November 11, 2017

THE  GREEN  CHRIST

Green, red, blue, yellow,
black, brown, grey, rust,
rainbow colored Christ,
I shift and hide and sort
myself out at your side - 
as I hide myself under
your cross - as I suffer
the sufferings of life -
these horrible unexpected,
unexplained,  moments  
when all goes wrong - 
a wrong day, a wrong word, 
a wrong turn.  I'm still green
with all this. Forgive me for
I don't know what I'm doing.
I want to hide from others
and let green tears flow from 
my eyes as your red blood 
still flows from your side
down through the centuries.

© Andy Costello, Reflections

Painting by Paul Gauguin,
The Green Christ, 1887

From Widipedia: "The Green Christ 
(in French: Le Christ vert) 
is a painting executed 
by Paul Gauguin in autumn 1889 
in Pont-Aven, Brittany, France. 
Together with The Yellow Christ, 
it is considered to be one 
of the key-works of Symbolismin painting. 
It depicts a Breton woman 
at the foot of a calvary, 
or sculpture of Christ's crucifixion. 
Calvaries are common 

in town squares in Brittany.

Topographically, the site depicted 

is the Atlantic coast at Le Pouldu. 

But the calvary depicted is an amalgam

 of calvaires from different sites; 

the cross is based upon that 

in the centre of Névez, 

a community close to Pont-Avenand 

several miles from the coast, 

and the figure of Christ is based 

upon the calvaire at Briec - 

also some distance from the sea.

Ave Maria.....

November 10, 2017

FALLING  LEAVES 

Might as well, float, spin,

do pirouettes before I hit

the ground. Up there in

the branches,  I was just one

in a crowd - and when I hit

the ground in a moment

I’ll be lost in a pile of leaves,

so this is my last moment - my

last chance, my last dance….

Now how do I do a parachute?
How do I do the helicopter.

 © Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

November 9, 2017

ONE  WORD 

Wondering: does everyone have one word

they use more than any other word - using

it over and over and over and over again?

Who’s counting? Could this be figured out?

Would we have to wear a tape monitor that

gets our every word? Would we want this?

Here are some candidates: sorry, help, hi,

crazy, God, remember,  stupid, great, stop,

when, why, how, thanks, no, yes, wow!

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

SUBJECT:  THE SPALDEEN

FOR THOSE WHO GREW UP IN NY YOU WILL HAVE FOND MEMORIES OF THESE.

THIS story is about a ball, the most wonderful ball ever invented.

It's better than a baseball, basketball or football. It's better than any ball you can name.

It was gone for 20 years, but it is back now.

It is called a Spaldeen, which might not mean anything to you, unless you grew up on the East Coast, preferably New York City before 1979. I grew up in Brooklyn in the 1950s and 1960s, which means my childhood memories are filled with Spaldeens.

Starting in the 1920s, the Spalding Co. manufactured tennis balls at its home base in Chicopee, Mass.

But overruns would occur, so there wasn't enough of the fuzzy stuff for the outside of the tennis balls.

Some anonymous genius -- and I use that word "genius" with reverence -- got the idea to market the bright pink, unused rubber cores as the "Spalding High-Bounce Ball."

Because New York City people don't talk so good, they pronounced Spalding as "Spaldeen"  -- as in, "Hey, Joey, you wanna play? I got a Spaldeen."

Spalding would box the Spaldeens and ship them down to New York City, where kids would buy them for a quarter each.

And, my God, when you bought a brand new Spaldeen, the aroma alone would cause ecstasy; it was the smell of Bazooka bubble gum and summer and childhood and joy and hope.

Then you would go out and play. All those legendary New York City street games began and ended with Spaldeens.

I'm talking about games you've heard about but might never have played -- stickball, punchball, stoopball, hit the penny and a million others.

When it came to inventing games with a Spaldeen, the only limit was your imagination.

We didn't have baseball fields or any other kinds of fields. We played ball on playgrounds -- really slabs of concrete surrounded by cyclone fences -- or we played in the street, using sewer covers as bases.

The virtue of a Spaldeen, besides that you could whack it a mile, was that it didn't break things.

You hit Mrs. Smith's Olds 88 with a Spaldeen, no big deal. No broken glass. No broken mirror. No broken nothin'.

Of course, Mrs. Smith would come running down her steps, screaming, "I'm gonna tell your mutha."

I apologize, Mrs. Smith, wherever you are.

I mostly played in the playground of St. Pat's or on 95th Street or Shore Road's handball courts.

And every kid would come to the playground with a Spaldeen in his back pocket. If someone had a stick, we'd play stickball.

The stick was an old broom handle or a dowel from the closet. We'd draw a box on the wall and pitch to it, and if the batter hit it over the fence, it was a homer.

We'd play handball with the Spaldeen, and sometimes we'd go to a friend's house for stoopball. A kid would throw the ball at the steps in front of someone's house, and as the ball sailed back, you'd try to catch it on a fly. If it bounced once, it was a single, twice a double, and so on.

But the king of Spaldeen games all over New York City was punchball. You'd toss the ball over your head.

You'd swing down overhand as if you were serving a tennis ball. And then you'd punch it with your closed fist.

Guys could hit it 200 feet, long fly balls that seemed to never come down. The puncher would be running around the bases -- painted squares on the playground's grimy concrete -- while the outfielders ran like mad after the Spaldeen.

THOSE WERE THE DAYS !!

[I want to thank Ms. Annette Hogan for sending me this bouncing nostaglia: the Spaldeen.]

November 8, 2017

NOVEMBER DAY

God, you have 30 days to come up

with a perfect November day. It has

to have grey, some moody dampness,

some cold, plenty of leaves on the ground

and half still on the trees. Add the sound of

leaf blowers or removers in the distance.

Also brown, rust, orange colors on the gals;

checkered flannel shirts on the guys.
Sprinkle in thoughts of Thanksgiving, family, apples, apple pie, pumpkin pie, mince pie. 

Wait. I’m talking about mid-America - 
middle and north to Canada, America. Today:

it looks like the best entry in the contest so far.

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

THE GREAT TRADE-OFF

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 31^st Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “The Great Trade-Off.”

TODAY’S READINGS

I read today’s two readings - First reading from Romans  and today’s gospel from Luke - and I wondered just where to go with this material.

Then I noticed that both readings had folks with negative qualities and Christ was always hoping for people to improve - so let me pick on God and 3 persons to think about.

God the Father got frustrated with us - he was sick and tired of the evening news.

There was too much yellow tape - too many crime scenes - too many people hurting too many people.

God saw too many kids unable to sleep because their parents were doing too much fighting.

But what to do?

So God said, “ I already sent the prophets. That didn’t work.  I already sent my son. That worked for some - but not enough. What to do?”

So God looked around and tried to find something that worked. And he was intrigued by gun returns.  People - in various places of our world - brought guns into police stations and they got paid for the turn in - the trade off. It cost a lot of money, but shootings and murders went down.

And the trade-off wasn’t perfect, but a lot of folks went for it.

So God began whispering in people’s ears.  “If you turn in something negative, I’ll give you a pay-off - a trade-off - that is positive.

FIRST  PERSON: THE ANGRY MANAGER

So this manager who always flew into a rage when things didn’t go his way - turned in his rage and God gave him instead the ability to laugh when he didn’t get his way. It worked.  In fact, he’s the one who came up with the saying, “Want to make God laugh, tell God your plans.

SECOND GUY - THE PROCRASTINATOR.

This guy who made excuses, excuses, excuses, for not doing the necessaries of life - like showing up for banquets, especially ones he didn’t like - like going to family weddings,  turned in his excuses and started doing the things he didn’t like. In fact, his marriage improved because his wife finally had a chance to see him out of his lazy boy chair, he watching 14 hours of football on the weekends, he getting a beer belly, and she losing 14 pounds and bought some nice dresses. And surprise, he was the one who came up with the saying we hear 1 million times, “Happy wife, happy life.” 

THREE - THE WAITRESS WHO CURSED

This person - a waitress - who was always cursing - cursing people who were slobs - people who were poor tippers - people who were on cell phones the whole meal -  turned in her cursing patterns and God gave her the gift of small talk - giving compliments - and  engaging people into talking with each other - instead of to someone else in some other state on their cellphones.   In fact, she started to get better tips and greater smiles.

CONCLUSION

And God celebrated - this new whisper campaign that he noticed people came up with - the ability to trade in their negative quirks for sweeter and happier  life patterns. 

November 7, 2017

A  PENNY  SAVED  IS  
A  PENNY  EARNED 

Lord, I have time for NCIS

and Monday Night Football,

and I have time for coffee

breaks and donuts - good

donuts - but I don’t seem

to have time for giving my

Aunt Penny a visit - after

all the Andrew Jackson’s

she gave me when I would

be going to Coney Island

or the City when I was a

kid. Nursing homes don’t

have the grab that a trip 

to the track has or golf of 

a good game of poker has. 

So what’s it going to be this 

Saturday or even Sunday, 

Aunt Penny or the boys?

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

WE’VE  BEEN  INVITED 

TO  A  BANQUET 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 31 Monday in Ordinary time is, “We’ve Been Invited to a Banquet.”

Can you believe it?

We’ve been invited to a banquet - or since it’s 12:10 - should we call this a luncheon?

Either way, we heard Jesus say in today’s gospel, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner….”

LOOK AROUND THE ROOM

We look around and we see all these people - here in church right now.  We are lots of people. All of us have been invited. We see young and old, male and female.

Luke even says Jesus was in the house of a leading Pharisee.  And we bow our heads and say, “That’s me at times.  I hope not the leading Pharisee, but I’ve been there, done that at times.” [Cf. Luke 14: 12-14]

We look around and see Jesus sitting there smiling, pleasant, breaking bread and sharing wine and words with those around him.

We  spot Paul and Mary and the apostles as well.

We hone - rhymes with phone - we hone in on Jesus as he says, “When you hold a banquet - invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind.

And we close our eyes and sip that statement and digest that description and we open our eyes and Jesus winks at us.

We breathe a great  burst of air - we sigh - because we are just realizing we  are blind, lame, poor and crippled and we have been invited - along with all these other folks.

All these years we felt guilty that we didn’t invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind to our meals.  Surprise we’re it.

ST. PAUL IS ALSO AT THE BANQUET

And we turn to Paul and he says to us - elbowing us - that first sentence in today’s first reading from Romans, “Brothers and sisters: The gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.”  [Cf. Romans 11:29-36.]

The gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.

Then you hear him say, “Oh, the depths and riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!”

CONCLUSION

We lean back on our banquet seats.

We inwardly think, “Great. Wow. we’ve been fed today.  Good think I accepted the invitation to come to this banquet today.”

Thank you God.

November 6, 2017

THE COMPLAINER

Every group, every church,

has, “The Complainer.” 

There’s always something wrong,

"Boo!" "Here we go again." "Oh no!"

There is always something

for them to complain about.

The scripture text to ponder is,

Matthew  26:22. “Is it I, Lord?”

  

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

I  SEE YOU!

Father William Guri, here at St. Mary's told me about an African practice of saying to someone who is in a room  - or just walks into a room -  and you can't talk to them just yet.  So one says, "I see you!"

After he told me this, I found myself saying, "I see you!" when I was unable to talk to someone in the moment.

Neat!

As priest - after Mass - or what or when have you - people come at us - and I find I can't catch them all - at once.  Well this practice of saying, "I see you" solves the dilemma for me - or at least tries to take care of it.

Surprise I spotted and heard U.S. Senator Kamala Harris say just that on YouTube.

I place it here on my blog.  Give it a hearing.  Say to me or Kamala or William, "I see you."


Then add, "I hear you."

GOD  LIKES  TO  HIDE

Did you know, God likes to hide?

Yeah, God likes to hide.

A guy in a state prison in Tennessee just found God in his cell two months ago at 4:33 on a Tuesday afternoon. You should have heard this guy’s language and his ugly angry attitude towards everyone else before that moment. Now he’s becoming a different person - not too many people noticed it yet - but some are starting to. God brought him back to his growing up years and some of the angry things that happened back then and on that Tuesday afternoon at 4:33 he woke up and met God - a much different God than the God of his constant, “God damn it.”

And there is a lady in Cincinnati - who has a great 2^nd floor apartment window seat on a busy street - with lots of people going up and down that street - morning, noon  and evening.  Well, it’s going to get darker early now….  Well,  she likes to sit there and spot people -  walking on the other side of the street….  And she says to God - picking out a specific someone, “God give that young lady there with the blue backpack  and white sneakers and yellow jacket - give her a nice surprise faith moment today. God come out of her shadows and do that to her today. Please.”

God likes to hide.

But sometimes God likes to come out of hiding.

He sometimes sneaks into a baby’s smile - I don’t know how God does that - but God sneaks and slides into a baby’s smile. I think God likes doing that more than a lot of other things God does. We’re in the supermarket. We come up on  a baby on her mother’s shoulder  - soap aisle. And God smiles at us - well a baby smiles at us. And we’re grabbed by God at that moment.  It’s just a moment of grace and peace and smile in the soap aisle. And we stop and look at that baby with the smile. And we smile and go, “Wow, God, wow!”

A philosophy professor in a major college - has been an atheist - for a good 33 years now and his sister dies - brain cancer. Well,  he’s sitting there at the funeral - oops he was sitting there at the wake the day before for two long sessions - afternoon and evening. He’s down - sitting down - off to the side -  without wanting to get  up and greet - too many folks - a few yes - but still not too many. And at the funeral Mass the next day - which he dreaded - he started crying - which surprised him. Three days later he went to a Catholic church - after calling ahead of time if he could talk to a priest - and he went and told the priest, “God came to my door. God asked, sought - thought -  and knocked on my door the other day at my sister’s funeral and I want God back again. He closed his eyes - tears coming - nose running - and he blurted out a prayer, “God I want back with you. Back with you.”  And this man found himself - back with God.

God liked that one.

And someone heard someone on talk radio - while driving - talking about God. It was a panel. And one person said, “Well, that’s your idea about God. It’s not everyone’s idea about God.”  Then this somebody added, “How you see your mom and dad at 7 or 17 or  47 or 77 - is different each time. So too God.”  And God slipped into that someone’s brain that day - in that way - without that person knowing it.  And God laughed  because that someone - said that same thing to his college son - ten years later - without knowing where that thought came from - a thought that got hidden in his brain 10 years ago.

God hides in corners of memories and one’s brain.

Sometimes God likes to slide like one of those paper bugs onto a piece of page in an old book - that has been sitting on a windowsill for years.  And God loves it when the tiny paper bug sits on a dot above the small letter i - and then moves in the light of day - when a person opens to that page.  And the opener goes, “Wow!” and begins wondering, “What does that bug eat?  Does that bug mate?” and then the big question, “Why in the world did God create tiny - size of a dot - paper bugs in the first place?”  And that question about a hidden God - and God’s ways of being creative - and imaginative - and what have you - gets one more person thinking about our God. And God laughs - thinking, “The Grand Canyon and Hawaii and Niagara Falls and their great spouse  didn’t get that person - but a tiny paper bug did. Who would have thunk.”

And God thinks even more…. Why did we ever wait till billions and billions of years before humans evolved - and why did we wait till even later till you my son arrived - as a baby - then a carpenter - then a story teller and a preacher - then a criminal - then a crucified - then a Savior - hiding in bibles and bread and wine and in Tennessee and Cincinnati and in supermarkets and on the radios of people driving to and from work - and sometimes found in churches and funerals and talking with priests and dead sisters.

God hides. I guess you know that by now.

I read today’s readings last night a few times to come up with a homily and for the life of me, I don’t know where  this homily came from. It doesn’t sound like anything from these readings  - yet maybe someone did or said something years ago that today’s readings triggered…..

P.S. Or maybe today - Nov. 5 - is the 4^th anniversary of my sister Peggy’s death. She was a nun and she taught me some things about God. Thanks Peg.

November 5th, 2017

UP AND DOWN

Did you ever look at kids

when it comes to stairs?

Up and down …. Down and up.

Down and up …. Up and down.

Did you ever ask kids:

“Do you realize this is your life?

“Up and down …. Down and up.

Down and up …. Up and down.”

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017