THE  WAITING  ROOM

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time [C] is, “The Waiting Room.”

These past two weeks  or so I was in a few  waiting rooms of eye doctors - taking Father Joe Krastel for his cataract preparation and operation and follow up meetings. He needed a driver. I was also at the dentist for a cleaning and then a tooth pull and then Friday to get the stitches out. And recently I was at the skin doctor to take care of precancerous stuff on my forehead and face.

Was that why I began thinking of waiting rooms - when I read the Bible  readings for today?

When we’re in a doctor or dentist’s waiting room, we think of our teeth and our health - and what will they find. They take our blood and we wait for the results. 

Waiting rooms trigger health and reality stuff.

POEM BY THOMAS MERTON

The title of my homily is, “The Waiting Room”.

When I read today’s readings I remembered a poem by Thomas Merton - the writer and Trappist monk. It's a poem he wrote when Ernest Hemingway shot and killed himself.

So did I get the idea of “The Waiting Room” - for this homily from a poem by Thomas Merton which he wrote about Ernest Hemingway  - who had killed himself? I went and found it last night - while working on this homily.

Merton pictures Hemingway moving along in the dark with all those who died that night - moving forwards - like in a crowd of prisoners for what’s next. Here’s the poem.

An Elegy For Ernest Hemingway - 

by Thomas Merton

Now for the first time on the night of your death
your name is mentioned in convents, ne cadas in
obscurum. [cadas - "to fall" as into obscurity]

Now with a true bell your story becomes final. Now
men in monasteries, men of requiems, familiar with
the dead, include you in their offices.

You stand anonymous among thousands, waiting in
the dark at great stations on the edge of countries
known to prayer alone, where fires are not merciless,
we hope, and not without end.

You pass briefly through our midst. Your books and
writing have not been consulted. Our prayers are
pro defuncto N.

Yet some look up, as though among a crowd of prisoners
or displaced persons, they recognized a friend
once known in a far country. For these the sun also
rose after a forgotten war upon an idiom you made
great. They have not forgotten you. In their silence
you are still famous, no ritual shade.

How slowly this bell tolls in a monastery tower for a
whole age, and for the quick death of an unready
dynasty, and for that brave illusion: the adventurous
self!

For with one shot the whole hunt is ended!

A SERMON

Before I came here to Annapolis I was working out of our parish in Lima, Ohio - preaching parish missions - mainly in small towns all over Ohio. I did that for 8 ½ years. Myself and another priest would give a series of sermons - morning and night - for a week and then move on.

What I liked about giving those sermons was that we could keep on improving them as we gave them week after week for a year - hopefully making them better.

One year I gave this sermon - and now I wonder if I got the idea from Merton’s poem or something C.S. Lewis wrote about the afterlife. In the sermon I had someone dying and waking up walking on this big long line moving towards God with thousands and thousands of people who had recently died as well.

And as I walked - and as I began talking with those I was walking with - we began wondering what it would be like when we get to God.

It was a long and a big waiting room.

The title of my homily for today is, “The Waiting Room.”

THE CHURCH

The church, this church is a waiting room.

We come in here and we wait for an hour….

And like a doctor’s waiting room or when we’re on a line, we look around to see who’s with us.

Yesterday I was at 3 weddings here at St. Mary’s - and at every wedding I wonder what all these people sitting here are wondering about.

I welcome them.

I figure most are from far and wide - other states - other churches - or other states of mind.

I pray that God waits on them and gives them a big welcome and a challenge.

I say the prayers - and it seems that most don’t know the answer to “The Lord be with you.”

I hope and pray the married folks present will look at their marriage - their vows - their lives since they were married.

I listen to the grandparents after the wedding. They remember the bride or bridegroom when they were tiny little kids - just yesterday.

The church is a waiting room - and like any waiting room - it’s a place where people do a lot of thinking - whether they are at a wedding or a funeral - a baptism or a regular Mass.

THE READINGS

In the doctor’s waiting room after looking around we pick up a magazine and we start reading.

We read something - that gets us thinking.

In this waiting room we read the scriptures - we hear the scriptures - we think the scriptures.

Last Sunday we heard in the gospel about this slick guy who got caught cheating on the job and used his skills to plan for his future for when he lost his job. And Jesus said - Jesus actually said this - to be slick, to be smart, to plan for your future - to sort of steal heaven.

The week before that we heard about a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son and we might have thought about times when we were lost - or how hard it is to forgive family members who mess up.

Today sitting in this waiting room, we might have thought about Amos in our first reading. He was an ordinary farm worker - who worked on sycamore trees when there was work and worked with sheep at other times. And he started to get up on his soap box yelling to people who didn’t care at all about the poor - just themselves - fat catting it - couch potatoing their life away.

Today sitting in this waiting room we might have read or heard from Paul in his second reading for today. We might have heard the call “to pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience and gratitude".

Today standing and hearing today’s gospel, we might have felt a big time, “Uh oh! Oh no!”

And we might be sitting here scared about the condition of the health of our soul.

We might be saying, “Oh my God, I’m like the rich man in today’s gospel, who didn’t realize he was not seeing the poor man - who has a name - Lazarus - at my door step.”

And both die.

And there is this big chasm that the rich man built between himself and the poor man.

And it’s hell and it’s forever.

And sitting here we pray  that we get out of the hells we have found ourselves in.

And leaving here, this week hopefully we'll notice people in our own homes - our own streets - our work place - where there is a great chasm between us - and we sit here in this waiting room - realizing the times we’ve been in hell - and we say, “Sartre was right. Hell is other people.”

That became perhaps the most remembered story line that Jean Paul Sartre, the French Existential writer,  ever wrote.

And we also say, “Sartre was wrong. Heaven is other people - when we are in communion - holy communion with each other.”

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “The Waiting Room.”

And we come to this church, this waiting room to be with  Jesus the healer.  We come here to receive Jesus the doctor’s prescription on how to live a healthier life. Amen.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Painting on top: The Waiting Room by George Tooker, 1959

September 25, 2016

PICK THREE

Pick three of these words

to describe you: cool, hot,

young, old, innovative,
picky, pushy, polite,

cautious, cunning, crafty,

shy, savvy, suspicious,

worker, non-stop, quick,

slow, deliberate, exact,

sloppy, lazy, behind,

holy, saintly, servant.

Note: this is self-test # 25 on my blog. Can you find the other 24? This is best done with 1 or more other people. You do yourself and you do the other person or persons and share the results.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

September 24, 2016

ALONENESS

Aloneness - the sense and sound -

of that word - that statement - contains

about 83 percent negative feelings.

Aloneness - the feeling we all feel

when we’ve done something dumb -

or said the wrong thing in public.

Aloneness - in a far city - alone - and
at the moment our family back home 
is not going right - and we feel, “Uh oh!”

Aloneness - and we sense we’re

a lost coin - dropped by God - and

our faith that God wants us is gone.

Aloneness - and we’re found like a

lost sheep  or a lost child and nobody

really cares that we have returned.  

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2016

Cf. Luke 15 - whole chapter

September 23, 2016

SQUEEZED

We know the feeling. We’re in an elevator,

subway, doorway - with too many people -

coming and going…. squeezing in and out -

or we’re squeezed into those moments

when a lot of people want us. They want  

our time - our  help - our  money, us.

We feel like a tube of toothpaste. We only

have so much of me in me. It’s at those

times I want to be in a car all by myself -

alone - no traffic, yet life feels like I’m in

the back seat of a car - stuck in traffic  -

somebody else is driving - and I’m trapped

between two other people and they are fat

and I can’t  move. I’m being squeezed.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

September 22, 2016

LEATHER

Once he hit 40,

he only noticed leather -

nothing else - not his

wife - not his kids -

leather - brown leather

shoes - the brown leather

bag the lawyer on the

other side of the table

reached into two times

during the meeting -

the leather steering wheel
cover in his brother-in-law's car -

leather - wanting leather -
without knowing it - wanting
better - wanting more -
don't we all?

 © Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

CHOICE

At some point we need to realize
we are what we eat - we are what
we choose - we are what we read - 
we are what we watch -  we are 
what we put on our plate. When 
we're kids, life is a sit down meal - 
but looking back, life is a buffet. 
Get up. Move. Grab a plate. Choose.

© Andy Costello Reflections 2016

September 21, 2016

DIDN’T  LIKE  FISH

She didn’t like fish.

Some people don’t like

where they come from -

even if it was zillions

of years ago.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

September 20, 2016

COMBINATIONS

Salt and pepper -

but not sugar and salt.

Him and her,

but not him and her.

Forgiveness and mercy, sometimes,

but sometimes it's too difficult.

Heaven and hell, yes - at times,

but no, not in the long run - never.

Forgive and forget,

yes and no.

Fiddle and violin - no,

but fiddle and dancing - oh yes!

Rose petals and tissues, but

not sandpaper and sarcastic words.

Winter and summer, but you need

to have spring and autumn in between.

First and last, but sometimes

the last shall be first.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

A  FLY  ON  THE  WALL

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 25^th Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “A Fly on the Wall.”

We’ve all heard and probably said at least 10 times in our lives, “Wow would I love to be a fly on the wall in that house.”  Or “at that meeting” or “when those two talk”.

“A fly on the Wall.”

That’s a wisdom saying.

Wisdom sayings are part of every culture.

For example, “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”

Or how many times have we said, “What goes around comes around”?

In a given life time I would think every person picks up 10 wisdom sayings - 10 proverbs - more or less - that they voice or think in triggered situations. They are not information. They are wisdom. They are about life and how they see life working.

I love to ask people in English who’s native language is not English: “Is there a saying in your language that says this?” Then I give a saying in English that goes like this: “The grass is always greener in the other person’s yard.”  And they think for a moment and tell me about apples or apricots being better on the other person’s tree.

TODAY’S FIRST READING

Today’s first reading from is from Proverbs - Chapter 21: 1-6, 10 - 13 .

It gives us 10 Proverbs from Jewish life and culture.  I looked it up last night and notice that readings from the Book of Proverbs show up 6 times in our 3 year reading cycles. These 3 days we use them - but tomorrow maybe not - with the feast of St. Matthew. They give us a smattering of that book in the Bible.

Last night I read today’s first reading  5 times or more to see what they are saying. I also read a few different translations.

As proverbs only one grabbed me - the one about chasing bubbles - and when caught or grabbed bubbles break and disappear. That’s a common image and experience. Haven’t we all loved it when a little kid chased a soap bubble only to see it pop.

For those who complain that Bible readings are sexist, I noticed that whoever put together our lectionary skipped verse 9 from today’s first reading. Was it to avoid “uproar”? The saying is,  “Better to live on the roof than share a house with a nagging wife.” That could raise up a few protestors.  That could challenge some husbands and wives.

BACK TO THE FLY ON THE WALL

For a sermon I thought I’d use the image of that imaginary fly on the wall.

I think that’s what most of these psalms do.

They drag us to stop and see what we cannot see - what’s on that imaginary wall of the other.

They challenge us to be a fly on the wall.

IN A CAR

Imagine a family going to California for their summer vacation. They  rent a car and are driving through a rich neighborhood near Hollywood. House after house they are going “Oooh!” and “Ah” at big mansion after big mansion in Beverly Hills.

A fly gets in their car and someone says, “Who let the fly in the car?

Then someone says, “Wouldn’t it be nice to be a fly on the wall in that house? And that house!  And that house.  And that house?”

CONCLUSION: INSIDE THE HOUSE OF ANOTHER

Well this first reading is getting into the house - onto the wall - under the skin - under the skull - of the king. They get us into God, into those who do right, into someone who is proud, into someone who is lying, into someone who is rich, into someone who is arrogant, into someone who is poor, into someone whose bubble has burst.

It tries to challenge us to think outside our own walls - our own house - and walk in another shoes, settle into someone else’s home and to see more wisely.

The first step to wisdom then is walking inside the walls of God - to enter into the mind of God - into other person’s moccasins - as well as get inside the walls of this book of Proverbs. Amen.

ON  THE 

REFRIGERATOR  DOOR

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 25^th Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “On the Refrigerator Door.”

From time to time I’ve noticed sayings and slogans on refrigerator doors.

Or they might be on shelves, walls, or bathroom mirrors - or they are bumper stickers.

Do you have one?

Do you have a favorite saying?

Do you have a favorite Bible text?

INGREDIENTS

The type I’m interested in -  is one that motivates us - pushes us - encourages us - focuses us - and has an action step.

It has to be short - clear - and specific.

Like: “By midnight - I’ll have given one compliment to someone today!”

Like: “Listen to someone today - really listen to someone today.”

Like: “Eyes - look at least one person in the eye today.”

Like: “I’ll take At least 10,001 steps on my Fitbit today.”

Like: “This week I’ll send at least one ‘Thank You’ note to someone.”

Like: “This week I’ll make at least one phone call to someone who would appreciate a phone call this week.”

Like: “A zipped lip can end a gossip slip!”

TODAY’S READINGS

I got this simple idea for this homily from today’s readings.

The first reading is from the Book of Proverbs - which has hundreds and hundreds of one liners. [Cf. Proverbs 3: 27-34.]

Like the opening paragraph in today’s first reading…. It has two possible sayings for a refrigerator door.

My translation: “Don’t refuse to do a good deed that another has a claim on you to do - and you have the power to do it. Just do it.”

Second one - from the bottom of that first paragraph. My translation: “Don’t say to someone, ‘Come back tomorrow and I’ll do it -  when you can do it right now.”

Today’s gospel - Luke 8: 16-18 -  says that we put lamps on stands and not under beds - so if you get a light - don’t keep it hidden - put it on your refrigerator door.

“Just do it!” from Nike is a good slogan for some people.

The Serenity Prayer for many is helpful: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.”

My favorite Bible text is Galatians 6:2: “Bear one another’s burdens and in this way you’ll fulfill the law of Christ.”

This might be my last chance to say, “I love you!” so say it, turkey!

This is Bumper Sticker Stuff.

This is refrigerator door stuff.

In this way we’ll be light to our world. In this way we’ll be the salt of the earth.

In this way, we’ll make another’s day.

CONCLUSION

So the title of my homily is, “On the Refrigerator Door.” 

If you don’t have a slogan on your fridge - put one on today - and do it - and someone might spot it  - and they might say, “Great idea. I’ll try that too.”

September 19, 2016

BURNT TOAST

Sometimes burnt toast

is tossed - it’s toast -

but for those who know,

strawberry jam covers

a multitude of sins

and forgives toast

for being burnt.

Try it - and add cold butter.

  

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

September 18, 2016

DOOR STOP

I wanted to scream when I spotted

a Bible being used as a door stop.

It was stopping me from listening

to this nursing home guy I was visiting.

I didn’t say anything - but when he said

something - I said, “Wait a minute.”

I picked up his Bible - put a phonebook

in it’s place - and paged through it.

“Listen to this,” I said. He was all ears -

as I read the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

He then said, “Where did you get that?

What book are you reading from?”

“It’s your’s. I spotted it on the floor there.”

“Oh,” he said. “Let me keep that right here.”

  

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

SCALES

  

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 25^th Sunday in Ordinary Time [C]  is, “Scales.”

S   C   A   L   E   S   “Scales”.  If I was like Father Tizzio,  I’d have a scale in my hand to make my point. He’s the best I’ve seen in using props - to make a point.

I noticed the word “scales” in today’s first reading from the prophet Amos - when he goes after those who fix their scales for cheating - especially cheating on the poor and the unsuspecting.

And in today’s gospel,  the steward was ripping off his rich boss - and gets caught. He tells someone who owes 100 measures of oil to change the promissory note and lower it down to 50. Notice the measurement. And he tells another who owes 100 kors of wheat, “Here is your promissory note, write one for 80.”

When he loses his job, he wants to know people who owe him.

SCALES, CHEATING, ADJUSTING

Does the overweight person change the adjustor on the underneath of the scale?

If you read the papers every day, you’ll often read little sidebar stories about someone cheating on gasoline pumps, emissions control numbers for cars, lessoning of weight in cereal boxes or candy bars or what have you or how old is the day old bread or donuts - or how accurate is the tag on the meat in the meat bin.

If you read the Bible you’ll notice from time to time that scales, weights and measures are a day to day issue for everyone - especially in the marketplace.

Caveat emptor. Buyer beware

“A thirteenth century parson, in words of classic directness, denounced the prevailing tricks of trade. His catalogue begins with workers in clothing who steal half the cloth, use guile in mixing hair with wool, and stretch a good cloth to make it into worthless stuff. He notes, in passing, the iron-workers who hasten too soon from their work that the house may fall down in a year or two; the traders who take the names of the saints in vain for wares scarce worth five shillings; the sellers of meat, the innkeepers, and the cooks, who keep their sodden flesh too long, bake rotten corn to bread, and betray folk with corrupt wine; and the boors who bring to town loads of goods that is all full of crooked billets beneath and lay hay on the wagon so cunningly that no man can profit thereby. He closes with the doctors, the shoemakers, the bakers, and the hucksters, and their respective temptations to quaint and profitable deceits.”  That’s from the Yale Law Review, Vol. XL,  June 1931, page 1140, in an article by Walton Hamilton, entitled, “The Ancient Maxim Caveat Emptor.”

Let the buyer beware.

Jesus had  a great awareness skill. He saw what was happening….

Read the gospel and be aware of what Jesus spotted - birds, bread, wine, good trees and bad - the marketplace - and fathers who have 2 sons. It’s an interesting way to read the scriptures.

Jesus must have spotted and studied a merchant who was very generous. Maybe the marketplace was just outside their carpenter shop in Nazareth. it wasn’t that big a town up there in Northern Palestine. If some lady wanted flour that merchant would  put some in her shopping bag - or garment - then shake it - so all would settle - then add some more and tap it down - and then add some more - to fill it to the brim.  Then Jesus said, “That’s the way to measure people - that’s the way to give to people. Have great generosity. That’s the way God measures people.”

“In fact,” he adds, “if we judge others with tiny measuring scales, that’s how we’ll be judged.”

There it is. Jesus is saying we have these scales inside our mind.

I hear him saying, “Check your scales.”

In today’s gospel I hear him saying, “Be wise, be smart, be prudent, do life like this guy in today’s gospel.”

He’s not saying to cheat or be dishonest, but he is saying, cheat and be dishonest like this dishonest steward - and cheat your way into heaven.

Let me try that again: Give others some room. Give them a break. Stop judging everyone, and you’ll get a break from God in the big judgment.

In fact, that attitude will creep into your everyday mind  and attitude.

That’s kind of calculating and funny - but that’s what Jesus is saying.

JUSTICE

I didn’t realize till long after I finished our seminary what our moral theology professor taught us: justice is a big, big life issue.

I began to notice in my 30’s and 40’s and 50’s and 60’s and now in my 70’s that some people are off on fairness.

Some people are off on comparisons.

Some people don’t think that God is fair.

Some people think that God gives others a better deal than they got.

In other words - some people think that God is not just.

Here at 76 I’m still thinking about all this a bit.

I’m wondering: are there 2 kinds of people?  When they get their cake, some people look for their fork and some people look to see how big a piece the others got.

Do people do that all their life - from their 2^nd or 3^rd birthday - till today?

What kind of a person am I?

Are there 2 kinds of people, those who think they won and those who think they always lose out?

Are we happy with our kids, our salary, our car, our house, our spouse, our family, our story so far?

Check your scales.

PAT LIVINGSTON STORY

Let me move towards ending this with a story that hit me. It presents a great contrast - a great comparison - and a great choice.

One of my favorite writers and speakers is a woman named Pat Livingston.

She once told the following story….

She was at poolside down in Florida where she lives.

Sitting there in a beach chair, she is watching the scene.

Over to her right - on a blanket is this large woman - in a small bikini - coming out of herself - from various places. She is laughing and telling jokes - and connecting with lots of people in her vicinity.

She has on one plate two hot dogs and on another a hamburger and lots of chips.

She doesn’t seem to worry about the numbers on a scale.

Over to her left - Pat spots a lady - all alone - walking towards the other end of the pool. She’s wearing this robe that covers her from top to toes.

She gets to the other end of the pool. She grabs the ladder and starts to descend into the pool. At each step, she raises the robe - up over her body and then her head. She’s wearing the perfect bathing. She’s in perfect shape. She doesn’t have half an ounce of extra weight or her perfect body. She swims the length of the pool 3 or 4 times. She heads for the ladder and smoothly goes up the steps putting her robe back on move by move.

Pat then says, “I’m looking at both women. Who would I rather be: A or B?”

Pat is rather thin - but obviously - she rather be A.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “Scales.”

I tried to get into looking at what do our scales look like.  How do we measure each other? How do we treat each other in mind and heart?

Are we cheating on ourselves and / or on others?

I don’t know how to end this, so let me end it with the last line in today’s second reading: “It is my wish, then, that in every place, men and women should pray, living up holy hands, without anger or argument.”

THE PARABLE 

OF 

THE UNJUST STEWARD

Drawings by Thomas Derrick