TOGETHER AT SUPPER

Not every meal is a Last Supper,

but let’s hope every meal has people

breaking bread and words - people

connecting - digesting - chewing - nourishing -

working to understand each other’s comments.

Not every meal is a Last Supper,

but let’s hope every meal has people

in real presence with each other -

and transubstantiation and holy

communion - people becoming Christ together.

Not every meal is a Last Supper,

but let’s hope every Mass, every meal

breaks us of our aloneness and selfishness

and fills us with grace - especially

the grace of otherness - together.

 © Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

 May    11, 2019 - 

Thought for today: 

“When I was a child, I always hated being used in my  father's sermons, shrunk to a symbol to illustrate some larger lesson, flattened out to give other people comfort or instruction or even a laugh. It did some violence to my third dimension; it made it difficult for me to breathe. 'That's not me,' I would think, listening to some fable where a stick figure of myself moved automatically toward a punishing moral. 'That has nothing to do with me at all.' If I had a soul, I thought, it was that resistance, which would never let another human being have the last word on me.” 

Patricia Lockwood, Priestdaddy: A Memoir.

THE  KEY

I turn the key, 

the door opens .... 

I turn the key,
the car starts …. 

Sometimes 

I wish I had the key 

to understanding 

who you are and 

what makes you tick. 

Knock, knock ….
Who’s there this time? 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

May    10, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“Life is a gamble at terrible odds - if it were a bet,  you wouldn’t take it.”  

Tom Stoppard [1937-  ] 

in Rosencrantz and 

Guildenstern Are Dead 

[1967], Act. 3.

FINGERS  TALKING

Sometimes - as the old 

advertisement put it:

we let our fingers do

the walking. Sometimes

our fingers do the talking ….

when others notice us
doing a nervous tapping 
of our fingers on the steering 
wheel - or on the table - 
or on the shoulder of a loved 
one - just before she goes 
through the door for surgery.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

May    9, 2019 - 

Thought for today:

“God is subtle but God is not malicious.”  

“Raffiniert ist der Herrgott, aber boshaft ist er nicht.”  

Albert Einstein [1878-1955] 

made this remark at Princeton 

on May 9^th, 1921.  It was later

carved above the fireplace 

of the Common Room  

of the Fine Hall 

(the Mathematical Institute), 

Princeton  University - 

in R.W.  Clark, Einstein (1973), 

Chapter 14

WENT  SILENT

Sometimes the best thing to do

is to go silent.  When the other

is not listening …. When the other

has the answer …. When the other

is ignoring us … it might be the

best time to be like the submarine -

take down the periscope and submerge

down into the silent deep down below.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

May    8, 2019

Thought for today: 

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting.  It has been found difficult; 

and left untried.” 

G.K. Chesterton [1874-1936] 

in What’s Wrong With the World  

(1910), pt 1, Chaper 5.

HAVE  YOU  EVER WORN

 STEPHEN’S  SHOES?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 3^rd Tuesday after Easter is, “Have You Ever Worn  Stephen’s Shoes?”

Stephen being the deacon in today’s first reading …. Stephen being a leader in the early Christian community ….  Stephen who is stoned to death ….  Steven the one who challenges others…. Steven the one who forgives those who kill him ….

So the question again: “Have You Ever Worn Stephen’s Shoes?”  Have you ever been in one of his type situations?

Probably, it should be Stephen’s sandals - not shoes -  but moccasins is what they use in the original version of the old Native American saying? “Don’t criticize  anyone till you walked a mile in their moccasins.”

WE KNOW THIS MESSAGE

We know this message, I’m just repeating it, because  it’s good to be challenged by it every day in our interactions.  

Jesus ran into the same situation with the woman who was caught in adultery. Jesus saved her - by saying, “Let the one without sin, cast the first stone.”

And since all her accusers knew they sinned and made mistakes,  they dropped their rocks and walked away.

I made up a similar saying: “Don’t criticize anyone till you have walked a mile in their sins.”

I like the way Harper Lee put it in her book, To Kill a Mockingbird, “You  never know  man until you understand things from his point of view, until you climb into his shoes and walk around in them.”

Or someone said, “Don’t judge of book by its cover. You might miss out on a good story.”

A guy named Jack  Handey said, “Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way you are a mile away and you have their shoes.”

STEPHEN

What was it like to be Stephen?  If you were in his shoes, if you  were called like him, what did he go through?

Sometimes in life we have to challenge others. Parents have to do that at times - even if their kids are going to yell and scream and complain to and about them for screaming and complaining about them.

Stephen did that as we heard in today’s first reading.

Sometimes in life, people gang up on us - or  name call us, etc. In those moments  we can take the criticism and then forgive the rock throwers and become the peace makers were are challenged to be.

Stephen did that in today’s first reading.  He basically said what Jesus said from the  cross. “Father forgive them, because they don’t know what they are doing. Stephen said, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them….”

So if you want to walk in Jesus’s - as well as  Stephen’s sandals, shoes, and skin, - forgive each other each day. We dummies often don’t know what we are doing.

CONCLUSION

No selfies today.  Only otherlies today.  Instead of thinking of self, think others. What’s it like to be the other person?

And if enough of us do this each day, then each day will be that much better than it would have been.  Amen.

THE  GOOD   LIFE

What’s a good life? 

To love … to laugh …. 

To live one’s life to the full …. 

To bring life into the world … 

to one’s kids, to one’s spouse, 

to leave everyone in the room 

with a smile when one leaves, 

to not worry who’s on first, 

to deal well with death and the 

tragedies of life - there are always 

some. To know I tried, I cried but 

I also made you laugh! 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

May    7, 2019

Thought for today: 

“It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. 

It  is  that they  can’t  see the problem.” 

G.K. Chesterton [1874-1936] 

in Scandal of Father Brown  (1936), 

‘Point of a Pin’.

WHAT  ARE  YOU  

LOOKING  FOR?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 3^rd Monday  after Easter is, “What Are You Looking For?”

That’s a bottom line theme in today’s gospel  - and  in much of the Gospel of John.

What are you looking for?

EXAMINATION  TIME

How much time do we spend each day looking for this and that?

We walk in into a room and say, “It’s in here somewhere?”

And it’s an ongoing joke - that is part of aging process - to ask, “Why did I come into  this room in the first place?”

I remember a young woman telling me 3 or 4 of the qualities she was looking for in a guy?  I asked her: “Well how many are on your list?”  She answered, “About ten!”

She’s now married. I never met the guy? Would  I dare to ask her, “How close is he to fulfilling your requirements?”

Looking back, is she laughing or is she crying - or has she forgotten she had a list - and is now dealing with the real person the guy is?

TODAY’S READINGS

In today’s first reading from Acts 6: 8-15, Stephen is featured.  He and the early Christian leaders - like Christ - were asking questions that people were not asking. They were settled. The early Christians were unsettling and upsetting the old order.

Jesus the Nazorean spoke about Moses and God, the Law and Customs - and sometimes when people are challenged - when lids are lifted - when the Spirit starts stirring the pot - “Uh OH’s” are heard from the stove which is the heart. 

So sometimes we look at faces - or into eyes - and we ask, “What’s cooking?”  Translation: what’s going on within your heart? What are you looking for?

In today’s gospel Jesus meets people who are looking for him. They can’t figure out how Jesus moves about. They want more bread, but he wants to feed folks with the food that endures for eternal life.

If you use the Eucharistic Chapel - if you come to weekday Mass - besides Sunday Mass - you have to read John 6 - over and over and over again.

It’s been around some 1900 plus years.

It’s a document that took years to finalize - somewhere around 90.

It has development. It deals with lots of stuff they were trying to figure out and lots of stuff we’re  trying to figure out - as we develop and evolve.

If you’re married - if you have kids - if you have parents that are still around - if you have parents who have died -  if you look at your relationships - the others are the same as they were back when - but  they are also quite different from back then. Our nuclear self is the same - but our developing and changing self is different.

It’s called evolution - growth - development.

If we don’t change, we’re dead - we’re not doing our inner work. We’re  not evolving.

We see our parents different today - than we saw them 20 years. They have changed and we have changed.

So too Jesus.  So too Jesus in John. So we go through what early Christians in the Johannine churches went through from 50 to the year 100 or so.

And Biblical scholars have certainly grown and changed in their understanding of the Gospel of John down through the centuries.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily for today is, “What Are You Looking For?”

Make lists. Hang onto them. See how they change through the years. Amen.

SOMEONE

Looking out the bus window -

I see all these folks on their

cellphones - walking with

someone - somewhere else -

down this street - talking

about something - but who

is their someone - when

they really need to talk to

someone: as in divorce,

or death, or being fired or

their kid is on opioids?

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

May    6, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“About  one-fifth of the people are against everything all the time.”  

Robert F. Kennedy, in a speech 

at the University of Pennsylvania, 

May 7, 1964 - in Philadelphia Inquirer, 

May 7, 1964

SCREAMING  GOD

A  baby  started  screaming 

during  church  this  morning …. 

On  and off - screams  and  silence …. 

Much  louder than  the priest …. 

It hit me, what if this was God

screaming to us? It seemed that

some people were screaming back,

“Could you please shut that baby up!”

I guess God won’t be quiet ….

I said  to myself, “Maybe this

is the way  God announces

‘I am here’- as a baby ….

“Maybe Christmas day is every day. 

And every day we have to get going 

with our Christmas gifts - to this child 

and to  all the children of this world."

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

THE SHORE AND THE SEA

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 3^rd Sunday  after Easter is, “The Shore and the Sea.”

Today’s 3 readings - especially the Gospel - got me thinking about this topic and this theme

And I want to spell shore both “SHORE” and “SURE”.

And the shore - s h o r e - is a metaphor for the sure - sure.

What? What are you talking about here? Hopefully, by the end of this sermon you’ll get what I’m trying to get at.  And I hope I will too.

Picture a person at the ocean - Ocean City or Rehoboth - and they are about 20 or 30 yards from the  shore - the beach - and the ocean becomes rough and pounding and the person gets caught in an undertow and is tossed a bit - and says inwardly “Uh oh! - I better get out of this water.”

How many situations have we found ourselves in - when things got antsy or angry - nasty and nauseous -  and we didn’t see it coming?

Life has it’s “Uh oh moments” - when we want an “Aha moment” - on how to get out of there.

We want to get out of the unsure and onto the sure.  We want to get out of the shaky and onto the steady.

So the title of my homily is, “The Shore and the Sea.”

I preached on this yesterday at the 4:30 and I began saying to myself during the sermon, “”Uh oh, this is getting muddy.  A better title would be,  “The Sure and the Unsure of Life” - yet I want to bring in the water …. because of today’s gospel.

ON THE WATERFRONT

We who live in this part of Maryland are lucky to live near the water - that is, if you like the water - that is,  if you like sailing or boating or paddle boarding or fishing or crabbing.

How much does geography form the personality?  Do we become where we come from? Do people who live in the Quad cities in the Midwest -  on the Mississippi and its tributaries - do they get a creeping inner fear because of spring flooding every year?

I lived on the Jersey Shore for 7 years and Nor-easterners could cause anxiety. What about people in the Caribbean in hurricane season? What about people in India who live right on the coast in the path of possible typhoons?

The coast has benefits - but also it has its worries.

In Israel the Mediterranean doesn’t show up that often in the scriptures, but it’s there. In the Gospels, the Lake of Galilee - or the Sea of Tiberias as it’s called in today’s gospel from John - is more central. It’s 13 miles north to south and 7 miles from east to west.  It’s there and Jesus was brought up not that far from it.

And in the gospel we have stories about storms at sea - when the disciples start to panic - and Jesus becomes the sure when things are unsure - and they are far from shore.

LIFE HAS ITS SURE AND ITS UNSURE

What does your list of the sure and unsure look like?

Death and taxes always makes the list for sure things.

So too marriages and babies.

So too wars and family feuds.

So too food.

So too  sickness and health.

So too addictions and sin and recoveries and resolutions.

So too unsure things like the weather - more or less depending upon where you live.  I hear that a weather reporter’s job in Arizona ain’t that desirable.

The whole insurance industry is based on the unsure - as they promise a surety - if there is a crash or a crisis.

The possibility of surprise - is the secret of humor and horse races - and the lottery.

People repeat themselves - but sometimes they don’t.

Some people ask the same question every time we see them: “What’s new?”

Sometimes it’s not the sermon we expected.

Which is more you: wanting the same or wanting the different?

I remember preaching a week long parish mission in  Ohio with my buddy Tom. We were near where Bob Evans started and that’s where the pastor ate every night. Well for 6 straight nights I got Cobb Salad - which Tom started to needle me about. I discovered Cobb Salad - and with extra blue cheese dressing it was a sure thing.

Is there a psychological test to find out if we like same or if we like different - the sure or the surprise?

TODAY’S FIRST READING

Today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles  tells about some people in the Mediterranean basin - some 2000 years ago - who told about someone - named Jesus - who was killed - especially for some of the things he said - and rose from the dead.

Now that coming back from death was a surprise.

And for the past 2000 years people called Christians base their life after death on his life and death and resurrection.

That’s some insurance policy.

They were told to shut up about this - but they didn’t - and somehow either we  or our ancestors joined this belief - and here we are right now.

TODAY’S SECOND READING

Today’s second reading from the Book of Revelation talks about the hereafter. It tells about a throne on which the Lamb that was slain sits - the Christ - and countless people - angels and humans - are praising him - giving him the glory - and all pray out and cry out, “Amen.”

In New Orleans you’ll hear the song this way: “I want to be in their number when the saints come marching in.”

That’s a song and a hope for that surety.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

In today’s gospel we have this Jesus - the Risen One - on a beach - at a fire - with bread and fish - and he wants to have breakfast with his followers.

That’s an interesting image.

They are out in the water - fishing - but they caught nothing.

Bummer.

But the man on the shore tells and yells to them where to cast their nets.

Don’t we all want to know where to cast our nets?

Don’t we all want to make a catch - when it comes to life?

And they catch a great catch - 153 large fish - and they had a great meal - a great feast - a great breakfast - a great communion.

And starting with Peter - our first papa - Jesus asks us if we love him more than anyone else  - and Peter - the one who denied him 3 times - says 3 times - you know I love you.

And three times Jesus tells Peter - and he tells us: Feed my sheep - take care of each other - love me, love me, love me.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “The Shore and The Sea.”

Coming to Mass is coming ashore time - eating with Jesus - communion with Jesus - being asked, Have you caught anything?

And then we’re  told the sure things are love and the feeding and caring for each other - and then going into the unsure of the next - singing. Amen.

Not bad.

May    5, 2019 

Thought for today:

“Poetry is the impish attempt to paint the color of  the  wind.”  

Maxwell Bodenheim, 

quoted in Ben Hecht’s 

1958 play, Winkelberg.