August 5, 2023
GRAND CONNECTIONS
We are the voice and the gestures.
of our grandparents - and who knows
how much and how far back we go?
Is that why parents and grandparents
cry when they see their children and
grandchildren on stage or field?
We're mimics and repetitions of the past.
We are roots way back and way deep
in the earth around us - back and back,
down and down, deep, deep within.
(c) Andy Costello, Reflections
August 4, 2023
LIP SYNCHING
People stop listening to each other -
thinking, "I've heard all this before."
Maybe the nuances and the mystery
of the other person is showing up.
Maybe full attention will get us to
fully hear the other person. Maybe
the brand new, the original is here.
(C) Andy Costello, Reflections
August 3, 2023
Quote for Today
"Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity trust upon them. With Major Major it has been all three."
Joseph Heller,
Catch 22 (1961)
Chapter 9
Cf Shakespeare, Twelfth Night (1601) Act 2, Scene 5, l (158) "Be not afraid of greatness: some men are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."
August 2, 2023
THERE IS A TREASURE IN YOUR MIDST
Reading
today’s readings, the message that hit me was, “There is a treasure in your
midst.”
When a
grandparent is holding a brand-new grandchild, study their face. It’s radiant.
So too when
someone gets the gifts of a swirl of pearls on a beautiful pearl necklace.
Their eyes sparkle. Their faces become radiant.
The same
thing happens when you see a brand-new diamond engagement ring on someone’s
finger.
Get those
images and you got today’s readings.
Moses’ face is radiant when he comes down off the mountain after
experiencing God and getting the 10 Commandments. [Cf. Exodus 34: 29-35]
My first assignment as priest was not Brazil –
but the Lower East Side of Manhattan. I loved to walk the neighborhood –
realizing I was walking through history. There were treasures in the fields of
those streets. [Cf. Mt. 13;44-46.]
On one of
the streets there was an empty lot.
There must have been an apartment house there. That was gone. The lot was filled with all kinds of debris
and junk: empty beer cans, a bathtub, a toilet bowl, a burnt out car, paper, garbage,
garbage, garbage everywhere.
Well one
June morning – a Saturday – about 100 people showed up with rakes, shovels, trucks,
top soil, a Bob Cat – that’s one of those machines that can dig, pick up junk,
and level the ground.
They brought
in top soil and planted a small vegetable garden. They installed a few park
benches and cement platforms – a bocci ball court – planted flowers and a few
small trees. They put up a neat white picket fence.
After
everything settled – and got going – and people were in there playing games and
talking with neighbors – walking by – faces no longer felt “ugly” – but felt
the radiance of a beautiful spot in the neighborhood.
July 31, 2023
GALWAY BAY
I
finally got there – Galway Bay,
the
waters my mom said, “I could
stick
my big toe in every morning.”
Water
lapped the big rectangular –
back
step – grey flat stone – the
only
part of the old grey stone
house
that once lived there.
I
was alone. I was quiet.
I
could hear her say in Gaelic,
“It’s
beautiful - but I’m out of here
soon
– past the Aran Islands –
just
off shore and off to Boston.”
And
she did what her mother
wanted
to do when she was young –
off
to Boston – off to a new life.
© Reflections,
Andy Costello
July 30, 2023
GLUE
We’re
broken ….
We’re
split ….
We’re
cracked ….
We’ve
been dropped a dozen times.
Yet
we still might be able to be used
again
and again and again,
that
is, if we find the right glue
or
cement or tape – anything
that
would help to put ourselves
back
in the game called “life” again.
As
long as we don’t mind
that
others spot our brokenness.
or
crack lines or split stone....
Why
not? The world has been split
over
and over again …. Like bread -
like
Christ – like the Grand Canyon
of
his chest - on the cross that day.
© Reflections, Andy Costello
