ASH WEDNESDAY

Ashes,
Ash Wednesday,
the beginning of Lent.

Ashes,
a sermon without words.
Ashes thumbed
into our skull.

We get the message.

We know about ashes:
burnt letters,
burnt homes,
loved ones who have died
and turned to dust or
were cremated.

September 11, 2001.

We know about Lent.
We know the practices
we need to practice:
more prayer, more penance,
more charity, more awareness,
more listening, learning,
more passion, more compassion,
all leading to more life.

Ash Wednesday,
ashes, grey silty ashes,
rubbed into our skulls,
rubbed onto our skin.

Ashes,
a reminder,
“Remember,
you are dust
and to dust
you will return.”

Ashes,
a call to,
“Turn away from sin
and be faithful to the gospel.”

Ashes
are a painful reminder
that we are not God.

Ashes,
telling us
eventually everything
and everyone falls apart -
except God.

We look in the mirror
and see that we age,
our skin flakes and wrinkles.
Or we look at those
much older or much younger
than us, and we feel the urge
to use the remaining time
of our life
better and better,
wiser and wiser.

Ashes,
also a sign of hope,
reminding us of new life.
Out of what was will come
what will be.
Soon, we shall see,
Spring, Easter, resurrection
and the greening of new life.
Amen.

© Andrew Costello

LENT:
MORE OR LESS

Less noise, more quiet,
Less self, more prayer,
Less food, more fasting,
Less ignorance, more reading,
Less talk, more listening,
Less television, more family,
Less coldness, more warmth,
Less anger, more patience,
Less gossip, more reverence,
Less selfishness, more openness,
Less blindness, more awareness,
Less envy, more complimenting,
Less jealousy, more generosity,
Less sitting, more exercise,
Less fear, more fortitude,
Less hesitation, more courage.
Less me, more them, O Lord,
Less me, more You, O Lord.
Amen. Amen. Amen.

© Father Andy Costello, CSSR

WHEELCHAIR

QUARTERBACK

[This is a story for the Young People's Mass on the 4th Sunday in OT A. It comes out of reflections on today’s Gospel text - the Beatitudes - and especially the Second Reading, Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians – 1:26-31 – where he talks about the surprising kind of people God calls. Like the Beatitudes, we see that God thinks differently than us. It was also triggered by reflections that in this same hall at St. Mary’s our kids put on a variety show last Friday evening. Tonight's Super Bowl also enters into the picture.]

Every year the kids in High School # 73 put on a play for the rest of the school. Every year this play goes well. The teacher in charge of the play picks the prettiest and brightest girl to be the leading lady and the best looking and sharpest boy to be the leading man.

Every year the kids from the school – well not all – as well as the parents of the kids in the play – come to see the play. The parents of the leading lady always give her a bouquet of flowers after the play is over. And everyone claps politely and everyone celebrates with smiles – and a week later life is back to normal – and most people have forgotten the play.

But not this year. This year there was this new high school teacher and she was asked to do the annual high school play at High School # 73. The former teacher, who had always done the school play, had retired last June after teaching there for 36 years – and having directed 36 plays.

Well, the new teacher had never produced or directed a play before. In fact, this new teacher had never been in a play in her life – because when she was in school, she wasn’t the prettiest or the brightest kid in the school or her class. She was always just a quiet kid – who liked to sit off to the side – preferably in the back of classrooms – but she listened and she learned. And by listening and watching, she learned lots of things about life.

Here was her chance. She knew the other teachers knew this was a lot of work – a lot of work after school – when they wanted to get home to their families or do some shopping or what have you. She knew she was being stuck with the job – because new teachers are given volunteer jobs other teachers really didn’t want.

The new teacher, Miss Lisa, wasn’t married – wasn’t dating – so she said, “Yes! I’ll give it a shot.”

First she had to find a play – a play with lots of different parts – because she wanted to give lots of kids a chance to be on stage.

The play she picked from out of about a hundred different plays was called, “Wheelchair Quarterback!”

She picked it because as she read the play, she thought of a neat kid in the junior class who was in a wheelchair. She pictured him perfect for the part.

The play is about this kid in a wheelchair who was a genius as a quarterback – but obviously couldn’t play – being in a wheelchair.

But he ended up being the mastermind for the team’s undefeated season – that is, till they met a team in the state championship high school game. This other team was nicknamed “The Giants” – because they were so big and so good – so fast and so powerful.

The kid in the wheelchair in the play was named Pete – and the quarterback’s name in the play was named Jake.

The play went like this: Pete spends all his extra time – studying films of the teams his high school football team were to play. He would come up with perfect counter plays for Jake the quarterback based on his study. When all the other kids in the school were doing this and that and going here and there after school – Pete stayed in school studying video tape of the next team his team were to play. After studying film and planning plays, he would teach them to Jake. He would watch Jake practice them – and then in the games pull them off – often surprising the other team.

In the play, that’s how the team won every game till the State High School Championship Game.

In real life, Miss Lisa, the new teacher, approached the junior kid in the wheelchair. His name was Ted. She asked him if he would like to be in the annual school play. His hands immediately grasped the two stainless steel arms of his motorized wheel chair and he nervously replied, “Me?”

Miss Lisa said, “Yes! You’d be great. Now before you answer, ‘Yes’ or ‘No’, I want you to read the script of the play and let me know what you think?”

She knew kids who weren’t in a wheelchair could play the part. Just put them in a wheelchair. But why not Ted? Why not give him a chance to star?

That afternoon and after supper Ted read the script. And as he read it, energy, juice, fire, surprise, desire, welled up in him.

Around 7:30 that night, as he finished reading the script for the play, he raised his hands in victory and said to himself, “Yes, I can do this.”

He told his parents and they said, “If you think you can do it, do it!”

Miss Lisa, also had to get actors to play the parts of football players. Each football player she asked, said, “No!” They thought, “Real men play football on muddy, cold fields. Real men don’t play football on stage in warm auditoriums.” So she asked boys who never had a chance to make the football team if they would like to play the part of a football player in a play – on stage – and these kids jumped at the chance.

Surprise. They started lifting weights. They started running on their own and the football team guys couldn’t figure out what was going on with these other guys – as they bulked and muscled up.

It was the same with the cheerleaders. The regular cheerleaders didn’t want to be seen with these guys who never played sports etc. So Miss Lisa asked other girls if they wanted to be cheerleaders in a school play. Two dozen girls jumped at the opportunity.

Surprise this whole new cheer leader team – 24 girls – began working and working and working at cheers that would end up being better than the regular cheer leader cheers. Moreover they all lost weight and got into great shape as they practiced and practiced. And when they finally put on the play, when they cheered their cheers during the play, they received standing ovations at least three times at every performance. And at the end of the play, all 24 cheerleaders got flowers from their parents. Their parents never knew their daughters had so much talent – and always envied the parents of the real cheerleaders at home football and basketball games.

To play the part of quarterback, Miss Lisa picked another junior, this big 6 foot 3 kid – named Wilber - who was all computers and no sports. He also started to work out because several times in the play, he had to throw a football through a tire on a rope hanging from a fake tree on the stage in front of everyone. He practiced, practiced, practiced – and was able to do it every time. He wasn’t even nervous when he had to do it live – in front of his parents – and the rest of the school – during the 4 nights the play, “Wheelchair Quarterback” was being performed.

The play was the biggest hit play in the history of High School # 73.

Miss Lisa got all kinds of congratulations and compliments – especially from parents. She became the envy of the other teachers. She also became the teacher who was the favorite teacher in the school. If you ever asked kids: “Who is your favorite teacher?”, the answer was always: “Miss Lisa, obviously.”

Ooops. I better tell you more about the play.

Well, in the play, High School # 73 lost to the other team, the team nicknamed ”The Giants”, in the high school state championship game of the season. They were almost undefeated.

But that wasn’t the end of the play. This play had a happy ending.

Winning or losing wasn’t the main message of the play. The main story of the play was that Jake, the quarterback in the play, received over 100 offers for college scholarships. But he wouldn’t take any offer – unless that college also offered an athletic scholarship to his buddy Pete in the wheelchair.

This was unheard of. No college wanted to give up an athletic scholarship for a kid in a wheelchair, so Jake said “No” to all 100 offers.

Then a college they had not heard from called and offered scholarships to both Pete and Jake – and they went on to work wonders all through college and into the pros – and they even made it to the Super Bowl. No it wasn’t the Giants and the Patriots. That was a real game years and years ago, way back in 2008, when the Giants won that one. This one was the Giants against the Colts – long after Eli and Peyton retired – long after Eli made the Hall of Fame before his brother made it – and years later both Pete and Jake went into the Hall of Fame together – and Tom Brady and Eli, now older men with pot bellies – both asked Pete and Jake for autographs.

That’s how the play on stage ended.

In real life, Ted, the junior in the wheelchair and Wilber the expert in computers and throwing a football through a tire, ended up being great friends for life – both going to the same college and both starting their own company together - and both having a great memory of a great play they stared in, called, “Wheelchair Quarterback”. Amen.

CHOOSE
YOUR MOUNTAIN

[This is the year of the Gospel of Matthew – Year A – when Matthew will be the gospel we hear at most Sunday Masses in Ordinary Time. Today’s gospel presents the Beatitudes right there at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1 to 7:29.) I like to contrast the Sermon on the Mount with the scene in the Book of Exodus when Moses goes up the Mountain – Mount Sinai – and comes down with the Ten Commandments and many other Laws. (Exodus 19:1 – 24:18). The following imaginary reflection tries to get into that message and that contrast.]

I don’t know if you know this, but when we die we’re going to arrive in this big open place. It’s like an enormous parking lot. The light will be very bright. We’ll be rubbing our eyes because we just came out of the dark of death. We’ll be standing there in shock. Hey, we just died. And we’ll be wondering, “Where am I?”

And as we are standing there waiting and wondering, other people who have just died start to show up in this same place. And all of us will be standing there quietly — wondering, “What’s going on?”

Now this open space – that looks like a big open airport parking lot – will be very quiet. Nobody is saying anything. Hey, we’re all scared. And right in the middle of this gigantic parking lot we see a little booth. Instinctively we know this is a important place — because we spot someone inside the booth. He has a beard and it looks like he’s wearing a robe. And it looks like he’s reading a newspaper.

Now when there are about 60 of us standing there – nervous and slowly getting our bearings, the guy in the beard and toga or robe who has been looking out the booth window on a regular basis – as if waiting for something, suddenly folds up his paper and walks outside the booth.

He then signals all of us to come towards the booth. Just then we see two buses – one red – and one blue – coming towards the booth as well. We’re watching all this and saying, “Interesting.”

Then we gather around the guy from the booth – the guy with the robe and the beard and the newspaper. We can read the name of the newspaper: Heavenly Times.

And he says, “Welcome. Congratulations! You’ve made it. My name is Peter. Let me tell you what’s next.” We breathe a sigh of relief. “Phew! We made it.”

Then he says, “Now you have two choices. One: all those who have kept the Ten Commandments or who have tried to keep the Ten Commandments in their life, can take the Blue Bus right there to the Mount of the Ten Commandments.”

And all at once, without even hearing the second choice, everyone heads for the Blue Bus – which has on its destination message: “Mountain of the Ten Commandments.”

Everyone is so happy we made it. Wow we made it to heaven.

Nobody stopped to ask Saint Peter what the second choice was.

And off we go. We’ve arrived.

The bus driver, Saint Christopher, gets on the loudspeaker and he too says, “Welcome.” We pull out of the big parking lot – and start heading up this 8 lane highway.

Then he says, “Up ahead you can see a big mountain. It’s the Mountain of the Ten Commandments. It’s where you’ll be living.”

We look out the windows and he continues, “Now, here’s how it works. I’ll drive you through all the neighborhoods and you can have any mansion that has a vacancy sign on the front lawn. There are always plenty of places that are available. Just jot down the address and street of a place you’d like and I’ll get you back there.”

Soon we see mansions – perfect mansions on both sides of the street. The lawns are putting green perfect. The flowers, trees, birds, the weather – everything is perfect.

And people began jotting down street and mansion numbers – checking with others – who picked what?

St. Christopher says, “Every house is great. The hot water is just right. The cold water is always nice and cold. Everything will be just the way you want it. And if you want things changed, just ask. Anything you want.”

We all pick our place. We move in and in time everyone discovers the food is perfect. The restaurants are perfect. The mansions are perfect. Everything is perfect. Hey, this is the Mountain of the Ten Commandments. Nobody is breaking any commandments here. You don’t have to lock your door at night. Nobody is stealing. Everybody is perfect. It’s heaven.

Yet, even though everything is perfect, something starts to bother us.

While we are playing pinochle, poker, or bridge or Dominos, while we are in our perfect swimming pools, while we are enjoying heavenly movies at night with coffee and chocolates without worrying about not being able to sleep, enjoying a heavenly breeze, we scratch our head once and a while and say to each other, “I wonder what that other mountain is like, you know the one we heard about just after we arrived up here. What was it called again?”

And nobody knew what it was called.

So finally we get up enough nerve to telephone St. Peter and ask, “Hey the day we arrived here, you gave us two choices. I live on the Mountain of the Ten Commandments. It’s a great mountain. It’s a great neighborhood. Everything is perfect. I have no complaints. It’s everything I ever wanted. I’m happy. Content. But is there any chance I could visit the other mountain? What was it called again?”

“Yes, sure,” St. Peter says in response. “I was wondering when you were going to ask. Everyone always asks eventually.”

“Oh,” we sort of mutter.

St. Peter continues, “Just flag down a Blue Bus from outside your house. They usually go by every 23 minutes. Take that bus down the mountain to the big parking lot you arrived at. And then take the Red Bus up to the Mount of the Beatitudes. No problem.”

“Mount of the Beatitudes? Never heard of it,” we say?

“You’ll see,” Saint Peter replies.

Sure enough we spot a Blue Bus going by and we flag it down. And we see some other folks on the bus and we begin talking with them. They too said they were wondering what this other mountain was. They too called Saint Peter. They too said, “What’s this Mount of the Beatitudes?”

The bus driver was St. John Neumann and we say, “I know a church named after you.”

He says, “Great!”

He drives us down to the big parking lot and the tiny booth. He smiles while listening to all the conversations. While going down we see three buses filled with folks going up to the Mountain of the Ten Commandments.

When we get to the booth, it isn’t Saint Peter in the booth reading the paper – but someone who looks like him.

A man gets out and says to everyone, “My name is Andrew. My brother Peter is usually here, but I’m taking his shift right now.”

And he adds, “I understand from Peter that all of you want to see the Mount of the Beatitudes. Just get on the Red Bus there.’”

And about 35 of us got on the Red Bus – which is marked, “Mount of the Beatitudes.”

The driver was Saint Mathew and he smiled as folks started to speculate what the Beatitudes were.

Someone said, “I know there are 8 of them, but I never memorized them.”

Someone else said, “We had them read out at our wedding and I’ve been at several weddings where that was the gospel, but I’m not sure why we picked them and really what some of them mean.”

Then there was a moment of silence because someone whispered, “They are in the gospel of Matthew and he’s our driver.”

And Mathew added with a great smile in his voice, “And guess what? 15 of you had the Beatitudes read at your funeral?”

Silence. That brought a long loud “Uh oh!” silence.

“Well,” someone finally had the courage to ask Matthew what they were. And he said, “They are 8 Blessings of Jesus that I gathered from my travels – when I trying to line up what Jesus taught. They are 8 attitudes – and if these become your attitudes, you’ll be at peace.”

“Oh,” the questioner said sheepishly.

Then Mathew said, “Okay, just around this curve, you’ll see the Mount of the Beatitudes.”
Once more we all became very quiet.

And Mathew gave us a bus tour of the Mount of Beatitudes.

Every home looked full. There were no “Vacancy” signs on the lawns.

And the homes didn’t look like much – in fact, some looked very tiny. There were no mansions over here.

Yet there were lots of folks walking the streets.

Some of us on the bus were wondering, “Why would anyone want to live over here?”

Yet as people kept looking out the bus window, we said to themselves, “Everyone has such a beautiful smile on their face. They seem to be enjoying heaven too.”

One person whispered very loudly, “How in the hell, OOPS, how in the heaven, could anyone enjoy this place compared to the Mount of the Ten Commandments?”

Well, nobody asked Matthew to stop. Nobody got off.

The Red Bus went back to the big parking lot and everyone headed for the Blue Bus to get back home to the Mountain of the Ten Commandments.

Surprise! From time to time all of us took the Blue Bus down to the parking lot and then the Red Bus to the Mount of the Beatitudes. Each time we went, we’d have new questions.

And slowly we got answers – because we could get off the Red Bus and walk around. Slowly we got to know the folks over there. Some were Christian. Some were Moslems. Some were Jews. Some were “nothing” - just as the folks on our side had been.

Then surprise, everyone discovered that most of the folks living on the Mount of the Beatitudes said they had lived on the Mount of the Ten Commandments when they first got to heaven. Then they moved over here.

That explained the ongoing, “Vacancy” signs on the Mountain of the Ten Commandments. We knew you can’t die in heaven.

People slowly moved to the other mountain – which was not much of a mountain. It was really only a big hill. Certainly it was not an impressive mountain like the Mountain of the Ten Commandments.

And people who moved over to the Mount of the Beatitudes discovered people who lived there, lived the Beatitudes in a deep, deep way.

And they discovered that some people had started living a few of the beatitudes while on earth. These were mainly the people who skipped the Blue Bus and took the Red Bus as soon as they arrived here.

These were folks who, when on earth were poor in spirit – not a degrading or dehumanizing poverty – but a poverty that gave them solidarity with all those who stuck on earth.

These were folks who, when on earth were there for others who had big losses or deep suffering.

These were folks who, when on earth were meek – and not filled with self importance.
These were folks who, when on earth, always hungered for what was right – and were willing to speak up and face the consequences.

These were folks who, when on earth, showed mercy and kindness to everyone.

These were folks who, when on earth, were clean of heart.

These were folks who, when on earth, were the peacemakers.

These were folks who, when on earth, were thought of as nuts and dreamers – and as a result they were insulted and falsely accused.

And on the many Red Bus rides around the Mount of the Beatitudes, people loved it when they got Saint Matthew as the driver. Someone said to him, “Well it takes time to grow in wisdom, age and grace – even in heaven.” And Mathew said, “Good line. But Luke used it first.”

Slowly, everyone grows in wisdom, age and grace.

Slowly, everyone moves to the Mount of the Beatitudes.

Slowly, we realized what purgatory and heaven are.

[P.S. This reflection leaves me a bit quesy and uneasy - because it leaves out so much - like meeting God in the Resurrection - as well as our family - while at the same time it continues my wonderings about life after death. - that I touched upon in recent sermons. I have a sermon somewhere that uses the refrain from St. Paul, "Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, what things God has prepared for those who love Him." (Cf. 1 Corinthians 2:9; Isaiah 64:4.)]

I’M DYING TO FIND OUT

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “I’m Dying to Find Out.”

Do you have any questions about the other side of death that you’re dying to find out about – but not yet? What happens after we die?

SACRAMENT OF THE SICK

Two months ago at a meeting of the priests and deacons here at St. Mary’s, we talked about picking some Sunday in the new year to preach on the sacrament of the sick at all the Masses.

We said: “Pick a gospel where Jesus does some healing – and use that as a launching pad for speaking on some key points about the sacrament of the sick.”

So we chose this Sunday – because besides preaching and teaching, it mentions Jesus going around healing the sick.

Yesterday, I sat down and put together half a sermon on this – only to say to myself, “It’s somewhat clear, but something is missing.” Then the thought hit me about a question I think about from time to time: the “I’m dying to find out” question. I believe it’s connected to the sacrament of the sick question.

Like everyone there are times I think about death. Like everyone who gets older, thoughts about death come more often than when I was younger. Like everyone getting older, my body isn’t what it used to be. No kidding!

So let me go there – and let me tie this into the sacrament of the sick.

EXTREME UNCTION

When I was a kid, the sacrament of the sick was called, “Extreme Unction”. Unction means an anointing.

When you were seriously sick and you saw the priest arrive at your house or hospital bed, you knew you were dying. We saw this in movies and in real life. “Call for the priest.”

When I was a kid, they used to hand out a card for your wallet with the printed words, “I am a Catholic. In case of an accident, please call a priest”. Then there were the jokes: “I am a Catholic in case of an accident.” Or the one, “I am a very important Catholic. In case of an accident, please call a bishop.”

Or the one about the icy, messy night and this guy is in a serious car accident and the police arrive before the ambulance and the guy is stuck in the car and he says, “Can you call a priest?” And the priest comes out on the icy, messy night only to find out the guy is Jewish. So the priest asks him, “Why did you ask for a priest?” And the Jewish guy says, “I wouldn’t bring a Rabbi out on a night like this?”

Back then the sacrament was called, “Extreme Unction” – a description by Peter Lombard who died in 1160. The stress was preparation for death. The stress was an anointing for the journey into eternal life. The stress was forgiveness of sins – to become clean, purified, for the journey to meet God – to experience the Beatific Vision – seeing God as God is. We get cleaned up for important meetings.

I am dying to find out what that will be like – but not yet.

So the main stress from the 12th century till the 20th century was preparation for death. We see this in theologians like St. Albert the Great, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Bonaventure and Duns Scotus. The Council of Trent – 1545 – 1563 – did not say that danger of death was a condition for validity – but in its discussions, it talked about this sacrament “only to be for those who have come to grips with death.”

Preparation for death was the main stress. Then the Second Vatican Council changed the stress from death to life. People are living longer. People have hospital stays and recoveries more frequently. Make it a sacrament to help people who are seriously sick – or people who are going to undergo a serious operation or treatments – to bring God into the picture – to bring prayer and faith – the presence of Jesus into the process of healing as well as getting older.

Many people have been helped with this different stress – that the sacrament is for the living who are seriously sick. Some people only see this sacrament as an immediate preparation for death. I see it as both.

How do you see the sacrament of the sick? It’s for you. It’s one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church?

Most priests in the United States have this green book. They keep it in their car or on a shelf right inside their door. It has prayers for sick calls in it. Priests also keep this little metal cylinder for the sacred oil - for this sacrament of the sick right next to the ritual book. Then right with the oil and the book is a small gold pyx or box for bringing communion to the sick.

In this parish Father Pat Flynn is tremendous. He visits the hospital almost every day and takes most of the Catholic sick calls at Anne Arundel Medical Center. The rest of us are very, very grateful for his dedication to this ministry. The priests in parishes in this area and the Eastern Shore just over the bridge are very grateful that St. Mary’s does so much for Catholics who are in Anne Arundel Medical Center. It makes their life easier – especially with the shortage of priests – and distances to travel.

Father Pat also organizes a wonderful group of lay people who visit Catholics who register as Catholics at the hospital. They visit them and bring them communion and check if they want to receive the sacrament of the sick. They also do this in nursing homes as well as for the homebound. This is a great parish.

At present only a priest can anoint someone with this sacrament – because the church wants to also provide people the possibility of the sacrament of reconciliation or confession – and only priests can hear confession. Various people are pushing for deacons to be able to administer this sacrament of the sick. They anoint people when they baptize. Many deacons do hospital work – but the church has not made that change.

We would like to stress this weekend that if Father Flynn or one of us provides this sacrament during the day – we don’t have to go back the next day or that night if a person gets worse. We don’t want to appear lazy or unconcerned for the pastoral care of people – but the work load of being a priest can be very heavy. That’s why Father Pat Flynn goes during the day in the first place.

We are also aware that part of the sacrament of the sick is the help and assurance it gives to those around the sick bed – the family and friends of the sick person – as we all pray together for the sick person or the dying person.

Now let me say a few words about the mystery of death.

Even though there has been a change in the stress of this sacrament from death being very imminent to a help and comfort for the living – to get through a serious illness or operation – I still see a deep connection between this sacrament with death.

BEING A FATHER OR A MOTHER

Most of you have the great life experience of being a parent – bringing a child or several children into the world.

I miss that. Those of us who have not been parents can only imagine what it’s like to be a parent.

Becoming pregnant – the news – the holding each other – the comments – the congratulations – the wondering what it’s like – the days becoming weeks, becoming months – as the mother to be sees her body change. The beauty of a pregnant woman – one of the world’s great scenes – along with a full moon on a clear night on the ocean – fall colors – the Alps, the Grand Canyon.

Then the birth of a child – coming out of the dark into the light. “It’s a girl!” “It’s a boy!”

Then all the moments that follow. Ah sweet mystery of life.

DEATH MAKES LIFE WHAT LIFE IS

Life is such a powerful reality – because we have a death day besides our birthday – whether we acknowledge it or not.

Life is such a powerful reality – because we don’t know our death day.

Life is a mystery, because life has term limits – because we don’t know the ending of the story – the last chapter of the book – as well as the question, “Is there a sequel?”

I’m dying to find out – but not yet.

Why did God do all this the way God did all this? I’m dying to find out – but not yet.

It’s the same with love. If the other person had to love us – if the other person couldn’t say, “I want to leave” or “I want out” – or “It’s over!” relationships would not have the tremendous power and significance they have.

As priest I have not experienced births – like parents have – but I have experienced deaths.

Powerful stuff. Painful stuff. Mysterious stuff.

In July of 1966, just after I had full faculties as a priest, I was helping out for two weeks in Monticello, New York. The phone rang at 12:30 in the night. I dressed and drove quickly to the local hospital. Two brothers from Paterson, New Jersey, were driving too fast after going to a bar after going to the track, and crashed.

I asked the nurse in the emergency room if the person under the brown sheet of the wheeled stretcher just below me was alive. She didn’t say a word. She just pulled back the sheet and I saw a man’s face. It looked like someone shot him in the face with a shot gun. It was from the horrible car crash.

I anointed him and said some prayers over him because he had just died and then went to his brother Ray who was the driver. – very banged up – drunk – and a mess – and I anointed him before he went into surgery. The next two weeks I visited Ray every day in the hospital – not knowing what I was doing.

That was the beginning of lots of experiences of death – not just family deaths – but painful – as well as deaths that were blessings.

I saw first hand the importance of the church’s presence, Christ’s presence, prayer’s presence, in moments of deep pain – especially death.

I sat with various people in the parish – one to one – and heard them tell me their thoughts about death – which for each of them was only a short time to come.

I said to them, “You’re lucky! You’re going to know before me what’s it like after death. I’m dying to find out. If there is nothing, we’ll never know. I pause after saying that – letting that sink it – but if there is something, then you’ll soon know. You’re lucky. You’re blessed. Then I say, “It’s our Christian faith that Jesus will take us across the dark of death – into whatever is next.

Then I ask them to tell me their faith stuff. To me it’s often just like the pregnancy stuff – all the wonderings before the birth of a child.

Then I say: the baby doesn’t know the great mystery on the other side of the womb – parents waiting for them with great smiles, amazement, joy, kisses, hugs, celebration. I see the moment after the womb of the tomb the birth into eternity and God welcomes us into his smile, his eyes, his love, his embrace.

The dying person sometimes talks about worries of mistakes in one’s life – if they haven’t accepted forgiveness yet.

Then I try to anoint people with the words of the scriptures. All our sacraments are a mixture of symbol, scripture and prayers. When it comes to what happens after death, Christ for the most part doesn’t talk about a scale – where our eternity depends on whether our good outweighs our bad. Like the Good Thief, we can steal heaven at the last moment. We can enter the Garden at the last hour. Yet, why wait till then to live the great life of Jesus’ Kingdom, Dream, Vision?

I would tell dying people scripture words like the ones we heard from Isaiah in both the first reading and today’s gospel. I would say something like: “Picture all the people who die each day – completely in shock like a new born baby – but in reverse – moving from the lights of life and finding themselves in the dark on the other side of death – and suddenly they see a great light – the Great Light – God.”

Thomas Merton has a great poem on this – which he wrote just after Ernest Hemingway died. If I remember correctly, he pictures people climbing this big staircase in the dark – heading for the light.

Or I would tell folks the words of Luke 15 where Jesus tells us the three great stories of the Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, Lost Son – when found, brings great joy to God the Finder. Amen. I’m dying to find out if I’m right about all this – but not yet.

CHRISTIAN CHURCH UNITY

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Christian Church Unity.”

This is a thinking type homily – more than an inspirational type homily.

This whole week we celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Prayers for Christian Church Unity. It’s been called, “The Church Unity Octave” – as well as the “Chair of Unity Octave”.

In the United States it goes from January 18th to the 25th - last Friday till next Friday. In Canada it takes in the two Sundays on each side of January 25th – the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul.

The hope is that the Christian churches will pray and work for unity.

We are divided – especially since the 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th centuries in the Western Church. Then there is the East-West Schism of 1054 – when the Greek Orthodox Church split from Rome. However, there have always been splits and rips in the fabric called Christianity.

And there have been Christians who cry when they see the Body of Christ torn in two – or torn into many separate pieces of cloth.

So this week – pray for Christian Unity. This week ponder the reality of the Body of Christ being split in various ways.

POPE BENEDICT

Every year for this octave there is a special theme for prayer. Pope Benedict’s prayer intention for this year is: “That the church work for full visible unity that better manifests a community of love which reflects the Blessed Trinity.”

We believe that God is Three Persons – the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Three persons – so different, so united, so in love with each other that they created us and keep this great big world and universe we live in going.

And when we, who are so different – male, female, young, old, this and that, here and there, unite and are creative – we are imaging God. We are showing we are made in the image and likeness of God.

The cynic in me – says at times: “The only way this world will ever stop fighting and killing and terrorizing each other – is when we discover an enemy on another planet – and we better unite out of fear and protection – lest they wipe us out.

The Catholic – the Christian in me – prays and hopes for unity.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Some New Testament scripture scholars hold that Jews who became followers of Christ – saw themselves still as Jews – but as a reform movement in Judaism – following the dream, the teachings, the vision of Jesus. This is what Saul – who becomes Paul – was trying to stop.

Christian Jews were not alone. Other Jews were following the reform movement of John the Baptist. These scholars then say that the John the Baptist texts in the gospels – like the one we heard this morning – show the attempt by Early Christians to convince these followers of John the Baptist to join them. They said that John the Baptist pointed out that Jesus was the one coming after him – but ranks ahead of him – because he existed before me. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. I’m here to testify that he is the Son of God.

Bottom line – it took a while for Christianity to become the movement – the church, “ecclesia”, a Greek word that means “the gathering” – of different people and different movements – trying to be one.

Paul will run into all kinds of struggles for unity in the different early Christian communities. Listen carefully to the second reading most Sundays.

Unity is an ongoing struggle. Fights, splits, laziness, sin, reform movements, extremes, calls for unity, are part of the history of the church. Get really involved in any church, any parish – and you’ll run into fights, struggles, sin, power moves, and the deep cry for unity.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

On Saturdays I look in The New York Times for the Saturday article on religion. In recent years many are by Peter Steinfels. Yesterday he wrote about this Annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. It was an excellent article and triggered my thoughts for this homily – more than today’s readings.

What are your thoughts about the Ecumenical movement – this movement for Christian churches as well as people of other religions to sit down at the same table? Has it fizzled? Has it done its job? What’s next?

100 years ago, 1908, Father Paul Wattson and Mother Lurana White, both Episcopalians, a priest and a nun, began a religious community in Garrison, New York – basing it on the Franciscan tradition.

They are the ones who started this wave of prayer – there have been others - this octave or 8 days of prayer for Christian Unity. A short time later they entered the Catholic Church – as a group – becoming known as the Graymoor Franciscans. I gave a retreat to the priests and brothers of this community a few years back. Good people. They are still a small group, but they have a great tradition of being a haven for the homeless and drifters at their place just outside the boundaries of New York City – as well as promoting Christian Unity.

When I was a kid in Brooklyn we were warned not to go into Protestant churches – yet I remember sneaking in every year on some day – it might have been Reformation Sunday – to get free ice cream. Our neighbors on both sides were Lutheran: the Fredholm’s with Swedish roots and the Gunderson’s with Norwegian roots. They would invite us kids to their church for ice cream. It was delicious – vanilla in a white paper cup – with a tiny sprinkle of almonds on it as well as a tiny taste of guilt.

We all have stories of our experiences of going into other Christian churches – if we were Protestant going into a Catholic church and vice versa – or synagogues or mosques or what have you.

Peter Steinfels points out: because of the Second Vatican Council – from 1962 to 1965 all changed. Protestant and Orthodox leaders were invited to sit in at the Council – and were called “Separated Brethren” instead of “heretics” or “schismatics”. Major decrees and declarations came out of the Second Vatican Council on Ecumenism, on Eastern Catholic Churches, on Non-Christians, and on Religious Freedom.

Cardinal Keeler – who just finished up as the Archbishop of this diocese of Baltimore is known as one of the major leaders amongst Catholic bishops in this area of Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, Jews, etc. meeting together.

With elections coming up – especially with a Mormon running in the primary – we hear about John F. Kennedy’s speech on September 12, 1960 at the Greater Houston Ministerial Association. We Catholics don’t have horns. A Catholic president could go to a non-Catholic worship service. A Catholic president wouldn’t have orders from Rome phoned into the White House every day.

Times have certainly changed. Surprise! The president of the United States and his wife and two former presidents attended John Paul II’s funeral in 2005.

Peter Steinfels says the ecumenical movement has cooled – not just because of successes – but for other reasons. He lists three:

1) Diversity – the opposite of unity – is good. If we don’t have differences, we might miss facets of Christianity that could slip through the cracks.

2) The greater need is not dialogue between Christians, but dialogue and understanding and relationships with Islam and other religions.

3) The need for identity – a clear cut identity – what makes us different from other Christian groups – is very important for every Christian group – if they want to continue.

I found this third observation something I need to think about a lot more – because I was taught diversity in my seminary training – and at times I don’t like it when I hear Rome seeming to be too narrow.

Peter Steinfels is his article mentions a study by Presbyterians – that the drift of “Presbyterian baby boomers away from their religious roots highlighted the difficulty parents and leaders of the denomination had in answering a simple question: ‘Why be a Presbyterian?’ One Presbyterian journalist rather unfairly cracked that the question might have been posed as ‘What is a Presbyterian?’

He then makes this comment about the Catholic Church. “This anxiety about identity is most evident in a stream of conservative positions taken by Pope Benedict XVI, his predecessor John Paul II, and their Vatican offices. It has been easier to question the wisdom of these measures than to argue that the anxiety behind them is unwarranted.”

That comment about identity hit me. It ought to be something we need to do a good bit of thinking and talking about. Identity. What is a Catholic? Is this a background question behind some of our Catholic infighting? Is this part of the push by some for Latin? We’ve all heard people say, “You could go into any church on a Sunday morning in the world and feel Catholic.” I would hope every Catholic could go into any Catholic church in the world and “get it” – no matter what language was spoken. Why, because they are Catholic. It is as simple as that.

I have been a Costello all my life – because I grew up in the Costello family all my life – and I go to our family stuff. This is my identity. I could spell it out – but I don’t have to. I just know what it is to be part of my family.

I have been a Redemptorist since taking my vows in 1960. Just as any married person slowly becomes identified with their spouse and their family, so I have identified with this family in the church.

What is a Catholic? Those who go to church on a regular basis know the answer is so many things.

First the obvious: the pope, the bishops, Jesuits, Franciscans, nuns, Nunsense, liberals, conservatives, the rosary, statues, complaints about priests and sermons, two collections, bingo, fund raisers, Catholic schools, Notre Dame, Loyola, Lourdes, Fatima.

Then we can go deeper: the St. Vincent de Paul Society, poor boxes, being pro life – having a deep concern for the unborn, the immigrant, the stranger in our midst, the hurting, people who dropped out of church for various reasons, sometimes a big hurt, and who have come back and found deep spirituality here, confession, communion, deep communion with Jesus after receiving communion, Lent being so much richer in the last 50 years than when it was just giving up smoking or drinking or candy for 40 days, seeing church as a chance for a richer spirituality, growth in scripture, deeper prayer, lay ministry, helping make a parish a great parish, etc. etc. etc.

CONCLUSION

And I would hope and assume that Protestant churches and other religious groups – also have deep roots and ways to reach our God.

I also assume that each group thinks they are the true group – otherwise I would assume a person would find the group that gives them the way, the truth and the life.

I would assume that we Christians remember the Early Church words of Tertullian who said why so many people became Christians. People identified Christians as people who loved one another. They would say, “See how they love one another.”

So this week, let’s pray for Christian unity – Christian love and understanding of all our sisters and brothers.

And let’s remember the words of Cardinal Mercier often used in meetings for Christian Church Unity:

"In order to unite with one another, we must love one another;

in order to love one another, we must know one another;

in order to know one another, we must go and meet one another."

*

WATER COLORS

Driving over bridges
or along the rivers,
I always see water colors,
impressionistic paintings
on water canvases,
scenes of shore lines,
smoke stacks, or
seasoned leaves
on many trees,
murky paintings
of people fishing
off bridges,
like art students,
studying the waters,
but then comes the night,
while driving home alone
along rivers, going over bridges
in the dark,
seeing so many great masterpieces,
lights and stars
painted on the canvas
of corrugated waters.

*[To see full picture,

put your cursor

on the picture,

and tap it once gently.

Then move the bar

on the bottom to see

the complete picture.

Isn't Annapolis beautful? ]

© Andy Costello, 2008