YOGI  BERRA

Quote for Today - July 21,  2011

"The game is supposed to be fun. If you had a bad day, don't worry about it. You can't expect to get  a hit every game."

Yogi Berra - picture of him from 1956. I grew up not to like the Yankees - but everybody loves Yogi.

BABY, 

WHAT A BEGINNING!

Quote for Today - July 20,  2011

"Babies are such a nice way to start people."

Don Herold

FAMILY

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 16th Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Family.”

As the Pittsburgh Pirates were singing the Sister Sledge song when they were winning years ago [1979], “We are family”, now that they are doing well again, will that song be revived?

Individuals are important - sacred - unique - but it’s the family that is the family is the nucleus of society - as Catholic philosophy and theology have stressed and taught through the years.

We are family. We come from families. What is your family like?

The parish is a family. How many times have we heard here in church: “Brothers and Sisters” as an opening address? These are nice sentiments, but it’s when we know who’s here in church - when we recognize each other when we arrive - by eye, a nod, a wave of the hand, a hello, that the idea and ideal moves closer to reality. We share the word and the table, prayers, and a sign of peace and communion with each other. The Mass brings out both the horizontal and vertical dimensions of Christ. It’s the sign of the cross - the line up - and line out and across to each other. It’s Christ reaching up to his Father at Calvary and out to his brothers on the other crosses and his followers around him and down below - reaching out even though some had no clue about him. They were there to do their job - or manipulated to curse, to hurt and to kill Jesus.

In the process of crucifixion, the centurion discovers who he is.

The Church is not just a group then - not just the gathering - the ekklesia, but it’s also a place - an experience - a place to discover what parts I can play - what my best skills in the Body - I am. So it’s a place where we can discover who each individual is.

Ah! There’s the rub at times. In Church, we discover what we discover in family - the individual vs. the group.

Why do people come to the church building. Some say, “I come here to pray!” Others say, “I come here to socialize.” Some say, “I come for communion with Christ.” Others say, “I come here to be in communion with the Whole Christ.”

Can we do both? Can’t we do both.

Someone recently asked me when the new pastor is going to arrive. I told him the date I heard and he said, “I’m going to ask him to stop all this talking and chatting inside the church - especially before and after Mass.” I thought his comment was fascinating - because he was telling me all this after Mass - but inside the church building.

The diocese is a family.

The Catholic Church is our family.

I would hope we make the next jump and say, “We the people of this planet are all one family!” And we can say that - and work towards that - if we are doing the will of our Heavenly Father - as Jesus told us in today’s gospel. Praise God.

The Our Father is a Jewish prayer. It’s a Christian prayer. The Our Father is an international - interdenominational - inter religious prayer. We pray that God’s kingdom come to all - that all have daily bread - that we learn to forgive trespasses against us that we find hard to forgive. We are one family and God is Our Father.

Do we have that vision in a world of so many different visions, voices, listenings, languages, colors, and ways of life? That’s the challenge of Christianity?

A STORY: ONCE UPON A TIME

Once upon a time there was a French aristocrat and author named Duc Gaston Pierre Marc de Levis - who lived around 1764 to 1830.

Some who are Proper Bostonians brag about their lineage, well there was this family - the de Levis family - as the story goes - who considered itself and bragged about being the oldest family in Christendom. “Their chateau was reputed to contain two paintings to prove it: one of Noah going into the Ark with a box full of the Levis papers under his arm; the other of the Virgin Mary addressing the founder of the house as mon cousin and begging him to put his hat back on.” [1]

We don’t have a painting proving that we are members of Christ’s family, but we do have the scene in today’s gospel where Jesus is speaking to the crowds. His mother and brother wanted to interrupt and speak to him. So someone tells Jesus, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak to you.”

Surprise Jesus says to the one said that, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?”

Then stretching out his hand toward his disciples he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

He was not putting Mary down - he was doing what Mary would become - mother of all - of all cultures - and that’s why we Redemptorists are particularly proud of the Our Lady of Perpetual Help icon. It’s Eastern and Western - somewhat both - and can be found all around the world - and people all around the world reach out to Mary to bring families together and to bring all families to God our Father.

HORRORS

Now of course, there are horror stories - great human tragedies - and that’s the bad news - but the good news - is when the world rallies to help our brothers and sisters in need.

This is a great parish as we see in the St. Vincent de Paul Society and all the people who visit the homebound and those in nursing homes and the hospital.

I hope that each family that comes here for Mass walks out of here a better family than when they walked in here.

I have been moved when people come up to me after Mass to make the following complaint or suggestion: “How come after what happened in [fill in the blank - a world tragedy], when is the church going to take up funds to help these people?

CONCLUSION

When you were listening to today’s first reading from Exodus, we were listening to epic type writing - legends - and there are varying strands of stories in the Jewish Scriptures about the Exodus. We were hearing the story of the Passover from slavery and horror - to redemption and liberation. It evoked for the Hebrews hope - whenever they were being persecuted - and they were enslaved in Egypt. Hopefully, it evokes hope and action for any people who are in need of liberation. And hopefully we felt sympathy and empathy for the Egyptian families whose fathers and husbands did not return after being drowned and none escaped. Hopefully we feel the pain for the families of anyone who dies - or is killed - on either side in a war - big wars - or acts of terror.

We are family - and hopefully, this is how families think, feel and act.



[1] Clifton Fadiman, General Editor, The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, Toronto, London, 1985, p. 352

10 %

Quote for Today - July 19, 2011

"Life is like a ten-speed bike. Most of us have gears we never use."

Charles Schulz

OBSTINATE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 16 Monday in Ordinary Time is just one word, one theme, “Obstinate”.

It’s just one word in today’s first reading. The translation we heard went like this, “So obstinate had the Lord made Pharaoh….” [Exodus 14:8].

Other translations use different words for “obstinate”. Some use the word, “hardened” or “stiffened” or “stubborn”. The Hebrew root word is the rough sounding word, “chazaq” - which can be translated “firm” or “strong” or “arrogant” or “hard” or “obstinate” or “like a fortress”.

Whatever word is used, we know and have experienced the feeling of being hard headed or obstinate or stubborn in ourselves and in others.

Some people get locked in on something. Some people won’t budge on certain issues. Some people have their minds made up - and no matter what we say or think - it will not unlock a locked mind. It will not thaw a frozen head of ice.

Obstinate….

Some people are more obstinate than others.

Some people - it all depends on the issue.

However, to be honest, don’t we all have some things we won’t budge on.

THE FIRST QUESTION

So I guess for starters the first question is, “How do I deal with the issue of stubbornness or obstinacy in others?”

Notice I made the first question about others.

When it comes to an issue like obstinacy, if we are considering it as a negative, we think of others having the hard head. We get frustrated because of their unwillingness to negotiate or compromise or change. We get fixed on them - and don’t see ourselves perhaps as stubborn as them.

Next, if we make this quality a plus, calling it strength, not being wishy washy - or “a pillar of soundness” - then we might be thinking of ourselves or people we like.

OURSELVES FIRST

So to be practical, if we want to deal with or face this issue, we have to start with ourselves. If we concentrate only on others who appear to us as hard headed - and unwilling to change - we lose every time. Why? Well, the other isn’t going to change.

The writer of our text in Exodus has God hardening the heart or making the heart of the Pharaoh stubborn or obstinate.

I would assume the reality was the Pharaoh became so furious - so hard headed - so obstinate - so used to calling the shots and getting his own way, that he led his army to destruction.

In a recent sermon, I mentioned that’s exactly what Captain Bligh does in the big book, Moby Dick. Nobody can tell him anything. Nobody could tell him he’s gone crazy in search of killing the big whale named, Moby Dick.

Unfortunately, when the boss goes off on something that leads to destruction, he or she can take the rest of the ship down as well.

How many companies and how many families and marriages have broken up because the head of the firm was so firm - that he or she wouldn’t budge - couldn’t or wouldn’t compromise - and as a result there was a great snap.

STEP BACK

I would also assume that the second step - after saying “I better look at myself first” is to step back - to assess what’s going on - to ask the big question: “Is this leading to the good or to evil - to life or to death?”

If it’s death and destruction, then something’s got to give - before something snaps. Hello, it’s me! For starters I need to step back - take a walk - talk over the situation with someone who will be objective - and not just take my side - because he or she is my closest friend.

SCENARIOS

“Folks there’s a hurricane coming, you have to evacuate your home.”

“I’m not budging. I’m going to ride out the storm. I’ve been through at least 5 big hurricanes in my life - and it’s never that bad.”

“What ever happened to Harry?”

“Harry? Harry wouldn’t leave his home on the coast - so we don’t know what happened to Harry after the hurricane wiped out a whole section of the coast - just where the hurricane hit land.”

“The Pharaoh? Oh we’re going to find out tomorrow that the Pharaoh’s whole army was drowned in the sea - and not one of them escaped.” It doesn’t say if the Pharaoh himself survived - whether he just stood on the shore and gave orders or if he drowned as well. I’ll have to see the movie, “The Ten Commandments again.”

CONCLUSION

Lawrence Sterne in described this reality this way: “The name of perseverance in a good cause, and of obstinacy in a bad one.”

So obstinacy can also be good. It’s called “endurance”. It’s called “stick-to-it-tiveness.” It’s called “fidelity.” It’s called “perseverance” as Lawrence Sterne put it.

Today is the feast day of one of my favorite saints - St. Camillus de Lellis - who never gave up - in spite of multiple set backs. He heard “no” many times in his life - but that didn’t stop him for too long.

Today I’m challenging myself and all to reflect upon this theme of obstinacy in our life.

THERE ARE TWO 

TYPES OF PEOPLE ....

Quote for  Today - July 18, 2011

"I was trained by my husband. He said, 'If you want a thing done - go.  If not - send.' I belong to that group of people who move the piano themselves."

Eleanor Robson Belmont - New York Times, December 18,  1960

P.S. Now isn't that an interesting comment? After I read it, it hit me, "That comment could get people to reach out - not to pick up a piano - but their baggage - which might be heavier than a piano."

GOING TO COMMUNION

Quote for Today - July 17, 2011

"When friends stop being frank and useful to each other, the whole world loses some of its radiance."

Anatole Broyard, New York Times, September 1, 1985

GROUND, GROAN,

GRIPE, GRACE, GOD

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time is, “Ground, Groan, Gripe, Grace, God.”

Those are 5 words beginning with the letter “g”.

“Ground, Groan, Gripe, Grace, God.”

When I read today’s second reading, the word “groaning” jumped off the page. So that’s where the word “groan” came from. The other 4 words beginning with “g” hit me as I thought about “groaning.”

I’m a tiny bit nervous, because when I begin saying something about each of these 5 words - some might groan inwardly, “Oh my God, 3 more to go!”

Today’s second reading from Romans intrigues me. The reading is very short. Smart move by whoever put these readings together. It’s from the 8th Chapter of Romans which needs to be digested very slowly. It needs to be cut with a sharp knife - like cutting prime rib or a good steak - and then taken in small bites and chewed and digested very deliciously, deliberately and slowly. Chew! Chew! Digest! Digest!

We also heard this word “groaning” in last week’s 2nd reading from Romans - also from the 8th Chapter - and this chapter continues onwards again next Sunday and the Sunday after that.

So 5 words beginning with “g”. That’s how I’m chopping up my homily - sort of like 5 steps in the growth process - in human evolution - in human spiritual growth - in human rising from the ground from which we came.

GROUND

The first theme I want to begin with is ground.

We are of the earth - ground - growing in our mother’s womb - and then presented to the world on our birthday: “It’s a girl!” “It’s a boy.”

It’s important that we be well grounded - well situated. It’s important to be born and brought into a family. It’s important to know security - home - a mom and a dad - who are present. We’re extra lucky - extra blessed if we also have grand moms and grand dads to nurture us.

Today’s first reading from the Book of Wisdom uses the word "ground" when it gives these wonderful words, “and you gave your children good ground for hope….”

Hopefully all children are grounded in hope. Isn’t that one of the reasons for the question, “What are you going to be when you grow up?” And we hope the kid shoots for the moon. And hopefully nobody limits us - nobody says to us, “Dream smaller.” “Be realistic!” “Are you crazy? A woman will never be president of the United States.”

Hopefully, we all had good ground to stand on in our growing up years. Stability. Security. We’ve all heard stories about the horror a kid can feel in an alcoholic family - when kids don’t know what’s next or how daddy or mommy will behave when they walk in the door or they come home and walk in the door. Hopefully in growing up we had a great kitchen table - that as little kids we saw something happening there that was not happening over in our high chair - and we longed for the day of our graduation from the high chair to a chair at the family table. Hopefully we all experienced our family sitting and eating and talking and laughing - celebrating what it is to be a family. It's important for every family to find itself just sitting around telling the family stories - remembering them - and making the stories better.

The liturgy of our family needs the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of Meals.

These are the words of our family. Thanks be to God. These are our family menus - the meals members prepare and put together with their body and blood - and paid for by the work of our hands and brains. Thanks be to God.

I’ve heard several times someone say about a troubled person, “The bigger the problem, the earlier the problem.”

Children - need to be held. Children need to know there is someone there for them when they come home - if possible.

Children of the world need a healthy world to live in - to breathe in - to drink the water of etc. etc. etc.

So that’s my first reflection. We are of the ground - of the earth. The Book of Genesis is telling us with the second creation account in Genesis, that God realizing it’s not good to be alone - so God bent over and created us from the clay, the ground, the dust of the earth - and breathed the gift of life into us - God’s Spirit into us. Amen.

GROANING

The second reflection has to do with groaning.

The little baby cries and groans and screams for food - for attention - for love - to be lifted up.

My legs don’t walk yet - so walk me around the room, around the house, around the playground for me.

My sounds aren’t words yet - so talk up for me - bring me to meet all those people whom you’re talking with and who are saying, “Isn’t that a beautiful baby?”

And so the baby is a great groan - a new sound on the planet - a cry in the night - a scream in a church.

And hopefully we reach out to each child and make them feel at home - and help them crawl on the ground - and groan - and point - and we teach them to climb, to walk, to talk, to use their fingers to tell us how old they are - to use their sounds - to form words and tell us what they want.

Those are our first groans - in our first childhood - but then for many there are our end groans - as we sink back down towards the ground in our second childhood - and finally are buried back in the earth from which we came.

I’ve been to many nursing homes and many times I’ve run into people who are groaning - and sometimes there are people there to hear them, to soothe them - to give them company, and sometimes they are so, so alone - grounded - sometimes tied down in their beds.

In the Grand Canyon between childhood and old age - there are less groans - but sometimes we let out deep groans - deep screams - sometimes silent screams - sometimes grunts - some of which we don’t grasp. At times we just feel alone - all alone - or that all has gone wrong - and we just want to sink back into the ground - and out a cover over everything.

Life is laughter and tears - good times and bad - but let the good times roll.

St. Paul in today’s second reading speaks for many of us. Sometimes we don’t know how to pray - or maybe some of our best prayers - our real prayers - have not been our Our Father’s - but tumultuous groanings from deep in our belly.

I’m only scratching the surface of what Paul is saying here, but haven’t we all found ourselves at times fed up with the nonsense, the vanity, the loneliness, the hurt, the stuff we can’t understand, the “Why’s” and “Why not’s” and we just want to scream - to let out a deep - “uuuuuuuugghhhh!”

GRIPES

The third “G” that hit me is gripes.

I wanted to come up with 5 steps - 5 “g’s” - we have 5 fingers - so maybe this one is forced - but maybe not.

Gripes are different from groans - in that we can name our gripes easier than what’s at the bottom of our groans.

Gripes are about noise and stupidity - and not getting our way - and the way some drivers are almost backseat drivers - but they are in the car behind us - and sometimes they are sitting right next to us and we don’t need someone in our car to make choice comments - on how we should be doing the driving or doing life.

Gripes are more conscious - certainly not as deep - as our deepest groans.

Gripes. Come to grip with your grips. Make your list.

Then learn and pray the Serenity Prayer:

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.

I have to do more homework with gripes - but let’s leave this at that. It’s the stuff that rubs us the wrong way between the crib and the nursing home bed - between diapers and Depends.

GRACE

Grace is what is what we get when we get to the other side of gripes and groaning - and make peace with what's causing our itches and twitches - gripes and groans.

Grace is gift.

Grace is surprise.

Grace is laughter.

Grace is wisdom.

Grace is letting go and letting God.

Grace is when we have made peace with life.

Grace is maturity - interdependence - working with each other - knowing our gifts - and that others have gifts. Thank God.

Grace is being gracious - affirming - enjoying a card game with our parents and with little kids. Grace is enjoying bridge, rummy or Go Fish!

Grace is Thanksgiving Dinner - when we say Grace better than any other meal of the year.

Grace is Sunday Dinner with the family - even though it gets tougher and tougher as the kids get older and into more and more stuff - to have these meals. A key is to experience Sunday dinner like Sunday Mass and neither of them are a  have to - or an obligation - but both are a want to - both being Eucharist.

Grace is to be realistic as well. We need to learn how to do the “have to’s” of life. There are some - like taking the dog out - cleaning up the dog do do - instead of cursing - whose dog did this? - giving the remote to the other person - letting the other ahead of us on the line - and lots of those sweet little random acts of kindness and comment - that make life sweeter for each other.

Okay, as we heard in today’s gospel, there are also weeds - along with the wheat.

So grace is making peace with the weeds and letting them grow to maturity and in the meanwhile we enjoy the wheat that has also grown - that we enjoy for example a whole wheat sandwich - with ham and cheese - or what have you.

Having grace is having the serenity that is talked about in the serenity prayer.

Being graceful is not a smile on the face while underneath there is the snarl - and the passive aggression that sometimes follows.

Nope grace is down deep peace and security - because we’re grounded in God - and a smile is the after effect of that peace and feeling of being at home in our own body and our own life and in the chapters of our story.

We too hear what Mary heard from God through an angel: “Hail ____ put your name there - full of grace, the Lord is with you.”

Hopefully as we age in grace we experience God’s knowledge of us and love for us - and calls to us - rooting deeper and deeper into our soul as we become more and more a person of the Kingdom.

If this happens we get it - got it, good.

We’re growing because we hear what Jesus keeps telling us every Sunday. The Kingdom is coming on earth as it is in heaven - starting in me. I’m enjoying the birds of the air and I know leaven - the yeast of God - is being kneaded into the mass of the earth each day by God - God like a woman as we heard in today’s Gospel making loaves of bread with wheat flour - until the whole back is leavened.

GOD

God is my fifth “G”.

God the smallest of seed was planted in my being - first as a word - but hopefully becoming born in us - in the Bethlehem of our soul - and slowly we discover the Wise Woman or Wise Man - the Shepherd - as well as the cow and the ox also within us.

And if we’re Christians we discover Christ is leading us - sometimes he’s like Jesus on the mountain of transfiguration - sometimes he's like Jesus on the cross of Mount Calvary - because he challenged us too much so we crucified him by running away - but Christ also rises - coming through our the thick walls of our upper room - our skull - and says “Peace” to us.

And it all makes sense - slowly. God takes time.

“Uuuuuuhhh” we groan. We know down deep  this stuff - we know what Paul discovered slowly.

I don't know how to close this, so let me close by reading once again today’s second reading. Relax. It’s short - unlike this long homily. “The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit intercedes with inexpressible groanings. And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will.”

IS BOREDOM 

A SIN?

Quote for Today - July 16, 2011

"Boredom is a vital problem for the moralist, since at least half the sins of mankind are caused by fear of it."

Bertrand Russell [1872-1970], Life magazine, February 13, 1970

Photo on top: Bertrand Russell

IGNORANCE  AND  WISDOM 

Quote for Today - July 15, 2011

"He doesn't know what he means, and doesn't know he doesn't know."

F. R. Leavis [1895-1978], Two Cultures? The Significance of C.P. Snow, Pantheon, 1963

Picture on top: F. R. Leavis - British Literary Critic

CHAUFFEURS 

AND  

PRINCESSES

Quote for Today - July 14, 2011

"I've always had a dread of becoming a passenger in life."

Princess Margarethe of Denmark when speaking about the necessity of independent achievement, Life magazine, January 12, 1968

YOU’RE  STANDING

ON  HOLY  GROUND

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily  for this 15 Wednesday in Ordinary Time is, “You’re Standing on Holy Ground.”

Today’s first reading has this famous scene from the Book of Exodus - [3:1-6, 9-12] - when Moses has a God Experience. He’s on a mountain - Mount Horeb. He’s by himself - better he’s a shepherd with his flock - and God appears to him as fire flaming out of a bush.

It’s the famous scene of God calling Moses! It’s a pivotal moment in his life - as well as the history of our faith - the Jewish Faith - out of which comes Jesus - who will be called the New Moses - as well as the Good Shepherd.

I’m sure we’ve all sung and heard the wonderful hymn that comes out of today’s text from Exodus. The name of the hymn is: “Holy Ground”. I can’t sing, but the following words might trigger the sound and the feel of the hymn in case you heard it:

This is holy ground
We’re standing on holy ground
For the Lord is here, and where He is, is holy
These are holy hands

We’re lifting up holy hands
For the Lord is here, and where He is, is holy

QUESTION

As I thought about today’s first reading and that scene where Moses experiences God - and realizes he’s standing on Holy Ground - and he took off his shoes, a twist of thought hit me - a question that I thought was thought provoking. I don’t know if it would interest you - or would hit you - but here it comes.

A question….

Have you ever been in a sacred place and you experienced God in a special way? That’s the simple question.

ANSWERS

I asked myself, about places where I have been - places where I felt something special was here - something sacred was here - something different was here - compared to other places.

A variation of the question could be the reaction we’ve all had at times in our lives when we blurted out the opposite: “Isn’t anything sacred anymore?”

We might have said that when something sacred was violated - even as recent as these revelations in England of people hacking into other people’s phone lines. Isn’t anything sacred?

Then I began jotting down my responses to places that felt special - different - and somewhat sacred.

I think about entering St. Peter’s in Rome, Chartres Cathedral about an hour outside of Paris in France, Sacre-Coeur - the basilica on the hill -Monmartre - overlooking the whole of Paris, the waters of Lourdes, the World Trade Center, but only looking back afterwards, but it had a feel to it even before September 11, 2001.

I think about climbing up inside the Statue of Liberty, climbing Mount Alice in the Rocky Mountains - coming to the top of the continental divide. I think about walking down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, going into the inner center of Zion National Park in Utah, standing at the Lake of Galilee in Israel, plus the synagogue in Capernaum, climbing the possible Mount of the Transfiguration, as well as the possible place of the Agony in the Garden - these past few places in Israel.

I think of being in a few places that had great wooden floors.

I think of being in a couple of famous restaurants: Commander’s Palace in New Orleans, Jackie’s in Chicago, Hausner’s in Baltimore, Mama Leone’s in New York City, etc.

I think of the first time - age 7 - walking with my dad through the dark tunnel and then into the inside of Ebbets green baseball field in Brooklyn as a kid - 7 years old.

I think of the many churches I’ve been in and I thank God for whoever told me that you’re supposed to make 3 wishes when you walk into any church you’ve never been in before.

I think of the first time I dived off the high board at the deep pool Sunset Park in Brooklyn as a kid.

I think of walking into various hospital rooms where someone was dying - as well as and especially the NICU in Anne Arundel Medical Center.

CONCLUSION

Lastly, I need to finish this, because some of you have to get to work.

So let me make mention three last sacred places:

1) The Body - check out the stress on the Theology of the Body by Pope John Paul II;

2) The home - the family table, the marriage bed, a favorite chair, etc.;

3) The church. We can take a moment today to think of the holy places in this holy place. The Holy Pictures places, the tabernacle, the altar, the sanctuary. We know from Scriptures about the inner section of the temple - the Holy of Holies. It was the place where the High Priest could go once a year.However,  I wonder about that.  Was anyone sent in there to clean. After all cleanliness is next to Godliness (but I hope no one ever gets to see my room).  I think of the place of the altar. Some of us have seen in our lifetime the switch in practices regarding the altar area. We've seen the removal of the Communion Rail. People still clamor for bells - even though the priest now faces the people. People want a return to what they saw as sacred and it was removed. Talk to each other about all this - not as a gripe session - but as a moment to get in touch with what was sacred as well as what is sacred to you. Some don't give recognition to those designated with a title at Mass:  Lector, Eucharistic Minister.  There are different takes by folks on all this. I for one see as a very sacred moment folks after Mass talking to each other here in church - while for others this is a "No No!" I see the Body of Christ in communion with other members of the Body of Christ - connecting in communion with each other within the tabernacle of our bodies. I believe by reflecting on the sacred places here in St. John Neumann Church - the place where folks receive communion - the walking up the steps into the sanctuary - as coming up to holy ground. You are standing on Holy Ground.

ADMITTING GOD 

INTO ONE'S LIFE

Quote for Today - July 13,  2011

"I gave in, and admitted that God was God."

C.S. Lewis in 1929 when he admitted God was God at the age of 31 and gave up being an atheist. This is mentioned in William Griffin's book, Clive Staples Lewis, Harper and Row, 1986

DIVINE MERCY
21 GLIMPSES

The sun rising up out of the ocean - up over
waves, up over mountains, sending rays of light
out - shouting - through the green trees of summer -
through the red and orange leaves of autumn
and through the barren black trees of winter
lifting their arms - branching out in prayer
in thanksgiving for one more day of life
for you and for me. Thank You God.


My morning shower, Niagara falls
flowing down in my shower. Wow.
Cascading water on my back piped
in - showers from the skies - from
a thousand lakes, rainy nights -
melting snow - running into rivers,
flowing, flowing, flowing, flowing,
non-stop, non-stop, non-stop - present
as I turn up the faucet handle.
The Atlantic, the Pacific, the Indian
oceans are hitting my shores - and I
never ever thanked a plumber and
God the Creator - who with imagination
and skill bring all this water to me.
Thank You God! Thank You God!


The beautiful scream and song
of a child in the middle of a boring Mass
or Jeopardy or a baseball game - just
letting us know, they are here with us,
just like You, O God, the mostly Silent One.


Coming to a halt at a red light
on my way to work - watching
two ladies in running shorts -
with dogs on leases stopping
to talk - but both keep running in
place - in space. They laugh -
they check their watches. They
start running again before the light
turns green and I start moving
again as well - on my way to work.

A lector pausing after reading the scriptures
and then saying, “The Word of the Lord!”
and all know this was the Word of the Lord -
by the simple and sacred way she spoke.


A little kid collecting her parents money
envelopes to put all into the collection basket.


The sign of peace at Mass - a moment
of communion with the Body of Christ
before communion with the Bread of Life.


Practically all alone in the aquarium
till a door opens up and in comes running
at least 78 kids who show me how
to look and make “Woo!” and “Wow!”
sounds at fish through water colored glass.


Being at McDonalds and seeing a family in
prayer at that table over there, bowing
before eating and saying to myself, “Oh my
God I’m seeing a Norman Rockwell painting.”


A kid offering some of her jelly beans
to a person just behind her mother
on the long, long line in the bank.


A teacher - Mrs. Everyday - leading 22 second
grade inner city kids up the stairs
into the local library where she’s going
to read to them some children’s stories
and then show them how to get their own
library card and take out their first three books.


A nurse seeing the long line in the emergency
section of the hospital - grabs a bag of lolly
pops and walks around handing out pops
and smiles and “Hang in there’s” because
there’s a lot more folks here today than expected.


Sending the elevator down to the first floor
after getting off at the 55th floor and nobody
is getting on - yet I know for sure,
someone down below would love it -
just coming in off the street - coming to
an elevator, pushing the button, and surprise
then the elevator opens just then for them.


A soldier has another soldier in his gun sight
but he can’t pull the trigger - thinking to
himself - this guy could kill me - but he
too might have a wife and 3 kids waiting
at home - and he thinks about that moment
for the next 46 years. What ever happened
to that guy? What ever happened to him?


She visits two different nursing homes every
week - seeing about 7 people in each. She came
and asked, “Who doesn’t get visitors?” She had
noticed that some people do not get visitors
during the two years her mom was in a nursing
home before mom died January a year ago.


A caddy who never plays golf himself -
but loves bringing his three kids
to play miniature golf - letting them
win every time - and he refuses to give
them advice on how to play their game.


Husband and wife - holding hands - walking
through the mall - smiling because at their
age, everyone thinking, “Obviously a second
marriage!” but nope it’s their first - but today
it’s their 43rd anniversary and they are taking
the day off to do nothing but enjoy each other.


A father pushing the swings in the park
for four different kids - one is his - so three
mothers can talk and chat and relax - and the
kids are laughing and giggling - and holding
on as they swing - surging up there towards
the great big blue sky above all of us today.


Watching light creep across a rust
colored rug - just sitting here, quietly,
with plenty of peace surrounding me,
and I don’t even have to get up to look
out the window to see the afternoon sun.
Thank You God. Thank You God.


A whole family walking down Main Street
each licking and laughing with leaking ice
cream cones on a hot, humid, summer night.


Falling asleep - trusting - letting go -
thanking God for experiencing Loving Kindness -
Divine Mercy at least 21 times today.
Thank You God. Amen. Amen. Amen.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2011

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

Painting on top: Thomas Cole [1801-1848]
"Distant View of Niagara Falls" 1830

DIVINE MERCY
22 GLIMPSES

Christmas - for starters - every year,
or every day if one is awake….
The Wise seeing a star ….
The shepherds hearing a song ….
A baby is born in a stable -
surrounded by Joseph and Mary -
animals, shepherds and kings -
while out front - inside the Inn
there are people who just missed out
on the biggest thing that ever happened
in that town - better: in our world.


Standing in the Jordan River,
there’s John the Baptist baptizing.
Oh that’s where he got his name.
He’s urging, he’s challenging -
he’s calling people to change -
to stop overtaxing each other -
to end brutality to one another -
to put the axe to the roots of one’s personality -
so that good fruit can be found on one’s table
and in one’s heart and soul and hands.


The scene is a beach. It’s early morning.
Fishermen are chatting - cleaning - mending nets -
connecting to each other as family and friends.
Their nets are empty after a night of nothing -
that is, till Jesus walks into their lives
at daybreak - calling them to leave all
and begin filling their nets with people -
who will be as surprised to meet Jesus -
as they were. Jesus who often just shows up
after a night of nothing but empty nets.


To see differently, to be transfigured,
to come out of the desert and to come
down from the mountain, now seeing
the hurt and the hungry on the road,
snakes and scorpions losing their
power, crushed, as well as seeing
the poor at one’s door step.


Children running across a field -
receiving a big embrace from
Jesus who says, “Let the little children
come running into your life -
because when you do, you’re inviting
the possibility of discovering the
Kingdom of God in your life as well.”


Meeting Jesus in the marketplace,
being challenged to start measuring
out one’s life in new generous ways
till we find it’s overflowing from our
hands, our garments, our deepest soul.
Then we too are able to say with the Best
of us: This is my body. This is my blood.
I’m giving myself to you. Take and eat!
Take and drink. Then do the same
to each other in memory of me.


Climb high mountains, trek into dry deserts,
spend time in temples and inner rooms and
you’ll see Jesus there transfigured, struggling,
and you’ll hear him say, “I am with you every day.”
And you’ll  also say, “It is good for us to be here.”


Jesus announcing that celebrating life is
all about being lost and becoming found -
just like a woman who lost a coin,
found it again and because she had
told so many friends how lost she felt
without it and how found she found when
she found it - and she sewed it back onto
her wedding crown and then invited
everyone into her home for one big celebration.


Or déjà vu - according to Jesus - life
is being like a lost sheep - whom
a shepherd realized was lost after counting
his flock 5 times and kept on getting 99
each time. So he left those 99 secure
in a pen and went searching everywhere
till he found that lost sheep stuck in the
brambles - run out of “Baaah’s!” and
he brought him home on his shoulders
and everyone could see that
Shepherd’s smile for at least a mile?


Or déjà vu - doubled and then some
more again, did you hear the story
about the lost son - the younger of
two brothers - a story Jesus
never got tired of telling? Well, this
younger son left inflated and came home
deflated, stinking of pig stuff - expecting
only food and reprimand and “I told you so!”
but no, he finds himself in his Father’s Arms,
a father who is hugging him - and he is
clinging to his Father’s arms - eyes closed -
tears flowing - while the family servants
went looking for a ring, sandals, an older brother,
and a kid goat for a giant cook out - and Jesus
never told them - that the story was really
about the lost older brother - and sometimes
some older brothers - the safe and secure - get it.


Scattered rocks - dropped to the ground
instead of crushing my skin because
of my sin. Finally I met a man
who truly loved me. This last Man became
the first man who ever treated me like this.


5000 folks feasting on bread,
laughing and talking to each other
because Jesus didn’t want them
to feel the growls of an empty tummy.
Then the Practical Jesus saying,
“Gather up the fragments. There are
also others who are hungry!”


A rich young man keeps wondering
if he should try to fit through the eye
of a needle - sitting a stone’s throw away
from a man who wonders if he could
really be reborn at his age. Jesus,
certainly could get people thinking
and some of them changed!
Divine Mercy is very intriguing
as well as very inviting.


A disciple who steps back,
to let another disciple come first;
while another disciples gives
the shirt off his back to a man
without a shirt; while another
disciple turns his other cheek.
Looks like the Kingdom is coming.


A short man - a taxing character,
climbs a tree to avoid the crowd
who can’t stand him - but Jesus
sees him and invites him down from
the tree and invites himself into
that man’s house for dinner tonight.


A blind man sees, a deaf man hears,
a person with rejected skin discovers
Jesus gives him brand new baby skin.


Jesus said at the table, “Take and eat,
take and drink. This is my body and
this is my blood - and don’t forget,
I’ll never hesitate to wash your feet.


A voice from a cross that says,
“Father forgive them for they don’t
know what they are doing.”


A voice from a cross says to a thief,
“Today you’ll be with me in paradise.”


People come to a tomb only to discover
it’s empty - on a Sunday morning


Walls start shaking - walls open,
Christ comes bursting into a room
filled with fear and simply says,
“Peace! Whose sins you forgive,
those sins are forgiven - those sins
you hold onto - they’ll hold onto you.”


Once more after a night of empty nets
Jesus appears on the edge of our lives
and tells us where to lower our nets
and then invites us to share our
results with him - with love, with recognition,
with the call to go and do likewise
with each other. It’s called, “I love you!”
“I love you!” “I love you!”

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2011

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

Picture on top: Sea of Tiberias from
earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=40147

SCAR TISSUE AND CALLUS

Quote for Today - July 12,  2011

"Most things break, including hearts. The lessons of life amount not to wisdom, but to scar tissue and callus."

Wallace Stegner [1909-1993], The Spectator Bird, Doubleday, 1976

SILENCE! 

THE SIGN IN LIBRARIES 

AND MUSUEMS 

Quote for Today - July 11, 2011

"One of the best things about paintings is their silence - which prompts reflection and random reverie."

Mark Stevens - New York art critit - decrying guided tours by headphones.

Painting on top by Louis Sosa [1905-1981]. I saw this painting in the the James Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. It's entitled  "Procession"  [1952]  It's a reflection on death - especially after the death of his mother in Italy in 1951.

WHAT DO YOU SEE 

WHEN YOU’RE SITTING 

DOWN AT THE SEASHORE?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is a question: “What Do You See When You’re Sitting Down At The Seashore?”

It sounds like the tongue twister, “Sally sells sea shells by the sea shore.”

So the title of my homily is a question: “What Do You See When You’re Sitting Down At The Seashore?”

APPROPRIATE

Today’s gospel begins, “On that day Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea.”

As I read that I thought that it was interesting and intriguing that this is exactly what millions and millions of people do every summer. They leave their homes and head for the seashore or the water.

QUESTIONS

What do you think about when you go on vacation - that is, if you go on vacation?

What do all those people sitting on the sand at Ocean City or the Outer banks and Rehoboth and Deep Creek Lake, think about as they sit down by the edge of the water this summer?

What are your sea shore moments and memories?

Do you love to go back there?

JESUS

Jesus tells us what he’s thinking about.

Interestingly, Jesus gets into a boat and he’s looking at the land - while everyone is look at him on the sea - in a boat.

We’re in Chapter 13 of Matthew. Jesus has been somewhat banned from the synagogues. He’s now preaching using a lot more parables. In fact, there are 6 more parables here just in Matthew 13. And then there will be more parables to come as we continue with Matthew this year in the church readings.

Reflecting upon the Parable of the Sower and the Seed, some scholars think, they conjecture, that Jesus saw a farmer up in a field above the crowd and he’s sowing seed in the field there - and Jesus was watching all this as he sat there in the boat and begins preaching.

Jesus tells the people there are 4 types of people. Some people are hard headed - nothing can reach them. They have rocks in their head. They are like the path. The seed lands on it - but nothing happens. Some people look good, but they are shallow. They have no roots. The seed lands on them - but with nothing underneath - but hard rock as well, the seed dies for lack of anywhere to go and grow. Some people have possibilities. They have good soil, but they have too many things going on in their lives. They are too busy for new life - so the thorns crush new life. But then there are those who are good soil and they receive the seed and they grow and grow, 30, 60, 100fold.

The message is obvious. I have to go to the edge of my mind and look inside.

That’s what Jesus saw when he sat on the seashore.

QUESTION

What do you see, think about, if you were sitting at the seashore?

YESTERDAY’S BALTIMORE SUN

Yesterday’s Baltimore Sun had a very interesting article about what’s in the water. I was wondering about how many people yesterday morning bought a copy of The Baltimore Sun while at Ocean City or Rehoboth Beach and then took it with them to the sand - to read.

It had an article entitled, “Leaking Shipwrecks Could Threaten Coast.” It was by Frank Roylance of the Baltimore Sun.

The article stated that there are 30,000 coastal shipwrecks. 233 of these are worst case scenarios. The W. L. Steed is out there off Ocean City, Maryland. It was torpedoed in 1942 - February 2nd. It had a crew of 38 and only a handful survived. There are 66,000 barrels of crude oil in its belly.

I was wondering if there are people who sit at the water and look out and wonder about what’s under that beautiful glistening surface. do some people worry about Jaws or think about dolphins? Do people think about all that’s at the bottom of the sea?

Well, now having read that article, will some types of people worry about leaking boats. at the bottom of our waters?

Will some people think further and think about themselves - about the ship wrecks in their life - wondering if toxic stuff from those wrecks in their memories, whether they can seep into their lives and destroy them - maybe stuff from a time in their life they were torpedoed or they had a ship wreck relationship.

Or do people think about all those people who founded America - coming here from other shores - other places. Some made it; some didn’t.

My mom and dad came here in the early part of the last century as immigrants.

I know when I see the oceans I think about Lindberg crossing the Atlantic. It’s so wide. I think about Columbus, the Vikings, the slave ships, the coffin ships, the stuff of story and life.

I think of Herman Melville’s book, Moby Dick, and how that is the parable of so many lives - how some people can’t let go of their past - especially if they were wounded and hurt by another - and they keep on returning to going after what what killed them. I read the beginning of Moby Dick a dozen times - but finally said a few years ago - I have to read that to the end. Some chapters are like being on a raft or small boat in the Atlantic for weeks on end - lost - and waiting for action - drifting, drifting, drifting. But having read it and then seeing the movie again, it is a major parable about life. And having lived by the water much of my life I love his quote in the first chapter: “Yes, as everyone knows, mediation and water are wedded forever.”

I laugh, but mostly cry at that, because there are people whose favorite watering place is a bar - and they seem wedded together forever.

QUESTION

What do people think and reflect upon when they sit at the edge of the water?

I think about living right on the Atlantic Ocean in Long Branch New Jersey in a retreat house for 7 years - 1969-1976 - from ages 29 to 36 - and how those years were very significant and life forming years of life for me. I think about how every morning for the first 6 months I would go out and walk along the water’s edge - but after 6 months I got used to the water - too used to it - and I no longer noticed the Atlantic Ocean right there lapping at the edge of my life.

I think about living on the banks of the Hudson River for 14 years of my life - 2 different times. 6 years in the Major Seminary and then 8 years later on as an assignment. The second time I began seeing the Hudson River and its presence. And somewhere there I began an interesting practice: every morning I would wake up - get dressed - and walk down to the water - dip my fingers into the water - as if it were a holy water font - and make the sign of the cross - as if I was in God’s big, big cathedral - and I would say a morning prayer thanking God for the gift of life and this great big beautify world that he has graced us with.

QUESTION

What do you think of when you sit down at the edge of the water?

I think of a wonderful old man I once met. His name was Clement Jedrejewski. He told me how at 19 he left Warsaw Poland and went to the Sorbonne in Paris for college. He was all by himself and he wondered if he had made the right move. He noticed that fall a notice on a bulletin board at the Sorbonne the invitation, “Young Men’s Retreat”. Being a Catholic he went. The retreat was given by a famous French priest, Sertillanges [1863-1946]. He said that Father Sertillanges began the opening talk of the retreat for these young college men with a gospel reading of Jesus down at the waters of the Sea of Galilee. He read the gospel story - one different from today’s gospel - and then he paused. Then after a long quiet moment - a moment Clement said - Sertillanges looked at all of us and into all of us. Then he said, “In this Gospel Jesus was with young men your age and he pointed to the waters and said to them, “Go out into the waters - launch out into the deep - and lower your nets for a catch.” Then Clement told me: “Sertilannge then said, ‘Jesus is looking at each of you here this evening and he’s looking at the rest of your lives and he’s saying, “Launch out into the deep and lower your nets for a catch.” And Clement with a great smile said, “Wow did I do that. It’s been a great life.”

QUESTION

What do you think of when you sit down at the edge of the water?

I think of a man who told me that one summer on vacation at the ocean he woke up early in the morning and went by himself to the water and walked along and he looked out into the Atlantic and saw God and how far he walked away from God and he had a God experience and came back to God - and all changed.

QUESTION

What do you think about when you sit down at the edge of the water?

I think of kids building sand castles and forts by the water’s edge. Then when all is built - when they look at their magnificent structures - behind their back the tide comes in. Waves come rushing in - and everything they built comes crumbling down. I wonder if they see in all this one of life’s big discoveries. Real life, the important structures, true riches are the deeper realities. Life is not to be built on sand. When you build on sand, expect crumble. When this happens every kid screams or feels those inner groans we heard about in today’s second reading - screams that can lead us to God. Will we ever learn that the one constant is the ocean - the waters. It’s more than 75 % of the world that is surrounding us. And the waters are the big metaphor of God - and God is right around us, surrounding us - all the time even if we don’t notice what’s right in front of us.

QUESTION

What do you think about when you sit on the edge of the water - here in Annapolis, or the Maryland beaches, or in a boat out there in the Bay. What do you see? What do you think of?

Do you see the ship wrecks of your life, or the crumbled castles at your beaches, the projects - seeds planted - plans planned - that never grew - but do you also see good times - wonderful family moments as a kid running into the waves - looking back to see if your mom and dad are seeing you body surf or diving into the waters? Do you see a honeymoon when you got married, being with your own kids on vacation at the beach, the beauty of the scene in front of you? Do you hear Jesus telling you to launch out into the deep - lower your nets for a catch and as you pull your nets into shore now and then - you celebrate the good stuff you have netted - and can you toss aside the not so good stuff you’ve netted in your life so far?

Or do you tend to look at the land and hear Jesus saying there are 4 types of people when it comes to this earth?

Some of us are hard headed - rock, well walked on path, we’ve heard all this stuff too many times that we don’t really hear anything? If we’re like #1, may we move to becoming “#2 - shallow - without roots, but at least we hear the word, #3 good soil, but we’ve got too much going on. we’re too busy, but it’s better than 1 and 2 - but that we become #4 good soil and we’re producing 100, 60 or 30 fold. Amen.

THE  SCREAM

Quote for the Day - July 10, 2011

"I don't like to hurt people, I really don't like it at all. But in order to get a red light at the intersection, you sometimes have to have an accident."

Jack Anderson [1922-2005], Newsweek March 3, 1972 - Now his life would be a biography to read!

THE BOOK 

AS A MIRROR

Quote for Today - July 9, 2011

"A real book is not one that's read, but one that reads us."

W.H. Auden  [1907-1973] Recalled at his death on September 28, 1973.

Photograph of W. H. Auden