August 10, 2019

 INTERESTING  MEETING

It was an interesting meeting.

God woke up one morning

and just wanted to know

what  his creations were thinking

and how they were doing. That’s all.

Invited were a grasshopper,

a mountain, a desert, a lake,

a monkey, a star, a sheaf of

wheat, a grape vine, and the

Prodigal Son’s older brother.

Water from the lake spoke first, next came bread and wine - results from the fields,

the monkey was monkeying around - 
and a bit later came the older brother of the Prodigal Son - now ready to talk.

All spoke up - all wanted humans

to take better care of the earth -

and God to explain climate changes

better  - and the Prodigal Son's older
brother said he was just glad to be home.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

August 10, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“The two most  important  days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”  

Mark Twain

August 9, 2019

OTHERTHINK

We have problems with otherthink.

The other thinks differently from me.

It’s as simple and as complex as that.

At what age does a teenager or anyone

realize the other sees and wants differently?

Is that what dating is all about?

Is that what conversations should be about?

Then there is God.  God thinks differently?

If giraffes or hippos could talk they would

help us to realize this big time.

So too bike riders on busy city streets or an  

18 wheeler driver who needs to pull in here.

So what do think?  Do you think

we have problems with overthink?

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

August 9, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“The  worst disease which can afflict  business executives in their work is not,  as popularly supposed, alcoholism; it’s egotism.”  

Harold S. Geneen, former 

Chairman International Telephone 

and Telegraph in On why 

management sometimes 

accepts underachievement.

August 8, 2019

A  PAINTING

In the middle of a wall, a painting,

on a wall painted egg shell off white ….
In the middle of the painting, a lone figure

in a wind shaking wheat field,

clouds doing nothing, wheat being cut down

to put daily bread on his table ….

Did he know he was being pictured, painted?

Did he know he’d still be around

long after he died, in this field 150 years later,

this scene of a World  War II tank battle?
I prefer the first picture - the first painting -
sweat not blood - falling on the wheat ....

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

August 8, 2019 

Thought for today: 


“You know a person by the kind of desk he keeps …. If  the  president  of a company has a clean desk … then it must be the executive vice president who is doing all the work.”  

Harold S. Geneen, former 

Chairman International Telephone 

and Telegraph in On why 

management sometimes 

accepts underachievement

August 7, 2019

STOP  THE  RAIN 

Sometimes - just to pause and 

feel the rain - just to see the rain - 

just to smell the scent of summer 

rain  - instead of complaining 

about so much rain this year. 

And I spot what I wasn’t seeing: 

wood, drops, circles, cracks, 

spaces, the dark, the light, 

the soft on hard  - rain on wood, 

what was the weather like on 

the cross that day, Lord Jesus? 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

THINKING AND TALKING  

ABOUT  WAR

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 18^th  Wednesday   in Ordinary Time is, “Thinking and Talking About War.”

Today’s first reading talks about war.  Should it lead listeners to talk and think about war?  Or do we just ignore it - like we do with many of our first readings?

I remember I was at a wedding and a Rabbi was there and we got talking. It was after September 11^th. 

He asked me if I read the Koran. I said, “No….” 

He said,  “I ought to read it.”

So I bought a copy and I’ve read it one and a half times. The  thing that stood out was the violence - especially the call to burn, burn, burn.

Somewhere in the time I was reading the Koran, I began to notice that our scriptures - including the New Testament - could also be violent and talk about war.

TODAY’S FIRST READING

Today’s first reading from Numbers has Moses sending men to check out Canaan.   The reason: invasion. 

There’s a key reason for war - a key cause of war - wanting land.

They scope and spy out the land for 40 days and report how difficult a  war it would be to get that land. The people who live there are fierce. They are strong. They are giants and we are grasshoppers in comparison to them.

I think of a poem by Carl Sandburg entitled, “Private Property”.  It’s from his book, The People Yes, 1936.  It goes like this. A man  steps onto another person’s property.  The owner says to the stranger,

“Get off this estate.”
“What for?”
“Because it’s mine.”
“Where did you get it?”
“From my father.”
“Where did he get it?”
“From his father.”
“And where did he get it?”
“He fought for it.”
“Well, I’ll fight you for it.”

There it is - the same story: the fight for land.  

It’s key to understanding the history of our world.

I think about the recent killings in El Paso and Dayton.

There is a lot of uproar and worry as a result.

I think of a poem by Bertold Brecht from his Selected Poems,

“The first time it was reported that our friends were being butchered there was a cry of horror. Then a hundred were butchered. But when a thousand were butchered and there was no end to the butchery, a blanket of silence spread. 

‘When evil-doing comes like falling rain, nobody calls out 'Stop!'"

“When crimes begin to pile up they become invisible. When sufferings become unendurable the cries are no longer heard. The cries, too, fall like rain in summer.” 

That suggests to me there is a need to talk about war from time to time. Is that why today’s first reading is here?  Is that why it’s put into our scriptures?

OTHER REASONS FOR WAR

There are other reasons for war besides land grabs.

There’s nationalism and race and prejudice and one group thinking they are better than other groups.

We see and hear some of this going on today.

We see some of this in today’s gospel.  Here’s this woman - a Canaanite woman - the same group the Israelites were scoping out - to wipe out - that we heard about in today’s first reading.  She asks Jesus, a Jew,  for help, and Jesus says, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” Then she out growls and out barks Jesus and says, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs  eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.”

Some commentators think this story is put in here because the Canaanites - in their region of Palestine - were becoming Christian and some Christians were prejudiced against these new comers, these outsiders, these non-established Christians. 

We see this same pattern in other gospel stories with regards the Samaritans - who become the heroes in some gospel stories.

Prejudice, racism, trying to be  top dog in the show is found everywhere and is part of the dialogue about wars.

Listen to Haile Selassie on all this. Remember that old warrior from Ethiopia:

“Until the philosophy which hold one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned ...
Everything is war. Me say war.

"That until the're no longer 1st class and 2nd class citizens of any nation... Until the color of a man's skin is of no more significa...nce than the color of his eyes, me say war.

"That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race me say war!” 

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily for today was, "Thinking and Talking about War."

What say you of war?

What think you of war?

August 7, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“In the business  world,  everyone is paid in two ways  coins: cash and experience.  Take the experience first; the cash will come later.”  

Harold S. Geneen, former 

Chairman International Telephone 

and Telegraph in Managing, 

with Alvin Moscow, Doubleday, 1984

August 6, 2019

GO  FIGURE

We sketch, we draw, we figure 

out what’s going to happen next 

before we get there. We do. 

Scenarios abound. They do. 

Sometimes we figure out, 

“This is going to be a disaster." 

But sometimes, if we walk

with Christ - if we talk with

Christ - all will be transfigured.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019
Painting: Transfiguation / Mockinbird 

TRANS:

A WONDERFUL PREFIX

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Trans:  [T R A N S]:  A Wonderful Prefix.”

Today, being the feast of the TRANSfiguration, that’s the thought that hit me.

There are some neat religious and spiritually uplifting words beginning with the prefix TRANS. For example: transcend, transform, transparent, transpire, and for us Catholics, transubstantiation.

For the sake of transparency, there can be negative words with trans in them. There’s  sin. It has been called a transgression. A person does a nasty - an aggression or crosses over a boundary and hurts another and themselves. That’s a transgression.

PREFIX

A prefix means goes before - PRE - a short beginning part  of a word that - indicates what’s happening - so trans means going across, going beyond, going through to the other side.  So we have words like transportation, transfer,  transalpine, transcontinental, transatlantic, transoceanic.

So here in Christ’s story - we’re given a looksee into the beyond, into the holy - into  who Christ is - and how he can take us into the next.

IN ISRAEL

In Israel there is a mountain called “The Mount of the Transfiguration.”

In the year 2000 I went to Israel  - being asked by our provincial  - to chaperone Leo there  - an older priest whom I was stationed with.  Leo never went anywhere, so our provincial, George, knowing how much Leo loved the Bible - that he would love a trip to the Holy Land, but would never ask, pushed him to go and got him someone to carry his suitcase.

Me.  Wonderful.

So we took British Airlines - BA - on a transatlantic flight from Kennedy to Heathrow in England and then a transeuropean or transmediterannean flight down to Israel - and we saw it all.

One day we had a trip by bus to the Mount of the Transfiguration. We went to the base of the mountain and then 25 priests - we were on a priests retreat - headed up the mountain in white Mercedes cabs.

We had Mass in the small church up there - then we each made an holy hour - in silence.  I spotted a house with a ladder up to a roof so I climbed it. What a view! What a spot for some quiet time - and it had a nice chair for relaxing, listening and seeing.  

Then we had a spaghetti dinner in a Franciscan monastery up there.

The whole experience of Israel was super. I had a day where I could say, “I’ve been to the mountain”. I also had a day in Nazareth, a day on the Lake of Galilee, a day in Capernaum, , then Jericho Dead Sea and then finishing up in Jerusalem. It was a transfiguring moment for me.  Reading the Gospels from then on, I read them in a new way.  So I too can say of my trip to Israel, “Lord it is good that I was there ….”

I saw so much in a new light.  That’s transfiguring. That’s transfiguration.

CONCLUSION

The goal of the Christian life is to be one with Christ. It’s to be pictured with Christ. It's to go figuring with Christ. It's to be transfigured with Christ.  So why not start walking anew with him into every scene - well a lot of scenes - and notice how a lot of what we see will be transfigured.

August 6, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“Christ is God or He  is  the world’s greatest liar and imposter.” 

Dorothy Day, From 

Union Square to Rome, 1938

FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 18 Monday in Ordinary Time is, “Food Glorious Food.”

I’m sure some of you have seen the movie or play, Oliver, where they sing “Food, Glorious Food.”

The kids in the orphanage are starving and they want food, glorious food.

Even if it’s gruel or ugly grey cereal or porridge.

What’s your take on food?

TODAY’S READINGS

In today’s two readings we hear about people wanting food.

We are all hungry for food - any kind of food at times - and at other times food we like - really like.

Hunger is a real thing.

Complaining about food or lack of food is a common experience.

In the first reading from Numbers 11: 4b-11  the children of Israel are crying for food - meat, fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. And all that is sitting there is manna.

I love the translation of manna as,  “What is this?”

In today’s gospel - Matthew 14: 13-21 - they have to make due with five loaves and two fish - and somehow Jesus feeds the crowds and there are twelve wicker baskets filled with food left over.  Jesus pulls this off for about 5000 men, not counting women and children.

What’s your take on food?  What’s your take on these texts? There are many.

HERE ARE TWO TAKE OUTS ON FOOD FOR HOMILY THOUGHTS

The first would be having the attitude of thankfulness when it comes to food. Be thankful.  Say grace before meals.

Thank God and then thank the shoppers and thank the payers and shoppers and  thank the preparers and the cleaners of food and pots and pans.

Thanksgiving Day is a good model to keep in mind when it comes to food.

On that day we celebrate with food, glorious food.

On that day we celebrate with taking more time to talk and just be with each other.  Thanksgiving Dinner is usually the longest meal of the year.

On that day people make it a point to show up as family - with each other.

The second theme would be to make sure everyone has their daily bread.

It’s easy to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.”  It’s easy to say, “I love you.”   It’s difficult to donate to food pantries, to work in the St. Vincent de Paul Society, to make sure folks have enough food.

At the end of a life, could we say, “I helped provide for 5000 meals for others.”

CONCLUSION

Okay those are two thoughts that hopefully trigger good thoughts about food.

Just in case my homily didn’t float or feed you, here are 5 quotes about food.

“Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.” That’s from Ernestine Ulmer

“The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook.” That’s from Julia Child.

An onion can make people cry but there's never been a vegetable that can make people laugh.” That’s from Will Rogers.

“If you really want to make a friend, go to someone’s house and eat with him… the people who give you their food give you their heart.” That’s from Cesar Chavez

“He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.” - Jonathan Swift

August 5, 2019

EVENTUALLY  EVERY  CAR 

Eventually every car  gets dents ….

Shopping carts, other cars, in

parking lots - nudge our car - ugh….

Eventually every one of us makes

mistakes, sins, does dumb, hurts

others as well as ourselves.

Eventually everyone becomes who

we are more from our mistakes than

our grace - but eventually grace wins….

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

August 5, 2019 - 

Thought for today: 

“We know too much  for  one  man  to know much.”  

J.  Robert  Oppenheimer,  

1954 in a talk.
Tomorrow is the anniversary
of the dropping of the first
atomic bomb on Hiroshima
August 6, 1945 

YOU PROBABLY THINK 

THESE READINGS 

ARE ABOUT YOU.  

DON’T YOU?   DON’T YOU? 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “You Probably Think These Readings Are About You?  Don’t You?  Don’t You?”

They are. They are.

I’m stealing this idea from a song by Carly Simon - called, “You’re So Vain.”

That’s a theme in today’s readings - especially today’s first reading which begins this way, “Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity.”

I can’t sing but in this song by Carly Simon she begins with this message, this image, these words:

You walked into the party
Like you were walking on a yacht
Your hat strategically dipped below one eye
Your scarf, it was apricot
You had one eye on the mirror
And watched yourself gavotte
And all the girls dreamed that they'd be your partner
They'd be your partner, and

You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain,
I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you?
Don't you?

It’s an intriguing and an interesting song.  This week Google “You’re So Vain” song by Carly Simon.  Listen to it every day. Check out today’s readings again. Read them again every day. They too can be found on Google.  Put them both together. That’s basically my sermon for today.

CARLY SIMON’S SONG

It became a top song through the years for Carly Simon. Various guys thought she was singing about them.  She wrote a song called, “Bless You, Ben” with the words, “You came in when nobody else left off.”  Something was missing so she shelved or middle drawered  that song.

Then at a party someone described someone who just came in - “as if they were walking onto a yacht” - and she went back to that Ben song - and re-worked it and re-did it.  It triggered lots of questions - and guessing games: “Who was the you? Who was the guy she was talking about in the song?”

She gave all kinds of hints - as well as saying it was basically about 3 different guys and she gave hints and promised answers as money raisers as well as having fun with it.

So listen to that song this week a few times and hear the question, “You probably think this song is about you …. Don’t you? Don’t you?”

It is. It is.

We can be so vain. We can. We can.

TODAY’S READINGS

Once more the title of my homily is, “You Probably Think These Readings Are About You?  Don’t You?  Don’t You?”

They are. They are.

The first reading is from the Book of Ecclesiastes.

Most people know this book from the Bible because of Chapter 3 where he gives us the great message, “For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under the heavens: a time to be born, and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot the plant….”

That’s another song to listen to - by the Birds ….

Qoheleth or The Teacher - the one who speaks - speaks often in his book about Vanity.  Vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities. All things are vanity.”

It’s a strong theme. You’ll find it in Jane Austen and Shakespeare and so many writers and poets and song writers and movie makers.

In Hebrew the word is HEVEL or HEBEL.  It means this: everyone take their hand. Put the back of it - about three inches away from your mouth. Then breath … push air - blow air onto the back of your hand. 3X 3X 3X.

That’s HEVEL - that breath of air.  That’s vanity.  Where does that air go? It disappears.  It fades. It makes its way around the world. It’s goes into corners and out windows and doors - and into other human beings.

Vanity. Disappears. Invisible.

In today’s first reading Qoheleth, the Teacher, laughs because he tells us that everything we worked for - with all our skills, with all our wisdom, with all our knowledge, is going to be left to someone else.

You can’t take it with you.

We’re going to disappear - like the wind - like invisible breath.

The clay, the mud, the earth, from which I eat and become is going to crumble. The sculpture that God the Artist and Sculptor created and blew air into - to make a human being - is eventually going to run out of gas, run out of air, have more and more trouble breathing. I’m learning this big time this year - trying to get my breath back.

That breath, that vanity, is going to disappear - along with this body called me.  I notice the skin on the inside side of right arm - just below the elbow is  wrinkling more and more - as I move towards hitting 80 this year.

Vanity of vanities.  All things are vanity.

You gotta laugh. You gotta laugh. You gotta cry. You gotta cry.

Bummer. Bummer.  Tough stuff. Tough stuff.  Humbling. Humbling….

And then today’s gospel.  What a mirror. What a message.

This rich man has a great harvest.  He’s saying to himself. “What shall I do? What shall I do? I don’t have space enough to store my harvest. I’m going to tear down that barn. That barn. That barn. And build larger ones.  Then I’m going to say to myself. I got it made. Woo! Wow! Do I have it made?”

And then Jesus says, “The fool…. The poor sucker. He’s going to die tonight.”

Vanity…. His breath will disappear and along with his wealth will go to others.

Hopefully, we realize that this message is about me.

COMING TO CHURCH

So we come church - we come to God - to hear these readings - to hear the words of these songs.

We come to church to realize what Saint Paul is telling us in today’s second reading.

What lasts…. What lasts…. Is God.

Life. Eternal life. The me that’s me - that’s above this earth.

The hidden is eternal and Christ came and did this life - to bring us to believe in eternal life.

That is the message - the reappearance  after death - after our crucifixion - that’s what these readings - that’s what this Mass of faith - hidden in all of us - in the bread and the wind - in the songs - is about.

Whether we’re Greek of Jew - Barbarian, Scythian - slave or free - it’s about us - faith - Christ - can give us this new Vanity of Vanities - the Holy Spirit -the Holy Breath Called God.

Breathe it in baby…. breathe it in - it’s about us. It’s about us. Forever….

August 4, 2019

FROM   SOMEWHERE  ELSE 

It seems that everything 

is from somewhere else - 

people too - so why do 

folks scream about some 

new strangers moving 

into our neighborhood? 

Bread, jam, playing cards, 

cars, apricots, tables, chairs, 

and the woman at the register 

at the front of the store - the 

woman with the accent - make 

this whole deal international. 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

August 4, 2019 

Thought for today 

“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds,  and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” 

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn  

in The Gulag Archipelago.