February   2, 2019 -

Black History Month Thought for Today:  

"I see Americans of every party, every background, every faith who believe that we are stronger together: black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American; young, old; gay, straight; men, women, folks with disabilities, all pledging allegiance under the same proud flag to this big, bold country that we love. That's what I see. That's the America I know!”  

Barack Obama

WATERMELON SEEDS

The little girl was amazed at the

size of a watermelon compared

to an apple, an orange and a grape.

After her mom cut it open for

an after dinner treat - the little

girl was amazed at the color red.

She was expecting green inside -

but no,  it was a rich juicy red

and then she saw the seeds.

“Mommy, mommy, if I plant them,

will I get a watermelon?" Her mom,

a city girl,  said, “I have no idea.”

Well, the little girl, took those

watermelon seeds and planted

them - in big rusty red flower pot.

Every day - when she got home

from school - she watered and

inspected the dark brown soil.

The seeds slowly sent roots down

and green stem and leafs up -

but no watermelon ever showed up.

“Mommy?

Why didn’t you tell me about the birds 

and the bees? Why didn’t you tell me 

how watermelons come to be?"

 © Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

February 1, 2019

WEDDINGS

There was a wedding in Cana of Galilee

and Jesus and his disciples were invited

to the wedding and Jesus saved that couple,

that wedding, when they ran out of wine of life.

There are weddings taking place every day

around the world and we are invited to these

weddings - to sing, to dance and to celebrate -

and support each other in the celebration of life.

There are weddings taking place every day

around the world and couples miss out if they

don’t invite family and friends- the old, the young - all of us to their  wedding - the beginning of new life.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

SLOW  AND  SILENT

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 3^rd Friday in Ordinary Time  is, “Slow and Silent.”

Much of life is slow and silent.

That’s not us at times - especially when we are running and rushing, gabbing and gossiping - doing life - like we see people doing mad shopping every year on TV - on Black Friday - or how some people do Super Bowl Sunday.

Slow and Silent - that’s more like the pace of people driving the streets of Heritage Harbor - or moving along on the corridors a nursing home.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s gospel gave me this thought and theme - as well as the title of this homily: “Slow and Silent.”

Jesus tells two parables….

The first tells the story of the farmer spreading seed on the dirt of the earth.

Listen to Jesus again:

"This is how it is with the Kingdom of God;
it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land
and would sleep and rise night and day
and the seed would sprout and grow,
he knows not how.
Of its own accord the land yields fruit,
first the blade, then the ear,

then the full grain in the ear.
And when the grain is ripe,

he wields the sickle at once,
for the harvest has come." [Mark  4: 26-29]

Listen to Jesus again in his second parable for today:

"To what shall we compare

the Kingdom of God,
or what parable can we use for it?
It is like a mustard seed that,

when it is sown in the ground,
is the smallest of all the seeds

on the earth.
But once it is sown,

it springs up

and becomes the largest of plants
and puts forth large branches,
so that the birds of the sky

can dwell in its shade." [Mark 4:30-32]

The plant world can teach us these lessons.

Slow and silent - plant life is inching upwards and outwards and rooting downwards.

Slow and silent - like the snow most of the time.

Snow falls slowly - well not always - and the yard becomes white.

Paint peels slowly - so too rust - so to milk going bad.

So too skin - the slow wrinkling  of our skin.

So too cancer - the creeping slow killer.

Band-Aids lift, lose their grip, itch, and silently scream, “Change me!”

Bread rises slowly….

Wine ferments gradually.

So too love - and the 25^th and 50^th anniversary happens.

So too the slow of sorrow and of death - hopefully 4 score and twenty at least for all of us.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “Slow and Silent” - the way Jesus’ words slowly make their way into the fiber of our being and our thoughts.

February   1, 2019 

Black History Month Thought for Today: 

“I could fall in love with a sumo  wrestler  if he told stories and made me laugh. Obviously, it would be easier if someone was African-American and lived next door and went to the same church. Because then I wouldn't have to translate." 

Maya Angelou

THE COLOR GREEN

In 1947,  I saw my  first major

league baseball game - aged 7 - 

with my dad and my brother.

Coming up out of the dark tunnel

at Ebbets Field - underneath the 
seats - I saw Dodger Blue - but

the main color was green -

a much brighter green than

our PAL*  baseball field green.

And looking back - I realize

now - I didn’t see black - I

only saw Number - 42 - Jackie.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

Today - January 31, 2019
is the l00th Birthday of
the baseball  player -
Jackie Robinson.

*PAL - Police Athletic League.
Brooklyn  Police Officers got us
bats and balls and umped our games.

January  31, 2019

Thought for today:  

“Jackie’s  character  was much more important than his batting average.” 

Hank Aaron, Hall of Fame 

outfielder,  on Jackie Robinson

January 30, 2019

CHOOSE  ME

Time after time, we’re like little children.

Choose me. Pick me. Don’t dis me!

I have found my song. I have found my voice.

This is me from inside of me at this time in my life.

We want to be - not all the time - but from

time to time - we want to be on the stage of life.

Choose me. Pick me. Know me. Love me.

Don’t miss me - because this is who I am.

Hear my song. Hear my eyes. Hear my heart.

Here me from time to time - like right now.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

January  30, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“It is good if we can bring about that God sings within us.” 

Rabbi Elimelekh

ANOTHER TAKE ON TAKING AWAY SINS 

FROM THE HUMAN HEART 

AND THE MEMORY 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 3^rd Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Another Take on Taking Away Sins from the Human Heart and the Memory.”

As priest I know that people remember their sins - more than their good things - and many for the rest of their lives.

Even though they have gone to confession - people remember their past - especially their past sins.  When someone tells that  past sins keep returning to their memory - I say - “Of course:  we remember our mistakes. The opposite is dementia.”

FROM TODAY’S FIRST READING

I get this thought and this question from today’s first reading from Hebrews 10: 1-10.

Today’s first reading says that people make sacrifices  year after year to feel cleansed of sins - to remove the consciousness - the remembrance of their sins.

The Letter to the Hebrews says a lot about the why of worship and making sacrifices. It talks especially about the sacrifice of Christ . It talks about Old Testament sacrifice of animals.  Doing this is part of what human beings do to try to get rid of our memories of our  sins.

Human beings who have cheated on their spouses can tell you they keep on giving gifts to the other - to make up for our sins.

Was it Irma Bombeck who said, “Guilt: the gift that keeps on giving.”

SUNDAY EVENING

The title of my homily is, “Another Take on Taking Away Sins from the Human Heart and the Memory.”

Last Sunday evening I sat in the benches here at St. John Neumann when Father Ronnie Bonneau  was giving some remarks to the RCIC -  Becoming a Catholic as a kid - and he was talking  about going to confession for the first time - or any time.

He said that God’s motive for forgiving us is love. God loves us. God wants us to say we’re sorry and to move on.

Well as I listened I found myself thinking the following: “Maybe we can’t accept that God forgives us, because we can’t forgive those who hurt us.”

Said in another way, “If we learn to actually forgive someone who hurt us, then we might learn to realize God forgives us and others can forgive us.”

Again, if we can really forgive another then we might realize, “Well, if I can do this, God can do this.”

CONCLUSION

That grabbed me.  I don’t know how well that grabs you. Just as I began thinking about forgiveness in my own way - when listening to another - maybe you have your own insights.

Forgiving and being forgiven is a lifetime question - wondering - struggle.

January 29,  2019

JESUS TAKES 10 VERBAL SELFIES

“Oooh. Lucky for this lady that they dropped

those rocks and just walked away  -

one by one - beginning with the oldest.”

“Mom…. I hope you don’t do this

every time now - when people are stuck.”

“I knew someone was pulling

on the tassel of my cloak.”

“Thomas,  oooh! So many doubts."

“Peter. Promises. Promises - 
and having so much promise.”

“Andrew - always so reliable.”

“So much bread and fish left over.

Okay, we can do without the fish.”

“No. Not again. I can hear them now.

I just wanted a half hour nap - okay

an hour - to catch up with some sleep.”

“They didn’t get that parable. I know it.”

“That cross we passed on the road….

I sense it’s an “Uh oh! and an “Oh no!”

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

January  29, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God.” 

Leon Bloy

SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT 

SAINT  THOMAS  AQUINAS 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my sermon is, “Some Thoughts About Saint Thomas Aquinas.”

Today, January 28^th, is the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas - so I asked myself,  “What thoughts hit me when hearing the name of St. Thomas Aquinas?”

HERE ARE SOME  9 COMMENTS

I’m in Italy - getting a guided tour by Father John Ruef of various Redemptorist holy places. John points out the train window. “See that hill there. That’s where Thomas Aquinas was from.” All I saw was a hill in the distance.  Everyone has to be from somewhere?  Point to where you’re from.

I’m up the hill in Monte Casino.  St. Thomas Aquinas was sent here for studies as a tiny kid. Later on someone proposed him for abbot of Monte Cassino  - a Benedictine monastery - even though he was a Dominican.

I’m in Cologne, Germany for 1 hour - to see the great cathedral there.  I was told to take a train 1 hour earlier from Hamburg to Paris - but get off for an hour in Cologne and check out the Cathedral. St. Thomas was there as a student before the cathedral was started in 1248 as well afterwards on a return stay after 1250.

I’m in Paris. I had the thought: St. Thomas spent the heart of his theological teaching here.

If you ever hear some theologian being condemned - criticized - being called a liberal or a conservative or modern or what have you - step back and remember that Aquinas was criticized and condemned by various people in his time.  He discovered Aristotle and various other ways of doing and teaching theology and philosophy - that others did not accept. In time his outlook and method - called “Scholasticism” ends up being made the top recommendation for seminarians in the Western world.  Around 1960 - when I entered the Major Seminary - I heard names like Rahner, Congar, Marin-Sola, Haring,  Chenu, De Lubac,  - being criticized by other church members.  Karl Rahner, for example, was told he can’t submit his writings for publication. These teachers ended up becoming the key voices for the Second Vatican Council - and then that cause uproar as well.

St. Thomas Aquinas’  key theological teaching was: "Nihil est in intellectu quod non sit prius in sensu." (Nothing is in the intellect that was not first in the senses).  That is an essential stance for a way of thinking - which shows that we value science and the visible.

Another key principle was, “Authority is the weakest of arguments.”  Give me reasons.

If you ever hear someone described as a dummy - remember Thomas Aquinas was called, “The Dumb Ox.”

If you ever write, remember  that Aquinas dumped his stuff - calling it straw. He burnt it.

CONCLUSION

Just a few ideas coming from and about St. Thomas Aquinas.

January 28, 2019

LETTING GO

AND HANGING ON

They met each other in the third grade, and

once again in the sixth grade and always tried

to sit next to each other in the eight grade

The other kids kidded them when they

saw them talking and walking and holding

hands in the first year of high school.

They fell in love with each other in their last

year of high school and their parents figured

it would end at the end of their senior year.

They went to college far from each other

and in time letters and mail and phone

calls became less and less and less.

Birds fly north and birds fly south

and these just two celebrated their 50^th

anniversary  this past July 4^th.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019 

Tyoria Txori

This is a well known Basque song.
Here is an English translation:

The bird's a bird

If I had cut its wings

It would've been mine,

It wouldn't have gone away.

If I had cut its wings

It would've been mine,

It wouldn't have gone away.

But, that way

It would no longer have been a bird.

But, that way

It would no longer have been a bird.

And I...

Loved the bird.

And I...

Loved the bird.

If I had cut its wings

It would've been mine,

It wouldn't have gone away.

If I had cut its wings

It would've been mine,

It wouldn't have gone away.

But, that way

It would no longer have been a bird.

But, that way

It would no longer have been a bird.

And I...

Loved the bird.

And I...

Loved the bird.

Lara lala...

January  28, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“Live so that the preacher can tell the truth at your funeral.” 

K. Beckstrom

CATHOLIC  SCHOOLS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Catholic Schools.”

This week is Catholic Schools Week. Here at St. Mary’s we do what many Catholic Parishes with Catholic Schools do: We have the kids speak at the beginning of each Sunday Mass.  They and we thank those who have supported Catholic Schools down through the years in various ways.

This week there will be programs on different aspects of Catholic Education in our school.   I know I have a High School Mass for St. Mary’s High School on Monday morning - and the whole grammar school has an Elementary School Mass on Thursday. That’s tricky - busing all the kids out to St. John Neumann.

TRICKY REALITY TO TALK ABOUT

Catholic Schools are a tricky topic to talk about.

Many of our people went to and have their kids go to public school or other private schools.

Some of you might be or have taught and worked in public or non-religious or other religion private schools.

Some of you are converts.

Then there are Catholic, Public and Private non-Catholic colleges.

Then there is the cost of Catholic schools.

Then there would be the wondering if this is the best forum for talking about Catholic Schools.

There are only so many Sundays - and the Sunday Homily - should be on Spirituality - Social Justice - Morality - Inspiration - Challenge - Insights - coming out of the readings for that Sunday.  So talking about Catholic Schools from the pulpit - might not be the best of moves.

HISTORY

A first question would be the history of Catholic Schools in the United States.

Dioceses wanted to make sure our kids got a good education in the faith -and counter anti-Catholicism in public schools.

You who like to google things - ought to google that.

Part of our United States history has been the enormous contribution of Catholic Sisters - who worked for very low pay - and it took a long time for these women to become better trained in education and teaching techniques. This is part of the background of numerous Catholic women’s colleges in Maryland and across the country.

New Orleans has some wonderful stories of Ursuline sisters teaching slave women and freed slaves.

After Vatican II, a lot of nuns left the convent - but brought their expertise to wherever they settled.

Many  all women colleges became outstanding centers of learning.  To survive and diversify, many became coed.  I have a niece who went to Marywood in Scranton, Pennsylvania - as well as my sister Peggy who became an IHM nun.

For the history of St. Mary’s schools here in Annapolis, check out Robert Worden’s book on the history of our parish.

QUESTIONS  & ANECDOTES

Religious education for our Catholic Kids in public schools always seems to need improvement.  Do we neglect these kids in parishes that have Catholic schools?

What about adult education and adult preparation for marriages, baptisms, confirmation, knowledge of our faith.

Does Catholic education stop for some after Catholic school?

I heard someone say somewhere along the line, that the age for confirmation will never be agreed upon, because sometimes this is the last time we’ll see some of these kids. Is that true?

I know of one parish that pushes for Adult Catholic and Christian and religious book clubs. Would we simply tell people to think that way and go for it. A book a month for about 10 months - works for fiction and non-fiction books - why not Catholic books?

I heard of one parish that had the following religious Ed program. Parents or a parent came to a church meeting space once a week - during the school year - and they took a catechism class and then they taught that same program in their family. Time wise - schedule wise - would that work. Could that be done through the TV - with discs or whatever will be next.

One pastor told me that he was pastor of a parish in New York City and it had an elementary school.  Then he was changed.  10 years   or so later he came back as pastor of that parish - but in the meanwhile the grammar school was closed.  He saw the difference in leadership in all kinds of groups in the parish. Many had disappeared. So what impact does a Catholic School have on a parish?

I have met people who attend a weeklong conference on the Bible or Theology - every year - usually during the summer - in Chicago or Washington D.C.  The National Catholic Reporter features a 4 to 8 page section two times a year with listings for all kinds of topics and themes and folks sign up. Why not make that part of one’s life or one’s retirement?

TODAY’S READINGS

The bottom line is not Catholic schools for the sake of Catholic Schools.

The bottom line would be Jesus Christ - for all the members of the body of Christ to be and to become the body of Christ as we heard in today’s second reading. In any given parish, some are better being handy. Some are better doing the leg work.  There are many paths. There are many skills. Some are better at being apostles - or prophets - or teachers - or healers - or assistants - or hearers - or listeners.

The message of today’s first reading - is that all of us need to meet on a regular basis to hear the word of God. Ezra in that first  reading gathers everyone at the Water Gate - and reads from daybreak to midday.

It reminds of me what they used to do in cigar factories in Cuba and Florida. Someone would be seated on a raised wooden platform and read out loud during the day  - so the folks would be getting an education.  Notice Ezra the scribe - one who could write - and read to the folks - from a  raised wooden platform.

Notice in today’s gospel,  how Jesus goes into the synagogue and - goes up front. He is handed the scroll of Isaiah and reads that “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed m. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and to let the oppressed to go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.”

Education, Catholic Education, How to education, Philosophical, Psychological, Sociological Education, Humanistic Education  - is good for all of us.

CONCLUSION

I have met about 10 people in my life who have said to me, “What book are you reading right now?”

What book are you reading right now?

I love the conversion moment message in Augustine’s Confessions: “Tolle et lege. Tolle et lege. Take and read, take and read.”

There are great books, CD’s, Documentaries, Programs, Conferences, Movies, that can  update and challenge you as a Catholic - as a human being.

Catholic Schools week is a good week for all of us to hear this - not just school kids. Amen.

January  27, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“Those who run with wolves learn to howl.”  

Spanish Proverb

January 27, 2019

JEALOUSY  AND  ENVY

We mix up those two words,

those  two feelings, all the time.

Jealousy: the fear of losing what I have.

Envy: wanting what you have and I don’t.

I feel jealously when you enter the room

and you want to win the trophy that is mine.

I feel envy when you win the prize or get

the trophy that I expected but you got.

 © Andy Costello, Reflections 2019