December 2, 2017

AVANTE-GARDE  OR  ANTIQUE?

If avante-garde and antique married

would divorce be inevitable? Not

necessarily so. I would assume it

would be an, “It all depends.”

Are we talking about house, furniture

or are we talking about ideas and ideals?

Are some people by nature past oriented

and some people tend to love the new?

Yet,  I would assume problems arise when

people po po the past or want to do things

in the way we always do things. Wait a

minute: is this an argument in the abstract?

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS  RIGHT NOW?

INTRODUCTION

Today’s first reading - Daniel 7: 2-14 -  is a head scratcher.  I’m glad I don’t have to do the first reading these days before the end of the church year. It’s written in apocalyptic language. I’ve heard people ask: “Was the person who wrote this stuff on LSD?”

Today’s gospel - for this 34 Friday in Ordinary Time - Luke 21: 29-33 - is 1,000 times clearer. We can all picture someone studying a fig tree - or any tree - and knowing what time of  the year one is in right now. There is a world of difference in trees about to bud in spring and falling leaves trees if Autumn. Luke simply says: “Consider these realities.”

HOWEVER

However, when I began thinking about these readings - so as to come up with a homily - what hit me - was a question: “Where is the American mind right now - with all that has been - happening -  this past year - these past few months - especially this past week or so?"

So the title of this - whatever this is - I can’t call it a homily -  is a question: “What Are Your Thoughts Right Now?”

With all that is happening in our world - here, there and everywhere - I think we’re all doing a lot of thinking.  What are you considering?

There’s the men in the Entertainment and Political world who have been outed for past sexual sins and behaviors and what have you.

There’s the tweets. There’s the comments about rockets and fake news and other news and what have you.

Then there were all those natural disasters in hurricane and fire season. I’m sure the people in Puerto Rico and the Islands and Texas are still dealing with their disasters - still big time.

I was thinking: wouldn’t it be a good idea if we jotted down 5 thoughts and shared those 5 thoughts with each other - listening - hearing them all out - and maybe commenting on them to each other after we’ve given our 5. 

Here’s my temporary list which I might pare down to 5 if I have time?

Number One would be: I’m wondering if every male in the United States - right now - is stepping back in their brain and examining their sex history - their lives - their growth - saying inner sentences and blurts like, “Uh oh! Oh no! Wait a minute! I can’t believe this?”

Next I have been thinking about news? I live with folks - rub shoulders with others - who see and hear the same news as I hear, but we’re coming up with totally opposite viewpoints about the same news.

There is a world of difference between Fox News and CNBC News - between Lawrence O'Donnell and Sean Hannity.

Where’s the truth?

Do some news agencies try to get to the truth? Is that the main motive or is truth secondary - with the main motive to be getting better ratings and with greater ratings, does greater revenue result. Is that the main motive?

Thirdly, I’m asking: If A gets fired, how come B is not getting fired?

Why is the phrase “truth to power” being heard more and more and more in our public discourse lately?  Have you noticed that lately?

I wonder if some public males got naked so others will recall the famous, “The emperor has no clothes on” parable? Wow that’s a curve ball. Well, do people self-destruct on purpose?  I've often wondered about that.

Let me ask that question in another way: down deep does everyone have to be exposed to who and how they really are - especially if they down deep need to be caught in their sins - so as to pay for their sins or ask for help?

Will Jesus’ phrase, “Let him without sin cast the first stone” start to make an appearance?

Lately this is all about men, I ask, “Will something about women - in some other area make an appearance one of these years?”  We hear lots of comments about women's power and lack of power.  Should that comment be framed differently?

Obviously.

Women have power.

Obviously.

Women are blocked from powerful positions.

Men too?

People do that to each other.

When women or anyone who comes into power - have to face the struggles, temptations, the use and abuse of power - that comes with position?  Where will women’s abuse of power show up?  Are there nuances that men - as well as women - are not aware of?  I don’t know. Just throwing out the question.

Being a priest, I also ask, “Do priests feel a bit of relief right now - unfortunately hearing about this latest round of abuse - having been through the child abuse crisis that began showing up big time back in the late 1980’s?

Okay, we still appear in the press and the courts and the movies and on TV series - and we priests still say, "Oh no!" when we hear about some person who has been hurt by one of us.

Will some helpful teaching or understandings from Christianity show up to help us all.  Will there be more articles about grace - falls from grace - Mary being full of grace - Christ being the forgiver  and teacher of what goes on in the human heart?  Christ often talked about the within - that we are  all flawed, cracked, broken - that we all have demons - that the place to pray and visit and clean out is our own inner room?

What’s with Islam? Come on Islam!  Explain yourself better.

For the sake of transparency, I’m a Democrat, and I don’t pay taxes as a priest with a vow of poverty, so can I ask, “Who’s telling the truth? Is there a truth? I'm thinking about this tax bill. What’s the truth? Is it for those with Stocks? Or is for those who are lower middle class or what have you? Is all this about the party and / or the guy - so he / they can have one thing done besides a Supreme Court Justice. Therefore we're better than the last guy?  Is that what’s really going on?  I keep reading that the bill is not even finished being written yet.

Does anyone know the bottom line with the Russian stuff - will we get to that? Will that lead to impeachments and jail time for various folks?

CONCLUSION

So those are a few of my questions.

And are their answers that are as clear as a fig tree in spring or a fig tree in autumn?

December 1, 2017

THE STUBBORN LEAF

The tree shook, and shook,

but it couldn’t shake off - that

one last leaf -  that one last

leaf - hanging onto - branch 17.

The tree said to itself, “Okay,

stubborn leaf, I’ll wait you out -

till you finally fall and you’re all

alone - on the cold, cold ground.”

However, the tree couldn’t shake the idea -

that it still had  one last leaf - still hanging on -

still hanging around - so it finally said with

resignation in early spring, “Okay, you win!”

The tree realized - life’s big lesson: you don’t

always get what you want, when you want

what you want. It was  then - and only then -

that - that last leaf let go - and with a last laugh.

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

November 30, 2017

IN  FAVOR  OF GRAVESTONES: 

PUTTING  IT  IN  WRITING

Which do you want when you die?

To be buried in the green ground, with

a headstone - or tossed into the wind?

It would seem that writing -

carved - chiseled - words

into stone - would last longer

than words written in ink or on

paper. All things being equal,

I would assume that’s the

smarter way to say, “Hey,

I was here for a while. Read

my name and then find and talk

to someone who knew me.

Hopefully, they’ll say some 

interesting things about me. 

Okay, you want dust in the wind
or on the waters - but is this dust 

on my window sill or on my car you

or was it the crossing guard

who used to stand there outside

of P.S. 40 on 60^th and 4^th Avenue?

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

November 29, 2017 

 LISTEN  UP 

Did you ever listen in 

without knowing you’re listening in 

to a conversation 

between two people 

on the next table?

Did you ever then

feel an, “Uh oh!

This is sacred space and I’m not

supposed to hearing what I’m hearing?”

Did you ever then wish you were

the proverbial fly on the wall

because you wanted to fly away?

Well, if you ever had that experience,

and that feeling, relax!

It's from a bygone time and era.

Why? Well today people are

walking around and talking around -

without giving a damn - who’s around -

on all these thousands and thousands 
cell phones - all around us.

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017
Painting on top Au Cafe, Jean Beraja

THINGS   BREAK

[Since  both  readings for this 34 Tuesday in Ordinary Time  talk about statues and buildings - temples and holy places - breaking and falling down - I decided to write a short meditation entitled, “Things Break.”]

Cars crash, get scratched and dented,  license plates rust, end up in junk yards…

Pipes break….

Skin wrinkles ….

Bodies - and body parts age, sag, weaken, get cancer, get arthritis,  and eventually wear out….

Paper crumbles - writing ink fades and pictures fade - the aging process ….

Food rots ….

Whales die - some making it from 30 to 70 years - depending on the type of whale….

Hippos - some make it too 40 to 50 years of life.

Planes get mothballed in the desert of Arizona or get sold to 3^rd world countries ….

Moths and butterflies  last 8 to 9 months of so….

Sparrows can  last 3 years, song parrots -40 to 60 years or longer ….

Fences fall - and walls crumble ….

Roads get pot holes …..

Shoes get tossed or go to Goodwill….

Churches and banks - close and are abandoned - especially in the inner city….

Rubber wears out when it hits the road ….

Hammers break ….

Pottery breaks ….

Oak trees - some make it to 400 years - while some redwood trees make it to 500 to 800 or even 2000 years ….

T-shirts and jockey shorts - all underwear - wears out - gets holes and is tossed….

Umbrellas break and are blown apart on very windy days….

Milk goes sour…..

Cell phones and computers are replaced ….

Wood cracks - eventually -  even in century old church benches - as well as bench cushions….

Wedding rings are pawned ….

Hair grays and sometimes disappears ….

Black plastic bags with lots of stuff gets picked up from big jumbo plastic containers and ends up in garbage dumps or recycling centers…..

We die and end up in cemeteries … lots of times with a stone with names and numbers on it - that longer than we lasted….

Jesus lived some 33 years of life - but remember as you come up for communion this morning, this Jesus said in John 5: 51 “I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live fore ever….

November 28, 2017

SOMETIMES  MY  LIFE

Sometimes

I feel boxed in ....

Sometimes my life

is all straight lines,

no circles, no spaces - 

that allow me to curve

and swerve my way out

of circumstances beyond

my control - requests - nags -

needs - others' poor scheduling -

emergencies - uh oh’s! - oh no’s! -

then again - I'm lying to myself - don't
we all, thank God, have that - sort of - 
secret escape route - to that hide away?

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

Widow's Mite, James Tissot

BUT,  WHAT  ABOUT? 

PUTTING  YOUR  

TWO  CENTS  IN…. 

TODAY’S  GOSPEL:  Luke 21: 1-4

When Jesus looked up he saw some wealthy people
putting their offerings into the treasury
and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins.
He said, "I tell you truly,
this poor widow put in more than all the rest;
for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth,
but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood."

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “But What About?  Putting Your Two Cents In ….”

QUESTION

Are we obligated to put our two cents in?

We’re at a meeting - and someone makes a comment that irks and irritates us, are we obligated to speak up?

Answer: it all depends.

It could cause more  mess than we sense necessary.  But if we don’t speak up - but speak up behind backs - afterwards - well then, maybe that’s a, “No no.”

We see someone on the street, begging for a buck, and we could give them 2 dollars and make a sacrifice of a latte, then maybe that’s a “Yes, yes!” even though we think we’re being had - by giving a hand out.

Or to take away any feelings of guilt, we put our 2 cents in the poor box like the widow in today’s gospel.

MOVING AWAY FROM COINS OR TWO CENTS

Of if we move away from applying this story to just poor widows putting 2 cents into the poor box, we might discover some creative ways of being a better human being.

For example, a grandmother says to her granddaughter, “How about next Saturday, we make raisin oatmeal cookies?”  Grandma noticed Priscilla wasn’t getting enough recognition by her parents and older sisters.

For example, a teacher spots in a kid - his or her ability to draw - spotting a drawing on the side of a test - and she goes to the art teacher and tells her about his kid - and this art teacher goes to the kid - and in time - this kid becomes an outstanding artist.

For example, Mrs. Malcolm did poetry in high school - but forgot all about it till her 60’s - till she picked up a book of Emily Dickinson’s poems in a garage sale - and she realized - even  though she was a poor poet -  she could put her two cents into the poetry mix of life - entered a creative writing course at the local high school - and has recited 17 of her own poems so far. Her husband doesn’t get them - but you should see the sparkle in Mrs. Malcolm’s eyes every Tuesday evening as she heads for poetry class.

CONCLUSION

Put your hands into the pockets of your mind - and see if there are 2 cents just sitting there - 2 talents there - 2 gifts there - ready to be handed out as you walk down the streets of life, the vestibules of churches, or the kitchen table in your home.

November  27,  2017

IN  THE  NIGHT 

THE  SOUNDS  IN  SILENCE 

The drip, drip, drip of a faucet,

the flush of a toilet,

heavy steps from the floor above,

an ambulance screaming,

a Harley roaring by,

a father praying for a lost daughter,

a wife and husband thanking each other,

for being here with each other, then

a baby cries in the other room….

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

PERSONALITY   TESTS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for  this feast of Christ the King is “Personality Tests.”

It’s been my experience that people are fascinated by personality tests.

Somehow a personality test gets a person to look at stuff they are not be seeing in or about themselves.

So this homily is a bit about personality tests.

DOCTOR’S OR DENTIST’S OFFICES

We might have had the experience of being in a dentist or doctor’s waiting room and we see someone reading People  or Reader’s Digest or some magazine and we notice they rip something right out of the magazine and put it in their pocket or pocketbook.

Being nosey and inquisitive, when I see someone rip something out of a magazine, I wonder what was so great, that it would get someone to rip something out of someone else’s magazine. So after they get up and go into see the dentist or doctor, I go over and pick up magazine to see if I can check out what they ripped out – what they were so fascinated by. Next I see the pages that are missing and I go to the table of contents. 

Surprise. I’ve noticed a few times that the other person ripped out a personality test.

Or we are in a doctor or dentist’s waiting room or on an airplane and again we are reading a magazine and surprise there is a personality test and it’s no surprise to notice that some earlier reader of the magazine used a pen or pencil to take a personality test in that magazine.

I guess that’s what these magazines know and that’s why they keep on coming up with different personality tests. I’ve noticed they now have them on websites.

I’ve also noticed that people love personality tests –  any kind of a personality test – at workshops on marriage or marriage preparation or community building, etc. Workshops on communication skills often feature some kind of a personality test. They are a component in many job skills or communication skills programs.

TYPES

People seem to be helped or feel okay to find out, “I’m an extrovert.” or “I’m an introvert” and this is me and it’s okay to be me.

People begin to understand that they are more head than heart and that’s just the way they are.

People seem to enjoy discovering they are more a bear than a bull, that they are more cautions than risky.

Some people are more thinker than feeler.

There are the 4 H’s: Head, heart, hunch, handy – and people have one ability more than another.

There are the 3 centers: head, heart, gut and people seem to be more one than the other two.

Some people are more practical or more impractical.

I think this like of personality tests shows up in the fact that most newspapers have one’s daily horoscope. We make fun of them, but we still read them. And we laugh when they are on the money.

People like Chinese restaurants, not just for Go Moo Gai Pan; they also like them because they often have placemats which gives a Chinese sort of horoscope. Your personality comes from the year of your birth. Was it the year of the snake or the year of the monkey?

TWO BENEFITS OF PERSONALITY TESTS

First it can get us out of self-centeredness. I like the quote, "The greatest sin is our inability to accept the otherness of the other person."

Secondly it gets us to work with each other - and cooperate with each other.

JESUS ON PERSONALITY TESTS

Well, way before modern personality tests, we see Jesus using them all the time.

Right in the beginning of his preaching he tells folks there are four kinds of people. When it comes to hearing the word of God: some people are as thick as cement – and others are as fertile as rich soil. Some people are shallow and some people have depth, but they have too many irons in the fire.

He mentions all this in the parable of the sower: there are those who hear nothing. They are like seed that falls on the path. Then there are those who are like seed that falls on shallow ground. They look great on first reaction, but after that, forget it. They are shallow. Then there are those who look great on paper, but they have too many things going on in their life. Then there are those who are also good soil and they get serious with the word and produce 30, 60 and 100 fold.

What kind of a person am I?

Or Jesus tells the story about a king giving money or coins to different folks – some go out and make more and some are scared of the king and the consequences of failure, so they bury the coins in the ground. Then the king comes back and asks for an accounting of what they’ve done..

Some people build their house, their lives on rock and some build their homes, their lives on shifting sand.

Which is more me?

Am I a good tree or a bad tree? Am I producing good fruit or bad fruit?

What road am I on? There is the road that looks great but it’s going nowhere and there is the narrow way that seems stupid, but it’s the road that leads to life.

What kind of a person am I?

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s gospel is a great personality test. That’s where all this is leading to.

Am I a sheep or a goat?

Take the test we have here in the Gospel of Matthew. Am I a sheep or a goat?

I don’t like this test, but it’s a test we better take.

It’s a great test, because it gets at sins of omission more than sins of commission.

Am I a sheep or a goat?

Not only is this a great test, but it also seems to be a good metaphor.

Up until 1940, goats were not liked in Palestine. They tried to keep them out of the northern part of Palestine, which is much more fertile than southern Palestine. Goats eat roots; sheep don’t. When your ruin roots you kill the soil and then there is erosion and the earth slides down to valley and blocks the water and this is a no no.

The sheep produce – and just eat the green, green, grass of the pastures.

So am I a sheep or a goat?

Am I keeping this world going or am I wearing it out.

Am I a sheep or a goat?

That’s the challenge.

Jesus spells out the test. He gives the specifics. I pass or fail, I am a sheep or a goat, depending on whether I feed the hungry or give drink to the thirsty, whether I clothe the naked or not, whether I visit the sick and those in prison or not.

This is some test.

Ugh, ugh.

If I have it right, we’re not fascinated by the poor and the hungry, but we are fascinated by stars, popes, presidents, and athletes. We are not fascinated by nursing homes or soup kitchens, but we are fascinated by places like Lourdes or Fatima, the Grand Canyon or Grand Cayman.

I remember flying from Columbus, Ohio to Dallas, Texas.  Deon Sanders was on our plane. Wow. Nice suit. Nice smile. He was flying first class.

I remember flying to Florida and there was Howard Cosell in our plane. Wow.

I remember being in the Chicago airport and there was Tiny Tim holding his ukulele.

I remember being in the Miami airport and there was F. L. Bailey, the famous lawyer, in an open shirt, hairy chest, with lots of gold chains.

I fail the personality test Jesus gives – because I don’t see the poor and the sick and the imprisoned.

I fail the personality test that Jesus gives, because I’m not feeding the hungry and getting a drink for the thirsty.

This gospel challenges us to see all people in all places.

Don’t we also not only like to have bragging rights for seeing famous people, but also to say we’ve been to famous places and the center of town.

We don’t brag about being in soup kitchens or back streets or nursing homes. Well Mathew preserved the words of Jesus so that we’d go to where the poor and infamous are. Matthew is telling us that Jesus, the Lord of History, is in and with the poor and the hungry and the sick and the imprisoned.  What a great vision – to have that insight.

At the bottom of happiness and life’s meaning, it’s compassion. It’s the Golden Rule. We see this in all religions – and hopefully all religions keep on preaching this message. It took the Buddha a lot of searching, but he finally had the enlightenment that compassion is the name of the game.

It took the Old Testament many pages till we get to the prophets who tell us take care of the widow and the orphan – and not turn your back on the poor.

The meaning of life is found in the words of the Centurion on Calvary. He saw that this rejected, bloody, beaten, crucified man – “truly was the Son of God.”

We see stars, we also need to see the sores of the people in the slums.

The meaning of life is found in raising children, going to the wake in the evening after a long day, visiting a neighbor in the nursing home, volunteering to teach English as a second language, helping others in the St. Vincent de Paul society, helping an aging parent, teaching our kids to read, to love and to catch a Frisbee or a football.

So care, children, husband comfort wife, children,

CONCLUSION

Conclusion. Today’s homily was called, “Personality Tests.”

It will be a good sign and a good move, if during this mass, when nobody is noticing things, like coming back from communion or going up, you take the missalette and rip out today’s gospel, this personality test from Jesus, and pocket it.

This is the last Sunday we use this Missalette - with a new one appearing next Sunday - the First Sunday in Advent.

Amen.

November 26, 2017

GOING  AROUND  IN  CIRCLES

Unless you are like a little child you’re not
going to experience the kingdom of God.

At what age does a person stop dancing
to the music and the circles of life?

Watch little kids, they love to spin around

in circles - sometimes with their eyes closed.

Watch little old ladies at wedding celebrations

out there spinning around on the dance floor.

Next time you’re at the amusement park - find a

vantage point and watch people on the Merry Go Round.

The Good News - the God News - the Gospel News

is that God is circles: Father, Son, Holy Spirit and us.

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017