IF  I  WERE  A  TREE?

If I were a tree, what kind of a tree would I want to be?

Would I want to be a redwood tree and last at least 923  years?

Would I want to be an olive tree and last 1000 or is it 2000 years in the garden of Gethsemane?

Would I want to be a palm tree giving palm oil and gracious shakes and shimmies  to all looking at me down at  a beach?

Would I want to be an apple tree sending forth apple blossom scents  in the spring and handing out delicious red apples in the fall?

Would I want to be a Christmas tree - all decked out with the finest of ornaments, with gifts left at my feet, indoors, on a rug or a neat wooden floor -  being the background  for dozens of photos and the cause of a 1000 smiles - but by the way, I’m dead?

Would I want to be a banana tree bringing delicious bananas to the breakfast table and be the cause of swing to dozens and dozens of frisky monkeys?

Would I want to be the tree of the cross - being a back and then the death bed for Jesus - becoming the symbol for Christianity?

Would I want to be a mighty oak tree - a sign of hope and a symbol of  strength for an old man sitting on a nursing home porch?

Would I want to be a weeping willow tree - near a small pond on the side -  of a side road - in the suburbs?

Would I want to be a Japanese cherry blossom tree that thousands come to see every spring in Washington D.C. - telling us countries can share beauty and life with each other.

Would I want to be a fig tree  caught by a farmer for doing nothing - but given a 2^nd chance - but now am  living under the gun needing to produce?

If I were a tree, what kind of a tree would I love to be?

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

[This was a fun reflection on the  parable of the Fig Tree in today’s gospel Luke 13: 1-9 - for the 29^th Saturday in Ordinary Time.  I know a few people who know all about trees - and types of trees, but I’m treeologically illiterate - so here was an attempt to bring in something about different trees.]

October 26, 2019

OVERHEARD  FROM KIDS 

ON  THE  NEXT  TABLE 

“Like what?”

“I do.”

 “Me too.”
“This is better.”

“Oh yeah.”

“I understand.”

“I like.”

“I did that one.”

“I’ll kill you.”

“Cool.”

“Yeah, give me one.”

“I’ll never go there.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Unbelievable.”

“So boring.”

“I know what class she’s in....”

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

October  26, 2019 -

Thought for today:

“Few people can be happy unless they hate some other person, nation or creed.” 

Bertrand Russell, 

Autobiography, 1961

DIG  DEEP  INTO  ANYWHERE

To read, to know, the history

of the place where we come from,

one has to dig deep into the

soil of the place we’re looking at.

Our shovel, our mind, our eyes will

hit blood and rock and injustice.

Little will be written, if anything. That’s

the stuff written of kings and the rich.

Yet, our roots, our stories, our tears, can

still be  found in  soggy dirt with bogged

down pieces of skull. Our ancestors were

here and praise God, we can dig here. Amen 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

October  25, 2019

Thought for today: 

“The Church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state but rather the conscience of the state.”  

Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Strength to Love, 1963

DIVISION

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 29 Thursday in Ordinary Time is, “Division”.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s gospel - on first hearing - evoked an, “Oh no!” from me.

Oh no - here’s Jesus - saying, “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?  No, I tell you, but rather division.”

Then Jesus  talks about division in families: three against two and two against three.  A father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against  her mother, a mother-in-law her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

Down through the ages did scribes - monks  -  printers - doing the Book of Kells or the Lindisfarne scriptures - or the Guttenberg Bible - or any transcriber of the Gospels - say the same, “Oh no!” upon coming to this wall of words - a wall that divides people from people.  Did they say, “What about those other words Jesus told us about forgiveness - for example forgiving 70 times 7 times and bringing peace to the rooms we enter?”

STEPPING BACK

Stepping back, sitting back, pondering these words of Jesus, after saying, “Oh no!”  I said, “Oh yes, there is plenty of family division - church division - political division.”

Next I said, “You were taught  all these Gospel texts were put there to deal with stuff in Christian communities two and three generations after Jesus.

Next I said, “And we need to deal with division - and disagreements - and inner fights - just as every generation of Christians have to.”

I love to quote the saying, “The greatest sin is our inability to accept the otherness of the other person.”

I like it when the pope follows my opinions.  I don’t like these folks who don’t like Pope Francis.  And I would like this pope and the next pope to make significant changes in the church - as long as they are liberal..

And I realize there are lots of people who will have problems with me when I’m made pope.

WHERE I NEED TO CHANGE

I need to walk in other’s shoes and figure out where they are coming from when I discover they differ from me.

I need to talk to others who will challenge me to see where I am coming from.

I need to read, talk, dig into - so as the figure out the why of divisions.

We were just talking the other day about two Redemptorists and one guy says about a guy who was a whiner - he couldn’t accept Vatican II.

CONCLUSION

So there’s differences and divisions -  and we all need to deal with them. Amen. 

We need to learn to meet with each other - as you’ll hear in the 2^nd Canon for reconciliation which I’ll use at this Mass.

October 24, 2019

MEMORIES

Like a favorite sweater -

memories warm us when

we are cold - but at some

point we take that sweater off.

It goes into a closet or a bottom

drawer and memories come off

dates and places and drop out

of site into closets and bottom

drawers, but some days we are

cold….

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

October  24, 2019

Thought for today: 

“Incredibly, inordinately, devastatingly, immortally, calamitously, hearteningly, adorably beautiful.”  

Rupert Brooke of 

the actress 

Cathleen Nesbitt

If you're married

give your spouse 

that kind of 

a compliment.

October 23, 2019

JUST LISTEN

Just listen…. Just open up your ears -

just listen to the sound of music from

everywhere …. Kids walking by ....

Birds having a flash mob concert  above

a just harvested corn field .... Elevator

music - mall music - street music ....
Music .... Music .... Music .... Music ....
Everywhere .... Just listen .... Listen ....

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

October  23, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“Leave words and take a song.”

Someone

P.S. That's my cousin

in the third song -
Caitriona Ni  Churraoin

October 22, 2019

HINTS AND INTUITIONS

If we asked someone to empty

out the contents of their souls -

onto the dining room table -

we’d see smigeons of hints

that this someone knows

there is a God lurking in our

loneliness and there are lots

of intuitions of beauty in all

the moments and memories

of the human soul. Many ….

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

October  22, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“Pursue, keep up with, circle round and round your life …. Know your own bone: gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw at it still.” 

Thoreau

MY  BLOG

Various people down through the years have sent messages to me about starting a blog - working with a blog - and various other “How To” questions about blogs.

I still don’t know how to process  their questions - mainly because they must think by putting a comment into my blog - I can respond directly back to them.  There is no e-mail address, etc. so I can’t respond - as of now.

We’re getting a new guy here next month who is tech savvy - so I’ll ask him some of the questions people sent to me.

To start a blog - you can do what I did.  A guy named Norm Constantine suggested I start a blog - so I said, “Show me.” He set this one up for me. He showed me how to do blog spots.

I started on June 17, 2009.  This is blog piece #6924.

So to start a blog - a question I’ve been asked - find someone who will set up a blog for you.

This one didn’t cost me a penny. It’s still free.  I know some  people make money etc. with their blog. I don’t.

As time went on I learned how to put pictures and short YouTube videos onto pieces.  The screen menu showed me just how to do different things.

Imitation is the highest form of flattery.  Study different blogs and come up with a blog site you would like to imitate.

Go for it.

I hope someone who sends me  their requests for information will find this short document.  I am not dissing them.

Thanks,

Andy Costello

PERCEPTION

Till we realize we both can be looking 

at the same thing - while at the same 

time see differently  - we’re not going 

to be really communicating with each 

other. Solution: “How do you see this?” 

For example: How do you see the following?
A tricycle?  A cane? A kid watching a balloon
that just slipped out of her hand sailing away?
A family - three small kids and a mom and
dad - licking ice cream cones on a warm night.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

October  21, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“God’s pencil has no eraser.”

October 20, 2019

GOING  TO  CONFESSION

I sometimes hear people po po

going to confession. When I hear

this complaint or comment,

I keep quiet. I listen to them.

I think about what they are saying.

They usually say in the mix of

their words that they can go

directly to God. Good. Great.

Go for it. But when they say,

"It’s crazy", it’s  then I might  say,

“I’ve been ordained a priest

and have been hearing people’s

confessions for 55 years now

and I’ve heard the, “PHEW!” sound

enough times to say, “I disagree

with your appraisal.” Then I might

add, “You’re like people who say

there is no God to people who

have tasted God."  "Oh you don't

believe in God, either." Oh.

A suggestion: think outside 

the box before going into it. 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

October  20, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“There is no such thing on earth as an uninteresting subject;  the only thing that can exist is an uninterested person.”  

G. K. Chesterton, Heretics, 1905