April 16, 2018 

Thought for today: 

“Hell  is -  other  people!” 

Jean Paul Sartre [1905 - 1980], 

Huis-Clos (No Exit) [1944]

WHAT’S  YOUR  TAKE  
ON  SIN?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 3rd Sunday of Easter  is, “What’s Your Take on Sin?”

Today’s second reading from the 1^st Letter of St. John  begins this way: “My children, I am writing this to you so that you may not commit sin.”

Isn’t that one of the top concerns for parents - that worry about their kids - not to get messed up in sin -  the bad and the ugly - and miss out on the good?

ONE OF THE 5 TOP QUESTIONS PEOPLE ASK PRIESTS

One of the 5 top questions people ask priests is this: “Father, did I commit a sin?”

When I’m asked that question,  I want to say, “I don’t know. Did you?”  I want to throw the ball back into their court - which is going to be a take in this homily about sin.”

If I have time and it’s the right situation or moment, I might say something like, “Tell me more.”  And then add, “Come Holy Spirit.”

To some questions - I’m tempted to say what Jesus said when asked by someone in  a crowd: “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.”  Jesus said, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” [Luke 12: 13-14]

That’s kind of an “Ouchy” response,  but there’s some truth sitting there in that response by Jesus.

Now I don’t know if there is a list somewhere of top questions people ask priests, but I know that, “Father, did I commit a sin?” has to be one of them.

However, I know another question people ask priests and it’s definitely the # 1 question: “Father, does this count for Sunday Mass?”

We’re asked that at weddings - not in church - but at the reception - after an afternoon wedding Mass.  And somewhere in the attic or cellar of that question is the worry about sin.

BACK TO THE TITLE OF MY HOMILY: WHAT’S YOUR TAKE ON SIN?

I’ll begin by saying that sometimes people think they are committing sins - when they are not.

Then I’d say a lot of people are committing sins - and they don’t realize it - especially sins of omission - like  neglecting affirmation and affection for the people around them.

I’d also say that if someone thinks something that is not sinful is sinful then they don’t sin - even though they think it’s sinful.

However, having said that, I think that’s also an, “It all depends.”

So one of my takes on sin is:  “Sin is tricky stuff.”

What’s your take on sin?

Does every person have to go into the desert for 40 days - for example Lent every year - or 40 years and do their own homework and heart work and mind work on the reality of sin? By that I mean this: Is growing up, is forming our own conscience, all about becoming one’s own priest - one’s own deacon [that is, servant of one’s soul] -  one’s own judge - one’s own decider whether something is a sin or not?

I say 40 years - because I read something some 40 years ago that went something like this: “The greatest sin is the inability to accept  the otherness of the other person.”

I’ve been thinking about that statement for some 40 years now. It comes up when I’m dealing with someone - usually a priest - [I live with priests] - when they don’t think the way I think.

So is that the greatest sin?  I don’t know.

The Bible talks about an unforgivable sin. Mark 3: 28-30 and  Matthew 12:31-32 are quoted. Jesus seems to be saying, If someone refuses the Holy Spirit when there is a question of forgiveness going on - then they are refusing the Holy Spirit who forgives - so they are not forgiven. It’s their own choice - done by their own free will. So it’s not God who won’t forgive, but themselves who won’t accept forgiveness - for our own mistakes  or mistakes and sins or trespasses against us.

Now that’s my take on that issue of whether or not there are unforgiveable sins.  There are many other takes on that issue. It’s one of those mysterious God and self-questions.

Here’s another issue when it comes to sin.  Some 50 years ago - someone - I don’t know who the person was - told me that they don’t bring God into the picture when they are thinking about sin - when they are thinking about right and wrong. They said that they simply ask: is what I am doing here or thinking here making things better or worse for how I am doing life or how I am doing life with others.

She added - it was a woman - but I don’t  remember who: “Too many people think sin hurts God and they don’t pay attention to how sin hurts themselves and/or others. They seem to leave themselves out of the effects of sin.

Now that’s numbness. Now that’s dumbness. 

Now I think that’s something right there that I need to think about a lot more.

MESSES THINGS UP

How do you define sin?

How do you describe sin?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says the following. It's somewhat different to what that someone told me 50 years ago.

“Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. It has been defined as ‘an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law.’” That's # 1849 in  the New Catechism 

# 1850 is also very different and much more official: “Sin is an offense against God: ‘Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight.’ Sin sets itself against God's love for us and turns our hearts away from it. Like the first sin, it is disobedience, a revolt against God through the will to become ‘like gods,’ knowing and determining good and evil. Sin is thus ‘love of oneself even to contempt of God.’ In this proud self- exaltation, sin is diametrically opposed to the obedience of Jesus, which achieves our salvation.^”

So is sin that and a list of things in The Baltimore Catechism which many of us were brought up with and were taught - and then become our way of seeing and thinking - that are wrong?

Yes. 

Like, “Thou shall not steal.”

Like, “Make sure you take care of your kids when they are young and your parents when they are old.”

Like, “Keep your married vows!” Better, “Love one another as I have loved you.”

Like, “Keep the Golden Rule” - don’t be doing things to others that you hate happen to you.”

I like to call sin: the mess!

A gal I know, Patricia Livingston, wrote a whole book called:  This Blessed Mess. It's an excellent read.

But when sin happens,  it doesn’t feel like a blessing.

It takes time to learn from our sins and our messes.

So sin is what messes things up  - or keeps things messy - when beauty and unity and love should  be going on.

Go back to that comment I heard some 40 years ago: “The greatest sin is the inability to accept  the otherness of the other person.”

If we spend our time at work not accepting the personality of a boss or co-worker or person we’re hired to serve - then our personality can get filled with agita - and we might become nasty or a person others can’t accept and we then bring that itchy agita onto the road or home.

Sin messes things up and messes us up.

That’s what hits God - seeing us messed up.

I think that’s part of the background Jesus saw and thought about and cried about from the cross.  Here are all these people who yelled and spat at him.

Those nasties can anesthetizes us from being nice and decent to each other.

How did the person who nailed Jesus to the cross treat his kids at supper that night?  Was he moody, silent, nasty or what?

Is that why Jesus said, “Father forgive them for they don’t know what the heck they are doing.”

CONCLUSION

We come to church - we take walks - we think while we’re driving - and hopefully in our adult relationships - we talk to each other about sin - what works, what doesn’t work.

These are just a few ideas about my take on sin - then there are all those other thoughts - like sins of omission - like how we treat our earth - our front yards  and back yards - like how we treat our bodies - health wise - like parking in the far end of the parking lot to get some extra walking in - and making parking easier for others - maybe older than us - like  becoming the person whom God and others hope we become to make life on this planet that much sweeter for each other.

April 15, 2018 

Thought for today: 

“Hell, Madame, is  to  love  no longer.” 

George Bernanos [1888-1948], 

Le Journal d’un Cure de Campagne  

(The Diary of a Country Priest) [1936]

Reflections - April 15, 2018

NOVEL OR A MOVIE?

If you were to pull together your life,

would you make it a movie or a novel?

What would be its title? The place you

came from or the you place you landed?

What have been the raw emotions - 

the pure feelings - the key moments.

What would be the chapters, the time

line? Where would you end your story?

Would you care to guess - to describe -  

20 years from now and how your got there?

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018 

ITALIAN SPAGHETTI 

AND IRISH STEW

For a marriage to become a great marriage

a couple has to see where the other comes from.

They have to sit at the family table of each other - Irish with Italian, black with white with brown.

Just one to one is not enough. A couple have to

see each other’s roots, families and differences.

The couple who go it alone has to think family -

food, table, children, parents, grandparents. Mangia!

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

April 14, 2018 

Thought for today:

“Why this is hell, nor am I out of it:

Think’st thou that I who saw 

the face of God,
And tasted the eternal joys of Heaven,
Am not tormented with ten thousand hells,

In being deprived of everlasting bliss?”

Christopher Marlowe [1564-1593], 

The  Tragic Death of Doctor Faustus 

[1604], scene  iii

AT LEAST 10,000 FLOWERS

It’s Spring.

Christ has arisen!

The earth is going, “Ahem!”
like a Haleigh Davidson motorcycle,

with 10,000 different flowers.

The church windows are open

and out come 10,000 "Amens"

and hymns with "Alleluias"

and hopefully folks walk
out of church with risen smiles 
on their faces today  -
smiles that last all week.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

April 13, 2018 

Thought for today: 

“Each  of  us  bears  his  own  hell.” 

Virgil, [70  - 19 B.C.] Aeneid, line 743

I plan to quote some quotes on hell -
because Pope Francis got people
talking about hell lately.

SOMETIMES

Sometimes it’s just right

to have an ice cream cone -

or to just find a quiet corner

and read a smart article in

a magazine - to think about

its contents - to take a walk

around the block - to visit

or call an old aunt or uncle

and let them do all the talking

and keep listening to their

voice and let their joy

come through your ear to

your heart and soul. Amen.

  

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

April 12, 2018 

Thought for today: 

“Truth exists, only falsehood has to be invented.”  

George Braque [1882-1963]

HOLDING UP 

YOUR SCRIPTURE TEXT

The title of my homily for this Wednesday in the Second Week of Easter  is, “Holding Up Your Scripture Text.”

I like today’s gospel, because it gets to an idea I like to push: “What is your favorite scripture text?”

I mention this idea a couple of times every year. In fact, I mentioned my favorite Bible text within the last two weeks in a homily.

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

For many Protestants, a favorite Bible text is the opening sentence in today’s gospel reading from John 3: 16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

SIGNS

I am sure you noticed people at sporting events holding up a sign, John 3:16

At the last game two weeks ago in March Madness, the NCAA Basketball Finals, someone had a key seat, first row, behind the basket, with a sign with the word and number: John 3: 16.  At football games they are behind the goal post - so as to be seen at field goat or extra point attempts.

I assume that is well planned - and well financed and organized.

It’s a key theme in Protestant Theology: being saved - by placing my whole life and existence in Jesus’ hands.

The message is clear: Jesus saves us. Behind the Protestant stress on this text, I assume as a Catholic, it’s also a warning. You’re not saved by works, but by Jesus. Martin Luther didn’t like what he was seeing: preachers stressing indulgences, giving, donations, money, as ways of being saved. They can help, but Jesus Christ  saves us.

The  Catholic position is: if you have faith it will show up in works: like loving one’s neighbor.  We could then add: what about Matthew 25: 14-30  when it comes to being saved and saving and helping others. “I was hungry, thirsty, sick, in prison and you came to my aid. Come into the kingdom.”

YOUR SIGN

I would like to stress the question: if you could be in front of 100 million people with a sign that had one scripture text, what text would you choose?

Pick a text that sums up your religion - your faith - your greatest values in life.

It could be, “Father forgive them, because they don’t know what they are doing” - and you might pick that because your kids or your spouse hurt you - big time and you have learned to forgive - to avoid spending the rest of your life hurting, angry, regretting. Of still with forgiveness: “Forgive 70 times 7 times.”

Or it could be go the extra mile. Or turn the other cheek. Or This is my body, this is my blood, I’m giving my life for you.

Or it could be, “My Lord and my God” or “”God is love.” or it could be, “Love one another as I have loved you.”

TATTOO

Would you get a tattoo of a text and put it on your arm or leg or what or where have you.

CONCLUSION: BIBLE

I like to push two ways of being a Bible person - two ways of having a Biblical faith.

One would be to know the whole book - the number of books, the geography, the characters of the Bible.

Secondly, the other way is to go by texts.  Get one down. then another. then another - one version would be to grasp just one text - like John 3: 16 and try that one for 6 months.

One good trick, you’ve heard me say this before, use a rosary for a text.

Go with 10 times - using just 10 beads.

THE BEGGAR AT  78

I beg forgiveness

for not listening,

for not sharing  more of myself,

for wasting so much time,

for causing hell and not bringing heaven,

for not crying,

for not screaming out at injustice,

for not washing feet like Jesus did,

for looking down on beggars -

and for a lot more, O Lord.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018
Drawing by Michael Kluckner //
Rajasthan (Delhi and Agra in India,
"Beggar from memory - no, I didn't
stand there and draw him or take
his photo like a trophy."

April 11, 2018  

Thought for today: 

“Watch out for each other. Love everyone and forgive  everyone, including yourself.  Forgive your anger. Forgive your guilt. Your shame. Your sadness. Embrace and open up your love, your joy, your truth,  and most especially your heart.”

Jim Henson

WHAT’S OUR TAKE 

ON THE COMMON GOOD?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Tuesday in the Second Week of Easter is, “What’s Our Take on the Common Good?”

Today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 4, talks about common possessions  - common ownership - having everything in common - everyone putting their money in the common pot.

The history of the Catholic Church, Christianity, has groups who lived with everything in common.

We know that Jesus and his disciples did  this. At the end of Lent we heard that  Judas held the purse and he used it to help himself from the common treasury. We know from the Acts of the Apostles that early Christian communities followed that practice - that way of living.

We know from the history of the church there have been religious orders who pooled  their time, treasure and talents together. I took a vow of poverty in 1960 and I have never had to worry about a home and food and money ever since. It’s an easier way of doing life.

A friend of mine - a Redemptorist said that he tried the Trappist’s - and in the house he lived in - all wash was done together and you’d take large t-shirts an 34  jockey shorts or boxers from the common pile if that was your size.

I’ve been asked 1000 times: do you have your own vestments? Do you have your own bank account? Do you have your own car?  Take cars: all of us priests here drive the car we have been given and if a guy is stuck and his car ain’t working, you can ask another guy to borrow his so called “his car” till his car is fixed.

We used to have common ownership of cars - but the practice changed when people realized that some guys wouldn’t fill up the gas in a car for the next guy - or keep an eye on its being serviced.  In general, we found out that if all take care of the cars, sometimes nobody is taking care of some cars - and the next guy is not in the know

We know from our world that some people have started communes.

We know that some countries and sections of the world came up with ideas like communism.

What’s your take on the common good - and cult like groups - and the common life - and property etc. etc. etc.?

In our day, we know that people is this parish are very generous with their time as well as their money to especially to help the poor.

What are your thoughts about the common good and the common life of folks?

Thomas Merton was a Trappist Novice Master and he once said on a tape I was listening to, “If I had to do this job of novice master all over again, I would tell the novices, ‘Don’t slam doors. Think of the other guys.”

In other words, when doing life, “Think of the next guy!”

Here are some mixed thoughts about common ownership of property and life.

FAMILY

We could start with marriage and the family - that we are obligated to care for  and are members of.

It’s called family - the family car, the house, the common table and refrigerator.

We spot a nice last piece of apple pie on the next to the bottom shelf of the refrigerator - and we think, “I’ll have that tonight around 9 PM”  and we open up the refrigerator and it’s gone.

Bummer.

Who gets the clicker for the television? Who fills and who empties the dish washer?

The common life and ownership provides the opportunity to learn how to not be selfish and think of others.

Living as family - we learn who is selfish and who is generous.

We learn the difference between me, me, me and we, we, we.

OUR BIGGER HOME: THE EARTH

Concerned about time, some of you got to get to work - so let me just cover one other common good place: our home - this earth.

The earth is our home.

I learned from the famous architect and social commentator, Buckminster Fuller [1895-1983] Please take good care of the common bathrooms - the public restrooms - along the highway stops of life.  It’s my bathroom too. Think of the next person.

If you are tossing a paper towel into a waste basket and you miss your shot, get the rebound, and dunk it into the basket.

As you know there are folks who want to deregulate environmental protections  here in the United States. If I mention this from the pulpit, I might be handed a letter of complaint that I’m being political.

As a kid when we took the Sea Beach Express train to Coney Island we went over a small bridge over some water which we all called, “Perfume Bay”. It's real name is, 'The Gowanus Canal." We kids would hold our noses with our fingers and go, “Oooooooh!” at the smell.”

So I have been aware of polluted waters - bad air - and dirty bathrooms all my life - not just in 2018.

When I hear that some people want to cut down on regulations on carbon emissions, etc. etc. etc. I think of the day about 20 years ago when I crossed the border in Nogales, Arizona going into Nogales, Mexico. We were heading for  Magdalena, Mexico. I noticed the change in air almost immediately.  Cars were coughing smoke - and I was taking it in. I asked the 3 other people I was with, “Do they have emissions tests in Mexico?” They laughed at me.

I think of cigarette smoking regulations here in the United States. There has been a vast change in thinking and practice about smoking in the last 25 or is it 50 years.

Emphysema is a reality. “Cough. Cough. Cough!”

I’m sure you have heard about the air pollution in Beijing. China. The place is filled with smoke and air pollution. It’s hard to see the distance some days. 

Finally, there are people making the effort to improve the quality and the environment. It’s happening.

I think of deregulations of laws when it comes to strip mining in Kentucky. Instead of mine shafts and all that, the method of getting at the coal became strip mining. Mountain tops are removed with bulldozers and all the coal is exposed. Then after all the coal is gotten, it’s left alone. When snow melts and rain flows down the mountain, homes and places in the valley and hollows are flooded. There are fines - which companies pay the local governments - which are far less expensive than  replanting trees and resoding  and resoiling the earth.

The Golden Rule is not being kept.

Think of the other guy - not refilling one’s wallet.

The earth is our home.

I hear people criticizing our pope and his concern for our mother earth - and praising those who want to deregulate.  Hello! It’s the money. It costs money to keep our waters clean - to stop pollution of air and water. So why wouldn’t big polluters want deregulation and attack those who are for Mother Earth.

Hello! Pro-lifers of the world scream for the health of Mother Earth and the abortion of life around us.

We live here near the water - concern for the water - which is 77 % of the globe - is concern for each other.

CONCLUSION

Let’s hope the common good, becomes our constant common concert.

Don’t litter - write letters of concern.

Don’t pollute - march, make signs, promote a healthy environment.

It’s for our common good.

GOD  IS  ALL  ABOUT BEND

Bend is beautiful …. lose your bend

and you’ll be seen as an old lady ….

Smile. Okay old men too. Be flexible

with your mind and your heart and

your opinions. If you forget about

bending, folks will avoid you at every

party and every family get together.

Bend. Bend those face muscles. Smile.

Bend your ears. Listen up and listen

to others. If you don’t get what they

are saying. Tell them: “Please explain.”
If you don't pray, bend your knees. Pray.

Smile. It’s not always about age.

Take the father of the Prodigal Son.

Now there was a father who could bend.

Take the older brother. Now there was

a stiff who couldn’t bend. He was stuck

in have to’s  - instead of want to’s. So God 
is all about bend - giving and forgiving. I 
was wondering, maybe the whole of creation bends. If you could go out into outer space maybe you’ll find yourself back home in inner space, bent back into your mother’s womb.

  

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

April 10, 2018 

Thought for today: 

“In the dry places … towns, like weeds, spring up when it rains, dry up when it stops. But in a dry climate the husk of the plant remains.  The stranger might find, as if preserved in amber, something of the green life that was once lived there, and the ghosts of men who have gone on to a better place.  The withered towns are empty, but not uninhabited.”  

Wright Morris [1910 - 1998 ] The Works of Love [1952], chapter 1