July 10,  2021

          INTENTION 

We get angry at times –
usually at someone 

not something -
judging another –
thinking we know their intention -
thinking our perception
of another is another –
if we only paused –
if we really knew why another
is another – so, so different
from whom we think they really are.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

July  10,  2021

Thought for the Day 

“In big cities, beneath the roar of traffic, beneath ‘the rapid pace of change,’ so many faces pass by unnoticed because they have no ‘right’ to be there, no right to be part of the city.  They are the foreigners, the children who go without schooling, those deprived of medical insurance, the homeless, the forgotten elderly.  These people stand at the edges of our great avenues, in our streets, in deafening anonymity. They become part of an urban landscape that is more and more taken for granted, in our eyes, and especially in our hearts.”

 Pope Francis,

Homily, September

25, 2015

 July  9,  2021

AMBULANCE SCREAMING

 

The scream of an ambulance:
“Get out of my way!” as it keeps
rushing down Main Street.
Is someone dying – injured –
or hurt? They had a stroke –
a heart attack – a fall – and
they got to get to the hospital.
Who’s who here? What happened?
Life: we certainly need others.
 
We were taught to say a “Hail Mary”
when we hear an ambulance
screaming. I do that. But I also say
a prayer of thanks for that rescue
squad – and the hospital staff they
are rushing to – and I quietly wonder,
“What do they do in the middle of
Kansas – when this happens miles
and miles away for everyone?”

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

July  9,  2021

 

Thought for the Day

 

“You don’t get to choose how you’re going to die. Or when.  You can only decide how you’re going to live.”

 

Joan Baez

 July  8,  2021

INFIDELITY:

YOUR  STRANGE  HEART

 
We got to talk.
We have to learn.
We have to understand fire and desire.
We have come up with better questions.
We have to face the unravel of love.
We seek the gaze and grace of another.
We have to learn what death does to each other.
We need jolts – from mistakes and betrayals.
We need re-do’s.
We need to dig into the legacy of affairs.
We hurt others - as well as ourselves.
We need to become honest and loving.
We need to discover the real and the romantic.
We change – but hopefully for the better.

 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

July  8,  2021

 

Thought for the Day

 

“Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread.”

 

Richard Wright

July 7, 2020

 

 A  GIFT  AT  TIMES 

Isn’t it nice …
Isn’t it neat …
when someone gives
you a gift - when you least
expect one?
A small white thin cardboard box
of specialty cookies –
a bottle of never heard of before wine –
a book of Mary Oliver’s poems –
and a compliment?
And you sit there sipping the wine,
eating two chocolate chip cookies –
reading a poem – but the sort of
sideways compliment – ends up
being the greatest gift you’ve
tasted in a long, long time.
Thank you.

 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

July  7,  2021

 

Thought for the Day

 

“To feel that one has a place in life solves half the problem of contentment.”

 

George Woodberry

 

TRIGGERED FEELINGS

  

The title of my homily is, “Triggered Feelings.”
 
I read the readings in the morning for a homily for this Tuesday day.
 
Like listening to a song – the words of the readings send me triggered feelings.
 
Like Jacob I’ve crossed rivers – and fords of rivers -  to get to where I am right now.
 
Sometimes I’m with family and friends; sometimes l feel left
alone at the shore.
 
I’ve think about the times I’ve wrestled with my unknowns – and as a result I have a wrenched hip bone at the socket – in my struggles – but to make the struggle worth while I say, “I will not let you go Struggle  until you bless me.”
 
I wait – await – for a blessing.
 
I’ve been asked, “What’s your name?”
 
I answer,  “Jacob.
 
My unknown struggle says, “You shall no longer be spoken of as Jacob, but as Israel,  because you have contended with divine and human beings and have prevailed.”
 
I ask my unknown struggle its name.
 
I get no answer – no reply - only a goodbye.
 
I name the place Penuel – Hebrew for – “Seeing God face to face.”
 
I move on with a limp – for the rest of my life. I have others only I can see.
 
I move on….
 
One day I realize I really can’t speak.
 
Some days are like that. Ever feel that way, “I don’t know what to say.”
 
I’m face to face with Jesus.
 
Someone – something – brought me to Jesus.
 
And Jesus drives out the demons that hold me back: fear, shame, dumb, the dumb things I do – addictive -  and at times - I don’t know why I do the things I do.  Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.
 
Jesus walking around the world looks for people like me.
 
He proclaims the Gospel of the kingdom – curing every disease and illness.
 
He is moved with pity for someone like me – someone who feels troubled and abandoned at times.
 
I feel like a sheep without a shepherd.
 
I’m harvest for the master of the harvest.
 
I’m wheat. I’m flour. I’m bread.  Life! Others!  Take and eat me up.
 
I guess Jesus walks around hearing songs – the triggered feelings of people like me.
 

 July 6,  2021

July 6, 2020

 

BEACH  EDGE  MORNING 

I like to walk along the edge
of the ocean and the beach.
 
It’s a game – jumping back –
away from the inflowing waves.
 
This edge of the earth has
this most soft jagged edge.
 
The sand pipers play this game
way better than me  - but ….
 
But I can look ahead and see
more morning travelers – or ….
 
Or the sun rising – or a fishing
boat stopping – or a surfer ….
 
Knowing this is my morning prayer,  this is
how I like to walk on the edge of a new day.

 

 

 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

July  6,  2021

 

Thought for the Day

“There’s no right way of writing.  There’s only your way.”

 Milton Lomask

 July  5,  2021

IN  MY  POCKET

  
What’s the one thing I find
in my pocket the most?
 
Paper.
 
Obviously - it’s paper of course.
 
Names of people. Phone numbers.
Addresses. Names of books. The
first three lines of the first draft of a poem.
 
Tissues. Questions. Reminders.
Calling cards. Okay, I’m stuck in the past.
In your pocket, you have only your iPhone.
 

 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

July  5,  2021

 

Thought for the Day

 

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.”

 

Plato

 July  4,  2021

NEVER  SAW  THAT  BEFORE

 

If we walk the planet, we’ll see,
lots of things we never saw before.
 
Religions, ceremonies, dances,
games, foods, costumes, customs.
 
Interesting, amazing, surprising,
eye-opening, wondering, intriguing….
 
How do I react? What am I thinking?
Positive or negative? Questions or answers?
 
I guess I need to pause and look at my life.
I guess I need to wonder, “How do people see me?

 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

July  4,  2021

 

Thought for the Day

 

“At last the notes of his flute come in, and I cannot stop him from dancing around on the floor.”

 

The Kabir Book,

translated by

Robert Bly