September 6, 2019
Thought for today:
“I love the rain. I want the feeling of it on my face.”
Katherine Mansfield’s last words.
Friday, September 6, 2019
Thursday, September 5, 2019
September 5, 2019
POCKET CHANGE
Three dimes, two nickels,
a quarter and some pennies:
loose change in my pocket....
That’s how I treat some
people
in my life, loose change, present,
but just there - lumped together....
Not important - and sometimes
given away to the poor beggar
or the guitar player on the corner....
Then there is my wallet with my credit
cards, a few Andrew Jackson's - and
my medical and identity cards: ME.
© Andy Costello,
Reflections
2019
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
September 4, 2019
GNAW
“Gnaw”: now that’s
an interesting verb
and word. Its meaning never gnawing me.
I haven’t ignored it. In fact, I never used it.
But now that I heard it used - I’ve been
asking myself, “Is there anything or
anyone biting and chewing and gnawing
me - like a dog with a bone or - like a
lion gnawing on a gnu and gnarling as
it gnashes its teeth? How about God?
Francis Thomson is the only one I ever
heard of - who did some thinking about this.
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
I KNOW WHO YOU ARE
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 22 Tuesday in Ordinary
Time is, “I Know Who You Are?”
The man in today’s gospel from Luke 4: 31-37, the man
with the demons, meets Jesus in the synagogue in Capernaum and announces, “I
know who you are!”
In Mark’s gospel the man in the synagogue in Capernaum is
described as having demons - as well as convulsions.
I think one point is: the scribes and the Pharisees don’t
get who Jesus is, but the demonized, the crazy, the poor, the sick, the
unimportant people, the outsiders, they know who Jesus is.
Obviously a point I’d like to make in this homily is to
ask, “Do I know Jesus? Can I say, ‘I know who Jesus is?’”
QUESTION
Stepping back a bit, can I ask, “Do I really know any
other person?”
Hopefully married couples know each other.
And parents know their kids somewhat, but ….
DADDY
Two or three years ago my sister Mary was going through,
sorting and tossing out old family papers.
And she found a newspaper clipping of an obituary of my father’s brother
who fell off a building working construction in Pittsburgh. Talking we figured that my dad, still single
had to take a train from Manhattan, New York where he was living, to
Pittsburgh, get his brother Willy’s body, and take it to Portland, Maine for
burial.
Thinking about that, I said to myself, “What was my
father thinking having to deal with all that?”
Thinking about that I wish I had known that. I would have loved to know what my dad was
thinking and feeling. My dad was absosultely quiet and I have to admit I didn’t
know him.
I once went by bus with him from the Port Authority Bus
Station to Portland Maiine. I still don’t know him - after that long time. And
my dad is long dead 1970.
OBITUARY
I’m asking and addressing the question in this homily:
“Do I know other people?”
I once did obituaries for our province newsletter. Someone would die and I’d call around to get
information. Sort by accident I found
out that a guy named Ed Jackson knew guys much better than anyone else. I would
write up the obituary and guys would say, “Wow, Andy you really knew so and
so.” I’d say, “No, I didn’t but Ed Jackson did and he wasn’t even stationed
with the guy who died.”
So I guess some people know people better than other
people.
BACK TO JESUS
So I’d assume that some people know Jesus better than a
lot of other people.
Talk to them.
I’d assume that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John did a lot of
research on who Jesus was and they certainly help us to know him better. And
I’d assume that each of the 4 gave their take.
I like the Myers Briggs test- and I like to think that
Matthew was head, Luke Heart, Mark Hand- practical - no talk, more action and
John was the dreamer, the imaginer. So
each gave their take on Jesus.
I assume this is why we come to Mass - to be with Jesus -
to hear him in the gospels, to eat with him and him, and get to know him.
CONCLUSION
So can we say, “I
know who you are Jesus Christ.”
September 3, 2019
CELL
PHONES
When it comes to cell phones,
there are lots of takes. You see
some folks getting calls every
five minutes. Some answer on
the spot. Some ignore the call.
Some check who the call is from -
make a plus or minus sign with
their face - and then hit something.
Some people make comments
about people with cell
phones -
being addicted - being trapped -
being smart or being more
concerned with the person on the
other side of the call than with the
persons they are with. Some have
not given any thought to any of this.
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019
Monday, September 2, 2019
FIRST CHILD
The first child gets to say
for the rest of her life,
“Well, I was the first child.”
She might be the only or
she might be the first of
four or more - or “No more!”
That first child has advantages
and disadvantages - but only
time will explain this and that.
Time will tell parents about
nature versus nurture - about
God and mystery and history.
Time will tell how all this fits into
the story of our lives - in giving,
in receiving and a lot, lot more.
Time will tell that every child is a gift,
first, last, middle or only - and each of
us gets to name and describe that gift.
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019
Sunday, September 1, 2019
37 SECOND HOMILY
The following is a 37 second homily for this 22 Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C.
When I read today’s gospel - Luke 14: 1, 7-14 - I often
feel guilty. It tells the parable of not taking the top seats at the dinner
table - as well as inviting the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind to
one’s dinner table. I can do the table placements, but I don’t do the inviting of
the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind, into dinner in my house.
Then it hit me, “Dummy. You’re it. You’re blind - lame -
poor - crippled and Jesus has invited you to his dinner table.
Enjoy the meal. Enjoy his love of you. Oh.
Painting on top: Christ
at the House of Simon
the Pharisee, by Pierre
Subleyras, c. 1737
THE NEXT STEP
A twig snapped - as I walked
the forest floor - telling me
how fragile my future might
be. You never know what’s
next - what might be about
to happen with my second
step or the one just after that.
If we lived our life worried
about our next step - then
we might not take that step.
We might stutter and stammer
our speech and our steps and
never get out of sight - of our
front steps or of our front door.
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019
Saturday, August 31, 2019
August 31, 2019
ACHE
She saw his ache …. It was in his face ….
Mothers often spot their child’s pain.
They know when something’s not
going right in their life. They know
when something is going wrong in
their marriage - like lately ….
She has watched her daughter-in-law’s
eyes scanning - another man - his
shoulders - his car - his house - his wallet ….
What’s wrong with my son? Have you
forgotten your vows and your dreams?
What about the impact of divorce
and division on my grandkids?
Have your forgotten the old wisdom
about the color of grass in another’s yard?
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019
Friday, August 30, 2019
BUT HE CAN’T
I know someone who always wants
the remote - the clicker - so he
can change the channel whenever
he wants - to whatever he wants.
I watch his face. I can tell he wishes
he could mute me - change my
channels - shut me off - but he can’t.
I really don't know about him or his other
channels, but I don't want to be remote.
I really don't know about him or his other
channels, but I don't want to be remote.
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019
Thursday, August 29, 2019
OFF WITH THEIR HEADS
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “Off With Their Heads.”
Today - August 29th - we look at the beheading
of St. John the Baptist.
Oooooh,
Messy. Horrible.
Shakespeare in several of his plays has someone say, “Off
With Their Heads.”
Shakespeare was historically
accurate - because that’s what happened many times in British history. Many
people had their heads chopped off and stuck on bridge spikes for all to see.
Two of Henry the Eight’s six wives were beheaded: Anne Boleyn and Catherine
Howard.
So too many other people in many other places.
So too in France - especially with the French Revolution
when many were guillitoned. King Louie XVI lost his head on January 21st,
1793 and Marie Antoinette faced down at the guillotine on October 16,
1793. The number I read last night who
were killed in the French Revolution was 40,000.
Off with their heads.
Capital Punishment is the phrase for all kinds of
official killings by those in charge - for all kinds of reasons. Capital has
that Latin word “caput” in it. It’s the
word for “head”. And the slang word “Kaput” - means finished, worn out, dead,
broken, the end. It’s often pronounced
with a hand to the
neck as if a knife is cutting one’s head off.
SILENCED
The idea is to silence - put an end to what we don’t like
- especially if it’s another. Want silence: cut off the voice box - mouth and
all.
“Beheading”: how did that word evolve.
“Off with their head” and that means their mouth - their
words - that means to silence another.
Alice in Wonderland in Lewis Carrol’s famous book screams
out: “Off with their heads.”
We read it here in our scriptures - with John the Baptist
being silenced - because Herodius harbored a grudge - as Mark 6: 17-29 - tells us in the gospel for
this Mass.
Grudges - held onto bad moments and memories from another
seems to be one of the main reasons people are beheaded.
Silence - shut them up - off with their heads.
MODERN TIMES
Horror continues.
Terrorists use television and video clips of beheadings
to horrify us.
I think of the horrible silencing that took place in the
Bosnia-Herzagovina’s war - when libraries were burned - when town records of
birth certificates and property ownership were destroyed.
The Serbs and then those who reacted and retaliated in
kind knew that if you want to destroy a people - if you want to silence a
people - burn their birth certificates. Burn their
deeds. Destroy their books. Make them
non-existant.
HOW DO WE SILENCE THOSE WHO’S VOICES WE DON’T WANT
TO HEAR.
We look at our watches.
We yawn.
We cut them out of our conversations.
We cut them with stabbing comments.
We ignore them.
We destroy their capital.
CONCLUSION: THE OPPOSITE
How do we build relationships? How do we build community?
How do we receive communion with Christ and each other? It’s with our heads - our
capital - our brain center. It’s through our mouth and our words and our ears with our eyes - all
processed in our skull.
So instead of beheading - hopefully we behold each other
- will big time respect for one’s head. Hopefully we spend time seeing each
other eye to eye - and hearing each
other All part of our heads - eye to eye - talking heads.
August 29, 2019
SOMETIMES
Sometimes it takes a lot of times
to get to where we want to get.
Sometimes it takes a lot of times
to figure out what we really want.
Sometimes it takes a lot of times
for another to figure out we love them.
Sometimes it takes a lot of times
to say what we really want to say.
Sometimes it take a lot of times
to hear what another is trying to tell us.
Sometimes it takes a lot of times
to know there is a God who knows us.
Sometimes it takes a lot of times
to write what we really want to write.
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019
Wednesday, August 28, 2019
August 28, 2019
AUGUSTINE
Augustine - let me tell you something -
there is no way - you have to confess -
there is no way you would have known -
that you’d be the patron saint of us
procrastinators - of lust - of those
searching for God in the dusty places
of a thirsty mind and heart - okay -
you knew you had a mom like
so many moms - wondering if you’d
ever find rest in this
restless world -
till you found out God is like us:
a restless and ever waiting God ….
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019
August 28, 2019
Thought for today:
“Several years ago, however, when I was moving my dad to
Texas, I came across one of those diaries from when I was 12 years old. One entry indicated that I had gone to hear
Dr. Harvey Ironside, the famous pastor of Moody Memorial Church in Chicago. And
in my diary I’d put: ‘Some men preach
for an hour and it seems like twenty minutes, and some preach for twenty
minutes and it seems like an hour. I
wonder what the difference is?”
“I think I’ve spent my life trying to answer
that question.’”
Bill Hybels, page 19,
Leadership Spring 1990, XI,
Number 2, Pepperish:
A Practical Journal ….
Tuesday, August 27, 2019
August 27, 2019
SOME SOUNDS
The sound of bacon “ouching”
on a frying pan at 7:07 in the morning ….
The sound of a baby in a side row
seat 27 minutes into a Sunday Mass ….
The sound of a screen door on the porch,
sort of like sweeping the floor, opening
and closing, bedroom windows open
around 12:39 on an August hot night ….
The sound of a shy “Hi” after a fight -
but hoping to repair the hurt - please God ….
The sound of a flag being folded tightly
by 4 marines at a burial - just before it’s
presented to a widow at the grave ….
The sound of the crowd when a home run
just goes just foul in the ninth inning and
our team loses by just one run ….
The sound of an aluminum can releasing
its spray of air and bubble - freedom - finally ….
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019
PERFECT CIRCLE
They reported that Da Vinci
could draw a perfect circle
every time. Nice. Good story.
But few of us can avoid being
distracted in a sacred moment
or cutting someone off in a
good conversation because
we have to tell what the other
triggered in us and then the
other does the same back to
us and neither of us knew
what we doing at the time.
© Andy Costello, Reflections
2019
Saturday, August 24, 2019
UNDERSTANDING
Understanding is a work in progress.
In other words, one needs to take a
lot of time to understand - sometimes
to understand just one other person -
like in marriage. It takes time. It takes
making time for finding out how the
other person thinks, remembers,
saying things like, “I was thinking
about something you said the other
day. Do I have it right when you
said….” It takes great questions:
“What’s it like to have a baby?”
“What’s it like to feel you're in prison?”
“What’s it like to feel misunderstood?”
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019
Friday, August 23, 2019
August 23, 2019
TONGUES ARE US
Every morning, after brushing our teeth,
it would be wise to look in the mirror,
stick out our tongue and say a prayer
that we use our tongue well, today -
that we don’t hurt anyone with a tough
word - that we praise and affirm at
least one person today -
and then that
night to look in the mirror - look at our
tongue - and talk to each other how we
worked together - and then thank God
if together we made a better world today.
Thursday, August 22, 2019
August 22., 2019
Sometimes some poems make
some particulars seem so particular:
like poinsettias in a poem by John Shea;
like The Fish in a poem by Elizabeth Bishop;
like trampolines in a poem by Denise Levertov;
like “The Red Wheelbarrow” or the plums
that were in the ice box that were so delicious
in a poem by William Carlos Williams;
and then you walk into the kitchen.
SOME PARTICULARS
Sometimes some poems make
some particulars seem so particular:
like poinsettias in a poem by John Shea;
like The Fish in a poem by Elizabeth Bishop;
like trampolines in a poem by Denise Levertov;
like “The Red Wheelbarrow” or the plums
that were in the ice box that were so delicious
in a poem by William Carlos Williams;
and then you walk into the kitchen.
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019
That's William Carlos Williams
reciting his poem, "This is Just to Say ...."
That's William Carlos Williams
reciting his poem, "This is Just to Say ...."
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