August 13, 2018
Thought for today:
“Millions say the
apple fell but Newton was the one to ask why?”
Bernard M. Baruch
Monday, August 13, 2018
Sunday, August 12, 2018
DO YOU HAVE ANY BREAD?
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 19th Sunday in
Ordinary Time [B] is, “Do You Have Any
Bread?”
How many times have we been in a restaurant and we asked
the waiter or waitress, “Do you have any bread?”
Or the bread was so good, we ask, “Do you have any more bread?”
What’s your take on bread?
GIVING US THE WHOLE BIBLE - IN SLICES OR BITES
As you know the Sunday Readings are broken up for us into
3 cycles: A - B - and C. The gospels for year A are from Mathew, Year B from
Mark, this year, and Year C from Luke - next year.
My thought is that Mark is the shortest gospel, 16
chapters, so they needed something extra - so in came John for these 5 Sundays.
All this is the plan for Sundays in Ordinary Time.
And notice, like today, the first reading - usually from
the Jewish Scriptures - which we call The Old Testament is connected somehow to
the gospel.
During Advent,
Lent, the Easter Season and feasts, we
have John and different parts of different gospels. So in a given 3 year cycle
we get - pretty much the whole Bible. Weekday
readings for weekday Masses are on a 2 year cycle.
THE 6th CHAPTER OF JOHN
Okay, the 6th chapter of John….
We’re getting it for 5 straight Sundays - from John 6 -
which is a long chapter.
It’s all about bread. It’s all about the Eucharist.
Why do you come to Mass Sunday after Sunday after Sunday?
Different people down through the years have told me,
they came back to Mass, because of the Eucharist. They missed Holy Communion. They wanted the
bread.
My big suggestion
in this homily - entitled, “Do You Have Any Bread?” - is to read the 6th
Chapter of John.
Break it up - like we break up bread. Slice it up, like
we slice up bread. Share it with each other. Read it out loud as a couple or a family - as we
break bread up and share it as a family.
If you use the Eucharistic Adoration Chapel at St. Mary’s,
make sure you sit there and read the 6th chapter of John in prayer -
every couple of months.
Scripture scholars tell us that the 6th
chapter of John has been developed - it evolved - as that first century of
church went on. It has been re-written - and given new drafts. This sermon is different than the time I gave
it this morning. It needed help.
It has a wisdom level and a bread level and a community
level.
THE WISDOM OF BREAD
What do you see and sense when you see bread - rolls - in
a basket on a table - especially when it’s fresh and warm and delicious
looking.
Do you see any wisdom in bread?
Dan Berrigan - the Jesuit - priest and poet once wrote,
When I hear bread breaking,
I see something else; it seems to me
as though God never meant us to do anything else.
So beautiful a sound; the crust breaks up like manna
and falls all over everything and then we eat;
bread gets inside humans.
Jesus came as wisdom and the people listened to him as
the word of life.
Anthropologists tell us that life on the planet changed
as people started to make and bake bread.
People had to move from being hunters and gatherers to
farmers and city folk to have bread.
There is a difference between eating bread and eating berries and birds.
Meat is meat.
Bread is complicated. Making bread is a process. Baking takes time and
skills and knowing what to do.
So read Chapter 6 of the Gospel of John and hear some of
thoughts Jesus baked into his words.
Picture the story - the scene - what’s happening in John
6.
The folks are hunting for Jesus - the one who was
different. Hey we know Mary and Joseph - who is this one - and how did he get
to be who he is. Jesus is the one coming down from heaven. Jesus is the one who can help people live
forever. Jesus is the one who is teaching people about God the Father, His
Father, Our Father.
The people are murmuring against him. He tells them to
become quiet and listen - to the wisdom from his mind and life.
BREAD AS FOOD
We also need food.
Everybody - whether they know the Our Father prayer or
not, prays every day, “Give us this day our daily bread.”
The people in the 6th chapter of John are
hungry.
We need work so people can earn money to buy bread.
Money is called bread at times.
We need bakers.
One of neatest life memories I have is from a bus tour I
was on in Ireland. We were trying to get to some spot in our bus, but we
couldn’t make a turn, so the bus driver took us to a sweater and blanket place
where they had weavers. Across the street was a church and a funeral was going
on.
The sweater place didn’t grab me so I meandered around
outside - wondering about the funeral.
The tour group I was with got on the bus - and we headed down the street
in this small Irish town - just as the funeral was finished.
We headed out of town just ahead of them - as the church
funeral bells were tolling. Looking out the bus windows, we could see for about 5 streets - people lined up on both
sides looking out into the street - waiting for the funeral hearse and the cars
to come by.
We asked the obvious: Who died?
The bus driver answered with a tear and a smile: the
baker.
We need bread. We need cakes. We need cookies and
croissants. We need pies and pastry.
We need food pantries.
We need dumpsters for the starving to get food - if they
can’t get food elsewhere.
The other night on the news there was a story about a college girl who came up with a computer program and a process to get left over and about to be tossed food into the hands of food pantries.
Jesus came as bread, as food, and he fed the hungry.
BREAD AS COMMUNION
It is not good to be alone.
It is not good to eat alone.
We need community.
We need family.
We need to eat together.
We need to break bread and share wine together.
Sometimes we can’t stomach each other.
Sometimes we can’t eat with each other.
Every family knows this.
Every family knows this at Thanksgiving especially - family fractures show up at that long weekend.
The Mass is a get together - a communion - a community of
folks who want to gather at least once a week to celebrate life and our attempts
to live gospel values with each other.
JESUS KNOWS THIS
Jesus knows this.
Jesus comes as words.
Jesus comes as bread and wine - the most basic - of food.
Solid and liquid.
Bones and blood.
Flowing and standing still.
Life.
Bread gets into us.
Words get into us.
CONCLUSION
As Jesus says in today’s gospel, “I am the living bread
that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever, and the
bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.
August 12, 2018
SEDIMENT
SEDIMENT
Small tiny pieces of wine - dregs -
settling at the bottom of the glass
or bottle, sometimes resting there -
annoying the look of things -
like the remains of the feelings
we have - after some conversations -
hearing, saying things we wished
weren't said in the first place.
© Andy Costello, Reflections
2018
Saturday, August 11, 2018
GUTTER
On the edge, almost always unnoticed,
the gutters along the edge of our roof.
That is till they get clogged or filled
with leaves or “stuff” and water backs
up sometimes into our walls or homes.
Me, you, when our gut gets backed up
with “stuff”:
regrets, resentments,
hurts: the consequences of our neglects.
© Andy Costello, Reflections
2018
Friday, August 10, 2018
August 10, 2018
LEFTOVERS
The meal last night at the Overlook
Café
wasn’t bad - but it wasn’t
memorable.
Now the leftovers - right here -
right now
for lunch - and the
conversation we’re having -
now we’re cooking - now we’re
talking -
now we’re laughing about things we’ve
been overlooking for too, too long a
time.
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018
Thursday, August 9, 2018
August 9, 2018
VALUE
It used to be a penny, a bright copper penny,
Abe Lincoln looking at us - up from the mud ….
And any kid finding it or an old person bending
towards the ground picking it up and saying,
“Look at this: a lucky penny!” Now Abe has
been voted out from that office. So too
Alexander Hamilton on a nickel and Harry
S. Truman on the dime. They are too little
or too poor to be picked up - but George
on the quarter or the dollar bill - he still
gets picked up and pocketed from the
ground or from in between the pillows of
a chair or a couch. Wonder at times: How
much am I worth - muddy, hidden me?
© Andy Costello, Reflections
2018
Wednesday, August 8, 2018
IRRITABLE
Not a good family ingredient ….
To be a pain you know where ….
An itch. A bug in the salad ….
An "ooooooh" sound in the soul ....
To voice comments or words
that have sandpaper skin on them ….
To have others wish they had gone
to the other side of the family
for vacation this week.
© Andy Costello, Reflections
2018
Tuesday, August 7, 2018
JUDGMENT
BEFORE SALVATION
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 18th Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Judgment Before Salvation.”
I noticed that saying or slogan last night in a
commentary when reading up about today’s first reading from Jeremiah 30: 1-2, 12-15, 18-22.
I never heard that obvious message put that way till last
night: “Judgment Before Salvation.”
So I decided to explore it for a short thought or homily
for this morning.
All these years I mainly preached on the gospel, so these
last few years I have been looking at the first reading more.
OBVIOUS PROCESS
Diagnosis before prognosis.
X-rays and tests before surgery, pills, PT, or what have
you.
Cleaning the scrape or cut before putting on the
ointment.
Judgment before salvation.
JUDGMENT
Jeremiah as prophet
told it like it is. He didn’t like what he saw happening in his nation
Israel. They were following false gods.
They were not trusting in the God who had saved them in the past. They dropped
God.
Jeremiah’s time of being a prophet was some 40 years -
and it was a time of turmoil - fighting - destruction - ending up in exile.
Jeremiah announced consequences for sin - and following
false gods.
In today’s first reading from Jeremiah, Chapter 30,
Jeremiah uses the image or metaphor of wounds. He describes Israel having a
running sore - a wound - that won’t heal.
What I take out of this message from Jeremiah is that it
is a call to be honest and take a good look at our life on a regular basis.
It’s like going to the doctor’s for a check-up - to get a
diagnosis. In this case it’s to have a
judgment about the state of our soul.
SALVATION
I hear and see the words salve [ointment] and save in the
word “salvation”.
We have to know what needs to be healed - before we can
be healed.
Where does it hurt?
What needs to be healed?
Where do we have to change?
What’s the problem - so we can come up with the solution?
TWO QUESTIONS
This triggered for me two questions.
First: “Does Jesus sometimes simply avoid the judgment
part of this equation. In the Prodigal Son story there is no judgment just
salvation. The boy comes home - expecting judgment, but receives only welcome
and love.
There is a tradition of non-judgment in the scriptures
There is another tradition at times that there will be no
judgment.
Which will it be? So when we die, we’ll find out. Will we
come to the door or the Pearly Gates and find out there are no gates - just God
with open arms. Some people say or
express their thought, “I expect when I die to be simply welcomed into heaven.
Second question: is it better to have judgment - especially in the here and now? Is
it better to know what we’re doing that is stupid or hurtful?
Is it better for us to go through the struggle of overcoming
what’s killing us - what’s hurting us - and others - overcoming our sinfulness
or selfishness and then learning how to be less selfish and more generous and
loving - and becoming a better person here and now?
Step back: see all those people who have their list of
things they would like to see better in us.
________________
Picture on top: Judge Rohini
________________
Picture on top: Judge Rohini
August 7, 2018
NONDESCRIPT
Wouldn’t that be a horrible put down:
to be labeled, “nondescript”? “Oooh!”
Talk to your neighbor? Find out what
makes them tick - intrigued - awake.
How about yourself? Is there anyone
who thinks you’re dull or boring?
Oooh. Get a publicist! Volunteer!
Take a walk in a summer rainstorm.
© Andy Costello, Reflections
2018
Monday, August 6, 2018
TRANSFIGURATION
VS. DISFIGURATION
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “Transfiguration Vs.
Disfiguration.”
Today, August 6, we celebrate the feast of the
Transfiguration.
TODAYS GOSPEL
In today’s gospel Jesus climbs a high mountain with
Peter, James and John and Jesus is transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, such as no
fuller on earth could bleach them.
Think of the most beautiful bride in the most beautiful
white wedding dress - on her wedding day.
That image of bright - white as snow - clothing - is in today’s first reading as well.
Sometimes people look dazzling: at their wedding,
anniversaries, proms, winning awards. Our
figures are transfigured. We look our best. Check out your photographs.
Sometimes we look horrible - or feel horrible. We look or
feel our worst.
Hence the title of my homily: Transfiguration vs.
Disfiguration.
JESUS
The small mountain called Calvary - was a place where
people were nailed or hung from the cross.
It was the place the disfigured Christ was killed on the cross - after
being beaten and crowned with thorns the night before.
St. Alphonsus painted a famous disfiguration image of
Christ on the Cross. This one up here is nothing. If you walk into some churches in Europe -
especially Italy and Spain - you can see some horribly disfigured images of
Christ.
STOP SIGN
I like to say that the cross is a huge red bloody stop
sign.
What would it be like to have just that up front: a
gigantic red stop sign?. After a while, after seeing it Mass after Mass after
Mass, we would grow used to it. However if a stranger walked in here for the
first time, they would see and be startled or stopped by that big red STOP
sign.
THE MESSAGE
The message is obvious, stop doing this to people.
Stop disfiguring people. Stop hurting one another. Stop
crucifying one another.
The obvious message would be, start transfiguring people.
Start lifting people up.
In today’s gospel Peter, James and John, want to stay
with Jesus. That’s one great way of
transfiguring people. The hurt, the
psychologically disfigured people of the planet feel it all the time, when
people want to run from them. Talk to - better listen to gay people,
transgender people, old people who are dribbling, with food all over them - and
they will tell you about people who don’t want to be with them.
In today’s gospel Jesus hears the wonderful words, “This
is my beloved Son, listen to him.” When
a kid hears that, she or he glows and grows. Then there is the opposite: when a
kid knows he or she is not liked, not loved or honored - because of marks, work, looks,
tattoos, athletic skills, what have you - they can feel they are disfigured.
CONCLUSION
Today, August 6, goes down in history as one of our worst
days. A bomb was dropped on folks in
Hiroshima and killed and disfigured so many people. It ended the war - especially
after a second bomb was dropped a week later.
It might have prevented future bombings - still August 6th is
the day of the dropping of the atomic bomb.
Too bad, they couldn’t have dropped it out at sea or what have you - but
we’ll never know.
Today, August 6th, there are people being
honored, transfigured, complimented. Hopefully we are the ones who help others
feel transfigured and honored - this day and every day of our lives. Amen.
August 6, 2018
ESSENCE
Is the goal of life to glow?
What is its essence?
To spell the word right
in the spelling bee -
phosphorescence -
incandescence -
luminescence -
fluorescence -
with our parents
in the crowd celebrating
us on and on and on?
To stretch the single
into a double and wave
one’s arms in celebration
at second base?
To make and to bake
delicious blueberry muffins?
To climb the mountain
and hear God say to us,
“You are my beloved”?
© Andy Costello, Reflections
2018
August 6, 2018
Thought for today:
“Even though we never like it, and even though we wish they didn’t write it, and even though we
disapprove, there isn’t any doubt at all that we could not do the job at all in
a free society without a very, very
active press.”
John F. Kennedy,
“Conversation with
President Kennedy,”
Public Papers,
December 17, 1963
Sunday, August 5, 2018
REBOOT
Oh the times we wanted a do-over….
The times we wish we could go out the door
and come back in and get it right this time.
But no, we got the boot. We’re out in the street -
feeling dumb - stupid - but then again, there are
other doors and other days and other people.
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)