LISTEN

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for the feast of St. Benedict is, “Listen.”

The first word in his Rule is, “Listen….”

If there is anything this world needs now - but also yesterday and also tomorrow is that we listen.

I’ll use a Preface for  this Mass today that calls for us to meet with each other. 

I would hope that when we meet with each other, we will do double with the listening and half with the speaking.

That might make for a great meeting.

We have 2 ears and 1 mouth. How many times have we heard that one?

So the title of my homily for this the feast of St. Benedict is the first word in his rule, “Listen….”

THE 4 STEPS

We have all heard the 4 step process of prayer in the Benedictine Tradition which comes from the Christian Desert period in the Church.

The first step is the Lectio Divina - the Divine Reading.

Step One: Read the instructions - before acting - before jumping in.

Before the journey read the map - type into your GPS where you’re going.

Stop before you start.

Look before you leap.

Listen before you speak.

We know the second step is to think about what we just read. It’s called “Meditatio” - Meditation - Thinking -  Reflecting - Wondering about - Questioning.

The third step is Oratio - praying. That’s the movement to the mouth - to speak with the mouth. Ora is the Latin word for mouths - to orate, give an oration - and when speaking to God - it’s prayer - an oration.

The fourth step is Contemplation. There is the shutting up again - and letting what we have experienced sink in.

FIRST STEP: LECTIO DIVINA

But let me get back to the first step: the Divine Reading.

This would include the whole day - the whole of creation - all that surrounds us - the light of a new day awakening us - or our body awakening us……

Listen. Open up our ears to hear creation - birds singing - people moving - life for today.

Listen. To open up our mind to what are the calls of this day.

Listening - so it’s not just reading a book - but reading everything.

It’s standing on top of the mountain of morning - and looking down - ahead - into the valley of today.

ST BENEDICT

On this day we are called to listen to the life of St. Benedict….

His dates are around 480 to 550.

As a young man he decided to escape from it all - and ended up in a quiet cave in Subiaco - now part of Italy.

Why do people step back?

Read people who do that?

Why do coaches call, “Time out!”

Benedict stepped back into God and began reading all that God had created.

He was becoming Saint Benedict.

People realized it would be a good move to listen to this man called Benedict.

Benedict founded monasteries.

Benedictine monasteries preserved great books.

Benedictine monasteries dotted and saved Europe.

Benedict and his monasteries preserved Western civilizations - just as Buddhists and Buddhist and Confucian and other religious centers persevered culture.

Lots of religious groups read and used Benedict’s rule to come up with their rules.

Lots of prayer systems - used the Benedictine 4 step method - which goes back into earlies times.

The Jesuit Exercises come out of the Benedictine Method which came out of the Early Christian Desert movements.

CONCLUSION

Listen….

I’m listening to the clock. Enough with the talking - more with the listening.

Today practice listening.

Today lookup on line - on the Internet - Benedict - and Monte Cassino and

go from there.

Doing that I got in touch with some fond memories of taking a taxi from a village down below Monte Cassino and I went up to the top - and I began reading history from the first inch of the trip. 

July 11, 2016

CORNER OF A CIRCLE

 I was looking for a corner

in a vicious circle - but I

couldn’t find one - so I

decided to face my demon - 
face to face  - eye to eye.

But I couldn’t, because it

hid in a corner and I

couldn’t find it. Damn it!

Vicious circles are like that.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

JUSTIFY   ONESELF

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C -  is, “Justify Oneself.”

I don’t know if I ever noticed before - the word “justify” in today’s gospel. [Cf. Luke 10:25-37]

I suspect the parable of the Good Samaritan is so loud, so clear, so challenging, that one would miss the comment - that the scholar of the law wished to justify himself.

I noticed it last night as I read out loud today’s readings. Then I began thinking about it. It hit me as a theme for a homily - probably because I wanted to get my mind onto it and into it.

TODAY’S FIRST READING

Today’s first reading from the Book of Deuteronomy was saying quiet clearly: KISS. When giving a tall - remember the KISS principle:  Keep It Simple Stupid. 

Moses was saying that God’s commandments and statues and laws are not from another planet. You don’t have to cross the seas to find them. They are already very near to you - already in your mouth and in your heart and you just have to carry them out. [Cf. Deuteronomy 30: 10-14]

So I asked myself: is the command to justify oneself simple, clear and close enough for everyone - that everyone would get that message?

JUSTIFYING ONESELF

First - I looked up some stuff on the meaning of the word “justify” - in the English text - and “dikaioun” - in the Greek text. 

For starters, it’s connected with the big theological theme of justification,

That was the big theme Jesus  was constantly hearing from the Pharisees. “You’re wrong. We’re right.”

They saw how he was doing life. They knew how they were doing life. They heard what he was saying. They knew what they were thinking. We’re different here.  Comparisons and contrasts are powerful cats scratching away in the cage called our mind.

“Uh oh! Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Uh oh! Crucify him. Kill him. He’s different.”

What justifies us - was the big theme in the Protestant Reformation.  Who or what saves us? This is heaven or hell stuff. It’s bottom line stuff. When I die, was I right or was I wrong?  Will I be saved or lost  - forever?

That’s a heavy duty question. Is it too hot to handle on a hot summer day?

Am I right or am I wrong, in taking all this out of that one comment in today’s gospel - or should I simply stress being a Good Samaritan?

Right or wrong? It’s the big theme in many an argument.  I’m right. You’re wrong.

It goes to the very bottom of who we are - how we see - what we have figured out about the meaning of life so far - from our experiences - and from what we’ve learned. Should we leave the butter in or out of the refrigerator? Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Toilet paper? Which way?

Can we say the following: there are two kinds of people - those who put law first and those who put the other first.  Whom am I concerned about: the person in my shoes - my skin - my mind - being right all the time - or should I be concentrating on the person in the other person’s shoes?

One leads to speaking - arguing; the other leads to listening - to trying to figure out where the other person is coming from.

One leads to stopping at our nose and not noticing someone right next to us who might be hurting - like a member of our own family - or someone in our car pool - or sitting next to us at the pool - or the stranger on the street.

The other challenges us to be Good Samaritans.

Monologue or dialogue?

BALLPOINT PEN - JUSTIFY YOURSELF

We need a ballpoint pen. We tried three - one in a coffee cup on a kitchen counter, one in a top desk drawer - and one in a suit jacket in a closet -  and  all three have come up empty. Conspiracy…. Each seems like they have a brake in them - as in a car with its brake on. No ink is coming out. Ugh and we want to write something out - but no ballpoint pen is working.

So that afternoon we’re standing there in CVS or Office Depot and wondering which ballpoint pen to buy?

Without being conscious about it, we’re deciding which pen will justify itself. Which pen will deliver?  We know we’ve had good luck with a Bic pen in the past, so we buy a package of them.  Two dollars and 19 cents. They are reliable. We can lose them. When someone borrows one from us and doesn’t  return it, we won’t go bankrupt or berserk. Whatever. But they are a good buy. Right or wrong?

Just for kicks we look up on Google - “Best ballpoint pen?” and we find out Bic can give us up to 2 miles of writing or 78,000 words.

Is that right?  Who did the research?

Still good move. Our Bic Pen buy justifies itself by good service - a good life. Is the proof in the pudding? Is the proof in the reliability - in the service - in the black ink - in the working?

We pause. Does God ever wonder about what God is getting out of us?

Does a spouse ever wonder what he or she is getting out of their life choice - from the one they married? Hey they met in a   CVS that one day when he asked her, “Hey do you know where the ballpoint pens are?”

Does a boss - a supervisor - ever wonder about his or her workers?

Justify yourself!

Are you the right person for the job - or are you the wrong person?

Uh oh!  Big question - this question of justifying ourselves.

BACK TO THE PARABLE

The scholar in the gospel is asking Jesus that kind of question.

He asks Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

That’s the bottom line question - like at the doctor’s office - when life hands us a ball point pen and says, “Sign your name right here?”

Am I justifying myself - or am I just taking up space?

It’s my life. What am I doing with it?

Jesus asks the guy who came up to him, “Well what’s written in the law?”

Written - the word!  There’s a ballpoint pen connection - but of course Moses didn’t use a Bic Pen. Yet it would make a good TV ad, wouldn’t it?

What’s written down? What’s right? What’s wrong?

The scholar replies what’s in the law: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind,  and your neighbor as yourself?”

Jesus says, “You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live.”

He must have felt an inner “Uh oh” - all of a sudden because he wished to justify himself.

It’s a blessing to the rest of us - that he asked that question.

Feeling the need to justify himself, he got out of himself for a moment and asked, “And who is my neighbor?”

And Jesus gave us the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

And Luke wrote it down - and it’s down there on paper - for us to look at for life.

CONCLUSION

There it is the meaning of life.

There it is the secret of life.

Others - God and others - to notice them, to love them, to stop to be with them - just like we hope others would do for us - is that the meaning of life?

Down deep, isn’t it neat, when we’re following another heading for a door - and suddenly at the door, they stop - open it up - and let us in ahead of them.

Isn’t that a great simple wonderful moment of life?

Every day we meet people who are stuck.  Every day we meet people who have run out of ink. Every day we meet people who are beaten up.

Jesus said everyday people bypass everyday people who need our love - our attention - our time.

Many people think it’s all right to pass  people by who could use our love.

They justify in their mind - they have something more important to do - like the priest and the Levite in today’s gospel - who slide right by the man who was beaten, stripped, robbed on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho.

And Jesus - the story teller - tells us how to live a storied life. Jesus goes to the extreme and says the stranger - the Samaritan - stopped - helped - gave the wounded his medical care - lifted him onto his animal - and brought the wounded man to an Inn and cared for him

If Jesus was telling that story today - the Samaritan would be the outsider, the Muslim - the street person - who stopped to help.

Want to feel right about life? - everyday - want to justify ourselves? - the call is to stop and help our brother and sister in need till we run out of ink - till we run out of think.

July 10, 2016

CLARITY

Clear clarity is often blurred.
It’s an ideal to be desired as

they say…. But to see through

motives - to see your essence -

- difficult - difficult - very difficult.

Why are you here? Honestly….

What are you trying to say?

Who are you trying to be? Me?

I too have too many fingerprint

smudges from others on the

lenses of my eyes to see you -

to hear you - to know you clearly.

So let’s be quiet and just enjoy

the swans on the pond before us.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

July 9, 2016

MOOD  CHECK

There’s no weather channel to catch

the mood of the other - when meeting.

We listen to their voice. We look at

their mouth. We study their hands.

Angry again? Pleasant? Upset?
Absent? Down? Upbeat? “Uh oh?”

Maybe the only solution is to do

a mood check on self first. Then….

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

July 8, 2016

MOVING  FROM  MAD  TO  GLAD

Jesus was right! Let the one without sin

cast the first stone. It seems it got the rock
throwers to stop and begin to look within.

And when we look within, we can see that

we can be mad at times - crazy. We can

spin out of control - crash - and kill others.

We take that extra drink and then that drink

drinks and drowns or drugs us and we end

up hurting others in our spiral splash.

So drop the rocks - turn them to bread - trans-

-substantiate yourself - become Jesus  - join
the Mass - be in communion with each other.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

July 7, 2016

O  SAY  CAN  YOU  SEE?

Some see the forest,

some see the trees.

Some see the leaves,

some see the green.

Some see the bark,

Some see the branches.

Some see the sky,

some see the ground.

Some see the newspapers,

some see the tooth picks.

Some see the homes,

some see the steps.

Some see the past,

some see the future.

O say can you see….

O say what you see….

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

July 6, 2016

ARRANGEMENTS

There is something in some people that

they want to arrange and rearrange the

furniture in the other person’s room - in

their mind, in their way of thinking, in their

way of doing life - but guess what?  The

other person arranges and rearranges their

inner room back to where it was before - 

as soon as the other person leaves?

Photo: Einstein's Desk the day he died.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

July 5, 2016

ON THE SIDEWALK

On the sidewalk,

I see a slice of pizza.
It looks like it was thrown

away after just two bites.

On the sidewalk,

I see a dissed cigarette,

dented aluminum cans,

and a burst balloon.

On the sidewalk,

I still see your footsteps….

Thanks for the stroll for ice

cream a month before you died.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

SOW  THE  WIND, 

REAP  THE  WHIRLWIND 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 14^th Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Sow the Wind, Reap the Whirlwind.”

We’ve heard that saying from today’s first reading. We get it, or we think we get it, but we don’t really think about it. Words can be like the car in the other lane - flying by us or we are flying by them. It’s there. It’s gone.

It’s a saying that shows up here in Hosea 8: 7.

We’ll also hear it again in Proverbs 22: 8  - “the one who sows injustice reaps disaster.”

Then there is Galatians 6:7, “Don’t delude yourself into thinking God can be cheated: where a man sows, there he reaps: if he sows in the field of self-indulgence he will get a harvest of corruption out of it; if he sows in the field of the Spirit he will bet from it a harvest of eternal life.”

Great quotes. I believe each clarifies the saying that much better.

You reap what you sow.

Spoil your kids, you spoiled your empty nest years.

What goes around, comes around.

Do nothing - expect nothing.

Do dumb things - expect dumb results.

Those who live by the sword, die by the sword.

HOSEA

Hosea the prophet reads the riot act to the kings and princes and tribes of Israel. He tells them, “You’re flirting with danger. When you pray to silver and gold idols, don’t expect the real God to show up when you need him.”

Sow the wind, expect the whirlwind.

You’re planting grain that has no ears - so don’t expect flour.

POLITICS AND THE PULPIT

Take the example of politicking from the pulpit. Now that’s a tricky topic.

It’s a fact that the scriptures - especially the prophets - and then the Books of Kings, Samuel and Chronicles bring in history and politics and what have you.

The other day I heard someone say that they want us priests to speak up about the current political drama that’s going on.  Yet I also know that if one does, one gets complaints about politics from the pulpit.

Basically, I let America Magazine speak up on these issues. There is a chance to write letters to the Editor or to cancel one’s subscription - if one disagrees with an editorial or an article and one has time to study it.

I know that I slip at times and let my bias, my positions, my political perceptions slip out - and every time I pay for it - by a comment someone makes to or at me on the way out of Mass. When will I ever learn?

I’ve heard people say: “Don’t make the church pulpit a bully pulpit - unless people have a chance to speak up.”  If they can’t speak up in church when they disagree with the preacher, they will be speaking up in the parking lot or on their cell phones or Facebook.

So what’s your take on November coming?  I’ve noticed that names come up in every conversation or coffee break that goes longer than 15 minutes.

STEP BACK AND WATCH

Perhaps the wisest stance is the stepping back and watching stance - that is - if one is able to keep calm, cool and recollected.

Statistics scream out that negative campaigning in the short run gives a candidate more bang for his or her dollar - or rant or rave or scream or scheme.

However, In the long run, the truth will win out. There are video tapes. There are ways to check sources. There will be biographies about each candidate coming out in 10 years.

CONCLUSION: TIME WILL TELL

In the meanwhile, we’ll keep on hearing the ancient proverb in various forms: “When they sow the wind, they shall reap the whirlwind.”

Hot air is hot air. Balloons burst. The air dissipates and disappears and we discover there is nothing inside.

And Dorothy wakes up - at home - in Kansas.

TOUCHING  HIS  CLOAK 

INTRODUCTION

The title for my homily this Fourth of July is, “Touching His Cloak.”

WHO TOUCHED US?  MATTHEW  9:  18 - 26

In today’s gospel a woman says to herself, “If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be healed.”

She does and she is healed.

The young girl whom all thought dead is healed as well.

In this homily I want to touch upon, “Who touched us? Who healed us? Who helped us? Who got us to where we have gotten?

FOURTH OF JULY

It’s July 4^th and today we celebrate a national holiday. We celebrate the day the Declaration of Independence was signed by some brave people.

Four were from Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone and Charles Carroll of Carrollton and Annapolis.

This morning I sat down and read the Declaration of Independence. It’s only 1,458 words. 

As I read it, I was touching history.

I could touch the words. They could touch me.

And I got in touch with the grievances of those who decided to revolt.

I read about the British practices and policies which they declared unfair.

It was like the time I read a whole book, Paddy’s Lament - by Thomas Gallagher.  It got me in touch with world history. It got me in touch with why the Irish rebelled against the British in the Easter Uprising and gained their freedom - for most of their counties. That book gave me an understanding that I didn’t have before. It got me in touch with the horror of unjustice and genocide.

When I read the declaration of Independence today, I got me in touch with a gripe the colonists had with the British that comes up at various times in our history. It is the attempt to stop immigration to this country.

For example, it states that the King, “has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.”

Those who have that gripe today - need to read the Declaration of Independence. They need to go to Liberty Island and read Emma Lazarus’ poem at the base of the Statue of Liberty. They need to go to Ellis Island and ponder the photographs and the stories of how the United States became the United States - because of immigration.

For the sake of transparency, my parents were immigrants and they spoke another language, besides English.

I didn’t like the Declaration of Independence’s take on our native Americans, but other than that, I was in on their take on grievances against the British.

Reading, meeting, experiencing life - we get in touch what we like and dislike, what we sense is right and what is wrong.

It’s good for our psyche and our soul to have historic days like today - to keep us in touch with who we are and where we come from.

LOU GEHRIG

I noticed on line today - that on July 4^th,  1939, Lou Gehrig gave perhaps the greatest sports speech yet. It was labeled the Gettysburg Address of Sports. It was only 453 words long.

They don't have the whole speech on line, but they do have the most memorable line, "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the planet."

Lou Gehrig is also first generation American - his parents Henrich and Christina Gehrig were immigrants from Germany.

The comment about his short speech, comparing it, to Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. got me to go and read that as well. Like Lou Gehrig’s speech it too is quite short: 278 words - compared to Lou Gehrig’s speech which was 453 words long.

I knew that speech was somehow connected to July 4^th - only to discover it was given that November 19, 1863 - but the Battle of Gettysburg was from July 1, 2, 3, 1863.

I began thinking about how important short speeches are. They touch us a lot more than long, long speeches. That’s a message for me to hear. I remember hearing the Everett who gave the main memorial speech that day at Gettysburg, spoke 2 hours and his speech was 13,607 words.

TOUCHED

In this sermon or homily on the Fourth of July I’m wondering - because of gospel I read - about who touched us.

Obviously, being an American makes us proud - and thankful - for all those who built our country - all those who served our country - all those who still guide and guard our country.

What touches us?

What leaders touch us?

It’s easy to  be negative and find public figures who keep the talk shows going. Who are the positive leaders? I’ve met folks who talk about civic leaders who impressed them.

At 18 - this was in the late 1950’s - I was in Washington D.C. and they had the U. S. Senate hearings on labor racketeering and my brother Billy brought me to see the action. Up front were Bobby and John Kennedy and I remember when they were leaving the room, I reached out and touched Bobby Kennedy’s sleeve. And when he was killed, it did a number on me.

What life experiences have touched us?

What words of Jesus touch us?

What touching Jesus moments in Holy Communion have changed our lives?

What did our parents, others, who were they, who touched us and changed our lives?

Who touches us the wrong way.

Do we have the loving touch of Jesus?

Do people who touch our lives discover healing.

CONCLUSION

I stood at the Lincoln Memorial in D.C. and also the Vietnam wall and I was touched. I’ve heard the Lou Gehrig line about being the luckiest person in the whole world - and was deeply touched.

Great people touch our lives.

Is there anyone who met us and they were touched for the better - because of our words and because of our goodness?


NOTES:

Picture on top - Woman touching the cloak of Jesus - found in the catacombs of Marcelinus and Peter, Rome.

July 4th, 2016

DEPENDENCE  DAY 

Happy Dependence Day!

It’s a great day when we realize

we depend upon one another.

We needed a mom and dad

for a ticket to ride…. this great

planet we’re going around and

around on - over and over again.

Happy Dependence Day!

It’s a great day when we realize

we depend upon all those who

have gone before us - all those

inventors, all those immigrants,

all those imaginators - and all

those who made us who we are.

Happy Dependence Day!

It’s a great day when we realize

we have a great model here in the

United States - stress on united -

in hopes that by some July 4^th in

the future, we’ll have a real

United Nations, a real United World.

Happy Dependence Day!

Okay, you want me to say,
"Happy Interdependence Day!"

Not yet, sorry!

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

July 3, 2016

CIRCLE   SIX  

[SELF-TEST #21]

Sensitive, silent, smart, stupid, smooth, stormy,

self-centered, sexy, sour, suspicious, standout,

settled, sturdy, shoddy, stuck, shifty, significant,

scared, sacred, sinful, strange, secondary, star, social, sledgehammer, straightforward, secure,
struggling, successful, sullen, sterile, sergeant, sweet, sure, swagger, server, silk, slick, snob,

shrugging, sleepy, soft, shameful, stinger, steel,

sinister, splashy, stubborn, stalling, solitary, sad, singing, sophisticated, skillful, status quo, strong, sinister, slacker, sulking, scientific, somebody .... 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016