February 10, 2018
Black History Month Thought for today:
“The battles that count aren’t the ones for gold medals. The struggles within
yourself—the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us—that’s where it’s
at.”
Jesse Owens
Saturday, February 10, 2018
February 10, 2018
COMEDY OR TRAGEDY?
Do I write my life script or is it handed to me?
Do I have the lead or do I play a bit part?
Can I change the scenes to A Far Country?
Can I decide when to open or close the curtain?
Can I be or not to be?
Am I Macbeth, King Lear, Romeo or Juliette,
or Stella looking for A Street Car Named Desire?
or Stella looking for A Street Car Named Desire?
Is my life a Midsummer’s Night Dream
or a Long Day's Journey Into Night?
or a Long Day's Journey Into Night?
Is it Much Ado About Nothing
Is it All’s Well That Ends Well?
Or am I going to Look Back in Anger?
Will God or Godot be waiting for me?
Or am I going to Look Back in Anger?
Will God or Godot be waiting for me?
My life: Is it a comedy or a tragedy?
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018
Friday, February 9, 2018
February 9, 2018
LOVE ONE ANOTHER
AS I HAVE LOVED YOU.
To be a good human being,
you have to be perfect - no mistakes.
To be a good Christian,
you can make mistakes
like the rest of us. There’s always
forgiveness. But you have to go
the extra mile when it comes to love
and try to make life sweeter for each other.
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018
Thursday, February 8, 2018
February 8, 2018
Black History Month Thought for today:
“The outside world told black kids when I was growing up that we weren’t worth
anything. But our parents said it wasn’t so, and our churches and our
schoolteachers said it wasn’t so. They believed in us, and we, therefore,
believed in ourselves.”
Marian Wright Edelman
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
February 7, 2018
OUR FATHER,
FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES
Okay, I dropped your coffee mug.
It broke big and you forgave me big.
I didn’t want to play baseball
and all the other dads were
bragging about their sons -
you let me play lacrosse instead.
I didn’t want to go to college.
I wanted to be do car repairs
I wanted to be do car repairs
and work in a body shop - and
dad you said, not at first, but
you said, “Okay, son. Go for it.”
I married her. I knew she wasn’t
the one you hoped for, but our
5 daughters made you one big
wonderful mushy grandfather.
When your younger son messed
up - disappeared - and finally
came back begging, you took him
in immediately. It took the rest of us
a while, but thanks for the good example.
Dad, there are 70 times 7 more times
and examples and episodes of forgiveness
that you showed us. Thanks for those
lessons and a lot more. I just hope
I live up to all you taught me.
© Andy Costello, Reflections
2018
WHO DO YOU
THINK YOU ARE?
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 5th Wednesday
in Ordinary Time is, “Who Do You Think You Are?”
That’s a question that is often asked of others -
especially when they seem to be uppity.
It’s a good question.
It can also be a nasty question - when it’s a dig against
someone else.
It’s a great
question when we ask it of ourselves - especially when we bring it to prayer -
and in communion with God.
How would you answer that question: “Who do you think you
are?”
FIRST READING
Today’s first reading from 1 Kings begins with the words,
“The queen of Sheba....”
When I read that, it triggered the comment I’ve heard of others:
“Who does she think she is: the queen of Sheba?”
Here in the 1st Book of Kings, the queen of
Sheba is a queen who comes to see the famous king of Israel, Solomon.
She comes with a lot of servants - probably also with guards and soldiers - as well as a
whole herd or caravan or flock or train of
camels - carrying gold, jewels and spices.
This is what people do when visiting heads of state. A
friend of mine, Anthony Dragonetti, worked on the two Boehm birds - porcelain swans
- the Birds of Peace, which President Richard Nixon in 1972, brought to China - for Mao
Tse-tung. Instead they were presented to Premier Zhou Enlai.
He told me it was valued at $150,000 when a similar pair were sold in London 5 years later.
He told me it was valued at $150,000 when a similar pair were sold in London 5 years later.
We can picture that scene - as well as the Queen of Sheba scene
- arriving at Solomon’s house. We’ve seen that in lots of movies - with similar
scenes.
This queen Sheba is important. The reference books say
she might have come 1200 miles. She might have been from Yemen or then again from
Ethiopia. Her real agenda might have been trade - and not the quest for wisdom.
For my purposes, all this doesn’t make much difference. I
just want to put her on a pedestal. Then I would like to contrast her and Solomon
with a picture of Jesus as the total opposite. Jesus was a servant - kneeling
on the floor washing feet - a criminal who
dies on the cross - pictured wearing only a loin cloth.
Come to think about all this, in a way, my using the Queen of Sheba as uppity is not fair.
I have no clue in the world, what her personality was like.
TODAY’S GOSPEL
In today’s gospel Jesus says what’s important is not what
the externals are like - but what our heart is like.
We’ve all heard wisdom teachers poke fun of folks who
think their you know what is different and smells differently than everyone else’s. I heard an old Italian
lady talking about a stuffy priest - describing him as thinking out of him
came ice cream and Pepsi Cola.
Don’t be surprised with that commment. That’s exactly what Jesus is
saying in today’s gospel. Notice the
word “latrine”.
HUMILITY
Jesus modeled humility - a word that comes from humus -
earth - from which we were sculpted by God - right there at the beginning of
the Book of Genesis.
If there is one issue that hit Jesus’ button, it was show
offs - especially when it comes to putting others down.
As kids, if we were being uppity, my mother used to
say, “Who do you think you are, Lord Killanin?” Translated: don’t think you’re
the Queen of Sheba or King Solomon. Be real. Be humble.
Lord Killanin was an Irishman who was made head of the
OCI - Olympic Committee International. I never found out how my mother knew of him. He wasn’t rich. In his Olympic job he had to ask for money.
Those who had that job before him - were quite rich. He wasn't.
We never knew who Lord Killanin was, but in checking this out for this homily, I found out that my mom
was wrong about Lord Killanin.
Lord Killanin was wanted by some of those in the Olympic
committees because some of those in the Olympic movement wanted Apartheid to be broken. They wanted
Taiwan included in the Olympics and not just China. There was a story that Lord
Killanin was sitting on a bench in South Africa with a dark skinned person and
the police came over and said, “You’re not allowed to sit together.”
I don’t know what happened next, but I assume Lord Killanin
said, “Watch me.”
To be fair to my mom, she was only referring to him as a big shot and
that we kids should not act like big shots with our noses up in the air.
OPTICS
The word that is uppity lately is “Optics.”
When people see you - whom do they see? How do they see
you?
A test would be how we treat the waiter or waitress.
A test would be for us to ask ourselves how we see
ourselves?
CONCLUSION
The title of my homily was, “Who Do You Think You Are?
My message was: don’t be uppity.
My message was change some of those LOVE commands in the
New Testament to SERVE commands.
Tuesday, February 6, 2018
THE REASON
UNDERNEATH THE REALITY
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 5th Tuesday in
Ordinary Time is, “The Reason Underneath the Reality.”
One of the most important rules in life is to question
the reason behind a law - or a rule or a regulation.
St, Thomas Aquinas would say, “Authority is the weakest
argument.” In other words, it’s not, “Who
said so?” but “Why do you say so?”
We often don’t ask because we might labeled a pain if we
do.
I know I don’t like to be questioned on some things, because I’m not the boss and
I realize I can’t do anything about lots
of things - especially in the Catholic Church. For example some marriage
legislation, etc.
TODAY’S GOSPEL
The title of my homily is, “The Reason Underneath the
Reality.”
I don’t know if that’s a message from today’s gospel, but
that’s one issue that hit me.
Today’s gospel has Jesus being quite critical of the
Pharisees - and their practices - and dare we say, “One of the reasons they
wanted Jesus dead was right here.” He
was going after them for all these washing rules they were pushing.
Of course, it’s important to wash one’s hands - especially
during the flu season.
We want those who work in restaurants to wash their hands
after going to the bathroom. I saw that sign in a Burger King bathroom the
other night - and I said, “Good!”
So washing jugs and kettles and hands is important.
However, if folks become extremists - then maybe enough’s
enough.
Is that the point we’re being asked to consider. If the Pharisees
amongst us attack those of us who don’t
take everything so totally serious - that we aren’t living up to their
standards. Are they then trying to make
the rest of us look dirty and make themselves look so clean?
I don’t know. I assume we know a lot more about
cleanliness today than back in Jesus’ time. So maybe they were onto
something. I don’t know.
WHERE I WOULD
GO WITH RULES AND REGULATIONS
I remember seeing a documentary about strip mining in
Kentucky.
Coal miners - and coal companies - in the short run found
it too expensive to live up to all the environmental safety regulations - so it
was much cheaper to pay the fines. They
were saving money and making more money and keeping afloat. Then what happened was run off - because trees
were not replanted after strip mining and soil, water, were ruined downstream
and down into the valleys. Then there
were big time health problems.
There’s a dilemma that is always there.
The title of my homily is, “The Reason Underneath the
Reality.”
I assume the rules for washing hands started off for the
right reason, but in time it became an extreme and people were doing it as an
extreme - and then they rubbed it in and were saying, “We’re better than you.”
There’s the Pharisees in today’s gospel avoiding helping
their parents financially in their old age, by putting their money into a fund
called korban.
W.C. Fields in some movie had a Bible in hand and was
paging through it and he says, “Just looking for loopholes. Just looking for
loopholes.
I would assume the maintenance of parents is more
important than donating for maintenance of St. Mary’s and St. John Neumann
churches.
I would assume
that the trick is to study all this - ask questions - ask reasons - and then make sure the reasons below the
surface are good ones.
If they are pride,
selfishness, and to feel cleaner than others, then pause and recalculate our motives and
behavior.
CONCLUSION
So obviously in life we need to ask questions. We have to do our homework. We need to be humble and honest.
February 6, 2018
Black History Month Thought for today:
"No one is born
hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his
religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be
taught to love. For love comes more naturally to the human heart than its
opposite."
Nelson Mandela
February 6, 2017
ROUND AND
ROUND
I woke up as the sun was rising.
I looked to the east and this gigantic
round, round orange ball was moving
up the blue morning sky like a pop up
in slow motion. Now if you told me that
what I was seeing was not what I was
seeing, I don’t know if I would believe you.
It was our round, round earth that was
spinning as well as the round, round sun
and I was seeing mystery in motion -
and if you told me there is no God -
I wouldn’t believe you because
you’re not seeing what I’m seeing.
© Andy Costello, Reflections
2018
Monday, February 5, 2018
TOUCHING MOMENTS
INTRODUCTION
The title of my thoughts or reflections for today is: “Touching
Moments.”
An alternative title could be: “How touching.”
TOUCHING
MOMENTS
Looking at your life, what were the touching moments?
What were the moments that touched you?
Last night after the Super Bowl game, Darrell Green of
Redskin fame, marched the Lombardi Trophy through a run of Philadelphia
Eagles players and each reached to touch the trophy or kiss it.
It costs $50,000 - was designed on a napkin in 1966 - is
22 inches tall, is silver, and weighs 7 pounds. It has stayed the same for 51
years now - named after Vince Lombardi - and made by Tiffany’s.
The Eagles beat the Patriots and they got the reward: to
hold and to touch this very important trophy.
If you saw it on display, at the Football Hall of fame, and you could reach out and touch it, would you?
I know I touched the Commander and Chief’s Trophy for the winner of Army, Navy, and Airforce games.
How touching.
At funerals, if there is a casket in the main aisle, I’ve noticed
people reaching out and touching the casket of a loved one -
on the way up to communion or back.
Speaking of funerals, I’ve noticed if the person who died
was in their 50’s or 60’s, couples coming across the parking lot and walking
towards the church are holding hands more than usual. I wonder if that is true or just my
perception and wondering. Could that be
proved?
Do persons who lost their spouse remember the last time
they touched?
When I go to a funeral parlor and the body is there and
the casket is open and the person who died - is holding a rosary, I like to
touch one bead and say a Hail Mary.
When I’m at the airport, in the terminal, and I see
people at a gate going in or coming out I like to watch the body language of
arrival and departures. How touching. It
used to be far more sceneful* - before September 11 - when folks could wait for
folks inside closer to last door before the plane.
What have you touched?
I touched the moon - well a piece of a moon rock.
I shook hands with Dear Abby. I regret it wasn’t a kiss.
It happened too fast. She was sitting right behind me at a banquet in Jackie’s
restaurant in Chicago - for writers of the Thomas More Association.
I shook hands with Justice Scalia - I was simply holding
the door - at a Lawyer’s Mass at St. Mary’s - and he came into the sacristy.
Bill Belichick put his hand on my shoulder - and whispered
in my ear - at the Annapolis Touchdown Club. He asked me to say a prayer. At
another time I asked him to come back to the Giants and he went, “Haah!”
I shook hands with Leo Cravata, a plumber, in West
Pittston, Pa. Just an ordinary guy - but an interesting character.
TODAY’S
READINGS: 5TH MONDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Here in today’s first reading we have one of the stories
of the Ark of the Covenant. People often reached out to touch it. One story was
about someone who reached out to touch it when it was falling in a procession
and you weren’t supposed to touch it - and the person died. That story borders on taboo and superstation.
Here in today’s gospel people were brought to Jesus - and they thought, if I just reach out and touch the tassel of Jesus’ garment I’ll be healed. We read in the gospel about people who do just that are they are healed.
RECEIVING
COMMUNION
At Mass we can reach out and take Jesus in the hand or on
the tongue.
As priest I’ve avoided the fight or “thing” about
communion in the hand vs. tongue. I see it as receiving communion - communion with
Christ.
Someone the other day - said, “Talking about the flu and
germs at Mass - we should have a separate line for communion on the tongue
people. The Eucharistic minister would wear rubber gloves for that line.”
I smiled and said, “Are you crazy. I wouldn’t touch that
one with a 10 foot pole.”
I didn’t add, “You should see how they give out communion
at Eastern rite Masses. The person coming up for communion comes up to the
priest. He has a golden spoon. He takes out a piece of leavened bread. It’s consecrated
and put into the precious blood. The person receiving holds their head back and
opens their mouth. The priest then deposits the soaked bread and wine in their
mouth. This happens quite fast and efficiently, but every once and a while, the
receiver licks the spoon clean. I’ve
given out communion thousands of times in Eastern rite Masses, but I won’t tell
the person who follows that person what just happened.
CONCLUSION
Those are some
words about touching - the healing touch - the power of touch - the
memory of touch.
This week watch people touching each other. Very interesting optics.
[* Notice in the middle of this reflection there is a new
world I made up, “sceneful”. I would
love some dictionary in the year 2075, have the word “sceneful”. It’s a variation of the word “eyeful” - with
a different nuance.]
February 5, 2018
AY, THERE’S THE RUB
When it sounds too good,
we listen more carefully.
We watch for the catch.
We wait for the moment
we voice the line of Hamlet,
“Ah, there’s the rub!”
There’s the request for money.
Oh, that’s the problem.
There’s the need I need to solve.
There’s the sacrifice I need to make.
“Oh, that’s what they want.”
“Oh, that’s what they want.”
To be or not to be….
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018
Sunday, February 4, 2018
ATTITUDE
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily
for this 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time [B] is, "Attitude."
Today's first reading from the book of Job - triggered
for me a topic and theme for this homily: attitude.
Here's Job in a very dark moody mood - seeing life as
drudgery and doom. He doesn't seem like a happy camper. He sees himself as a
hireling - not running his own business. Everything is happening at him. He
sees himself as a slave longing for the shade. He has sleepless nights -
restless till the dawn. Notice the word "misery" and if you've seen
that movie - you know what misery is like. And listen to that last sentence in
today's first reading again: "Remember
that my life is like the wind; I shall
not see happiness again."
I wouldn't want to have a job working next to Job. I
wouldn't want to see him walking into the room in the morning - or afternoon -
or evening for that matter.
SO SOME
THOUGHTS ABOUT ATTITUDE
We know what attitude is and what it means - but to
put it into words - we could do that - but we might not be that clear with words
- but we still know what attitude is - especially a bad attitude.
In fact, for starters - in talking about attitude -
the adjectives "good" and "bad" - might be a good place to
start.
A good first question is right there: When it comes to
the big picture - our life - judge yourself - do you think you have a good or a
bad attitude?
When you walk into a room - what's the first gut or
belly take - people get about you?
Do they say, "Here comes an angry person?"
Or, "Here comes a happy person?"
Or do people look you in the eye or look at your face
- and try to get a read on you. Are they thinking, "What kind of a mood
will he or she be in today?"
If the saying, "Action speaks louder than
words" is true, so too is this saying of John C. Maxwell, "People may
hear your words, but they feel your attitude."
I sense we all have an overall attitude - that we show
or those who know us - get it - got it - good or bad. Then we have changing
attitudes - depending on the day - the weather - traffic - and a dozen other
things.
Then we have specific attitudes toward specific
issues, persons, places and things.
We might hate so and so because she is always telling
us about what she's going to cook for supper tonight - or how well her children
are doing in college or sports or what have you. Enough already.
We might have a great attitude towards the
environment. We hate it when people dump their Starbucks containers in the park
- but we have a poor attitude towards the poor.
So, attitude. It's a tricky thing.
TODAY'S
GOSPEL
Here we are still in the First Chapter of the gospel
of Mark. After healing Peter's Mother-in-law who was sick, who then feeds Jesus
and his disciples, a lot of people show up with their demons and their
diseases.
They want
healing. And Jesus heals them.
When it comes to healing - it would be smart to go to
Jesus for healing of any destructive attitudes.
I found a helpful distinction.
It comes out of some research by Stanford
University. A psychologist, Carol Dweck found that people's core
attitudes fall into one of two categories: a fixed
mindset or a growth mindset.
"With a fixed mindset, you believe you are who
you are and you cannot change. This creates problems when you're challenged
because anything that appears to be more than you can handle is bound to make
you feel hopeless and overwhelmed."
That's the first category. I have to think about that
- because at times I have said, "Once we hit a certain age, it's hard to
change." Then I add, "Sorry,
expect the same." "Expect Deja vu."
This Carol Dweck gal is saying, "No necessarily
so." She continues, "People with a growth mindset believe that they
can improve with effort. They outperform those with a fixed mindset, even when
they have a lower IQ, because they embrace challenges, treating them as
opportunities to learn something new."
I assume we have to accept this second mindset - the
growth mindset - if we come to Church, if we accept Jesus in our life - because
Jesus is always proclaiming, "Change!" "Repent."
"Grow." "Change your heart and not your garments."
Jesus gave us the Beatitudes. That's 8 attitudes to
put into practice.
PRACTICE,
PRACTICE, PRACTICE
Today's gospel has an interesting secret that seems to
be one of Jesus' key spiritual practices.
Mark tells us that "Rising very early before
dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed."
Where is your deserted place? It could be this Sunday
Mass. It could be talking a walk. It could be fishing? It could be a prayer
chair in your bedroom or back porch.
For my dad, it was the cellar. For my mom, it was the
right hand corner of a couch in our
living room - with her small rubber
banded prayer book in the top
drawer right there. A friend of mine - changed his garage into a chapel. A few people in the neighborhood found out about it and used it. It could be the Eucharistic chapel here. It could be this
church or St. Mary's when it's open.
Attitudes can change - mindsets can move from fixed
mindsets to growth mindsets if we take the time to pray.
But it has to be prayer - it has to be communion. It has to be more than me. It has to be God and
me, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with me.
This doesn't mean we
won't be interrupted. Here's Jesus interrupted in today's Gospel, but we have
to have the attitude, I need to find the time for Sabbath, for Holy Places, and
then do it.
CONCLUSION
If you don't want to have the Job attitude we hear
about in today's first reading, find hideouts, find time for God - for the rest
of your life.
And when with God, pray for and decided to be a happy
camper on this planet - on this journey
called “Life!”
And remember Victor Frankl’s comment that we have freedom
right here. He said, “The last of the human freedoms is to choose one’s
attitude. Choose life. Choose beatitude
as our attitude.
February 4, 2018
“It
is the duty of the younger Negro artist...to change through the force of his
art that old whispering ‘I want to be white,’ hidden in the aspirations of his
people, to ‘Why should I be white? I am a Negro—and beautiful!’”
Langston
Hughes (The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain, The Nation)
February 4, 2018
SHOE
LACES
I confess that I treat some people
like shoe laces - not noticed till they
open - and ooops - till they break.
These everyday things I don’t notice.
And I go, “Uh oh! Oh no. Not again.
Ugh! Now what? I
need new laces.”
I confess to doing that - but confession
is not enough. I have to do more than
voice some blurts. I have to tie my laces
carefully. I have to pause and say to my
laces, “Thanks for a good tightness today.
Thanks for walking with me today.”
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018
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