June  6,  2020

OUR  DAILY  BREAD

Give us this day, our daily bread.

Lord, it’s been months since I last

received communion.  I don’t want

this virus – nor do I want to be the

cause of someone else getting it.
Amen.

So all I can pray is a prayer for all

people – that somehow by this

missing – this hunger – this thirst -

for communion with you – our faith

in you and each other will continue.
Amen.

©  Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

June  6,  2020 

Thought  for  Today 

 “A verbal contract isn’t worth the paper  it’s  written  on.” 

Samuel Goldwyn

June  5,  2020

PRAYER CHAIR:

JUST   BE   THERE

Be still, be silent, be there for

just for a few moments each day.

Designate a chair as your prayer chair,

your sacred space, your sacred place.

Wouldn’t it be interesting if someone

spotted you and asked what you’re doing.

And you said, “Just praying, just sitting

here with God for a few wonder moments.”

And the other said,  “What? How long

have you been doing this – just sitting there?”

And you smiled – answering – "For a while

now. It just soothes my very soul.”

You don’t tell them: “For about 3 years now -

nor do you add: “Matthew 6:6” – but you want to.

 © Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

June  5, 2020 

Thought   for  Today

 “If the world were only pain and logic, who would want it?"

Mary Oliver,

"Singapore"

Painting: "Crucifixion" 
by Vincente Silva
Manansala, 
Philippines (1910-1981)

THE  ISLAND

Here's  a Russian movie that can get you thinking,  praying,  and looking at life.

You'll need some time  to watch it - but it's worth the watching - and praying.

It's called, "The Island" - a 2006 Russian Movie.

We're all on it - Island Earth.

Hit the little box - down on the right hand corner - to get full screen - or however you get full screen.

Prayers - and hopes.

Here's what YouTube or someone says about this movie:

The Island (Russian movie with English subtitles)

1,946,813 views

•Jun 5, 2016

"The Island" is a 2006 Russian biographical film about a 20th century Eastern Orthodox monk. Pyotr Mamonov, who plays the lead character, formerly a rock musician in the USSR, converted to Eastern Orthodoxy in the 1990s and lives now in an isolated village. Film director Pavel Lungin said about him that "to a large extent, he played himself." Mamonov was first very hesitant to play in the film, but then was urged by his confessor to play the character. After the filming, one of the movie crew staff decided to stay on the island and live there as a hermit.

June   4,   2020

WITHIN

Surgeons need lights when they look within,

so too psychoanalysts and friends who

are trying to listen to what we’re feeling.

I prefer learning what’s within – when it’s

a box of chocolates and I know one of

these babies have red raspberry within.

Tell me more. Tell me how you swim with
God when you swim or when you sit with

God on a park bench or corner church seat.

Tell me about the old lady you visit on Thursday

afternoon for tea or the kids you tutor in math

for free and how you love Willie Nelson's songs.

Tell me how you figured life out after your husband

died and your kids were out and about - paving

their paths and roads and familying their families.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

June  4,  2020

Thought  for  Today

“The  only  wisdom we can hope to acquire / Is  the wisdom of humility: humility is endless”. 

T. S.  Eliot, page 35

In T. S. Eliot, A

Symposium for His

Seventieth Birthday,

N.Y, Farrar, Straus

& Company, 1958

Edited by Neville

Brayubrooke

June  3,  2020

SPRAWL

That’s how he sat on the couch ….

That’s how he drove his big 2 door car ….

That’s how his living room looked ….

That’s how he laughed and told a story ….

That’s how he sat in a restaurant  -

an empty chair on each side of him –

the rest of us on the edge and on our side….

You got to say, “He was consistent ….

He was open to what you had to say,

but you felt more like a couch pillow

than a person – your ideas or comments

would  remain like a half-eaten bag of chips ….

I think that’s why most people were past

history when it came to him …. We were

all going, going, gone …. Bye bye …. Bye bye….

©  Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

June  3,  2020

Thought  for  Today

“You  carry  heaven  and  hell  with  you.”  

Sri Ramana Mararshi

 

June  2,   2020

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW

Where will I go - when I die?

Into a death card - name and dates -

and a prayer now and then - I hope ….

Into a memory - jumping out of

a conversation - by old friends ….

Into a photograph - on a bookshelf -

and on an iPhone for a while ….

Into acts of kindness - that I tried - 

before I died and you - caught that spirit …

In my jigsaw puzzle - God smiles at  - in its

box - which he still treasures on his window sill ….

And I better add:  sitting  somewhere on the

biggest table – God’s table – in our forever ….

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

June   2,  2020 

Thought  for  Today 

 “If you don’t place your foot on the rope,  you’ll never cross the chasm.” 

Anonymous

PERPETUAL   HELP 

MOTHER   OF   THE   CHURCH

Mary, as I ponder your many titles,

as I wonder about your many names,

I stop for a moment at some of them:

Our Lady of Sorrows and Perpetual Help,

Full of grace and the call to do something

when newlywed couples run out of wine

or folks are hungry for some daily bread.

Mary, Mother of the Church and Mother

of Perpetual Help, remind us, that it be done to us –

what was done to you, that we be there for others

at cribs and crosses or when someone needs

an eye of recognition  in a crowd or when they need

a breath of fresh air – having fallen or been pushed down

once more on dark macadam hard streets of death. Amen. 

©  Andy Costello  Prayers

June   1,   2020


"You  can't ring the bells and,  at the same time,  walk in the procession."

Spanish Proverb

May 31, 2020

PENTECOST  2020

Gone Holy Spirit ….

It seems like the in and out

of breath has left our lungs –

and we are speechless –

has fled our sails –and

we are stuck on this side

of the lake – has  been locked

and hidden in our upper rooms –

with plywood panels boarding

up our windows ….

Come Holy Spirit ….

Wind - Holy Breath of God –

Fresh Air – wherever you are -

breathe into us – Genesis us –

RUAH  us – rush into us -

fill us - so that  we

can shout out new words ….

Fill our sails so we can head

for new shores  …. Open our windows

so we can look out at blue skies beyond us.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

May  31,  2020

Thought  for  Today

“I  got  the blues thinking of the future, so I left off and made some marmalade.  It’s amazing how it cheers one up to shred oranges and scrub the floor.”

D.H. Lawrence