UNFORGIVABLE  SIN 

As priest, in black suit and white collar,

I often get collared by someone with

a question. They spot me at a wedding

or a parish picnic. They approach.

They ask,  “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure,” I answer. “What’s on your mind?”

They say, “I have often wondered. Is there

such a thing as an unforgivable sin?”

I have been asked that at least a dozen times.

And believe it or not, I have an answer.”

My answer: “With God no. With us, yes.”

With that, they wrinkle their face

till it’s in the shape of a question mark.

Sometimes I add. “Oh, I know - it’s in

the Bible - that there is such a thing as

an unforgivable sin.” 

Sometimes I even add, “Do you want 
to know the Bible text? It's Matthew 12:32;
Mark 3: 29;  and Luke 12:10. 

If I say that much, I add, “Everyone,

Matthew, Mark, Luke, -  Martha, Mary 
and the woman at the well - along with 
Peter and Judas - everyone…. Everyone wonders if  something they said or did 
in their life will be forgiven. Good news: 

it can  be forgiven - 70 times 7 times."

I might continue: "Forgiveness by God, 
not the problem. Forgiveness by ourselves 
or worries whether others will forgive us - 
now that can be a hidden  problem."

And I add: "Tell that to the heresy court if I’m

turned in for what seems to be the opposite

of what’s in the scriptures. And don’t forget

to add in my favor: Psalm 130: 8, 'For with 
the Lord there is kindness and with him 
there is fullness of redemption and he will redeem Israel from all their sins.'”

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018
Painting, "At Eternity's Gate"
[1890]  by Vincent Van Gogh

February 17, 2018

Black History Month Thought for today: 

“I  am not tragically colored.  There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes…  I do not weep at the world - I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.”  

Zora Neale Hurston [Picture on top], from “How It Feels to Be Colored Me,” 1928

Homily

February 16, 2018

Reflections

BODY AND SOUL

Well, that’s one way of looking

at all this: body and soul.

Some people are only body - no soul.

They play the piano technically flawless.

And some are all soul - rolling waves of

rhapsody in blue or jelly roll dark red.

I’d prefer music that is pounding or an

apple pie - sloppy with overhanging crust.

Body and soul and let’s add divinity… Which

is more you? Do you have any clue about you?

 © Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

February 16, 2018

Black History Month Thought for today: 

"Real  integrity  is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not."

Oprah Winfrey

CONVERSATIONS 

There are conversations 

and there are conversations. 

It is good if we have at least 

one good one a month.

Some folks have only one

good conversation in a lifetime.

Go for at least 100 great surprise moments

of connection and conversation with others.

"How’s it going?" "What’s happening?"

"What you too?"  "Me too - about a year ago."

Outside of church on a Sunday morning

talking about stuff much better than the sermon.

In the stands with a guy my age while our

kids are playing Little League down below.

In a long car ride from Virginia Beach

with a niece to BWI airport in Maryland.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018
Painting on top: Chop Suey [1929]
by Edward Hopper, 

February 15, 2018 

Black History Month Thought for today: 

“Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.” 

James Baldwin [1924-1987] 

(Fifth Avenue, Uptown. Esquire)

LENT:

MORE OR LESS?

Less noise, more quiet,

Less self, more prayer,

Less food, more fasting,

Less ignorance, more reading,

Less talking, more listening,

Less television, more family,

Less coldness, more warmth,

Less anger, more patience,

Less gossip, more reverence,

Less selfishness, more generosity,

Less blindness, more awareness,

Less envy, more complimenting,

Less jealousy, more acceptance,

Less sitting, more exercise,

Less fear, more trust,

Less hesitation, more courage,

Less me, more them, O Lord,

Less me, more You, O Lord. Amen.

©  Andy Costello, 

Markings  Prayers

Thomas More Association

LENTEN PRACTICES

Lord, this Lent,
let my good example be loud

and my ego soft and silent.

Let my sacrifices, prayer,

fasting and Lenten practices

be for your honor and glory,

as well as the lifting up

of the spirit and life

of my neighbor. Amen.

©  Andy Costello, 

Markings  Prayers

Thomas More Association

BENEATH

 THE ASHES

Ashes,

where once stood

a building tall,

now almost nothing,

just soft silt beneath our feet.

Then you, Lord, rising tall,

up from the dead,

giving all of us the dream
of rising again,

a rising building tall,

church

the hope of all for all,

beneath the ashes.

©  Andy Costello, 

Markings  Prayers

Thomas More Association

PRAYER FOR LENT

Come Holy Spirit
during these 40 Days of Lent,

lead me like you led Jesus,

into the wilderness, to the mountains,
to the temple, to those places within me

that I need to go to face those temptations

in my life that I need to face and overcome.
Give me words, Sacred Words,

like you gave to Jesus,

so that I might challenge and face

my hungers and my needs,

my demons and Satan, the tempter within.

Come Holy Spirit

during these 40 Days of Lent,

give me the strength you gave Jesus

to face the great temptations of life:

the temptation to take the easy way out,

like changing rocks into bread,

without working and sweating for our daily bread;

the temptation to reach for power and self glory,

Satan’s kind of power, not God’s power of humility;

the temptation to place myself in dangerous situations,

saying that God will watch over me,
and in the process stumbling,

because I said, “It’s all up to God”
without any decisions coming from me.

©  Andy Costello, 

Markings  Prayers

Thomas More Association

INNER TEMPLE  PRAYER

Lord, this Lent,

walk into this temple called me.

Walk around inside me.

Watch me. Warn me!

Show me the wisdom

of the sign of your cross within me.

Lord, this Lent,

walk into this temple called me.

Show me that sometimes

I spend too much time

buying and selling,

worrying and worshipping things.

I have become a marketplace and a mall,

instead of becoming a temple

filled with your Spirit.

Lord, this Lent,

walk into this temple called me.

Let the zeal for your house

drive out my sheep and my oxen.

Turn over my money tables.

During these days of Lent

challenge me to make better choices

in living your new life,

so that when Easter comes,

I will have become

what you have called all of us to be:

a house of prayer and the house of God.

©  Andy Costello, 

Markings  Prayers

Thomas More Association

ASH  WEDNESDAY 

Lord

of dirt and ashes,

Lord

of burnt and hurt,

enter into

my dark confessional this Lent.

Hear my secret sins --

the ones that really burn me.
See my smoldering resentments --

the ones I won’t let go of.

Then Lord, Easter me this Lent.

Come into my upper room.

Breathe into me your peace --

the peace that  flows from forgiveness --

the forgiveness of myself and others.

Then together we shall rise from the ashes.

©  Andy Costello, 

Markings  Prayers

Thomas More Association

FEBRUARY PRAYER

                    
February
brief and cold,

tilting slowly towards

the light ...

moving into Lent,
ashes once again.

The slow change of seasons

inside and out,

winter wanting spring,

death wanting resurrection ....

Lord, I’m changing,

but slowly,

slowly with the seasons,

February,

brief and cold,

tilting slowly towards

the Light ....

         ©  Andy Costello, 

Markings  Prayers

Thomas More Association

LENTEN PRAYER

Jesus, Temple,

and cleanser of temples,

cleanse my inner temple,

turn me and all my house

into a house of prayer.

Jesus, Passover,

pass over my sins,

but not over my house,

nor my work, nor all

the people in my life.

Jesus, Cross,

hanging high above
all the crosses

of the world
help me to help others

as they too make the

way of the cross.

Jesus, Grain of Wheat

that died and was buried

in the earth,

help me to die to self,

so as to be like you:

daily bread for others.

©  Andy Costello, 

Markings  Prayers

Thomas More Association

LOVER’S   PRAYER 

Lord,

is February only for lovers:

Valentine’s Day

and young couples

longing for the spring?

Lord,

isn’t every day

a lover’s day:

if I stop along the road to listen to a friend,

or challenge an unkind slur,

or help carry another’s burden

when I see them struggling up the hill?

Lord,

isn’t every day

a lover’s day:

if I tell another

I am grateful for their presence

in my life and how they change

my winter into spring?

©  Andy Costello, 

Markings  Prayers

Thomas More Association

THE MESSAGE  IN  ASHES

The title of my reflection for this Ash Wednesday is, “The Message In Ashes.”

Today is Ash Wednesday.

What’s the message in ashes?

Sometimes we might have that question - but we best not ask it.

We see a dark marble urn on a shelf over a fireplace. We begin staring at it, but  we dare not ask, “Is that the remains of someone you loved?”

We see around someone’s neck a golden chain - that has on it a tiny - rosary bead size - see through glass something - with something grey inside - and we get the feeling - that we’re looking at a tiny ash remains of someone.

The message in those ashes seems to be: “It’s hard to let go of those we love.”

We see on a shelf - a see through plastic box - with charred wood inside and the picture of burnt down home.  We can ask about that. “Was that your home? Did it burn down?” And the person whose shelf holds that picture of a burnt house charred wood  tells us about a home they lived in - that burnt to the ground and all was lost - pictures, records, certificates, the precious mementos of a lifetime - a good 17 years ago.

It’s Ash Wednesday and a person is walking down a street till they come to a church. That person hears music and drops into church to see what’s going on. They hear a sermon and then they see people coming up the aisles to  get black  ashes - thumbed into their forehead -  in the shape of a rough looking cross. They sense  the scene has a sense of the sacred, the mysterious, life and death. They get the gist of what is happening. And then  they go up themselves to receive the ashes and hear the words, “Remember that you are  dust and into dust you shall return.” as ashes are thumbed into their brain.

They ask someone afterwards - in the parking lot, “What was that all about?”

And a stranger tells a stranger, “It’s Ash Wednesday - the beginning of Lent.”

What’s the message in the ashes?

“We’re reminded today that we have 40 days - called “Lent” -  to reflect upon our lives - what’s important - what lasts and what doesn’t last.

Toys break - the little girl loses her doll or her blankie - or friends  when her daddy loses his job and the family has to move to another state - for another job.

Teenagers play sports and their team has a horrible year - losing game after game after game. A kid doesn’t make the play, the team, the National Honor Society.  Grandma dies and they say what they used to say year’s earlier: “Life is not fair.”

Young people start to date and they get dumped and their feelings are crushed. They get married and they discover the better and the worse - and sometimes the worse is when they get burnt.

What’s the message in the ashes?

Lent is a season - 40 days to fast from too much food or drink or TV - but to do all that in secret and not to show off or to toot one’s own horn about what we are doing for Lent.

Lent is the time to take gained time and visit or call and spend some sacred time with people who are shut ins - or to take long walks to figure out life.

Lent is 40 days to do what Jesus did - to go into the desert - where no one is - and discover the within. Lent is a time to pray - alone - there are public prayers of course - but the prayer Jesus is talking about in today’s gospel is inner room prayer - secret prayer that nobody sees but me and God.

The title of my homily is, “The Message In Ashes.”

What hit me this morning is all the above - but especially the following message: Ashes are a sign of movement towards the invisible - towards the great values - towards the Invisible God.

February 14, 2018

ASHES

Ashes

the visible on the way

to becoming  the invisible ….

Anne’s remains …. Jack’s cremains ….

being buried in a hard ground cemetery -

or into a marble wall - or kept on a shelf

above a fire place - while down below

a piece of paper is turning to ashes -

along with two logs in a fireplace -

crumbling as we watch all this

in our living room chairs ….

There better be a God after all

these visible things turn to ashes ….

Those words of Jesus, “I am the

resurrection and the life …” I’m relying

on them as I know I too will turn to ash.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

February 14, 2018

Black History Month Thought for today: 

"Love  makes  your soul crawl out from its hiding place."  

Zora Neale Hurston

TEMPTATION:

WHOSE  FAULT  IS  IT? 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 6^th Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Temptation: Whose Fault Is It?”

A couple of months ago there were articles in the papers and on National Public Radio that Pope Francis wants to change the Our Father.

I read the articles back then - but didn’t give them enough time and thought and study.

So when I read today’s first reading from James and his comments about temptation, I decided to do a little research on what I might have missed  a few months ago in Pope Francis’ comments.

LETTER OF JAMES

James says, “No one experiencing temptation should say, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God is not subject to temptation to evil, and he himself tempts no one. Rather each person is tempted when lured and enticed by his desire.  Then desire conceives and brings forth sin, and when sin reaches maturity it gives birth to death.”  [James 1: 13-15.]

That’s rather dogmatic. That’s rather clear. Don’t blame God [POINT FINGER] when it comes to being destroyed by a temptation.  Check out those other four fingers pointing back on ourselves.

That text from James uses the language of pregnancy: desire, conception, birth - then death - an abortion of one’s spirit. Powerful poetry - language - imagery.

And in reading various articles and newspaper comments about Pope Francis’ comments about the Our Father being changed a bit - this text from James is used by various folks.

JUST ONE PHRASE

The hubbub is all about changing the phrase “and lead us not into temptation” into “do not let us fall into temptation.”

The pope and others want to point out that the Our Father prayer is saying, “God doesn’t tempt us - God does not tempt us into temptation - we do.” So we pray to God to not let us fall into temptation.

That’s basically the question in hand. That’s what the pope wants to possibly change. Right now the  prayer can sound like it’s  sort of saying that God leads people into temptation - whereas God doesn’t do that.

NOT ENGLISH

We better add that we’re dealing here with translations.

The Pope is aware that the Italian church has been dealing with this since 2001, 2002, and 2008. The Spanish speaking Catholic dioceses have also been studying this and suggesting a basic change. Lately, the immediate situation is the French Church.

Most of the articles I was reading last night talked about the prayer being started by Jesus in Aramaic. In time, we next  have 2 versions of that prayer in Greek. We can find them in Luke 11: 3-4 and Matthew 6: 10-13.

Then we have the Vulgate. That’s the Latin translation. Then in time we have the modern languages.

TO MAKE IT MORE COMPLEX AND COMPLICATED

To make it more complex and more complicated the Our Father is a rooted prayer in the prayer psyche of so many people.

So to change the wording, we’re tinkering with some deep stuff here.

Everyone knows the prayer - and this includes not just Catholics - but also our Protestant brothers and sisters.

For example, most Protestant scholars know that the addition of “For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory,” was added on long after the gospels were written - yet they are part of so many traditions. In fact, the Catholic Church added it onto the prayer in the Mass - but a bit further down in time.

To make it even more complex I noticed someone said  the key word is not the verb “to lead” but the noun “temptation”. That word “temptation” is the word and issue to change - and to change the prayer to say, “test” not “temptation”.

CONCLUSION

 I would think that they might change the Our Father a slight bit in our future. But when? My bet would be on when the next big revision of the Mass prayers takes place. Many agree that the prayers we have now at Mass - are tied too tight to the Latin prayers - and for our English Speaking world, a better translation is necessary. One was made - but pushed aside - for the one we have now - but Pope Francis recently said, “We need to get a better translation into local languages.”

I assume I will be dead - when and if this happens - so in the meanwhile pray as one prays and do it well. Amen.