WHAT  ARE  YOU  

LOOKING  FOR?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 3^rd Monday  after Easter is, “What Are You Looking For?”

That’s a bottom line theme in today’s gospel  - and  in much of the Gospel of John.

What are you looking for?

EXAMINATION  TIME

How much time do we spend each day looking for this and that?

We walk in into a room and say, “It’s in here somewhere?”

And it’s an ongoing joke - that is part of aging process - to ask, “Why did I come into  this room in the first place?”

I remember a young woman telling me 3 or 4 of the qualities she was looking for in a guy?  I asked her: “Well how many are on your list?”  She answered, “About ten!”

She’s now married. I never met the guy? Would  I dare to ask her, “How close is he to fulfilling your requirements?”

Looking back, is she laughing or is she crying - or has she forgotten she had a list - and is now dealing with the real person the guy is?

TODAY’S READINGS

In today’s first reading from Acts 6: 8-15, Stephen is featured.  He and the early Christian leaders - like Christ - were asking questions that people were not asking. They were settled. The early Christians were unsettling and upsetting the old order.

Jesus the Nazorean spoke about Moses and God, the Law and Customs - and sometimes when people are challenged - when lids are lifted - when the Spirit starts stirring the pot - “Uh OH’s” are heard from the stove which is the heart. 

So sometimes we look at faces - or into eyes - and we ask, “What’s cooking?”  Translation: what’s going on within your heart? What are you looking for?

In today’s gospel Jesus meets people who are looking for him. They can’t figure out how Jesus moves about. They want more bread, but he wants to feed folks with the food that endures for eternal life.

If you use the Eucharistic Chapel - if you come to weekday Mass - besides Sunday Mass - you have to read John 6 - over and over and over again.

It’s been around some 1900 plus years.

It’s a document that took years to finalize - somewhere around 90.

It has development. It deals with lots of stuff they were trying to figure out and lots of stuff we’re  trying to figure out - as we develop and evolve.

If you’re married - if you have kids - if you have parents that are still around - if you have parents who have died -  if you look at your relationships - the others are the same as they were back when - but  they are also quite different from back then. Our nuclear self is the same - but our developing and changing self is different.

It’s called evolution - growth - development.

If we don’t change, we’re dead - we’re not doing our inner work. We’re  not evolving.

We see our parents different today - than we saw them 20 years. They have changed and we have changed.

So too Jesus.  So too Jesus in John. So we go through what early Christians in the Johannine churches went through from 50 to the year 100 or so.

And Biblical scholars have certainly grown and changed in their understanding of the Gospel of John down through the centuries.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily for today is, “What Are You Looking For?”

Make lists. Hang onto them. See how they change through the years. Amen.

SOMEONE

Looking out the bus window -

I see all these folks on their

cellphones - walking with

someone - somewhere else -

down this street - talking

about something - but who

is their someone - when

they really need to talk to

someone: as in divorce,

or death, or being fired or

their kid is on opioids?

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

May    6, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“About  one-fifth of the people are against everything all the time.”  

Robert F. Kennedy, in a speech 

at the University of Pennsylvania, 

May 7, 1964 - in Philadelphia Inquirer, 

May 7, 1964

SCREAMING  GOD

A  baby  started  screaming 

during  church  this  morning …. 

On  and off - screams  and  silence …. 

Much  louder than  the priest …. 

It hit me, what if this was God

screaming to us? It seemed that

some people were screaming back,

“Could you please shut that baby up!”

I guess God won’t be quiet ….

I said  to myself, “Maybe this

is the way  God announces

‘I am here’- as a baby ….

“Maybe Christmas day is every day. 

And every day we have to get going 

with our Christmas gifts - to this child 

and to  all the children of this world."

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

THE SHORE AND THE SEA

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 3^rd Sunday  after Easter is, “The Shore and the Sea.”

Today’s 3 readings - especially the Gospel - got me thinking about this topic and this theme

And I want to spell shore both “SHORE” and “SURE”.

And the shore - s h o r e - is a metaphor for the sure - sure.

What? What are you talking about here? Hopefully, by the end of this sermon you’ll get what I’m trying to get at.  And I hope I will too.

Picture a person at the ocean - Ocean City or Rehoboth - and they are about 20 or 30 yards from the  shore - the beach - and the ocean becomes rough and pounding and the person gets caught in an undertow and is tossed a bit - and says inwardly “Uh oh! - I better get out of this water.”

How many situations have we found ourselves in - when things got antsy or angry - nasty and nauseous -  and we didn’t see it coming?

Life has it’s “Uh oh moments” - when we want an “Aha moment” - on how to get out of there.

We want to get out of the unsure and onto the sure.  We want to get out of the shaky and onto the steady.

So the title of my homily is, “The Shore and the Sea.”

I preached on this yesterday at the 4:30 and I began saying to myself during the sermon, “”Uh oh, this is getting muddy.  A better title would be,  “The Sure and the Unsure of Life” - yet I want to bring in the water …. because of today’s gospel.

ON THE WATERFRONT

We who live in this part of Maryland are lucky to live near the water - that is, if you like the water - that is,  if you like sailing or boating or paddle boarding or fishing or crabbing.

How much does geography form the personality?  Do we become where we come from? Do people who live in the Quad cities in the Midwest -  on the Mississippi and its tributaries - do they get a creeping inner fear because of spring flooding every year?

I lived on the Jersey Shore for 7 years and Nor-easterners could cause anxiety. What about people in the Caribbean in hurricane season? What about people in India who live right on the coast in the path of possible typhoons?

The coast has benefits - but also it has its worries.

In Israel the Mediterranean doesn’t show up that often in the scriptures, but it’s there. In the Gospels, the Lake of Galilee - or the Sea of Tiberias as it’s called in today’s gospel from John - is more central. It’s 13 miles north to south and 7 miles from east to west.  It’s there and Jesus was brought up not that far from it.

And in the gospel we have stories about storms at sea - when the disciples start to panic - and Jesus becomes the sure when things are unsure - and they are far from shore.

LIFE HAS ITS SURE AND ITS UNSURE

What does your list of the sure and unsure look like?

Death and taxes always makes the list for sure things.

So too marriages and babies.

So too wars and family feuds.

So too food.

So too  sickness and health.

So too addictions and sin and recoveries and resolutions.

So too unsure things like the weather - more or less depending upon where you live.  I hear that a weather reporter’s job in Arizona ain’t that desirable.

The whole insurance industry is based on the unsure - as they promise a surety - if there is a crash or a crisis.

The possibility of surprise - is the secret of humor and horse races - and the lottery.

People repeat themselves - but sometimes they don’t.

Some people ask the same question every time we see them: “What’s new?”

Sometimes it’s not the sermon we expected.

Which is more you: wanting the same or wanting the different?

I remember preaching a week long parish mission in  Ohio with my buddy Tom. We were near where Bob Evans started and that’s where the pastor ate every night. Well for 6 straight nights I got Cobb Salad - which Tom started to needle me about. I discovered Cobb Salad - and with extra blue cheese dressing it was a sure thing.

Is there a psychological test to find out if we like same or if we like different - the sure or the surprise?

TODAY’S FIRST READING

Today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles  tells about some people in the Mediterranean basin - some 2000 years ago - who told about someone - named Jesus - who was killed - especially for some of the things he said - and rose from the dead.

Now that coming back from death was a surprise.

And for the past 2000 years people called Christians base their life after death on his life and death and resurrection.

That’s some insurance policy.

They were told to shut up about this - but they didn’t - and somehow either we  or our ancestors joined this belief - and here we are right now.

TODAY’S SECOND READING

Today’s second reading from the Book of Revelation talks about the hereafter. It tells about a throne on which the Lamb that was slain sits - the Christ - and countless people - angels and humans - are praising him - giving him the glory - and all pray out and cry out, “Amen.”

In New Orleans you’ll hear the song this way: “I want to be in their number when the saints come marching in.”

That’s a song and a hope for that surety.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

In today’s gospel we have this Jesus - the Risen One - on a beach - at a fire - with bread and fish - and he wants to have breakfast with his followers.

That’s an interesting image.

They are out in the water - fishing - but they caught nothing.

Bummer.

But the man on the shore tells and yells to them where to cast their nets.

Don’t we all want to know where to cast our nets?

Don’t we all want to make a catch - when it comes to life?

And they catch a great catch - 153 large fish - and they had a great meal - a great feast - a great breakfast - a great communion.

And starting with Peter - our first papa - Jesus asks us if we love him more than anyone else  - and Peter - the one who denied him 3 times - says 3 times - you know I love you.

And three times Jesus tells Peter - and he tells us: Feed my sheep - take care of each other - love me, love me, love me.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “The Shore and The Sea.”

Coming to Mass is coming ashore time - eating with Jesus - communion with Jesus - being asked, Have you caught anything?

And then we’re  told the sure things are love and the feeding and caring for each other - and then going into the unsure of the next - singing. Amen.

Not bad.

May    5, 2019 

Thought for today:

“Poetry is the impish attempt to paint the color of  the  wind.”  

Maxwell Bodenheim, 

quoted in Ben Hecht’s 

1958 play, Winkelberg.

SIDELINED

Sometimes we get sidelined -

Knocked off the track -

Sometimes we take the wrong path -

Go down the wrong street -

Don’t we all? Don’t we all?

Surprise life is all about reversals,

second chances, coming back out

of nowhere, comebacks, ready to do

what we really always wanted to do.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

May    4, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“When you go home, tell them of us and say, ‘For your tomorrows  these gave their today.’” 

John Maxwell Edmonds 

[1875-1958],  Inscriptions 

Suggested for War Memorials (1919)
Cemetery: Brittany American
Cemetery, World War I

STANDING UP FOR US

It’s always nice to have someone 

stand up for us - especially when 

we’re in a slump - someone in the 

stands rooting for us. There. Quietly 

rooting for us. Presence.  Support. 

It’s always nice to actually  know, 

to believe, to sense that God is in 

the background - in the underneath - 

that is totally underneath the under- 

neath of our lives. Presence. Support. 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

BEING  SAVED

INTRODUCTION

What to preach on….

I’m sitting in the doctor’s office this morning with a small missalette. I read the readings - said my regular  prayer, “Lord, help me to come up with something helpful for someone today.” Then I asked my regular next question: “What to preach on?”

I stopped at the words, “Being saved….” in today’s first reading from  1 Corinthians 15: 1-8 - today’s first reading for the Feast of Philip and James - May 3^rd.

QUESTIONS

Then I asked a question, “What does that feel like?”

Then I asked, “What are some situations when I have been saved?  What are some situations, when people feel saved?”

Then I sat there in the doctor’s office and pondered saved situations.  They were a bit behind schedule ….

BLUE LIGHT SPECIAL

Two  nights ago I went into our common room or living room and Father William is standing there with the TV remote.  The TV screen is loaded with a big written message. Basically it’s broken. I look down at the Comcast Box or some other box there and I notice the blue light is not on.  I go over and push one button and the blue light goes on and the TV goes on - and it’s fixed.

William might have said, “You’re a savior.” I was.  There is another TV in what we call the African Room. That’s where the TV that Father Pat Flynn used to use is. That TV is broken. I tried to fix it. No luck.  There’s another TV up on the third floor in a guest room, but we have a guest priest from Arizona this week - so I fixed our regular TV by pushing one button.

That’s one small example of being a savior.

MORE

Last fall, I get a flat tire on Route 301 Eastern Shore coming back from my sister Mary . I don’t have my Triple A card in my wallet. I am on the shoulder of the road.  I don’t have a cell phone. A state trooper almost immediately stops and asks what my problem is.

I say, “Flat tire?” 

He asks, “Do you have a spare?”

He has my tire changed in 10 minutes.

I say, “Thank you.”

He says, “The way I think of it, I see everyone on the road as a member of my family, and if they are stuck, I’m ready to help.”

He was a savior.

I think of when I  was a kid.  We’d go to Rye Beach and one of us or a few of us would run out of tickets for the rides. 

Then one kid takes out an Andrew Jackson and says, “Let’s get more tickets.” 

Then the kid says, “I have this uncle - who always slips us some money sneakily whenever he sees us going somewhere. My uncle would always say, ‘I always hated it as a kid to run out of money.’”

Down through the years I have seen lots of Uncles and Aunts - who were just like that.   I have tried to be that kind of a person, but not enough.

BEING SAVED

So part of being saved brings up that other S word. No not that one - but it could be that one.

Stuck - being stuck.

Let me look at the big stuck.

Down deep - every human being - consciously - and semi-consciously - or unconsciously - worries about dying - and being in some deep dark ditch or grave - in the underworld of the hereafter - lost - scared - unknowing what’s next - or if there is a next - 4 flat tires in the soul - no ticket to nowhere - and filled with “uh oh” tears along with fear predominating.

Stuck….

That’s stuck.

If there is any message in the gospels from Jesus  - it’s right here - Jesus says, “I’ll come looking for you when you feel stuck.”

I love Luke 15!

Just scream out from your depths,  “Baa - Baa - Baa!” as a lost sheep and the Good Shepherd will appear.

Just “Hmm, Hmn - I’m like a lost coin over here under the bed - or in the corner or in a crack in the floor.”

Or just crawl back home and I’m be waiting with open arms.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Isn’t that what Jesus says in today’s gospel from John 14: 6-14,  “I am the way,  the truth and the life.”

Jesus will show us the way to the light.

CONCLUSION

P.S. Matthew 25: 31-6 gives us the password, the secret way to sneak in the back door.

When you see someone hungry, hurting,  stuck, or whatever form they have taken,  help them.

May    3, 2019 - 

Thought for today: 

“’I know of no joy,’ she airily began. ‘greater  than a cool white dress after the sweetness of confession.’”

Ronald Firbank [1886-1932],  

Valmouth, (1919) Chapter 4

VISE

Sometimes I feel like I’m in a vise - 

being squeezed by time and the phone …. 

“Can you?”  “Will  you?”  “Please?” 

Then the advice from inner voices: 

“Stop your whining!” “You have to ….” 

“This is what love is all about.” 

“Service!” “Service!” “Service!” 

Then comes the ooze of guilt, 

when I want to “Run!” and  “Hide.” 

Ever feel this way? 

  

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

May    2, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“Unhurt people are not much good in the world.” 

Enid Starkie [1897-1970],  

in a letter to Joanna Richardson,  

June 18, 1943, in Joanna Richardson 

Enid Starkie (1973), pt. 6, ch. 18

BACKGROUND

Background is background ….

We don’t notice it when we’re

in the middle of a great moment

up front and central and we’re alive.

But sometimes we realize afterwards …. 
Wow! She was a good waitress

or my mom and dad did an awful

lot of great things for us kids.

And Mary and Joseph are in the pages

and the stories of scriptures - as the

Patron Saints of Background - and

all that work behind the scenes.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

May 1, 2019 

Thought for today:  

Barack Obama quoted Nelson Mandela to create the most-liked tweet in history. It goes like this:  "No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love. For love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite."

 :

THE  COMMON  LIFE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Monday in the Second Week of Easter is, “The Common Life.”

There are some Bible texts and readings that we totally ignore - perhaps semi-consciously - because they are too challenging.

There are some church goers who won’t forgive their brother or sister from their heart 70 times 7 times - even though Jesus said we need to do that. [Cf. Matthew 18: 22.]

Today I want to highlight and reflect upon the opening sentence in today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles. It’s Acts 4: 32: “The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common.”

Now that’s both a challenging  text - and a “Wait a minute text.”

It hasn’t been erased or expunged or manipulated out of existence from our scriptures for some 2000 years now.

UH OH MOMENTS

Before I came to Annapolis I was stationed in Lima, Ohio and from time to time I would hear about some folks from some years earlier - folks from different parishes in the area - who had left everything - families included - and went to live a common life on a farm that was bought by  the group.

And everything was thrown into the common pot and taken from the common pot.  It lasted a few years. It broke up some marriages and families and what have you. Looking back,  I never got nosey enough to try to meet anyone and find out about anyone  who tried this way of life.

In Christian communities down through the centuries, groups and individuals tried living in common. We see this clearly in the Early Church - especially in these  readings - after Easter - like today’s first reading.

How long did that movement last?  Was it because folks were expecting the End - the Parousia?  When that didn’t happen, did this visionary way of living life end?

Have you ever wondered or thought about living in a commune - and living a community life with a group of people.

From time to time I’m sure you have heard us Redemptorists talk about our parish and our community in Ephrata, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

And / or you might have heard that they have a historical spot in Ephrata called, “The Cloisters.”

It was where a German immigrant - named Joseph  Conrad Bissel - started in 1732 - a strict community of Christians.  1732  was 100 years before we Redemptorists  came to America.

In 1732 - that same year -  in Scala Italy - just up the steps from Amalfi - St. Alphonsus started the Redemptorists. We were to live as community - and preach and work as community - but the emphasis was on the work of preaching together more than the common life together.

That area of Pennsylvania has a history of several types of communal living. I’m sure you’ve heard of the Amish and the Mennonites.

Next, I’ve never heard of anyone who made a comparative study about these strict Christian communities and religious orders and congregations.

How about looking into the Mennonites as compared to  the Franciscans?

That would be a good study.

I had a job called Novice Master for 9 years - for 9 different classes - and I was with them in living a common life for a year - not working together, but living, learning and being together. It was a wonderful experience.  And we Redemptorists  are a religious community with the vows of Poverty - Chastity - and Obedience.

Next, I would assume, if someone spent a year living with the Mennonites or Amish or a year living with the Redemptorists or Franciscans or Sisters of Notre Dame - you would see similarities and you would see differences.

With regards money - and the common pot - and common ownership - in principle you would see underneath a common vision.

I don’t have a bank account - or oodles of money. We go out to dinner many a Sunday night as a community. We went to Adam’s Ribs this Sunday night - 7 of us. I got a Cheeseburger - burnt to death with fries and cold slaw. Someone else got salmon. Someone else got ribs.

The money came from a common box

There are benefits from this type of living. I have never had to worry about money in my life. 

CONCLUSION: A LEARNING

Now I could end here, but as I was thinking about this, something hit me.

I would suggest  taking some time to reflect upon common ownership and more sharing of our goods - and money - as we read in today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

What is like to have a vow of poverty - and live a common life?  Do the Redemptorists who serve in this parish as priests and in the past with brothers as well  - and also the School Sisters of Notre Dame - witness anything to the people of this parish?

Would families - reading today’s first reading - see their life as living a common Christian life together? Do Catholic Families ever think about the best way to budget their money and tithe their money - and look at values - and capitalism - and greed - and need - and maybe share more with the poor?

I have lived this common pot and common way of doing life since 1960.

I have read the Prophets Amos and Hosea when it comes to the poor.

I have read the Social Justice Letters or Encyclicals of modern popes about lots of issues when it comes to all this.

I know  St. Basil said, “The bread in your bread box belongs to the hungry;  the coat in your closet belongs to the naked; the shoes you let rot belong to the barefoot, the money in your vault belongs to the poor”.

I would ask people to read Matthew 25: 31-46 - the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats - about the great judgment at the end of the world - and wonder, “Maybe Jesus is very serious about all this.”

April 30, 2019

SIGNATURE

What does my signature look like?

What does it say about me?

What did it look like the first time

I put my name on anything?

What does it look like now?

Is my signature a Rorschach Blot?

If I was to put my name to the

Declaration of Independence and

I knew it was to be on display

for hundreds of years to come,

would that make a difference

in how I write my signature?

What are the most important

documents I put my name to?

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

April    30, 2019 - 

Thought for today: 

“The inner spaces that a good story lets us enter are the old apartments of religion.” 

John Updike, Introduction 

to The Best American Short 

Stories 1984, Houghton Mifflin, 

1984, quoted by Anatole Broyard, 

New York Times, November 11, 1984

ERGOPHOBIA

Fear of work ….

Now that’s a bummer of a phobia ….

We have to eat and support others ….
A  job, a title, a responsibility

gives us meaning and dignity ….

Accomplishments, a pay check,

hearing other’s ask, “How was

your day?” or having an answer

to the question, “What do you do

for a living?” makes life worthwhile.

 © Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

April    29, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“Religion is something that only secondarily can be taught. It must primarily be absorbed.”  

Harry Emerson Fosdick, 

World’s Work, February 1929

ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA 

SOME  KEY  COMMENTS

INTRODUCTION

This morning I'd like to give some key comments about a well known Catholic saint: St. Catherine of Siena.

Dates:  1347 - 1380 - She died at the age of 33.

She was born in Siena - close to the famous cathedral of Sienna. She was a twin - the 23^rd of 25 children in the Benicasa family of Siena. 13 reached adulthood.

She died in Rome in 1380.

She was a 3^rd order Dominican - which gave her the freedom to roam. If she were a nun, there would be restrictions.  Being a Dominican gave her support and a group that backed her - once they recognized they had someone special here.  She was seen as a saint in her lifetime.  Some saw her as a mystic. Others saw her as a prophetess or spiritual teacher.

QUITE A LIFE

She had quite a life: challenging and charming popes and bishops and important government leaders in Northern Italy. She was “good” as they say. One comment was, “She kissed the Pope’s feet while twisting his arm.

She challenged priests to live the life they were called to life. Quit vanity. Stop messing around.  Pope and church officials asked her a few times to be an ambassador and that she was - among waring and arguing families and factors around Italy.

In 1377 she told the Pope - Gregory XI - to get back to Rome. The French  had gotten in  control of the Church and the popes lived up there in the French town of Avignon for 70 years. It was called the Babylonian Captivity.

Well, Gregory XI went back to Rome and after his death, the cardinals - mostly French met in Rome to elect a new pope They chose an Italian, who was a disaster. He was an angry man. He was arrogant. There was other stuff too. So once out of Rome, they met - and elected a new pope Clement         VII - who moved the papacy back to Avignon,  We now had a Papal Schism from 1378 - 1417.

It was during her time that we had the Papal Schism of 1378 - the church being sort of cut up by theologians and personalities.  We had two popes in place.  After electing the pope, folks weren’t happy with their choice, so they elected another pope.

She was a writer. In 1970 they made her a woman “Doctor - that is,  a   Teacher of the Church.” Up to Catherine all were men.  Now we have 4 women doctors of the Church: Hildegard of Bingen, Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Avila and St. Therese of Lisieux.   She didn’t have much education. She would do a lot of her writing  dictating to a couple of people.

She had the guidance of Stefano di Corrado Maconi (d. 1424) - who later became head of the Carthusians - as well as St. Raymond of Capua who later became head of the Dominicans.

Doctors or teachers of the Church means there are readings and teachings to look at.  We have some 400 of her letters - written to those on the top shelf and those who were at the bottom of the barrel.  Her main book was The Dialogue - basically conversations with God.  Her other document was The Treatise if Divine Providence.

THREE   QUOTES

“Love changes us into what we love.”

We’ve all heard that in familiar slogans like: We become what we eat?  Garbage in. Garbage out.  In marriage, in a good loving marriage, the other becomes one with her or his spouse.  So St. Catherine of Siena is telling us, “Love changes us into what we love.”

The second quote is, “God is more willing to pardon than we have been willing  to sin.” 

That’s worth pondering. Jesus loves us more than we might love sin.

Here’s the third quote. In The Dialogue we read, “The soul is in God and God in the soul, just as the fish is in the sea and the sea in the fish.”   Next time you’re at the beach or at the water say, “There are fish out there. I can’t see them, but there are fish out there.”  Close your eyes and look into yourself and say, “God is in me and I am in God.”

ENOUGH

That’s enough for starters. Amen