CONSEQUENCES
We don’t like them.
We don’t think of them.
We don’t agree with them.
But them consequences
stay with us like bad breath
after anything with serious garlic.
© Andy Costello, Reflections
2018
Saturday, September 22, 2018
Friday, September 21, 2018
September 21, 2018
ACHES AND PAINS
We all have them,
aches and pains,
in our bones and
in our bodies.
Nick names for
neighbors or co-
workers who drive
us crazy.
Metaphors for
what goes on in
our mind and heart
when things go wrong.
Aches and pains
bloody shovels
and chisels that
dig into and form us.
© Andy Costello, Reflections
2018
Thursday, September 20, 2018
ORIGAMI MUSEUM
It was on a side street ….
It wasn’t in my plans ….
But it started to rain,
so I dropped into
an origami museum ….
It was a gigantic bird cage ….
I was caught - enfolded -
with 1000 birds of every size
and color, in sight, in flight,
cranes, sparrows, birds everywhere ….
I walked around…. I was
hearing Jesus’ words folded
in all the corners of my life:
“Look at the birds of the air -
here, there and everywhere….
Just behold them…. Paper works ....
Don’t unfold them …. Paper works ....
Just see them. Just let them
delight you and then fly
back out into the rain ….
© Andy Costello, Reflections
2018
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
EVIL
Is anything evil?
How about arsenic or cancer?
How about gossip or a lie?
How about suicide or murder?
How about a nasty comment?
How about plagiarism?
How about a stab in the back?
How about envy or jealousy?
How about toxic waste in the water?
How about genocide?
How about using or abusing others?
How about not listening?
Is anything evil?
© Andy Costello, Reflections
2018
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
THE OPTICS OF POETRY
The optometrist, the ophthalmologist,
the optician, the optimist and the poet,
put all those letters in front of us -
and we tell them what we see and
what is better than what we saw
just before that. “What do you see?”
The poet shows us so many things
we’re missing: lovers kissing in the
corner; the dead flowers at the
cemetery; the driver who screams
when nobody will let them out
into the flow of traffic - then they
do the same to someone else
trying to get out of their driveway.
“Lord, help me to
see what I’m
not seeing - what
I’m missing.”
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018
IS CORINTH
ON YOUR
BUCKET LIST?
The title of my reflection for this 24 Tuesday in
Ordinary Time is, “Is Corinth, Greece On Your Bucket List?”
It was on mine and on a 2011 cruise to the Mediterranean
Sea - we visited, Spain, Italy, Southern France, Turkey, Greece and the Greek
Isles. When it came for a bus ride down from our boat near Athens only two of
us signed up for Athens to Corinth - 48 miles away.
So on October 6, 2011 we went to Corinth. I looked it up
last night in my journal notes.
It wasn’t what I expected. I thought it would be a sea port town - and we would be near docks. I was waiting
to see some rough city spots. On the waterfront ….
Athens is around 665,000 people today and 200,000 in the
time of St. Paul. Corinth is about 58,000 people today and many more people in
the time of St. Paul. The number I could
find for Corinth’s population count in Paul’s time was 90,000 - but I also saw
listed that it had 500,000 slaves. I
also noticed that Corinth had 1000 Sacred Prostitutes. It had lots of temples -
with ceremonies to ask all the gods for help.
In Paul’s time Corinth was big time rich time. it was
much richer and more cosmopolitan than Athens. It had location, location,
location. Lots of trade went through
Corinth.
So when we saw Corinth we saw temples, a museum, rocks, lots of rocks, and
lots of ruins.
We saw the Corinth Canal. Besides the old city, with all
its digs and ruins, this was the thing to see. It’s only 4 miles long and it’s
very narrow - so only smaller boats can make the trip that cuts about 450 miles
off a trip.
The idea of a canal was always there - but it always had problems. Nero was there
with shovel in hand in the 60’s. It didn’t work. They had lots of Jewish slaves
working on it - it didn’t happen. Boats would unload their stuff and that would
be moved along roads to the other sea. And boats were put on rolling wheel
kinds of wooded gadgets and pulled from one sea to the other sea and then
reloaded.
It wasn’t finished till 1892. Small boats, small ferries,
go through it for the bragging rights of doing it and to check it off on bucket
lists.
I wanted to see it because Corinth is a major place in
the New Testament - other than the gospels.
It’s featured in Acts. It’s mentioned in various Pauline Letters - not
just 1st and 2nd Corinthians. A few letters were written
there.
I’ve always been wondering why Paul didn’t make it in
Athens - but he made it in Corinth. He tried Athens, but he failed.
Corinth had the sea lanes - lots of Jews and lots of Romans and lots of stories and stuff to get
Christianity off the ground and out into our world.
Remember all this is before Matthew, Luke and John - with
Mark beginning to come into play.
Monday, September 17, 2018
CATECHISTS AND CATECHISMS
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is “Catechists and Catechisms.”
Today is the feast of St. Robert Bellarmine, the Patron
Saint of Catechists and Catechisms.”
What are your thoughts on Catechisms - Catechists - Religious
Education Programs - Learning our Faith as Christians and Catholics?
We’re adults mainly at this 12:10 Mass - so this morning
I asked myself what are my thoughts about Catechisms and Catechists - as adults.
Translation: how did I learn the teachings of my faith
and what did I learn?
FIRST APPROACH: USE
GOOGLE
A great adult approach - if you use the internet - is to use
Google for a Catechism Review.
Use Google or any search engine on a computer program.
They usually have that nice clean empty box - in which you can type in a word -
and come up with 100 hits - more or less - and they do that in seconds.
You can type in words like “catechist” or “catechism”.
That will give you lots of leads for other words to type into Google - and
you’ll be learning - by dabbling. Browse.
I typed in “St. Robert Bellarmine”. Instantly I had a life of Robert Bellarmine.
It gave me his dates [1542 - 1621]. I saw where he was born: Montepulciano, Italy, where he lived and
worked and where he died: Rome, Italy. I got background. I got facts. It brought me to questions about faith and
science. It gave me his struggles with Galileo as well as Giordano Bruno. Both were put on trial. Galileo
wasn’t; Bruno was burnt to death.
Check it out on your computer.
So Point # 1 would be to dabble on your computer about
this and that - when it comes to our Catholic Faith and about catechisms and
catechists.
Then you can make a folder and download articles about
catechism and catechists or any topic you wish.
NUMBER #2: A REVIEW OF YOUR CATECHISMS AND YOUR
FAITH
Next make a review of your catechism history
I’m 78 and received my catechism lessons from the
Baltimore Catechism and Catholic school - way back when.
Some of you would be converts and might have received
Catechism from Protestant churches etc.
Some of you went to Catholic Religious Education. We
called it CCD.
What were catechisms like in 1950; what were catechisms like in 1990.
The Baltimore Catechism was a paper back with Questions
and Answers. The next generation had drawings and pictures and images - topics
and chapters.
NUMBER #3” - MY PERSONAL HISTORY OF LEARNING TO BE
A CATECHIST.
I learned my Catholic faith in Catholic schools.
In the seminary we had a 1 year course on catechetic. It
was in our 1st year of theology - the year after we finished
college. During that year we went to local parishes near Kingston, New York and
taught catechism.
The idea was to put into practice what we were learning
from a text book in the seminary.
I have not one idea from that text book - but I have
memories of my first experience teaching little kids on Wednesday afternoons in
Presentation Church, Port Ewen, New York - right overlooking the Hudson River.
My class - maybe 3rd graders was in the choir
loft of the church. Jack Sherlock’s
class was right below us in the body of the church. That’s not a good idea for sound and sight.
My only memory from that year in the choir loft in
Presentation church was standing there teaching little kids and I begin to
notice they are all laughing and looking to their left - my right facing them.
A kid has a broom in his hand and he is reaching out with the broom and pushing
a hanging church light or chandelier back and forth and kids in the choir loft
and the kids down below are watching him and the lamp swinging. It could have
crashed into the choir loft or hit another lamp.
I quickly ran over and stopped him. That’s all I remember
from my first attempt at being a catechist.
After we finished the seminary, we had 4 months in
Annapolis. It was a transition time before our assignments. A Father Joe D’Acetis brought in speakers on
different topics.
We had a Sister Janann - who gave us a week of talks on
teaching kids.
I remember she brought in leaves and sticks, plants and
toys, and went from the known to the unknown. We were to feel water and see
green leaves and autumn leaves.
She was excellent. We learned the use of everyday stuff
as props.
Through the years I’ve heard priests and specialists
complain about how horrible religious ed was for a good 30 years of time. They
said there was a need for a new catechism.
For adults we got the big catechism from John Paul II’s
time.
In the meanwhile Sadlier and other religious ed books and
publications started to come up with
more content driven material.
In the early 1970’s I went for a Master’s Degree in
theology - I have 3 of them. This one was at Princeton Theological Seminary.
I took a course in religious ed and it was one of the
most difficult courses I ever took. Every Monday morning we had to have a book
report on one book. I was working big time in a retreat house so that was very difficult, but I finished that
course - with a C. the only C I got -
all the rest were A’s. I learned the
most at that C course.
Each week about 15 of us would discuss a different
approach to catechetic: sociology, theology, education theory, anthropology, biblical,
etc. etc. etc.
Then there were a couple of thousand classrooms I visited
on parish missions, parish work, etc. etc. etc.
I learned by time and practice.
CONCLUSION
That’s enough. I just ask you to consider your sources of
learning your faith.
The readings at Mass, Homilies, Parish Missions, Catholic
Magazines and on and on certainly helped you.
More.
Sunday, September 16, 2018
SCULPTURES
Coming down the front steps with you -
after 3 hours together in a museum -
everything on the street seemed
to be - at least
to me - a sculpture:
a traffic cop, taxis, trees, buses,
bikes, kids with yo yo’s, adults with
dogs on a leash, and then you told
me what you were going to do
tomorrow as well as on the weekend.
And it hit me - then and there - you
weren’t with me for the last 3 hours.
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018
WHO DO YOU SAY
THAT I AM?
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 24 Sunday in Ordinary
Time [B] is a question - the question Jesus asks his disciples in today’s
gospel, “Who Do You Say That I Am?” [Cf. Mark 8: 27-35.]
Jesus and his disciples are on the road heading for the
villages of Caesarea Philippi and he asks his disciples, “Who do people say
that I am?”
And they answer, “Some say you’re John the Baptist.
Others say you’re Elijah. Still others say you’re one of the prophets.”
He then asks them, “But who do - you - say I am?”
FATHER RON ROLHEISER
Father Ronald Rolheiser, OMI, in a commentary on today’s gospel, puts the
scene and the question as follows, “If Jesus looked us square in the eye and
asked us, as he asked Peter, ‘How Do You Understand me?’ how would we answer
that question?”
If you ever watch Jeopardy
- you know how they line up the contestants - at the end of the program - give
them a category - and then ask a question and they play the Jeopardy music
piece - “Da, then, da, den - da, then, da then….” - and the contestants write
down their answer to the final question.
We’re Christians, we’re Catholics, we come to Church, how
would we answer either the question, “How do you understand me?” or “Who do you
say that I am?”
On Jeopardy there’s
- a pause - a commercial. There’s silence. There’s the music. Then we see their written answers. What would
be our written answer for how we understand Jesus and who do we say Jesus is.
Who is Jesus Christ to you?
MATTHEW, MARK,
LUKE AND JOHN
Different personalities see Jesus in different ways.
Unlike Jeopardy, various answers would be correct. Some answers would be wrong. Jesus is God and Human.
I have a theory - using Carl Jung’s 2 ways of seeing
people - introverts and extraverts - in varying degrees - that would influence
how we see Jesus. Then comes his 4 ways of typing people - how they function - I’m sure some of you have taken the Myers
Briggs questionnaire. People are more or less - feelers, thinkers, intuitives and sensates.
They would all see Jesus different. Sensates are the neat - practical - non
dreamers. Intuitives are the dreamers - sloppy - all over the place types -
creative and unconscious when it comes to time. Then there are the Head and heart types - the thinkers and
feelers. We all have these 4
characteristics - but in various degrees and usually one or two predominate.
My theory is that Matthew represents thinkers and Luke
represents feelers. Mark the shortest Gospel represents the practical types -
the doers. Then John represents the dreamers - the intuitives - the poetic
creative types.
I’ve not see this anywhere - so take all that with a grain of salt. I’m a high, high
intuitive poetic type and if you are like Mark - direct and to the point - the
gospel we have for this year - you should be more apt to be saying, “What is he
talking about?”
What I would like you to get is that Jesus is Jesus - but
different people will see him their own way.
Just ask people their favorite gospel text from Jesus and
this will be obvious.
It’s like 4 people seeing a movie or a play or read a novel and they all see so differently.
It makes for interesting car talk driving home from a
movie.
It makes for great book club chats and discussions.
ONCE MORE THE QUESTION: WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?
Christianity is a relationship. We need words “LOGOS” about God and “THEOS” God - but Christ is not a theology.
The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us.
We’re receiving bread and wine - objects - stuff -
material = but it’s the body and blood of Jesus. That’s the miracle.
It’s Jesus - and the call is to move from things to
person - to be in communion - and union with him.
It’s personal.
Martin Buber - the Jewish philosopher - helped so many
people with his theology and philosophy and theory that we can do life in one
or two ways: I-It or I-Thou.
I-It is going it alone - when we zero in on stuff - or we
treat others as its - objects.
I-Thou is going it with others - community, family,
talking and listening - seeing others as other than ourselves.
Bringing this into the Christ question means Christ is a
person - the 2nd Person in the Blessed Trinity of Persons - God.
Prayer is personal.
One Our Father that is a conversation is better than 5
Our Fathers that is mumbling - all words - rattling on and on and on - as Jesus
described some prayers.
One “I love you” to our family or loved ones is better
than 1,000 “I love you’s” that is all
words.
TODAY’S SECOND READING: FROM JAMES
Isn’t that what James is getting at in today’s second
reading with his message about faith and works? [ Cf. James 2: 14-18.]
Listen to him again: “What good is it, my brothers and
sisters, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear
and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, keep
warm, and eat well’ but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what
good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.’”
TODAY’S GOSPEL
Today’s gospel from Mark gets all this stuff right into
practical stuff of life.
Jesus says: if you want to follow me, then you got to be
less of you. You have to deny yourself. You have to empty yourself of self. You have
to take up your cross. You have to lose yourself.
Less selfies - more people in the pictures - than just
me, me, me.
The cross has two lines. It’s not 1 line. +
I want things my way - but there’s other people on the
planet - who are in front of me - people who want to make that left turn on one
way streets - and ugh - there are 15 cars on that side of the road coming
towards us.
Another is telling a story and it triggers my story - and
I want to tell my story and I don’t want to listen to this other person’s
boring story from his or her life.
How do you understand Jesus? He’s the challenger!
Jesus says some tough stuff - killers - so we kill him
each time - not grabbing him and nailing him to a cross to shut up his way of
doing life - but just blanking out his calls how to love one another each day -
each encounter with each other.
CONCLUSION
Enough already.
The title of my homily is, “Who Do You Say That I Am?
Answer today - there are many answers. As Isaiah opens up
today’s first reading, He’s the one who opens up our ears that we may hear -
and we won’t be in jeopardy if we listen and then do what he calls us to do.
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