A  SENSE  OF AWE 

AT  THE  EARTH 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 5^th Sunday after Easter [C] is, “A Sense of Awe at the Earth.”

Last Friday - April 22^nd - was Earth Day. It's something that has been  going on since 1970.

At our last staff meeting we were asked to say something for the good of the earth this Sunday - so here goes.

THREE READINGS

I read today's 3 readings with the hopes that something in the readings would be a good lead in for this theme of “Earth Day.”

Sure enough today’s second reading from the Book of Revelation is perfect. It begins, “Then I, John, saw a new heaven and a new earth.”  It ends, "Behold, I make all things new."

Perfect.

The reading talks about the heavens, the sea, the earth, the city, dwellings and the human race. [Cf. Revelation 21: 1-5a]

Perfect.

Let’s work - let’s complain - let’s do our part to make everyone and everything better.

Next the reading uses the metaphor of a wedding.

We had two weddings at St. Mary’s yesterday. Seeing a bride on her wedding day: what better image of newness and new life. 

Now at a wedding nobody notices the bridegroom - except for two moments. The bride is it. He’s chopped liver. 

I've noticed that the first moment is when the bridegroom is all alone at the top of the sanctuary steps. Then the music starts: "Here comes the bride..." or what have you. All stand and turn to see the bride coming down the aisle. At that moment all the bridesmaids in the seats turn to see the bridegroom's face as his face sees his bride come down the aisle in all her beauty. 

Tears and tissues. It's an awesome moment.

The other bridegroom moment is at the reception when he is called out on the dance floor to dance with his mom.

Perfect.

Life is the moments.

AWE AND AWFUL MOMENTS

The title of my homily is, “A Sense of Awe at the Earth.”

Not all moments are the same - obviously.

Some are same old,  same old,  same old. These are the moments we are on automatic pilot and we don’t notice anything awesome.  These are mac and cheese moments.

But then there are moments that are awesome - moments that overwhelm us.

These are Lobster Thermidor or Baked Maryland Lump  Crab Cake moments - or great burritos moments - depending on your taste buds.

I saw the following in someone’s house recently. It was handwriting on the wall: “Life Is Not Measured By the Number of Breaths We Take, But By the Moments That Take Our Breath Away.”

Of course.

It’s good to sit down at the end of each day and look at the moments of that day.

You saw a little kid put a dollar in the hat of a street violinist. She creeped up carefully - looking back at her parents twice - her parents who signaled her to go on. She looked up at the musician - and put some green in his hat - looked up at his face again - and then ran back to her parents with great delight and a great smile on her face.

You stopped to smell the roses or the lilacs on a neighbor’s lawn.

You bought yourself an ice cream cone. Hey it’s good to treat oneself besides the kids to ice cream and your got yourself two scoops - rum raisin and pistachio with chocolate chips. Nobody was looking. Uuum good. Uum. Great lickings. And you even toasted yourself with the cone.

You saw an old couple holding hands as they were headed for an afternoon matinee movie.

You stopped to watch a flock of birds flying north.

It’s good to pause to look at what you saw that day on the planet - and hopefully you had some awesome moments.

I hold that if a person does this every evening - as a night prayer - you’ll  see a lot more the next day - because you have to do homework every night. I discovered this from vacations - keeping a journal - and making a report of my journey that night - on what I saw that day.

But there are also some moments that are awful - and we spot them each day as well.  

Ugh.

We saw a fight. We saw someone yelling at a kid. We saw someone dump their garbage or wrappings or coffee cup on the street.

I notice in putting this homily together the close connection between awe and awful  and awesome.

Life can be the good, the bad and the ugly.

Life can be the awe - the awful - and the awesome.

ACTION

I also began thinking about action - the action step - in life.

By declaring a day as Earth Day - the hope is to get action.

It works. 

Mother’s Day helps florists and card shops - and moms get a lot more “Thank you’s” that day compared to other days.

So too Father’s Day.

So too Qingming Day. I never heard of this till I was looking up stuff for Earth Day.

Every April 4  to April 6, in China, it’s Qingming Day - a time everyone heads for the cemetery where their parents or grandparents are buried and they sweep and clean up the graves. Neat.

They also bring flowers and burn paper money and incense at their graves.

Neat - for the flowers. I wonder about the smoke - and the stuff left on the cemetery grounds.

So too because of Earth Day - schools and churches and organizations and cities do stuff to sweep up the mess. They plant trees. They challenge us to not dump on Mother Earth. Let’s clean up the air and clean up the water.

I noticed in a story in the New York Times the other day about a parish in Brooklyn. They marched to the Gowanus Canal and prayed over the water and poured holy water onto it. It’s still a mess. It was close to the last stop on the subway before we got to Coney Island as a kid. We’d go over a small bridge and we kids would hold our noses as we did and yell out, “Perfume Bay.”  I guess it’s still a mess.  Some day - someday. The first step is awareness and then action.

This year’s theme for Earth Day is not to waste food - not to dump food - and awareness of the amount of food that is just dumped into landfills - has gone down.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “A Sense of Awe at the Earth.”

I talked about the reality that there are moments when we see things happening on our earth that take our breath away.

I remember my first trip into Mexico - going over the border in a car in Nogales Arizona into Nogales Mexico - and as we went down the highway I began to realize in 5 minutes the value of emissions control here in the United States. Cough. Cough. Cough.

We have seen smoking going down in our lifetime. Cough. Cough. Cough.

For the sake of transparency my dad died of emphysema - not because of smoking however  - but from what they called “White lung”.  He worked with flour at Nabisco in New York and New Jersey.

Awareness hopefully leads to action

So where can make the earth more beautiful today  - this week - in this life.

Last Sunday I suggested picking up at least one piece of trash - paper - what have you - each day.

And be awesome for each other - each day - and when another is awesome - give them an awesome “Atta girl” or “Atta boy” or “Atta earth.”

And “Ooops!”  it’s Spring - and awesome beauty surrounds us - so make sure you see all around and give God at least one good, "Atta God" each day. Now that's a great Atta Prayer.

April 23, 2016

SHAKESPEARE! 
TODAY IS THE

400^th ANNIVERSARY
OF HIS DEATH

William Shakespeare - dates - were from April 23, 1564 to April 23, 1616.

“What’s in a name…?”

“I’ll note you in my book of memory.”

“He’s sudden if a thing comes into his head.”

“An honest tale speeds best being plainly told.”

“There is something in the wind.”

“How long a time lies in one little word.”

“Play out the play.”

“All the world’s a stage ….”

“The play’s the thing/ Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king.”

“The web of our life is a mingled yarn, good and ill together.”

“Let me tell the world.”

“There is a history in all men’s lives.”

“We are in God’s hand.”

“Bait the hook well: this fish will bite.”

“Everyone can master a grief but he that has it.”

“Brevity is the soul of wit.”

“I have bought / Golden opinions from all sorts of people.”

“Come, give us a taste of your quality.”

“To be or not to be: that is the question.”

“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”

“Lord, what fools these mortals be.”

“A politician … one that could circumvent God.”

“Words pay no debts.”

“Good counselors lack no clients.”

“Necessity’s sharp pinch.”

“Pray you now, forgive and forget.”

“The wheel is come full circle: I am here.”

“My salad days / When I was green in judgment.”

“Nothing emboldens sin so much as mercy.”

“You pay a great deal too dear for what’s given freely.”

“Let us not burden our remembrances / With a heaviness that’s gone.”

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

Is this a first?  I spotted with today's newspapers - April 23, 2017 - the above picture on page 13 of the Target Ad  18 page Input Insert.  Is this a first?  How about that!  Nice going Target!



A First

April 22, 2016

JUST SAY SOMETHING

Just say something to the person right
there with you: while holding the door, 
on the plane, on the short elevator ride -
even if it's only to the second floor.

"Hi!" "Beautiful day." "How's it going?"

"Welcome home!" "Where have you been?"

Hey! You never know what a word -
just a greeting - or an eye shake and
a head nod - might mean - to the person 
in the car right next to you at the red light. 

Just say something. Eye to eye something.

At the end of a day, at the end of a life - 
all those words might have taken flesh - 
and both of you might have met Jesus 
Christ in each other's life: at a well, 
on a road, at a table, on another's cross -
and both of you experienced Easter Joy.

© Andy Costello Reflections, 2016

April 21, 2016

AMAZING  GRACE

Sun sliding down the sky into the west -
into the water.... The end of another day. Thank You God. Thank You God.

The dark of land - low lying mountains - holding the bay  in her arms. Thank
You God. Thank You God.

The glistening tablecloth of water
covering the top of the in-between. 
Thank You God. Thank You God.

The slow gradual of dark night bringing
peace and grace and sleep to my soul.
Thank You, God.  Thank You, God.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

April 20, 2016

 “OH YEAH!”

“Oh yeah!” What a prayer!

To say that to God like an athlete

pointing to God in thanks after a

great hit or a great catch: “Oh yeah!”

Seeing red roses or red hair or a

red crayon.... Oh the possibilities.

“Oh yeah!” Blue skies, white clouds,

rainbows, family and friends: “Oh yeah”

Babies crying, lovers sighing,

“I love you. I love you.” “Oh yeah!”

“Oh yeah!” What a prayer!

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

April 19, 2016

HOPE

Sometimes students in a classroom

count how many times a certain teacher

says a certain phrase - or word.

We had a history professor who said,

“Do you see?” 249 times in one class.

I heard of a high school religion teacher

who talked about the Emmaus story in the

gospel of Luke so many times that the 

class nicknamed her "Sister Mary Emmaus".

I know that the song, "Hello Dolly" keeps

repeating "Hello Dolly" over and over again.

So I was wondering how many times in

a given day do I say to myself, “I hope….”

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

THREE  SENTENCES 

THAT  GRABBED  ME

INTRODUCTION

The titled of my homily for this 4^th Tuesday after Easter is, “Three Sentences That Grabbed Me.”

Last night I read today’s readings and three sentences grabbed me.

Did any word or sentence or image hit you when you heard today’s readings?

The three sentences I heard are:

First: “… it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.” [Acts 11:26]

Next: “It was winter.” [John 10:22]

Lastly: “The Father and I are one.” [John 10:30

REFLECT ON ANY ONE OF THOSE 3 SENTENCES

For starters - a few questions and comments about the first sentence, “… it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.”

How many Catholics describe themselves as Christians?  Is that a word or a label we use to describe ourselves?

Do we favor being called and being seen as a Catholic more than being a Christian? Which do I prefer: Catholic Christian or Christian Catholic? Or do I say sentences like,  “I’m seeing myself as a Christian - a follower of Christ.- more than being seen as a Catholic?” Or “Wait a minute. It all depends.”

I like C.S. Lewis comment about seeing a Christian as someone who is baptized. It’s a noun.  Do we use the word Christian as a noun or an adjective?  Adjective: that was very Christian of the Pope to take in those refugees.

Second sentence: “It was winter.”

Writers in English are often told to study Hemingway. Write short, clear, brief sentences. Get to the point.  The New Testament is in Greek. Greek can have very long sentences. Whoever got their hands on translating our Mass prayers into English from Latin - seems never to have heard of Hemingway.

So I like this sentence. It was winter. 

It causes pause. That’s another 3 word sentence.

Someone also translated the Greek when Judas betrayed Jesus into, “It was night.”

Hemingway - who killed himself - like Jesus Would have liked that sentence. “It was night.”

Where am I in my spiritual life. Light or night, winter or spring, summer or fall?  Am I cold - indoors? Or am I alive, warm, budding with new life?

What season am I in?

The third sentence is the last sentence  in today’s gospel: “The Father and I are one.”

With faith, with our belief in the divinity of Christ, we Christians hear and can read the New Testament - the gospels - every day and discover more and more about this human historical person called, “Jesus Christ”.

As a result, we can read more and more about God when we read more and more about Christ.

God washes feet. God forgives sin. God lets us eat himself up as bread and drink Him in the wine. God wants to enter into us with food, for  starters. That’s how we learned from our parents that they loved us for starters.

It took the early church the first few hundreds of years to be able to put into words - into theological terms - how the Trinity is. God in three persons. And they just scratched the surface. How will our personality be able to grasp God? I assume that’s the stuff of eternity.

In the meanwhile we’re Christians - hopefully not hibernating in some dark winter night  - but we’re rising each day with the Risen Christ - springing into action - greening the earth - bringing joy and creativity into wherever we are this day. Amen.

CONCLUSION: 

Did I miss any sentence you spotted? 

ANGER MANAGEMENT: 

SOME YOU TUBE VIDEOS 

THAT MIGHT HELP 

LEARNING   ANGER

I am learning that some people are
angry, antsy, agitated and annoyed.

I am learning to accept anger in

others. Silence. Just be calm.

I am learning that acceptance

is the first step. “He’s angry.”

I have learned to then say,

“Okay you’re angry. Now what?”

I have learned that calmly saying

that sometimes disarms the other.

I have learned that anger sometimes

begets more and more and more anger.

I have learned that sometimes just

standing up and walking away works.

I have learned that angry people are

angry and I don’t want to be one of them.

I have learned that angry people can be

miserable and I don’t want to be miserable.

© Andy Costello Reflections 2016

WHAT’S  WITH  THE  LAMB?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 4th Sunday after Easter  is, “What’s With the Lamb?”

Ever since I was a little kid - when I was in church and saw the lamb on vestments, carved into altars - as well as in stained glass windows - I wondered, “What’s with the lamb?”

Ooops. I don’t mean the sheep on Jesus’ shoulders - or Jesus with a flock of sheep - walking along as the Good Shepherd - but just a lamb or a sheep with a small banner with a cross on it - often in a circle like and emblem or a sculpture or a carving.  What’s with that image? What’s with the Lamb?

Then at times I would hear at Mass in the readings - like today - mention of the Lamb.

There are also the prayers, “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us….” 

So at times when I’m awake or aware of what I’m seeing and hearing, I ask, “What’s with the lamb?

THEN THE OTHER DAY

Then the other day I was driving to New Jersey to attend the funeral of a classmate.  I was listening to a CD talk by Father Robert Barron - who is now a bishop. He made a comment that went something like this: Israel was constantly the little guy - all through the Old Testament - and they were always being beaten up.  So the prophets promised that a Lion who appear - the Lion of the Judah - who would protect and destroy all enemies and all will be okay. In other words, there would be Savior, a Messiah, a redeemer - who would be a powerful leader - who would crush Israel’s enemies.

Well who shows up but Jesus - the Lamb - and the lamb is slaughtered?

God has a sense of humor - and a sense of humility - on how life works.

So there we have them: the Lion and the Lamb?

Which would you rather be?  Which would you rather have?

The lion has the reputation of being the king of  beasts. Grrrrrrr! Grrrrr!  Grrrry! as we see at the beginning of MGM movies.

But Jesus is the Lamb - the sheep who is slaughtered - and yet saves the world.

As in the Exodus - the Passover Lamb - was slaughtered and his blood was to be smeared on the doorposts of the Jewish homes - so that when the angel of death - came - the death of all first born’s - of  Egypt - the Jews would be saved.

On the Passover Night they fled Egypt - went through the waters of their baptism - and they headed for the Promised Land.

This is big picture, mythic type thinking, symbolic thinking.

LIFE IS THE SURPRISES

Life is the surprises. Life is the reversal of the expected.  Life is the unexpected.

Life is the ability to laugh.

Instead of a lion showing up, surprise a lamb shows up. A lamb - the meekest and dumbest of the animals - shows up and conquers all.

I remember seeing a National Geographic or Animal Kingdom documentary and the lion is sitting there under a tree relaxing.

You then see his wife the lioness tracking down a gazelle - killing it - and dragging it to her husband: the lion. He then has a feast - eating all he wants to eat. Then his wife and cubs have the remains.

Meanwhile the lion climbs a tree and sleeps for 48 hours - with drooping pot belly.

When I sat that, I smiled. The king of the beasts - the lion - didn’t come across too well in that documentary - that story.

Life is the surprises.

Life is the unexpected.

Life doesn’t work the way we think it should work.

Is the message that the secret of life is not being the lion - but being the lamb.

The first become last - and the last become first.

As Jesus taught us - there are those who serve and those who are served and those who are served are number 1 - the more important. Then he chooses to not be the most important. He washes feet - and serves the rest.

Life is giving one’s life for the good of all.

Life is the sacrifices.

Mother Teresa used to say to her sisters, “Let the people eat you up.”

Give them your time. Give them you presence. Give them your service.

SOME EXAMPLES OF SERVICE

I think of some examples of service - besides the lioness feeding her man.

A bunch of times I’ve spent time with my brother’s daughters for Thanksgiving week. Somewhere along the line they made a pact to try to get together as a family for Thanksgiving week.

Our generation did it for 3 days. My brother’s daughters are continuing the tradition doing it for 5 or 6 days. It means sacrifice. It costs money.  It takes planning. It takes an effort - but the reward called family is worth it.

During that Thanksgiving week, I began to notice that my niece Jeanie’s husband, David, would come downstairs with their 3 kids and go out for a drive very early every morning.  Where were they going? The stores weren’t open yet. Well, he was taking them out for a drive so their mother could get a great sleep.

When I saw that,  I looked back and remember my dad taking us to the park every Sunday as kids - after Mass - after breakfast - so as to give my mom a break - and a good sleep.

I think of my dad working for Nabisco and they moved from the lower west side of Manhattan - to Fair Lawn, New Jersey. To continue with the idea of keeping his job and getting a pension - this meant he had to take the subway from Brooklyn to 42 Street - in Manhattan where the Port Authority bus station was located - and then then he would take a bus to Fair Lawn New Jersey - for work. He did this for a couple of years before he retired.

Why? Family. Marriage? Food on the table.

I think of all those couples with 2 jobs and all kinds of extra work and travel - so as to make money so their kids can get the best education - the best this and the best that.

Sacrifice. Sacrifice. Sacrifice.

SCAPEGOAT

The title of my homily is, “What’s With the Lamb?”

Besides being of service to others, there is a second meaning - a second message - about lambs - and it too is a key to our understanding of the meaning of the Lamb of God.

I think of the work of the Stanford University professor, Rene Girard, who died last year.

Years ago I heard some talks about his teachings and writings. I bought the books and tried to get my hands and my mind on just what he was saying.

I got some of what he was saying - but I’m still not clear on his messages.

He was off on scapegoats and lambs that were slaughtered for the good of the community.

He looked around - he looked at history - and Rene Girard said there was a lot of violence - not just today - but always.

People blame people. People pick on other people. People are envious of other people. People want what other people have. Why do I always have to have a crummy car - when so and so has a zoom zoom very expensive car? And house…. and vacations …. and clothes.

Kill them. Steal from them. Take from them.  The history of the world…..

Rene Girard thought about all this and came up with one of his key ideas: we are mimics.  Human beings imitate each other. See violence - mimic violence - and then violence continues.

Imitation - mimicking - doing what others do - wearing what others wear - saying what others are saying - is very much what we do.

What is said on the talk shows at night - becomes the conversations at the coffee break and the cocktail hour the next day.

Who stops to think? Who thinks outside the box?

Jesus came along and did so - and the crowd that screamed for him on Palm Sunday - waving palms and wows - screamed “Crucify him” the following Friday.

Prophets are killed. People who challenge people are assassinated.

So we have a choice: to think or not to think? To grow or not to grow? To be violent or to be people of peace.

We can mimic the good or the evil.

Jesus chose the good. Jesus chose stopping the violence - by entering into the violence of the world - with the hope of us getting the message to stop the violence.

Jesus turned the other cheek.

Jesus took on all the anger of all the people’s.

Jesus did not roar back - he gave his back to his persecutors.

We can be lion or a lamb.

We can be like Jesus.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “What’s With the Lamb?”

Answer: sacrifice and service - giving of oneself - as well as dying to violence and selfishness of others - being a lamb ourselves - being a scapegoat and changing the world by non-violence. Amen.

Answer: Jesus is a good shepherd who lays down his life for us.

April 17, 2016

EMERITUS

Coming back home,

to the old house, the old school,

the old classroom, to climb the

old stairs to hear the sounds of

the old teachers, the old neighbors,
to meet with a few old friends,

to visit the graveyard - to read the

stones, to stop into the old church,

to sit in an old bench, to say a

prayer - to realize God is never

Emeritus. It’s good to come back home.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

April 16, 2016

ONE SECRET OF HAPPINESS

One secret of happiness, there are more -
is to do something for someone else -
quickly - today - without hesitation.

What to do - some specifics: a call, a
visit, a surprise e-mail, a prayer, a look in
in the eye "Thank you" - to a waitress.

You can do it. You have hands and feet.
You have time. You have eyes that see
those in need. Quick help someone.

You have ears to hear - another. Just
ask how they are doing this day.  Just
ask and just listen - and just shut up.

One secret of happiness, there are more:
to die to mouth - to self - to rise for others -
and to just watch and see how they are today.

(c) Reflections Andy Costello