ASH   THURSDAY

Thursday after Ash Wednesday ….

All those ashes thumbed

into thousands and thousands, more -

onto millions and millions of foreheads ….

Ashes slowly, slipping, silently off our skulls ….

A scratch, a rubbing, an itch can do it -

way before a baptismal shower.

One’s face is now the same as before.

Next…. Now…. What?  Lent has begun.

Another Lent. Isaiah has spoken once more:

“Rend your hearts, not your garments.”

Jesus has spoken again, “Take care

not to perform so others can see….

When you fast, don’t look gloomy

like the hypocrites - who neglect

their appearance so that they may appear

to others to be fasting…. But when you fast

anoint your head and wash your face, so that

you may not appear to be fasting,

except to your Father who is hidden.”

The hidden within…. The inner room ….

The human heart - where Lent

gets us in touch with that inner urge

for more - for more of God’s presence -

or for more spirituality for those who hesitate

at the mention of God. For growth - for

a deeper life than the inner urge 
to star or for Starbucks or the Oscars

or ESPN or fashion, food, fun, the rush and cash….

It’s good to know Lent is a call to go out into

the desert or to go into 
a dark room and womb within.

To know this means a willingness

to kneel, to pray, to be silent,

to be alone with oneself ….

It is good to know Lent is a call

to go through that humbling experience -

of admitting that not only 
is there nothing out there,

but there is also nothing in here inside me.

Uh oh! I’m empty.

Lent is like waiting in a waiting room -

all alone and I'm all by myself  
only to discover nobody is here 
but me and this me is not enough. 

I’m closed down. There isn't even office music.

So I finally get up the courage to open up

the only  door in me. It's open. So I walk into 

the inner room of my soul. Uh oh. 

This room has not been visited for years. 

I feel an uneasy feeling.

To pray: “Oh my God my soul

is such a dusty place." To laugh:
"Oh that’s where the ashes have gone!”

Next …. Now …. What? 

We realize slowly: everything I've accumulated

here through the years is all  crumble, crumble.

We get up to dust, to dump, to clean, to toss, 

to empty out what we thought would fill us..

Then come the desert feelings - temptations….

No wonder this takes 40 days, 40 years.  

Then sometimes - if we stick with the fire

and the desire for God …. a few weeks

or years of waiting and wondering,

I might hear the knock on my door -

the door to my inner room. Christ is here.

I can hear him resting that damn cross up

against my outside wall. He asks, he seeks,

he knocks, “Come out! Come out!
Wherever you are? Come follow me!

I’ll take you to places you’ve never

been to before and more.”

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2012

Painting on top: Ash Wednesday (1881) It's by Carl Spitzweg - It's a scene of after the carnival.

RACISM

February  23,  2012

Quote for Today - Twenty Third Day in Black History Month

"When we're unemployed, we're called lazy; when the whites are unemployed it's called a depression, which is the psycho-linguistics of racism."

Jesse Jackson [1941-  ], Interview with David Frost, The Americans, 1970

IT’S ABOUT TIME

It’s about time. Here we are at another Ash Wednesday - another Lent. We, along with well over a billion Christians, around the world today - are beginning the Season of Lent. And we enter the season by entering a church like this to formally enter into this season.

It’s about time. Lent is about time - 40 days. If we look at world religions we find the practice of taking special time periods and days for fasting and emptying, lessening and letting go - as part of one’s traditions. Muslims, Jews, Christians, Hindus all have special times and days of fasting.

It’s about time. So the first thing on the agenda for today is to be marked. 

In Islam - which follows a lunar or moon calendar - their period of fasting is 29 or 30 days. As you know the crescent moon is the symbol of Islam appearing on many flags.  People look for the first  sign of the crescent moon marked on the forehead of the sky to begin the season of Ramadan. 

For Catholics it’s today - with Ashes put on our forehead. It used to be just Catholics whom could be identifed as Catholics today. Now various Protestant congregations are using ashes as well. May that be one more step towards unity of Christians.  

Listen carefully today to the words said as you receive ashes, “Remember you are dust and into dust you shall return!” or “Repent and believe in the Gospel.”

It’s about time. So during this season we ought to consider time. We only have so much of it. We have a shelf life. It’s not tattooed on the side of the package - for example, on our ribs. 

At every funeral we attend we notice the casket containing the body of someone who has died - or the person has been cremated and put in a nice box or case with cremains - with ashes. It’s a powerful reminder every time that,  “It’s about time.” We only have so much of it. How old am I? How much time do I have left? What’s my bottom line? What’s my final date and final 4 numbers? Will any of us here make it to 2100?

It’s about time. During this season we take the time to ask other big questions: Am I having the time of my life? Am I living life to the full - as Jesus put it.  Am I a good steward of time? Am I living a balanced life? Am I wasting time? What are my values? Do I see the value of each person? Am I wasting their time?

It’s about time. During this season we take the time to fast - meaning an emptying - a not having. 

Muslims are asked to fast during Ramadan from eating, drinking, smoking, etc. during the day - sunrise to sunset. 

Catholics used to say out loud what they are giving up for Lent. I remember hearing of folks who gave up smoking or drinking for Lent and family members wished they didn’t - because they became strident or nasty for the next 40 days. Yet some improved - and were nicer.  In our time we’re hearing ideas like fasting from TV or computer or talking, talking, talking - face to face or cell phone to cell phone or I-phone etc. When the electricity goes out, we experience how dependent we are for juice. When we fast we realize what our dependencies and addictions are.  

Then what do we do with the time we gain? What do we do with and in the emptiness? 

This parish gives out Lenten Booklets. People have said, “Thanks” because they present something different to do for Lent - to do some spiritual reading each day - with gained time from blank screens. 

Every once and a while I suggest having a prayer chair in our house - one specific chair. People have told me at various times: “Great idea Father. I’ve been doing that ever since you suggested it.” Have next to it a Bible or a deepening book or a booklet.  Have next to it a Rosary. And I love to suggest that a rosary can be used for 10 Hair Mary’s or 53 Hail Mary’s - or for simple prayer beads. Just sit there in your prayer chair and say on the 59 beads, “Lord, have mercy.” or “Thank You God” or “Help” or at night pick out 10 blessings of the day - 10 beads - 5 minutes - then a “Thank You God” or ten times saying, “Thank You God?”

It’s about time. Lent - it’s all about time. 40 days from now we’ll be at Easter - Spring - New Life. Lent - it’s a good time to enter into what is called, “The Secret Garden of our Soul” and do what Jesus did in gardens: enter into deep communion with Our Father - Our God.

EMPTYING 

ONESELF 

February  22, 2012

Quote for Today - Twenty Second Day of Black History Month and Ash Wednesday

"Sometimes you've got to let everything go - purge yourself ... If you are unhappy with anything ... whatever is bringing  you down, get rid of it. Because you'll find that when you're free, your true creativity, your true self comes out."

Tina Turner [1939-  ] I, Tina (1986)

COVET

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Covet!”    C  O  V  E   T   [Spell it out]

I don’t know if I ever preached specifically on the word, “covet” - nor do I ever remember using that word. It came up as I reflected upon today’s first reading - which I’ve doing at these weekday Masses. I’ll miss the Letter of James - because tomorrow with Ash Wednesday, we’re into Lent - with all its special readings. Well, at least we made it to Chapter 4 - and James is only 5 chapters.

The word “covet” appears there in 4:2 - as the cause of wars - big and small - as the cause of many of our inner problems and struggles

COMMEDIAN

I remember hearing a comedian doing a skit on going to confession. “Bless me Father for I have sinned. Covet - lots of covet. Put me down for a lot of coveting Father - a lot.”

MEANING OF THE WORD

Today we’re more apt to use the word “envy” or “desire” or “greedy” and people mix up “jealousy” with “envy” at times.

Covet is too much - over the top - inordinate - wanting or desiring and it can does us in. And that’s exactly what James is telling us in today’s first reading. It can do us in - inside our minds and hearts.

IS THE FOLLOWING TRUE?

When I was doing my research on  this last night I came upon an interesting quote from the Confucian Analects, 17:8. Confucius says: “There are three things which the superior man guards against. In youth … lust. When he is strong … quarrelsomeness.  When he is old … covetousness.” 

I have to think about that last part: “When he is old … covetousness.”

I remember hearing about one of our old priests hoarding toilet paper. They found rolls and rolls and rolls or toilet paper under his bed, in a box in his closet. He had a trunk in his room - with lots of toilet paper. Maybe he got caught short once. I don’t know.

I have too many books in my room and some old newspapers - because each had something in it - that I wanted to hold onto - knowing my memory is going slowly. Hold on to. Hold on to….

INNER CLOSETS - INNER TRUNKS - INNER ROOMS

James goes even deeper - so that we will go even deeper. James says to go within. Listen to our inner conversations - inner thoughts - inner conflicts. Is the bottom line: we want life to go our way? My will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give me my daily bread!

We covet - we desire - that our life didn’t go the way we wanted it to go - especially regarding deaths or how kids turned out, etc. etc. etc. We wish we would have done more with our life than we did.

If only, if only….  If only out kids turned out like so and so’s kids.

I’m just dabbling into this - and that’s another thing - I envy those who understand and can explain these things better than I can.

Feelings of regrets … inadequacy … disappointments …. laziness - spilled milk - I think this is what James is getting at today.

We are at war with ourselves - or we’re not at peace - with ourselves - because we covet, we fix our desire on, we don’t possess, the way we think we ought to pray, the way we ought to be and on and on.

CONCLUSION

James says we don’t know how to pray. 

So maybe for starters, in order to pray - why not  just to be silent in the presence of God, lest our prayers turn into coveting. 

So maybe for starters - James doesn’t say this - but to laugh at ourselves - but he does end today’s first reading with “humility”.

PULLED  IN  TWO  DIRECTIONS

February  21,  2012

Quote for Today - Twenty-First Day in Black History Month

"It is a peculiar sensation,  this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others ....  One ever feels his twoness - an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warrings ideas in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder." 

William Edward Burghardt DuBois [1868-1963], The Souls of Black Folks (1903)

CULTIVATING

PEACE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 7th Monday in Ordinary Time is, “Cultivating Peace.”

The last sentence in today’s first reading, just the last sentence, James 3:18, has lots of meat on the bone to chew on and to be challenged by: “And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who cultivate peace.”

TWO WORDS: CULTIVATING PEACE

“Cultivating peace” is the way the New American Bible - the translation we use for our liturgy - translates the last two words of today’s first reading. In Greek the two Greek words are, “POIUSIN EIRENEN”,

I was wondering why the translator translates “POUISIN” with the English word “cultivate”. I love Greek and I haven’t see the verb “POIEO” translated into English as “CULTIVATE”. I was taught it means “to make” or “to do” - “to construct” or “to produce”. So I was going to entitle my homily, “Making Peace” or “Producing Peace” or “Being A Peacemaker.”

LOOKING FURTHER

Then I noticed the first verb in that last sentence. It’s "SPEIRETAI". It’s from the Greek verb, “SPEIRO” “to sow seed”.

Reflecting on that, it seems to me that the author of James is making a neat parallel: sow the seeds of peace and you’ll produce peace.

I also wondered if the translator or translators were trying to get into the mind of James when they use that image of cultivating - because in that same sentence is the word “fruit” - “KARPOS” in Greek.

Once more the full sentence in our English text is, “And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who cultivate peace.”

Next I noticed in the New American Bible - the Catholic Book Publishing Edition - there is a little footnote marker after the last word, “peace”. In the footnote I noticed “Matthew 5:9”. It’s the Beatitude, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

I was also wondering if this is where Pope Paul VI came up with his saying, his formula, “If you want peace, work for justice.” That was on thousands and thousands of banners in the early 1970’s.

I also noticed the word “righteousness” - “DIKAIOSUNE” in Greek - in this last sentence. It can be translated by the word “justice” or “making things right”.

So it hit me that today’s first reading might be part of the background of Pope Paul VI message. James talks about producing fruit by starting with the planting. Then to come up with fruit, one has to cultivate it.

The title of my homily is, “Cultivating Peace.”

A MESSAGE FOR TODAY

So a message for today: work on cultivating peace.

So a message for today: If we try to be peacemakers, we have to work at being just - to be filled with that grace and attitude.

TWO TYPES OF PEOPLE

I collect people descriptions. So here’s another one that I made up for today. “There are two kinds of people: peacemakers and trouble makers.”

I’ve seen and heard down through the years some people being described as grenade throwers. One of the gestures that I’ve seen some people described as goes like this. [GESTURE WITH YOUR HAND THAT YOU HAVE A GRENADE IN IT. THEN PULL THE PIN. THEN THROW OR LOB IT.]


I’m not making up  this description of their being two types of people out of thin air. I deconstructed today’s first reading from James and noticed that he describes two kinds of behavior.

First type: sometimes we can be ambitious, jealous, a boaster, disordered, earthly, unspiritual, demonic and unjust.

Second type: or we can also be pure, gentle, compliant, full of mercy, have good fruit within, being wise, constant, and sincere.

Each of us has to look in the today's text as in a mirror and ask this question: “Am I a peacemaker or am I a troublemaker.”

Once more it’s the basic Native American Story of the two dogs.

That was one of the teachings of the Wisdom Figures of the various native tribes here in this land.  Inside every person there are two dogs - the happy dog and the unhappy dog. From time to time they would fight. If you listen you can hear the fight going on in your stomach. Then a kid asks, “Which one wins?” And the Wisdom Teacher or a teacher says, “The one we feed.”

So if we want to be a growler and a grouch and a pain you know where, feed that angry dog - give that angry dog your attention.

If we want to be a nice lovable dog, feed that dog.

The title of my homily is, “Cultivating Peace.”

CARTOON IN AMERICA MAGAZINE

There was a “Without Guile” cartoon in America Magazine last October 31st. It shows two people in heaven - on clouds. A wife is standing behind her husband. Both are wearing halos. The husband is sitting there hands behind his neck talking to his wife. He’s looking at a TV. The caption on the bottom of the cartoon is, “It’s really nice up here, but I miss all the negative political ads.”

CONCLUSION

How to cultivate peace? Say the Peace Prayer of St. Francis every morning and then put it into practice its various good attributes.
How to cultivate trouble? Feed yourself with tons of negative stuff every day and then go out and spread those seeds of discord.

Your move.

Conclusion: Here is a litmus test. Just listen for a week to the groups you hang with. If your groups are filled with good stuff, then great. If your groups are filled with negative stuff, then realize likes attract.Run!