March 18, 2019

THREE   THOUGHTS 

ABOUT  JUDGING 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for today -this  2^nd Monday of Lent -  is, “Three  Thoughts About Judging.”

Today’s gospel - Luke 6: 36- 38 - addresses the issue about judging - which many people - judge themselves guilty about on a regular basis.

Like everyone, I have often thought about this issue about judging others.  So let me give 3 thoughts about judging in this homily.

FIRST THOUGHT: SAY, “I’M WRONG.”

The first thought is to say to oneself, when one makes a judgment about another,  “I’m wrong.”

Everyone thinks differently. Even identical twins. Our experiences effect our thinking - so our motives for doing what we do, comes from our experience with why we say what we say, why we think what we think, and why we do what we do.

1 million things, inner conversations, outer experiences, are all different in every human being - so how can we think alike?

We get angry or we inwardly say when another judges our motives, “Wait a minute. You don’t know why I just said or did what I just  did, so stop judging me from your motives.  They are your projections - not mine.”

Golden rule: We don’t like it when others judge us, so stop judging.

I’m wrong every time - because motivation is multi-layered, multi-reasons, multi-backgrounded.

Wait a minute! Get your hands on  a memory when you judged someone and you found out you were dead wrong. Say to yourself, “Remember that experience, that last time you  judged and wow was I so wrong.”

Here’s an experience: Someone is sitting there and they see a boy turn around and look back at a girl - 3 rows behind. He keeps doing it.  Surprise we find out that he’s not looking at her, but he’s turning to check the clock just over her head on the back wall. He wants out of there because he has to go to the bathroom. She thinks he’s looking at her. We think he’s checking her out. Nope.

2) THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JUDGMENT AND PERCEPTION AND SECOND JUDGMENT.

Second message: some people are big on perceiving; some people are big on judging.

It’s not’s virtuous.  People are often just one way more than the other.

A person walks into a store or a church or a room and says, “This room is stupid, the way it looks or is laid out.”

Another person walks into a store or a church or a room and says, “Interesting, the way the pretzels are right across from the Coca Cola.”  Or,  “Interesting the way the benches are.”

I score high on perception. Others score high on judgment on Judgment-Perception Surveys or Self-Tests.

It’s the next step where judgment takes place - after we understand our first reaction.

Some people automatically make a judgement. There is no sin involved.  Some people automatically make a perception. There is no virtue involved.

3) GO FOR BIG COMPASSION

My third point comes from today’s 2 readings - especially the Gospel.

Jesus says have great compassion and mercy in judging others.

Jesus says that the measure we measure with comes back at us.

If we’re stingy with compassion and understanding, yuck. There’s a better way to be.

I love the joke about the one armed fisherman or a one armed golfer.

Did you hear about the one armed fisherman? He caught a fish this big.

Did you hear about the one armed golfer. He missed the putt by this much.

In both cases I’m putting one arm out.

Well, with regards judging someone, miss by this much. Hold out one arm.

Enough.

How are you judging my homily?  Sorry, I had a crazy morning - and didn't get enough time to do this better.

TRANSFIGURATION 

MOMENTS AND PLACES

 INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Transfiguration Moments and Places.”

I like these  2^nd Sunday in Lent readings: the transfiguration scene. We hear 3 versions of it: Mark last year, Luke this year, and Matthew next year.

For this homily I would simply ask you to do what I’m about to do: go through your life and pick transfiguration moments and places that transfigured you - changed you - stunned and stopped you.

I’ll give you a list of some of the places and moments I picked - so that you might do the same.

They could be an early morning moment at Rehoboth beach when you got up all alone and walked down to the water to watch the sunrise - or a night time moment  - when you stopped to look up at the sky like Abram did in today’s first reading and you counted the stars - and there you were with God.

Here are 7 places I picked. What are your 7 or 10 great moments - or places - where God was transfigured before you - and you saw the light - and you said in prayer, “God it is good that I am here.”

#  1  - MOUNT OF THE TRANSFIGURATION

The first would be the day we took a bus up to the Mount of Transfiguration place in Israel. It might be the place. It might not be the place. But it was a place there or near there that got the tradition: “It was here that Jesus experienced a transfiguration moment.”

We went by bus - 24 priests with a  Franciscan, Father Stephen Doyle leading us - up the mount of the transfiguration. The bus was easier than doing it on foot.

We had Mass in the church up on top.  Stephen read the gospel story of the Transfiguration and then after Mass he  gave us an hour of silence.

For the hour of quiet prayer,  I went up the roof of another  building up there. I was all by myself in the quiet - seeing the Golan Heights in the distance and the green pasture lands down below.

A guy had asked me when he heard I was going to Israel, “How do the sheep get fed?  Whenever I see Israel on TV, it’s desert and dryness. Well when I got back I told this guy, “In the north there is plenty of green pastures and sheep and goats.

After the hour of quiet we had a lunch at a Franciscan monastery up on top as well.  It was a spaghetti dinner.

Lord, it  was good to have been here.  The bread was good as well….

# 2 - ZION NATIONAL PARK

The next place I would pick is Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I never knew it existed till I went there.

If you ever get a chance to see National Parks in the southwest - make sure you include Zion National Park. If you get to the Grand Canyon, you’re in striking distance of Zion.  Wow. Well worth it.

I was with another priest, Tom, whom I worked with for 8 ½ years before I came to Annapolis. I was preaching in Tucson - and he flew out when I finished and we had a great 2 week vacation.  Zion was the best.

Lord, it  was good to have been here.

#  3  -  LAKE OF SOLITUDE

The next place would be Lake of Solitude in the Rockies.  4 of us were backpacking - and were  headed for a place called Black Lake.  Well, we met these 3 guys from Boston who were also backpacking. They asked us where we were headed and we said, “Black Lake.”  They said they were there - but much better was Lake of Solitude.  They gave us directions and we had maps - and we changed our plans.

We made it. Sure enough. it was like a church without a ceiling - and the sanctuary was a pool of water - holding the blue sky and some clouds. that flowed into a small lake - listed as the Lake of Solitude. We immediately started saying an Our Father.

Lord, it  was good to have been here.

# 4  CHARTRES CATHEDRAL

I always wanted to go to Chartres Cathedral - not that far a distance from Paris - and it was all I hoped for.

A Malcom Miller gave the tour - 2 hours in the morning - 2 hours in the afternoon - and we came back the next morning - for another 2 hours. He would explain 2 stained glass windows at a time - and some other aspects of medieval cathedrals.

Lord, it  was good to have been here.

Chartres was Lourdes and Fatima - a great Marian Shrine - long before Lourdes and Fatima - and people from all over Europe made pilgrimages to there.

# 5 THIS CHURCH

Next I would add this church. It’s been here since 1858.

Sense all the prayers still moving around this sacred place.

Think of all the tears shed in this sacred space.

I mention this church to trigger the thought: What have been the sacred places and spaces - the churches of your lifetime.

Where is your spot in this church?

Do you have a favorite bench?

Is it up here where babies are baptized or right there where couples make their vows.

Is it a confessional - or a place where you went to a special communion - maybe having dropped out for a while.

Let me point out two spots in this church - that have deep lingering feelings for me.

A woman died right there - after a wedding - when they were taking pictures. [Point]

I had a funeral for a 3 day old baby. Her remains were on a small table - right there [Point]

Lord, sometimes it’s sad to be here. Lord sometimes we’re glad to be here. Lord sometimes we need you.

# 6 MOM AND DAD’S BURIAL VAULT

Next - and this is true for so many people - there is the place where our loved ones are buried.

Where are you cemeteries?

My mom and dad are buried on the 4^th floor of an enormous building - a mausoleum at St. John’s Cemetery in Queens, NY.

It’s neat. It’s clean. It has piped in music. It has marble seats. It’s a sacred place.

I was looking this up today on line and Google said that Lucky Luciano, John Gotti, Carlo Gambino and Vito Genovese are buried in this same cemetery.  Fine Irish men to mention on a day like today.

Lord, it  was good to have been here.

# 7 IRELAND - FIRST TIME.

And my last place would be a moment when our plane came towards the coast of Ireland. I had a great window seat. I could see the coast as we headed for Shannon Air Port. I could see the green. And a thrill came over me. I’m about to see for the first time, the place where my mom and dad are from.

The green was beautiful that bright morning.

Lord it is good to be here.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily  was “Transfiguration Moments and Places.”

I just mentioned 7 places that are sacred - and I ask you to name 5 or 7 of yours.

And tell them to each other. Amen.

HAPPY  ST.  PATRICK'S  DAY

10,000
BLESSINGS 
TO YOU
AND YOUR 
FAMILY
TODAY

March 17, 2019

PEACE  AND  QUIET  TODAY

Peace and Quiet within our hearts today. 

Amen.

Peace and Quiet within our families today. Amen.

Peace and Quiet within our neighbors today. Amen.

Peace and Quiet within our world today. 

Amen

So we can hear the roar of the deep ocean called, “God” within us today. 

Amen.

So we can hear the music and the dancing

in our neighbor's  homes today as well. 

Amen.

  

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019 

March     17, 2019 - 

Thought for today:

 “The Catholic and the Communist are alike in assuming that an opponent cannot be both honest and intelligent.”

George Orwell, Polemic, 

Jan 1946, ‘the Prevention of Literature’

March 16, 2019

MOST  VALUABLE  PLAYER

M V P:  now that’s a very tricky award!

M V P:  now that could be very subjective.

M V P: now is that just for teachers or

athletes, or necessary people.

M V P: how about down syndrome folks?

M V P: how about the handicapped?

M V P: how about the blind, the deaf, and the lame?

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

 March     16, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“The  terrible  fluidity  of self-revelation.” 

Henry James [1843-1916], 

Ambassadors (1909 ed.) preface.

March  15,  2019

ST. CLEMENT HOFBAUER:

BAKER & BREAKER OF BREAD

INTRODUCTION

The title and the theme of my homily this morning is, “St. Clement Hofbauer: Baker and Breaker of Bread.”

As you know the Redemptorists were founded by St. Alphonsus Liguori.  Then there is our second founder: St. Clement Hofbauer – who got us rolling on the other side of the Alps.

There is a little known quote from the book of Lamentations that Alphonsus used to quote. I believe that it sums up his life, his vision, and his ministry.  “The little children go begging for bread; no one spares a scrap for them.” A vulgar modern translation could be: “The little children are begging for bread and nobody gives a crap about them.”

The Redemptorist is called to bring the bread of the word to the people of the world who are starving for the Bread of Life. But there is a nuance - a major nuance that is part of the Redemptorist tradition, lore and myth. It’s this. You just don’t give people loaves of bread. You first have to cut it up in smaller pieces so that they can eat it. You don’t just give them sermons, you simplify and cut them down so people can understand and digest what you are talking about. KISS. You don’t overdo it with too many points, too many big words, too many metaphors.

The call is to be good bakers, good preachers and then good cutters, good breakers of the word into small pieces, so the children of the world can be helped to eat it. 

Unless you be like little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of God.

ST. CLEMENT AND ST. ALPHONSUS: DIFFERENCES

St. Clement and St. Alphonsus were two totally different characters.

Alphonsus was from the upper crust of society and Clement from the lower crust. You see the top side of the bread, you don’t see the underside of the bread. Who sees the poor?

Alphonsus was a lawyer, who grew up hobnobbing with the rich and the powerful of society and ending up working with the poor and the powerless - who sometimes were outside society. Clement was a baker. He grew up as a poor kid, with little means for a school education and ended up being well known not just to the poor of Vienna, but also to some of the great intellectuals and high society of the city.

One was born in the capital city of Naples and moved out of it. One was born in a small town and ended up in the capital city of Vienna.

There could not be 2 more different men.

ST. CLEMENT AND ST. ALPHONSUS: SIMILARITIES

Yet there are some points that both of those saints had very much in common.

Both are the founders of our Congregation - one on each side of the Alps. Both of the them had struggle after struggle to get foundations and approval. Both of them never really lived to see the results of their work. As we heard in today’s first reading: 1 Cor. 3: 6-11, Paul said that he planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. Or it’s like a building, Paul said, I laid the foundation. Another is building upon it. But Christ is the corner stone. Neither of these men really saw the great growth that resulted from their lifetime of hard work. Each of these men are the ground on which we stand, the foundation of our congregation, the bottom line why we are here today.

However, besides these men being our founders, where I see a great similarity, is in the image of bread. Clement, as I said was a baker. Alphonsus was a lawyer who ended up having a great love affair with Jesus in the Bread of the Altar, the Bread of the Eucharist.

However, what I would like to stress today is the bread of the word.

Now by stressing this I am not implying that neither of them, nor us Redemptorists should not be concerned about the people on the planet who are starving  for actual bread - those with physical hunger. As human beings, as Christians, as Redemptorists, if we see our brother or sister starving for bread, we better feed them. “The little children go begging for bread; no one spares a scrap for them.” Clement fed his orphans at St. Benno’s in Warsaw and Alphonsus worked to get food for the people of Agatha of the Goths in the famine of 1763 - 1764 and Redemptorists ever since have been deeply concerned about helping those who are starving and poor.

But I am stressing that the end of our Institute, the purpose of our Congregation from the very beginning, as our first constitution puts it is to “follow the example of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, by preaching the word of God to the poor, as he declared of himself: `He sent me to preach the Good News to the poor.’”

In today’s Gospel: Luke 10:1-9 we see Jesus appointing disciples and sending them 2 by 2, to work in teams. The harvest is plentiful,  the laborers are few. Jesus sent them forth to bring peace to others. If a son of peace is here, then your peace will rest on you, if not it returns to you. The Kingdom of God has come to you.

The stress then is on the Bread of the Word - Good News - Gospel - preaching. The stress is on giving people meaning in their lives, when they don’t have meaning. The stress is on prophetic preaching that will convert the hearts and minds of people so that there will more peace and justice in our world and less selfishness. The stress is on prophetic preaching against structures that cause poverty and prophetic preaching that in the meanwhile, since we always have the poor with us, we see those scrounging with the dogs for scraps at the garbage pails outside our houses.

Both Alphonsus and Clement saw a Europe in their times where people were starving for the word of God and a) preachers were not giving them that bread or b) if they were giving it, they were not breaking it up for them. Both saw that people need sermons that are down to earth, meat and potato stuff, bread not cake, stuff not fluff.

Our tradition then is not just to preach the word, the bread of the word, but to break it up into pieces so that people will understand it easily and no longer be starving.

CONCLUSION

Today, yes our world has a lot of people who are starving. Today, yes our world has a lot of food that could be used by those who are starving, but there is greed, laziness, use of food as weapons, poor distribution of food etc. Yes to all that.

But where our provinces work, I see that most people have the means to get physical food. What they lack is spiritual food: the bread of the word. The people are hungry for the Word of God. “The little children go begging for bread; no one spares a scrap for them.” "I was hungry and you gave me to eat."

The people we serve seem to me to have much of the world’s goods, but are also starving for meaning, prophecy, Good News, the Word made Flesh: Jesus.

The harvest is plentiful, the laborers are few. Jesus invites us to work in the field. Alphonsus and Clement said, yes. Do I?

AMEN COME LORD JESUS!

March 15, 2015

THE  PIER

The feel of wood on the soles of
my bare feet as I stand still here

on a pier - with the licking, lapping
sound of water just below....
I love being on a wooden pier.

What a great place for wood -

better than a casket but - but wouldn’t

it be nice if  wood in the forest

still growing - still alive - had a

say in their future: table, desk,

cradle, rocking chair, pier platform,

then again there is the horror

of a forest fire that wipes away

700 miles of woodland in a single day.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019 

March 15, 2019

Thought for today: 

“A child becomes an adult when he realizes he has a right  not only to be right but also to be wrong.” 

Thomas Szasz,  

The Second Sin (1973) 

“Childhood”

March     14, 2019 

Thought for today:

“If you can’t pray - at least  say  your  prayers.” 

Georges Bernanos [1888-1948]

March 14, 2019

BRICKS,  STONES

Who were the first

to build homes out

of bricks and stones?

Was it because they

decided that this was the

place to settle and to stay?

Was this the way we

became who we are:

home builders and city folk?

Did schools, temples,

stores, follow - and

culture became us?

But did the urge to move

on push folks to gather their stuff

and scatter to the four winds?

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

March 13,  2019

HELL, NO!

He told me

quite definitely,

“There is no

such place as hell.

I just can’t believe

in such a fairy tale.”

But he knew

and I knew

that there was

a marriage or a job 

or a future situation

that will be hell!

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

March  13, 2019

Thought for today: 

“Le desir de la priere est deja une priere.”  

“The wish for prayer is a prayer in itself.” 

Georges Bernanos [1888-1948] 

Journal d’un cure de campagne 

[Diary of a Country priest, 1936] Chapter 2.

WORDS  LAST

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Tuesday in the First Week of Lent  is, “Words Last.”

Well, not all, but some - and we never know - which words and why some words - last.

e.e. cummings once wrote these words, “be of love a little more careful than anything.”

I read those words a long time ago - and for some reason - I remember them for this long time.

As I remember them I think about them.  Of course, life is  about loving one another as Jesus taught us. Moreover, be careful in how we are with and how we treat one another.

Last night because of Jesus and Isaiah’s words for today, I wondered  if we can jump from e.e. cummings words to also saying,  “be of words, a little more careful than anything.”

In fact, I sense that this switch in words has more grab for me than, “be of love a little more careful than anything”.

Words last - so we should be careful of them. Am I talking about positive - complimentary words - or negative words?

Maybe I’m thinking or wondering more about negative comments - hurting words - that rattle around in our brain and our memory and last for 50 - 60 - 70 years.

WORDS LAST

The title of this homily is, “Words  Last.”

The words we hear today from Isaiah 55:10-11 have been around - perhaps for 2500 years and they have a  wonderful shelf life.

Isaiah 55 says that God’s word is like seed  - planted in the field. In time they become flour and food - wheat and bread.

Like bread, we eat our words - and they become us. They educate us. They feed us.

As we say the words of the Our Father - which we hear in today’s gospel, we can also  pray, “Give us  each day our daily words - good - loving - life giving - like good bread - words."

We are what our parents said to us - our teachers said to us - our children’s books said to us.

Isn’t that how we learned our vocabulary. We listen, we hear each other. We read our books and  newspapers and magazines. We have our conversations?

We speak the language of our parents - and others.

My niece Jeannie married a guy named David - from Milan, Italy and I’ve heard that he didn’t speak till he was 4 - and out of his mouth came 4 languages all at once: Italian, English, Spanish and French. His dad was Italian, but taught Spanish. His mom was from England and they had a French Nanny.

Hopefully, we heard lots of, “I love you’s” in all kinds of languages from family and the relationships of our lives.

Hopefully those words like seed sank into us - grew - and they became us - and we became devoted servants.

LAST NIGHT

Last night we heard at our parish mission good words from Father Phil Dabney and Father Jim Wallace.

Some of their words were planted in our minds and hearts.

We heard and then saw poems by Jessica Powers and Mary Oliver - on the screen up here behind our altar.

Words Last.... 

I think about a moment I was walking along and my nephew around 30 says to me how much a letter I wrote to him when he was 16 - became part of his life.

I think of all the people we have talked to in our lives and how those thoughts and sentiments became us.

CONCLUSIONS

Obviously words become flesh.

Obviously, we need to say loving words, to others - who hear our words and they are moved.

Obviously, we need to say forgiving words, to others - who might be talking to themselves about something we did that they did not like or we hurt them.

March 12, 2019

TRANSUBSTANTIATION

Come on now, we’re all priests ….

We can change words - bread,

wine, potatoes, tomatoes,

pasta,  pies, ice cream cones,

rings and things - meals,

moments into sacred meals  -

as we are graced and filled with

a Holy Spirit - with God, filled

with Thanksgiving for each other.

Come on now, we’re all priests ….

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

March     12, 2019 

“L’enfer, madame, c’est de ne plus almer.” 

“Hell Madam, is to love no more.” 

Journal d’un cure de campagne 

[Diary of a Country priest, 1936]

BE   HOLY,

BUT  BE SPECIFIC

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Monday in the First Week of Lent  is, “Be Holy, But Be Specific.”

In the first paragraph of today’s first reading, the Lord says to Moses. “Speak to the whole assembly of the children of Israel and tell them, “Be Holy, for  I the Lord your God, am holy.” [Cf. Leviticus 19: 1-2, 11-18.]

HIGH SCHOOL - KAIROS RETREATS

In our high school Kairos Retreats there is a talk on holiness. One of the kids gives the talk and I’ve heard 35 of those talks.  Then there is a group discussion on holiness and the small groups are asked, to name someone whom they think is holy.

Names are named.  Grandparents, teachers, priests, Mother Teresa, the Pope, are mentioned.

Once, I even made someone’s list. Surprise. If they only knew. Remember what the radio show - that was before TV, “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?  The Shadow knows.”

The Catholic Church has specific people who have been officially or traditionally named as holy, named as saints: Augustine, Francis, Thomas, Peter, Paul, Mother Elizabeth Seton, Mary, Monica - often names the kids heard about in confirmation preparation.  Some names come from their confirmation when they have to come up with a name of a saint as a patron.

TODAY’S READINGS

The title of my homily is, “Be Holy, But Be Specific.”

Today’s readings give specifics.

The first reading from the Book of Leviticus  give lots of specifics.  “Don’t steal. Don’t speak falsely. Don’t use God’s name in profanity. Don’t defraud. Don’t hold worker’s wages. Don’t curse the deaf. Don’t put stumbling blocks in front of the blind - as a joke. Don’t be dishonest in making judgments, Don’t judge. Don’t spread slander Don’t stand there silently when someone’s life is at stake. Don’t hate your brother, No revenge. No cherishing grudges. Then comes the Golden Rule:  Love your neighbor as yourself.

How’s that for specifics.

Then the gospel from Matthew 25: 31-46: gives some very specific things to do: Feed the hungry. Give the thirsty something to drink. Visit the sick. Visit those in prison. Welcome the stranger.

Now those are very specific.

CONCLUSION

So a message for today: Be Holy, But Be Specific.

Do specifics.

Do the do’s!

Don’t do the don’ts.

March     11, 2019 

Thought for today:

"A la recherché du temps perdu.” 

“In search of lost time.”  

Marcel Proust,  

Title of a novel (1913-27), 

translated by C. K Scott-Moncrieff 

and S. Hudson, 1922-31. as 

“Remembrance  of things past”.

March 11, 2019

LADDER

Resting or hanging on a wall 

in the garage - rarely noticed 

by people coming in and going 

out of the house through 

the garage - but like most  

people - needed at the right 

moment - in the right need....  
The rest of the time I’m here - 
with wallet or wisdom - or what  
have you - just reach for me. 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

March 10, 2019

GLISTEN

Cobblestones on a rainy night,

glistening,  thanks to the street lights ….

Eyes in a church on a Saturday morning …

glistening ….  as I listened to the eulogy

for my dad - realizing he was much more

than I realized. He was bread, broken for me -

soft, struggling, baked - but never a cobblestone,

but now I know he’ll be a glistening tombstone

in a rainy cemetery - next to my mom - with sleek

green grass climbing up the edges of the stone.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

March  10, 2019 - 

Thought for today: 

“Les vrais paradis sont les paradis qu’on a perdus.” 

“The true paradises are paradises we have  lost.” 

Marcel Proust [1871-1922] 

Le temps retrouve (Time Regained, 

1926, translated 1931, 

by S. Hudson, Chapter 3, p. 215.