WHEN  DID  JESUS  KNOW 

WHAT HE  KNEW? 

INTRODUCTION

The title  of  my homily for this 3^rd Thursday in Ordinary Time  is, “When Did Jesus Know What He Knew?”

Or as a sub-title a similar question from the gospels: “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? Isn’t he the carpenter’s son….” [Matthew 13: 54-55]

Last night I was working on a short homily for this morning – while shooting back and forth a few times to check out on TV the Impeachment Hearings.

It was all questions and answers yesterday – so I wondered if that’s the reason I came up with the question I came up with for a possible short homily for today.

The people who were picked from either side were given 5 minutes to answer questions.

Would we all want 5 minute homilies for weekday homilies – if that?

I remember a book for Sunday homilies: Ten Responsible Minutes.

BACK TO MY QUESTION

When did Jesus know what he knew?

In today’s gospel Jesus said, “The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, and still more will be given you.”

I thought about that and asked, “When and where did Jesus come up with that?”

It’s a profound observation about the human condition.

Did Jesus know the thoughts of Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud and Carl Jung about  projections – how human being project their motives and ways of judging people onto other people?

Did Jesus know the Hindu thought of Karma – as people are using it more and more today – not for incarnation – but for next week? How I treat my neighbor and others today is going to come crashing onto me or to embracing me – as I go on with life in the weeks to come.

How many times in life do we inwardly say of another, “I know why you said that? I know why you did that?” when in reality we’re really saying, “I know why I would say that?  I know why I would do that?”

DEEPER CONSIDERATIONS – DEEPER QUESTIONS

I was thinking last night: Good thing the speaker or the preacher has only 5 or 10 minutes – because that’s his take on the text.  I assume some of you here have years of thoughts and experiences and probably doctorates in this stuff – from psychology and from scripture and human development as well as family and community and teaching experiences.

CONCLUSION

In the meanwhile, I like what Jesus warns and wants here – about being generous in our judgments and projections on others.  I like it when the policeman doesn’t give me a ticket for having a tail light out or the kid at the ice cream cone counter gives me extra butter almond or rum raisin ice cream.  I like it when the other person is kind with his or her comments about me and my lateness or ill prepared or too complicated homily. I like it when the preacher says, “I don’t know where Jesus came up with this stuff – but as life goes on, sometimes Jesus says something that really hits me.  Nice. Thank you Jesus.

January 30,  2020

SOMETIMES

Sometimes you have to say the

wrong thing before you figure out

what you should have said.

Sometimes you have to lose the ring

or drop the dish or have the moment

after the fight before you really know.

Sometimes you understand the words the

first time you hear them, but wouldn’t you

rather get them in the middle of the night?

Sometimes it’s 37 days after the 37^th

anniversary that your marriage vows

mean a lot more than the first time.

Sometimes you have to read the

poem a dozen times before you

figure out what it’s really saying.

© Andy Costello, Reflections

January  30, 2020 

Thought  for  Today 

 “If you prepare for old age, old age  comes  sooner.”  

Anonymous

January 29, 2020

PRECISION

A razor blade, steel,

two plus two equals four,

cold milk, cereal and a banana,

a  piano: black and white keys,

white cord, white venetian blinds,

kissing grandma good night,

a two-year-old saying, “I love you.”

© Andy Costello, Reflections

January 29,  2020

Thought for Today

 “We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.”  

Kahlil  Gibran

January 28, 2020

EXPERIENCING  IT

You have to experience it;

you have to watch it change;

then you can really know it.

To stand by the rails

and watch a ship slide and

glide away from land and shore ….

To pick potatoes or apples,

strawberries or blueberries,

raspberries or grapes ….

To put together – paper

and string and ribs of wood -

and then to go fly a kite ….

To admit it was a mistake,

to fill out the papers,

to get a divorce ….

To take bread, to take wine,

to be ordained to say,

“This is my body. This is my blood.”

To bring a child into our world,

to teach her gentleness, gratitude,

grace, greatness  and geography ….

You have to experience it;

you have to watch it change;

then you can really know it.

© Andy Costello, Reflections

January   28,  2020 

Thought  for  Today 

 “From silly devotions and from sour faced  saints, good Lord, deliver us.” 

Saint Teresa of Avila

January 27, 2020

NEAR  MISS

I shot a gun once, in fact, twice.

I missed both times. The guy who

was showing me how to shoot a rifle

put a bottle – it was green – on a log –

with a hill as a back drop – just in case -

just in case I was  a really bad shot. I was.

All my life I’ve been trying to say things –

but it seems every time I miss. Yet I hope:

I hope I had some near misses – at least

2 things I’ve been trying to say.

© Andy Costello, Reflections

January  27,  2020

Thought  for  Today 

“Incense is prayer

That drives no bargain.

Child, learn from incense

How best to pray.”

Alfred Barrett

16 PEOPLE  IN  A ROOM

Irritant – angry – dictator –

interrupter  - silent – successful

observer – generous – magnetic –

swift – stuck – impatient – lazy –

forever hurt – poet – Christ ….

Which one am I today?

Which one am I today, O Lord?

© Andy Costello, Reflections

January  26,  2020

Thought  for  Today

 “When you’re my size in the pros,  fear is  a sign  you’re not stupid.”

Jerry Levias

THE   CONVERSION 

OF  ST.  PAUL 

INTRODUCTION 

Today, January 25^th we’re  focusing on the conversion  of St. Paul. 

Today’s first reading - Acts 23: 3-16 - gives us one of  the two versions of his conversion that are in the  Acts of the Apostles.  We could read either. [Cf. Acts  9: 1-22.]

We don’t know what day it was that this actually happened – but January 25^th is as good as any.

Any day is a good day to get new insights, change, convert, grow.

DETAILS

Saul’s name changed to Paul. Paul’s brain changed.  He had been against  Christians – arresting them – chaining them – dragging them to Jerusalem - having them imprisoned – having them killed.

He was there for the stoning to death of Stephen the deacon.

His thought patterns changed.

He realizes his wrongness.

He describes it as a blindness.

He realizes what he was doing.

He gets baptized and becomes a great voice that adds new  Good News to the history of religion in our world.

He does what today’s gospel [Mark 16: 15-18] challenges us to do: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.”

Paul  is still doing this.  People are still reading and hearing and thinking about his messages.

Today’s a good day to say: I have to think about this.  He made quite a change.

To me that’s one of life’s big questions. Can a person change?  We’ve all experience people we wondered about.  We inwardly asked: Can he or she ever change?

Saul – Paul did. Buddha and Augustine changed?

Every Lent – on Ash Wednesday – every Christian hears the words: Change and believe in the Good News – or Remember you are dust and into dust you shall return.

 

WHAT PAUL GIVES US

Besides messages in the Acts of the Apostles, his letters give us messages that people have received and in this way - now with Christ in their lives - they end up becoming new in new and newer ways. 

HOMEWORK

We could do some homework.

I think a good practiced is to take a book of the Bible for the year.  It’s still January.  One of these years pick a letter of Paul – read it and then line up say 1 key message in that letter that is worth making one’s own.

Like picking Galatians.

Like I like Galatians 6: 2: "Bear one another’s burden. In this way you'll be fulfilling the Law of Christ."

CONCLUSION

Then at the end of the year you'll hear someone say, "Wow you’ve changed."

January 25, 2020

TENSION  ON  THE  TABLE 

He placed his glass of scotch – with ice – 

on the table top - on rich antique wood - and 

she -  the woman of the house -  spotted this 

from the other side of the room – and it stopped 

the flow in the conversation she was having. 

A loud inner scream erupted from within, “No! No!” 

And she sped across the room – picked up his 

glass and said, “We have better scotch than this. 

Let me get it for you.” She did and she napkin 

wiped the table top with an inner, “Phew!” 

Her husband noticed the whole scene, thinking 

“I wish I was an antique table and I got some of 

her attention to some of these details. Hey we’re 

only married 24 years. She’s no antique but let me 

tell you how I feel at times. Good thing I don’t drink.” 

 

© Andy Costello, Reflections

January   25,   2020

Thought  for  Today 

 “If you dam a river it stagnates.  Running water is beautiful water.”  

English proverb

January 24, 2020

KNOCK,  KNOCK, 

WHO’S  HERE?

Make a statement, 

leave an impression, 

make a memory, 

create, imagine …. 

Ooooooopppps,  

I walked into the

wrong room. 

These are not 

my kind of people. 

But I guess I had 

to walk in here 

to find this out. 

I’ve done this before. 

Deja vue. I’m slow. 

© Andy Costello, Reflections

January   24,  2020

Thought for  Today 

"We must never undervalue any person. The worker does not like it when their work is disliked in their presence. Well, God is present everywhere and every person is God's work."

St. Francis de Sales

January  23, 2020

Thought for Today

 “Being bored is an insult to oneself.”

Jules Renard

January 23, 2020

I  NEED  TIME 

It takes time to “Go figure!” 

It takes time to figure out 

just what happened - and 

then it takes time to go figure - 

if what I gathered -  is close 

to what might have happened. 
Much of life is a maze! Amazing. 

Bummer! But it the long run 

it takes time to peel away 

layers - to knock down walls - 

while new walls are being built. 

© Andy Costello, Reflections

January 22, 2020

 UNDER  THE  HOOD

Stuck in traffic ….

Looking for a parking spot ….

Trying to get in or out of a parking lot

just before Christmas …. in a rush ....

These are the moments we see

what’s under another’s hood ….

Otherwise we really don’t know

another – their language or

their patience points ….

© Andy Costello, Reflections

January 22, 2020

 “Greater love has no one than this, that one  lay  down their life for their friends.”  

John  15:3-23

January  21,  2020

INSTILL

One has to become quiet –

quite quiet - quite  still ….

One has to go off to the side -

step back – sit sideways –

before one can get to essences –

before one can see still points

in their soul. It’s then – when -

they have clarity, that they

can have the calm grace

called “stillness”  – "peace".

It’s then – right then - they might

realize instillness has happened.

© Andy Costello, Reflections

January  21,  2020

Thought   for  Today

 “The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself.”

Thales

Thales of Mileto

(c. 626-545 BC)

(1906) Velos Salgado

January 20, 2020

BLACK   BALLOON

Finally, someone bought me.

I had been on the bottom of

a pile of red, blue, and yellow

baloons - unblown up – empty -

airless for four weeks now and 

nobody seemed to want a black balloon -

just red, yellow and blue. Finally, I’m

out of the store – this kid screaming

“Daddy, hurry,  HURRY, blow up

my balloon” He did and on went

the string that the store keeper

gave my dad – and the kid hung onto

that string – and I loved it, LOVED

it  – me floating up into the wind

hi and mighty – in the wind - in

the sunshine – in the scream

of a  kid – with a black  balloon –

me – high above the crowd -

that is - till he saw the ice cream

sign – and then- it was THEN –

he accidently let my string go

and I was flying, high, HIGH,

above the park, above the crowd

chanting the words of the King,

“Free at last, thank God, I’m free at last.”

© Andy Costello, Reflections

January 20, 2020

Thought for Today

“There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

January 19, 2020

UNDERNEATH

It takes effort and energy,

“elbow grease” as the cliché goes

to get to what’s underneath

whatever that ugly dark stuff is

that sticks to pots and pans.

Sometimes we have to dig,

scrub, sandpaper it,

to get to the truth

of what you’re really

saying or not saying here.

In other words,

“Are you saying

what you’re saying

or are you saying

something else?”

© Andy Costello, Reflections

January  19, 2020

Thought  for  Today

 “Not the power to remember, but its very  opposite, the  power to forget is a necessary condition for our existence.”  

Sholem Asch,  

The Nazarene, 1939

January 18, 2020

RESTLESS

It begins with too many blinks.

Then the toe tapping and the

finger itching. It’s then I know

you’re nervous. “What’s up?”

Fears I know. It’s anxiety ….

The opening up the cabinet

above the sink. He reaches for 
and then hands me the letter.

Everyone gets at least 7

such letters in their life –

The ones that tells of a

death, being dumped, fired ….

I read your letter. I now

know why you’re edgy -

scared – worried ….

Thanks for trusting me.

Let’s do next together.

Let’s get the best doctor.

Let’s get the best lawyer.

Let’s pray to the best God.

© Andy Costello, Reflections
Painting on top: Pablo Picassso,
Reading the Letter

January  18,  2020

Thought  for  Today

“The  only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”  

Edmund Burke (1729-1797)

ME  TOO,  O  LORD

INTRODUCTION

The  topic  of my homily for this Saturday in the First Week of Ordinary Time is, “Me  Too, O Lord.”

That’s a good short prayer when listening to the gospels. 

“Me too, O Lord.”

Or take a rosary.  Move through the 59 beads saying, “Me too, O Lord.”  It only takes – 3 or 4 short minutes. 

This thought comes to mind when I hear today’s gospel from Mark 2: 13-17.

It triggers for me the controversial topic of Intercommunion.

Who can and who cannot come for communion?

Being a priest for 55 years this year, I’ve noticed lots of things when it comes to who’s who and who’s receiving communion.

HOW TO HEAR THE GOSPELS

Let me snag just one.

I was taught the following principle:  to understand the gospels think the years 60 to 100 more than the years 30 to 33.

To understand the gospels, think about the audience being Christians more than Jews.

The stories and teachings happened in Jesus time, but all is geared for the Christian communities.

So, today’s gospel has a scene where Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners and some scribes and Pharisees saw whom he was eating with – whom he was associating with – whom he was in communion with and they complained.

And he said, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.  I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

The fact that this story is in the gospels, tell me that the

early Christian communities had people doing to each other what people were doing to people in Jewish synagogues and temples and homes when Jesus walked about.

And there are people in our churches and Christian communities today who are like the scribes (those who could write, the educated ones) and the Pharisees (the righteous ones.)

Me too, O Lord.

There are people today – in our churches – who see their brothers and sisters going to communion – and complaining  – instead of seeing the gospels – as looking into a mirror at oneself.

Me too, O Lord.

Every time I’m with family or friends I hear about people leaving the church because of blasts from the pulpit or the pews.

I think of this new movie The Irishman – from the book, I Heard You Paint Houses. It has stuff in there about Russell Bufalino from the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania – up there near Scranton/Wilkes Barre – a guy who was in the Mafia – who might have been in on the murder of Jimmy Hoffa.

Well he came to a retreat house in the Poconos before I was stationed there. He came on a retreat and some men complained that he was there.

“Well,” the rector said, “Why wouldn’t we be happy he’s here?”

Me too, O Lord.

TODAY’S FIRST READING

As an aside I laughed when I heard today’s first reading from the First book of Samuel 9: 1-4,  17-19; 10:1.

Saul’s father, Kish, had some asses who ran off and Saul was sent out to find them.

If I was a teenage boy in church – and I was sitting next to buddies – I would be elbowing them - when I heard they went out looking for asses.

Well keeping with my theme, feel an elbow every time you hear the gospel – feel Jesus elbowing you as you hear about all kinds of different characters.

In other words, I’m deaf, dumb, blind, a Pharisee, a Lost Sheep, a Lost coin or son.

CONCLUSION

I need to be in communion with Jesus. I need to eat with Jesus. I need to eat with and eat  up Jesus. Amen.

Me too, O Lord.