November  14,  2020

 B  STUDENT

 

I’m a B Student.
Have been one all my life.
It’s not a bad place to be.
How about you?
 
It gives you a place to notice
what’s going on – without
having teachers or parents
on your back for bad or for more.
 
It also gives you time for
a lot of other things: just
hanging out and reading
what you want to read.
 
Being a B Student comes
without the two C’s:
comparison and competition
as well as teacher blaming.
 
Okay -  at 85 – I won’t have
any report cards with all A’s
to show my great grandkids.
I’ll only have time to B with them.

 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

 November 14, 2020

 

Thought for Today

“God in his wisdom made the fly

and then forgot to tell us why.”

 

Ogden Nash,

Good Intentions

 

 November 13.  2020

 ME

 

Soggy,  dull,  somber, slushy,
gloomy,  humorless, solemn,
dreary, grim, painful, aloof,
“No - none of these descriptions ….”
 
 
Somewhat,  sometimes, sloppy,
flexible, nodding, limited, tease,
hunch, symbolical, a sponge at times,
“Yes - getting closer – a bit of these ….”

 

 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

November 12, 2020

 

 SNAIL

 

How in the world did the snail

make it this far in the evolution

chain – that it’s still around?

 

It seems so small, so harmless,

so vulnerable, so oblivious to

all its surroundings.

 

And the answer came back almost

immediately from the snail, “It’s obvious.

I’m quiet and I live in a shell.”

 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

November 12, 2020

 

Thought for Today

“Mirrors should think longer before they reflect.” 

Jean Cocteau

 

 

 November  11,  2020

5,607^th BRICK

 
I lucked out being cemented into a wall
just 10 feet from the top. Lucky me.
 
I have a great view of the street below.
I have no graffiti up here near the top.
 
Yet from time to time I realize I'm missing
out on a lot of up close and personal stuff.
 
Conversations – kids playing ball off my wall –
or old folks out of breath pausing for a hold on.
 
So, in these last few years, I’ve become more 

spiritual - learning the whoever-wherever prayer.

 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

November  11, 2020

 

Thought for Today

 

“If you don’t wake up with something in your stomach every day that makes you think, ‘I want to make this movie,” it’ll never get made.’”

 

Sherry Lansing

 

USING THE  WORD “GREAT”

 
The title of my talk is “Great!”
 
Today – November 10^th - is the feast of Pope Leo the Great – one of the three popes – called, “Great.”
 
The three popes are: Leo, Gregory, and Nicholas.
 
There might be a fourth, John Paul II.  But time will tell if that becomes true.
 
History takes time. There are lots of things said at the time of a funeral – that those who lived with the person who died – know this is just the much and the fuss at the time of death.
 
The name “great” for a pope has never been an official title.  It comes by popular acclaim. That’s the way saints used to be named – and popes were called up from the community.  Canonizations and conclaves came later on.
 
THE WORD “GREAT”
 
The word “great” is used by all of us many times  - perhaps once a week or for some once a day.
 
It was a great movie.
 
It was a great meal.
 
I heard a great joke last night.
 
It was a great game.
 
The quarterback through a great pass.
 
It was a great victory.
 
We had two Redemptorists whose nickname became, “Great!” Great Kelly and Great Kelly – 2 different guys.
 
POPE  LEO THE GREAT
 
Pope Leo is the first of three greats.
 
His dates as pope were 440 to 461.
 
He met Augustine. I thought that was an interesting notice as I read up about Leo last night.
 
While deacon he served two popes as a deacon. Celestine 1^st and Sixtus III.
 
Today’s gospel Luke 17: 7-10 we hear about servants.  May we all be great servants.
 
As I read Leo’s life, I saw that he  was into fighting all kinds of heresies – and he did well in those challenges.
 
He got the Council of Chalcedon in 451 to declare that Christ has 2 natures: human and divine. The fights and disagreements on how Christ was Christ – that took a lot of theological struggles. Chalcedon goes down as a great council for Christ!

He also pushed the Catholic position of seeing that the pope in Rome - takes the place of Peter - and the scripture messages of Peter as head of the Church continues in each pope. 
 
Leo, as head of the city and state of Rome, had to deal with great struggles with outsiders. In 452 he met Attila the Hun and saved Rome from being sacked and burnt. In 455 he met the head of the Vandals, Genseric, who invaded Rome but Leo at least saved the great church buildings of Rome from being burnt - vandalized by them
 
CONCLUSION
 
That’s enough. Some think a sermon was great, because it was short.
 
So, this has been a few short comments on why  Leo was called, “Great!”
 
We’ll save Gregory the Great [590-604] and Nicholas the Great [858-867] for another day.
 
In the meanwhile, may we be great. Great human beings. Great friends. Great Christians.

 November  10,  2020

SAYING WHAT
WE WOULD LIKE TO SAY

 
 
Sometimes when we have something to say,
we say nothing.  We pause. We remain silent.
 
Oh, there are things to say, but we ask ourselves,
“Does this other person really care – really listen?”
 
Is there an age – say 55 or 65 – when another stops
growing and starts growling? They have caved in.
 
When we are young, we take in a lot, without knowing
it or we’re like the 3 monkeys. Closed eyes, ears, mouth….
 
When we are old, we can get lazy and stop
growing and stop wanting to know new things.
 
Thinking takes time and work. Thanking takes
becoming quiet and figuring out where we are.
 
So if you’re wondering why I’m so quiet at times, I
might be outwardly, but I’m talking to myself a lot inwardly.

 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

November 10, 2020

Thought for Today

 

“No one can construct for you the bridge upon which precisely you must cross the stream of life, no one but you yourself alone.”  

 

Friedrich Nietzsche

November 9, 2020

LOOK ALIKES

 
At the next family get together,
even if it’s on zoom because of
the Corona Virus,  look around
for look alikes:  noses, tics,
hand movements, comments.
 
Then there are the invisibles:
values, interests, faith, hope,
and hopefully charities. There
are many more look alikes
than there are look aways.

 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

November 9, 2020

 

Thought for Today

 

"The longer your life, the more you have to remember, and I do have amazing memories. I feel particularly grateful that I’m in a happy marriage. I love my husband. I love being with him. He’s a nightmare, but he’s great, and I look forward to seeing him and miss him when he’s not there. Not that I can’t live without him, because I can. But that is a really nice part of my life, when I look back and think of what we’ve done together. Family in general, I think. It’s not any of my doing really, and the fact that I’m very close to my family is great."

 

Helen Mirren, she told

The Guardian.

  November 8, 2020

 

JEOPARDY

 

Life, if we’re given the gift,
is filled with jeopardy. Make
that double and triple and
many more dangers.
 
Life, the game of life ….
What a blessing – especially
if we’re a grateful – so many
questions – so many categories.
 
Life, coming up with answers,
playing the game with others.
Time, now that’s the major
jeopardy. Enjoy the gift. It ends.

 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

 

 

 

November 8, 2020

 

Thought for Today  

 

"There are beautiful people in the world, and I think we can all recognize them. David Beckham is spectacularly beautiful. Men or women, there is such thing as absolute beauty. The rest of us, 95% of us, are not in that category, but we're in other categories: interesting, funny, smart, brave, inspirational. I mean, there are many, many different categories...," 

Helen Mirren in Glamour magazine.