May 12, 2018
Thought for today:
“A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman’s birthday
but never remembers her age.”
Robert Frost
Saturday, May 12, 2018
May 12, 2018
TOUCHING GOD
Who said, “You can’t touch God?”
People touch God when they take an early
morning’s walk to the ocean’s edge to praise God.
People touch God when they bring
their kids for ice cream on a summer’s night.
People touch God when they love
and praise and bless each other.
People touch God when they rub shoulders on
a bus on the way to work or to a tour together.
People touch God when they rub shoulders on
a bus on the way to work or to a tour together.
People touch God when they make babies
and take care of their aging parents.
People touch God in meals as well as in cheese
and crackers and wine and beer and pretzels.
People touch God when they reach out to each
other at Mass and take Jesus into their being.
People touch God when they forgive those who
laugh at them for their Holy Communion with God.
© Andy Costello, Reflections
2018
Friday, May 11, 2018
May 11, 2018
CHANGE
CHANGE
Expect change.
If you don’t you might
miss it when it comes.
But then again,
expect repeat performances
and déjà vu.
After every major mistake,
expect promises from the culprit,
“I’ll change. I promise you:
there won’t be a next time.”
there won’t be a next time.”
But then again,
expect repeat performances
and déjà vu.
Expect the other to change
just when you have given up -
on them not to change.
just when you have given up -
on them not to change.
But then again,
expect repeat performances
and déjà vu.
Expect change.
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018
Thursday, May 10, 2018
May 10, 2018
LIE FREE
He was lie free….
He could only say
what he knew as true.
When asked, “Why?”
“Why can’t you tell a lie?”
He would remain quiet.
He wouldn’t tell.
But about a dozen years
after both his parents died,
he finally told their story.
“I saw him lie to her and
I heard her lie to him -
and I said, “I’ll never do that
to anyone. It hurts too much.”
© Andy Costello, Reflections
2018
Lie In Wait For by Dorina Costras
Lie In Wait For by Dorina Costras
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
UH OH! I’M NOT
GOD
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “Uh Oh! I’m Not God.”
There are times in life when we say that, “Uh oh! I’m not
God.”
We make a mistake. Something’s gone wrong. We thought we
were in charge, but parents divorce or someone won’t talk to someone. Or worse,
someone dies.
“Uh oh! I’m not God.”
ROSARY
I like to push using the rosary, not just for Hail Mary’s,
but for other prayers as well.
So take your rosary and say 59 times - there are 59 beads
on a rosary -
“Uh oh. I’m not God.”
“Uh oh. I’m not God.”
THE READINGS FOR TODAY
In the first reading for today, from the Acts of the
Apostles, Paul walks around the city of Athens. He sees all kinds of statues to
all kinds of different gods. [Cf. Acts of
the Apostles 17: 15, 22 to 18: 1.]
He has met the true God first as a Jew - so when he began
to hear about the Christians teaching the Jews that Jesus is Lord and Savior,
he got furious and tried to arrest and jail all Christians.
He was there when Stephen was killed for proclaiming
Christ as God.
Wow was he surprised on the road to Damascus to discover
Christ - in his fullness.
Christ was the unknown God to him - up to that moment.
It took him a while. It took him baby steps. It took him
a while to remove his blindness and discover Jesus.
So in Athens when he spotted a statue to “The Unknown God”
he saw his chance to tell them about this Unknown God.”
But they dissed him and only a few people heard him out
and heard Jesus into their lives.
Today’s gospel
from John’s Gospel, tells us the Spirit of God is coming and he will
tell us about all - all that Jesus was trying to tell them. [Cf. John 16: 12-15]
In this homily I’m preaching about who God is - when we
say, “Uh oh! I’m not God.”
CONCLUSION
So we have time limits - God doesn’t.
And sometimes it isn’t till we run into - or crash into
the reality - that we are not God - that we reach out to Unknown God - and he
becomes known to us. Amen.
May 9, 2018
A BABY CRIES
A baby cries in church ….
Where does that sound go?
A baby cries in the night ….
Where does that sound go?
A baby cries when tired or hungry ….
Where does that sound go?
Does an angel bring all those cries to God,
open up his door, pour them in, and run?
© Andy Costello, Reflections
2018
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
May 8, 2018
SOUNDS
Where do sounds go?
A car crashes on Main Street
and someone screams as
the car hits the traffic light pole.
Where does that sound go?
So too a bell - it rings
on the hour from a big tower.
Where does that sound go?
As people walk down a
certain corridor in a nursing
home they can hear an old lady,
who was a teacher years and
years ago, teaching class once
again - with her mind lost in
the last stages of dementia.
Where do those sounds go?
A little kid is praying on the side
of his bed - kneeling on the floor -
next to his grandmother - who has
him for the weekend - while his
parents went to a wedding in Utah.
She is teaching him how to pray
like she was taught as a kid and how
she taught her kids when they
were kids - but they have given
up on all that childish stuff.
Where do those sounds go?
Where do sounds go?
© Andy Costello, Reflections
2018
Monday, May 7, 2018
ON THE WATER
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 6th Monday after Easter is, “On The Water.”
I would like to trigger good thoughts about the water -
which makes up over 70% of our earth.
TODAY’S FIRST READING
Today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles 16: 11-15 touch on two experiences Paul had from
being on the water or at the water.
The first takes place in the Aegean Sea - which goes from the Mediterranean Sea up to the Marmara Sea and then into the Black Sea.
The second takes place at a river in Philippi. I looked up on several maps and found the
name of the river - the Krenides River. It’s also named the Gangas or the
Gangetes river. But I also found the
names of other rivers in and around Philippi: the Strymon and Nestus Rivers -
so I’m not sure just what river in Philippi is in place here. I’ll keep these
in my notes and keep figuring out what’s what and where’s where.
I’ve been to the Mediterranean Sea and to Istanbul and to
Athens - so maybe I was on the Aegean Sea. All I know is I saw a lot of water.
WATER EXPERIENCES
In this homily I simply want to address water
experiences. We’ve all had our water experiences. What are yours?
The river in Philippi was a place of prayer.
Here in Annapolis, we’re blessed with being near the
water.
Nearby, we have the South River and the Severn River. I
remember being at a blessing service for a bench or two on a point at
the end of Quiet Water’s Park - in memory of a man who was killed in a big
machine accident here in Maryland. I also remember being part of a funeral service
on the Severn River for a young lady who died from an overdose. Her father was
part of the band that sang, “Down by the Riverside.”
In other words, rivers as we heard in today’s first
reading, can be sacred places.
We have the Chesapeake and then on the other side of
Eastern Maryland the ocean.
Are they holy places for you?
I have on my wall a picture of the rocky shore line in
Galway Ireland where my mom is from. She’d said, “I could step out our back
door and put my big toe in Galway Bay.”
It was a great moment of life for me when we visited that
place and seeing the flag stone where her house was - and stepping on it - and
then lean over and put my hand into the water and then bless myself with that
holy water - made famous in the song, “Did you ever go across the sea to
Ireland and maybe at the closing of your day -
Galway Bay…..”
Where do you come from - what was the nearest source of
water?
Water makes up over 70% of this planet. Without it - no
us.
Every Sunday as a kid we would go down to the Narrows -
the water between Staten Island and New Jersey and Brooklyn NY - the water that
leads to NY Harbor - out into the Atlantic.
For 14 years of my life I lived on the Hudson River
between Poughkeepsie and Kingston NY.
For my second stint there, 8 years, every morning around 6:30 I’d walk
down to that river, put my hand in it, and bless myself with that Holy Water -
unless there was too much snow on that river road.
Blessings…. Blessings…. Blessings….
Water …. Water …. Everywhere ….
How about you?
I lived on a Lake in Wisconsin for 1 year - Lac La Belle
in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.
I’ve never heard anyone say they wanted to be on all the
Great Lakes or on all the Finger Lakes.
We have a place on Lake Canandaigua NY. I know some folks want to say
they were in every major league ball park. How about lakes?
I know people who did some of the Mississippi - and a few
the Amazon - and more - the Danube.
What have been your River or lake or Ocean experiences.
CONCLUSION
Today I just want to trigger those experiences and ask: “Do you see all water as Holy Water, all water
as living water, all water as a blessing, all water to make sure we’re taking
good care of it?
Without being political, which I have got yelled at
because of comments from the pulpit, that weren’t meant to be political, I want
to push for taking good care of our waters and our earth. - Pope Francis has
his whole encyclical Laudato Si - On Care
for our Common Home. That’s the
earth and that’s the waters.
As you know there are those who want to deregulate
protection for our air, water, and earth. Protecting the earth costs money.
If you haven’t seen air - water - and earth that has been
messed up, take another look. When you do, do all you can do for our home.
When we were kids, when we took the subway to Coney
Island, in Brooklyn, we used to go by a place called, “Perfume Bay” - because
it had such a horrible smell. Finally, it’s in the process of being cleaned up!
Sunday, May 6, 2018
SOME PEOPLE SLIP
THROUGH THE CRACK
Some people slip through the crack.
I don’t know how this is possible - but some people slip
through the crack and end up with amazing powers and knowledge - that nobody
else has - and we have no idea how many people down through the centuries have
these unique powers.
I would think it’s very rare.
I’m sure God wouldn’t want - anyone to know - what these
few people on our planet - who slip through the crack - know.
Actually, it would
be unfair to them. It would be too much
to know what they know.
It might bring joy - but then again - it would also bring
sorrow.
Tears sometimes; smiles at other times.
What am I talking about?
Well, right now, there are right now some 7.7 billion
people on the planet.
It’s estimated by skilled researchers that there have
been some 108 billion people who have lived on planet earth so far.
It’s estimated - numbers wise - that there have been 15
dead people - who have gone before us - for ever living person on the planet right
now.
Now that’s a lot of people - but that’s not what I’m
about to get at today. But I’ll be sliding into that in a moment or two.
In these 7.7 billion people on the planet right now -
today - and in these 108 billion people who have lived on this planet so far,
every once and a while there is a special person who slipped through the cracks and they have
powers and knowledge that very few other people have.
There might be one exception: babies. What do babies
know? We don’t know what they know, but
sometimes we wonder.
Some think all babies have what these few people have -
and then as they age - week and after week - month after month - babies lose this gift. It simply disappears
- but not for these other people.
What gift? What are you talking about?
What do you think babies are looking at - and
thinking about as they look around - all the time - and sometimes they cry and
scream?
I don’t know about this - but it’s possible - but I sort
of doubt this.
What are all those little babies we see in supermarkets
and in church looking at and wondering about? They are staring at something -
to their right, to their left, to their up and to their down. What are these
babies smiling at - sometimes - and we didn’t do anything to cause that
smile - or that scream?
Okay it’s time to fess up and tell you just what these few people on the planet
know - these folks who have slipped
through the crack and know what they know and see what they see and wonder
about what they wonder about.
They see futures.
They hear all the trees on the planet asking the age old
question everyone asks every little kid when they are little kids: “What are
you going to be when you grow up?”
They hear every tree give their hope. For example, “I
want to be a dining room table - so I can be in on everything: meals, card
games, homework, people doing their taxes. I want to be a great table that
every family member wants when their mom and dad pass away.”
They hear another tree say: “I want to be a baseball bat.
I want to get into every game free - and hit lots of home runs. The Orioles
could use me big time.”
“But,” some other tree says, “Baseball bats break and are
tossed.”
“Not me,” that future hall of fame bat from that tree said, “I’m thinking
positive. I’m going to last. I’m not going to break.”
So for starters, this person can not only hear every tree, but they can hear every rock,
every watermellon, every grain of salt, talk about their future.
Think about it. This could be very stressful. This person
with all these voices coming at him or her, would have trouble hearing their own family members.
They could be constantly overloaded with TMI - too much information.
And these people who slipped through the cracks - whom
God forgot for a moment - felt double whammy pain in their heart and mind -
because this tree here - who wanted to be a Grandfather’s Clock - in a great
mansion hallway - could end up being wood for a fire for a family whose electricity
went off for a week in the middle of winter and they had to cut down this tree
for fire wood - to stay warm.
Then there was that 5000 acres of trees in Arizona -
which had thousands and thousands of stories and dreams on what they were going
to become - all were burnt up in a late autumn forest fire. Dreams of being
pianos, violins, ladders, pencils that were used to write prayers in the back
of churches - they all went up in flames.
They never became their dreams.
Then there were those pessimist trees who felt they would
never amount to anything. This person
who feel through the cracks - this person whom God didn’t notice - knew that
this pessimist tree would end up being a frame for a 2 million, 3 hundred and
50 thousand painting by Renoir - in a big Paris art museum - hanging there for
a couple of hundred years.
And this was just trees and wood.
This person who slipped through the cracks could hear
cats and dogs, birds and bees, gold fish and salamanders, talk to themselves
about their future - their hopes to be in mansions or be the poodle of an old
lonely lady or the gold fish or guppy of and only child in Bejing or Boston.
And this person who fell through the cracks - in time - discovered
that trees and apples, all got calls
from God - sometimes tree whispers or
wind sounds - that life is all about
giving one’s life for others - to
be canes and crutches - banisters and benches - for others - or to be firewood
and matches - or newspapers - all for others.
And this person who fell through the cracks - knew - and
this was the most beautiful knowing and the most painful knowing - they knew -
that the God - who fell through the cracks and appeared in Mary in Bethlehem
and Nazareth, this Jesus told us what it’s all about.
Each of us is not called to be a selfie - but
to be an otherly - and the greatest love
in life is to know this and do this - to lay down our lives for others - to die
to self - so others can rise.
That’s what we’re growing up to be and to do. And those
who didn’t like this, hung him on a tree
and no tree wanted to be that tree of the cross.
May 6, 2018
WITHOUT WINDOWS
Without windows,
we wouldn’t see church towers
in the distance.
Without windows,
we wouldn’t see sunrises
and sunsets.
Without windows,
we couldn’t peek to see
who’s coming up the street.
Without windows,
we couldn’t let in fresh air
and catch a cool breeze.
Without windows,
we might not be able to
escape in case of a fire.
Without windows,
we couldn’t catch the sounds
of kids on the street. Amen.
© Andy Costello, Reflections
2018
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