
I asked, “Can I read it?”
“No,” he said, “it’s nothing.”
“Please.”
“No.”
“Please!”
“Well, okay,” he said.
I got it from him after
breakfast.
The typing was bad – but the
story was good.
He was BC – Before Computer, so
before bringing it back to him, I retyped it on my computer.
Then I walked down the long
corridor in the retreat house where we lived and knocked on his door. When he
opened his door I said, “Great story, Duff. I just retyped it. If there are any
changes you want me to make, just let me know. They are very easy to do with a
computer.”
“Thanks,” he said. Looking at the
neat copy, he continued, “but you didn’t have to retype it.”
Sure enough, the next day, he
knocked on my door. There were several changes he’d like to make. He stood
there looking over my shoulder at the computer screen as I made the changes. He
was amazed at what a computer could do. I hit “Print” and he had a perfect copy
of his Christmas story for his niece in hand.
The following December, just
after Thanksgiving, he knocked on my door. This time he had a hand-written
document. He asked if I could type this year’s Christmas story for his niece.
I said, “Gladly.”
I sat there at my desk typing his
new Christmas story for his niece. At one point I found myself looking out the
window to see how deep and how fast the snow was falling.
Surprise: it wasn’t snowing. In
fact, it was a cold, but bright sunny day – with no snow on the ground and no
snow in the forecast.
But it was snowing in his story.
It was one of those moments of
insight. It was the moment I realized the power of story.
The following August I was
transferred to another place, so that was the last Christmas story I typed for
Duff.
Three years later, on the day before
Christmas, there I was at another desk working on a homily for Christmas. I was
now stationed at St. Gerard’s Church, in Lima,
Ohio. I was wondering what to say
for a homily based on the Christmas story as found in the scriptures.
The notice came in that day:
Father John Duffy, C.SS.R. died – December 24, 1993.
It hit me, “Why not write a
Christmas story for a homily, in memory of Duff?”
I did and I have been doing it
every Christmas since. I’m now up to number 24.
These are those stories.
Someday I might give it a shot as
a book. They are a bit uneven - and some a tiny bit “preachy” - but maybe.
And maybe I’ll throw in a story
or two by Duff. He’s long gone - so he can’t complain.
A Christmas story has to be
sentimental and mushy, mystical and magical. It has to have a kick and some
substance in it. It has to tell the Christmas story. I hope these stories come close to these
benchmarks. I know they don’t come near the stories Duff wrote.
OOOOOOO
You can find some of these stories in Christmas Past on my blog - that goes back to June 17, 2007
The title of my homily for December 20th is, “On Being the Favorite.”
I don’t know about you, but I love to ask parents who
their favorite child is.
Most of the time parents respond that they don’t have a favorite.
Others nuance their answer by saying, “It all depends. I
like this about this one and that about that one. So it all depends.”
And sometimes a parent says they have a favorite.
I never had problems with someone being the favorite,
because I had favorite teachers and favorite priests I’ve been stationed with.
And sometimes I add something people don’t like to
report: there are some folks who are not my favorites.
WHY I’M
BRINGING THIS UP?
I’m bringing this up because this is a way of translating
Luke 1: 28 - which is part of today’s gospel. It’s where the angel Gabriel says
to Mary, “Hail full of grace. The Lord is with you.”
Most translations say, “Greetings, most favored one.” or
“Hail , O favored one.” The King James Bible has , “Hail, thou art highly favored.
The Lord is with you.” In Greek: it’s “kecharitomene”
- favored one.
Our Catholic translation goes with the beginning of the
Hail Mary, “full of Grace….”
I’ve run into Protestants and others who don’t get the
Catholic thing about Mary. I like to
say, “Walk into any big city art museum and walk around and look at the
pictures. You’ll find out she’s the favorite of so many artists. Then I am tempted to add, “And you think Mary
is our favorite. Talk to God and you’ll find out that Mary is God’s favorite as
well.”
So when we say the Hail Mary, we’re not only saying what
the Angel Gabriel said - but we’re joining with billions of people who have praised
God for picking Mary to be his Mother. God chose Mary to bring Christ into our world - because she
is the Father’s favorite.
Moreover, God gives Mary to us and Christ gave her to us
from the cross.
Hail full of Grace, most faithful one of God.
CONCLUSION
Then the call to all of us is to be like Mary - to favor
those we’re with.
We know people who have run out of wine of life. Mary helped the couple at Cana in
Galilee when they ran out of wine. We
know people who are hurting along the way of their cross - and those who are
dying. Mary was there for all - on their
ways of the cross - and she is under our cross when we’re dying.
We pray for that in every Hail Mary: “Holy Mary, Mother
of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”
If I hear anything about Jesus it’s he noticed who was
stuck - who was touching the tassels on his cloak - those who were under the
tree of a cross.
So I assume he learned much from Mary. Hey the apple doesn’t fall too far from
the tree.
December 20, 2016
BALLPOINT PEN
It sits there quietly on my desk
and sometimes in my shirt pocket.
Without knowing it, it has a poem
or an article in it - but I’m guilty of laziness. That's my form of birth control or too many abortions.
Imagine it’s Christmas morning - and it’s the tradition
in this family to open Christmas gifts on Christmas morning.
A teenage boy sees a neat pile of gifts under the
Christmas tree with his name on them.
He opens one gift - from mom - two nice dress shirts. He
says to his mom, “Thanks.” At least it
wasn’t underwear, the gift he got from her every Christmas till 2 years ago. He
gets a game he wanted from an older brother. And then there is this small box -
the shape of a tissue box. It’s not wrapped as neat as his mom’s gifts to him -
but it’s wrapped.
He shakes it and then opens it. It’s from his dad. “Love
Dad.”
It’s 5 movies.
“Strange gift - but interesting,” he thinks. Then he says, “Thank you!” to his
dad, because they are 5 movies that he knows of. In fact he likes them.
It’s two evenings
later and he’s in the car with his dad and he asks him, “Dad, that was
an interesting Christmas gift you gave me: 5 movies. What was that all about? You got me wondering.”
His dad says, “I
was wondering what to get you for Christmas - and I spotted some DVD’s near the
TV set in the basement that you and your brother always use. So I went into a
CD movie place in the mall and checked out the movies.”
“I found one you have mentioned from time to time - then
a second - then a third - then I remembered two others - but they didn’t have
them - so I got them on line.”
“Wow,” he says. “Thanks!”
But the thanks doesn’t stop there. He begins thinking
about all this during the rest of the month - and he gets a glimpse that his
dad really is aware of him - thinks of
him from time to time - and is listening.
What that teenage boy doesn’t know is that 20 years from
now - he’ll be giving his father’s eulogy - at his funeral - and he’ll make
reference to that Christmas 20 years ago when his dad gave him 5 movies as a
Christmas gift.
More…. There’s more. He wonders what his dad’s 5 favorite
movies are - along with his mom - and along with his two sisters and his
brother.
More…. He starts talking more with his dad as well as the
family - all because of that gift from his dad that Christmas.
More…. He pushes to make it a practice once a month - to
have movie night as a family - and it brings their family together even more.
The title of my homily is, “5 Movies.”
MY FIVE
As I thought about all this, I started wondering what my
favorite 5 movies are. I jotted down about 10 and then started cutting out
5. Difficult.
So here are 5 favorite movies. The list is not chiseled into stone.
But here are 5 with something I got out of each.
THE BOURNE
IDENTITY
I like the Bourne movies. The first was The Bourne Identity [2002]
Jason Bourne is found floating in the water off Marseille,
France by Italian fishermen. He’s rescued by some fishermen - but surprise, he
doesn’t know who he is. He doesn’t know his identity.
He spots a gal with an old car - and she’s his ticket to
Paris - so he asks her to drive him for a price. She goes for it.
On the road to Paris, they stop into a road restaurant -
like the one’s on Route 95. He says to Marie Kreutz - the gal - “I don’t know
who I am, but why do I know where there might be a rifle in here - underneath
that counter over there.
He continues and asks why do I know who might be a police
officer - that guy over there - and who’s right handed and who’s left handed.
“Why do I know what I know?”
For some reason that’s a great question.
It’s a good idea to pause every once and a while and ask,
“Why do I know what I know?”
And hopefully that will lead to great gratitude towards our parents or some
teacher or some significant person in our lives - who taught us key life
lessons.
Ask why a movie grabs us.
Figure out scenes and situations in favorite movies that impact our
lives.
DOCTOR ZHIVAGO
The second movie that grabbed me was Doctor Zhivago [1965].
It taught me how much in life is out of our control.
We have it easy in the good old U.S.A. Doctor Zhivago has his life all planned out,
but in the meanwhile a war, a revolution [the Russian Revolution] breaks out and he is grabbed and his whole
life falls apart.
Weather, divorces, deaths, sickness, loss of a job, new
teachers, new principals, coaches, etc.
etc. etc. can change our lives - and we find ourselves out of control.
So Doctor Zhivago puts us in another person’s living
room.
LAWRENCE OF
ARABIA
The next movie that I would list is Lawrence of Arabia [1962].
He thinks outside the box. He thinks the different. He’s
the one who said when the European powers were drawing the lines for mid-east -
you don’t know what you are doing. You have to go tribal - not your way. Well,
look at what happened? We’re dealing with those mistakes to this day.
In the movie, Lawrence decides to attack Aqaba by going
across the desert. All the guns are pointed out to sea - and all the trench
works and forts leading to this Red Sea port are there for attacks from the
water. There is no protection from the desert - and so that’s how Lawrence
moves on Aqaba.
That seeing what nobody else was seeing - that planning
from another point of view. Isn’t that what our world needs?
There is another scene that I remember. While crossing
the desert to attack Aqaba a guy
falls off his camel and is lost in the desert. Lawrence overhears this and
mounts his camel to go in search of the guy. Someone says, “It is written in
the book you can’t do that.”
Lawrence basically says, “Watch me!” He then goes out and rescues this guy.
I hear people all the time who think that God has written
the plan, the script of their life and they have to follow that plan.
I like people who laugh at life and hear God laughing at
life as that person writes their own script as their life unfolds - and they
work to make their life go the best ways they can make it work
GROUND HOG DAY
I’ll list Groundhog
Day [1993] as my fourth movie. Bill Murray plays the part of a TV
weatherman, Phil Conners. In the movie he gets to do Groundhog Day over and
over again till he gets it right.
There are various messages from this movie, but the basic
clear message I get is that every day we get a chance to do it all over again -
and to make it a morning prayer to say: “Lord, thank you for one more
opportunity to get it right.”
The next message I get is that we do make mistakes -
definitely - so a key message is: “Lord, help to learn from my mistakes.”
Name the mistake. Name the learning from that mistake.
The third message I get from that movie is this. Sometimes I walk into a room or someone else
walks into a room and someone attacks right away with a “wrong word”. When I hear that - sometimes - not often -
but sometimes, because of the movie Groundhog Day, I get up and walk out of the
room and then come back again and say, “Now let’s try that entrance once more -
but this time with nice!”
IT’S A
WONDERFUL LIFE
And lastly, I better include the movie, It’s A Wonderful Life.
It’s the wonderful movie
- released on December 25th, 1946.
I’m sure Frank Capra - never thought his movie would be
seen every Christmas ever since.
It’s on TV every Christmas season at least 2 dozen times.
It has so many lessons for so many people.
A key message for me is to realize that what I do has
consequences - like the domino effect.
A priest walked into a classroom when I was in grammar
school - asked, “Who here would like to
be a priest?” so I raised my hand and became a priest.
I wonder: if he didn’t become a priest, would my life be
different - because he never would have walked into that classroom? Would I
have become a priest? If he didn’t walk into that classroom, would my life have
been different?
In the movie, It’s
a Wonderful Life, George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart, finds out all
that would never have happened if he never existed - especially in Bedford
Falls.
My comments this morning have lifetime consequences. You might
go home and be nicer to your dad - who then is nicer to your mom - and both of
them go out for supper and start talking to the waitress - who was having a bad
day - and their words prevented that woman from planning to kill herself or
what have you.
