BACH

OPENING UP

ALL THE STOPS!

April  14,  2012

Quote for Today

"Bach opens a vista 
to the universe.
After experiencing him,
people feel 
there is meaning
to life after all."

Helmut Walcha

               PRAYING

He was praying all the way home….

He was scared at what his wife had
just said on the phone about their son….

"Our life is about to change," she said.
Their son's marriage had just fallen apart ….

"Oh, my GOD, there are children involved.

Oh my GOD, what did we do wrong?
Now what? Now what? Now what?"

"Oh my GOD," he realized, “I’m always

praying to YOU without knowing it.

I’m always praying to YOU? I'm scared.

Does everybody do this to YOU too?
Does everybody come running to YOU
when hurting - like a child whose
parents have just broken apart? GOD!
Now what? Now what? Now what?”

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2012

WONDERING

She was wondering ….

At the playground she was wondering,

“Who is that mother over there - the one

with the cell phone?” She wondered

whom was she talking to - for these

ten, twenty, thirty minutes - at least.

Laughing. Lots of laughing.

The whole time she was pushing

her little girl on the park swing -

steady, steady - swinging

her little girl up high into the air -

towards the sky. Yet it seemed she

really was not  here in this tiny park

at the bottom of our street. It seemed

she was not seeing her daughter’s face -

who was tasting, feeling, eating the air -

as she went through space. Talk

about multi-tasking. All the while

her mom was still on the phone.

Then her mom took her to the slide

helped her to the top of the ladder -

picked her up at the bottom a

half dozen times - and let her slide

down again and again and again.

It seemed she was missing seeing

her daughter’s face on every ride

that she took her too. Surprise.

Then she realized that she too

was somewhere else. She was

watching the lady with the phone

and she missed ten, twenty, thirty,

looks and waves from her son on

swings and then the slide and then

in a duel with sticks with two other

little boys - over at the edge of the

tiny park. Then she wondered:

“Are we always somewhere else?

Are we all always wondering

about someone else’s somewhere

or someone else and miss those

swinging or sliding right in front of us?”

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2012

LYING

She was watching TV ….

She was watching these 5 candidates - 

all running for the same political office.

She began to notice the times they put

their hand to their face. Was it because 

they knew -  that what they were saying -

wasn’t them. It was something they were

told to say - to do better in the polls.

They would rub an ear or take their index finger

and scratch the skin below an eye,

or pat down the back of their head -

or with 2 fingers and their thumb

itch their chin a bit. She said to her husband,

“Did you ever notice how politicians

are always touching their face in a debate

or during a question and answer session?”

Without looking out from behind his paper,

he said, "Lots of times."  And he rubbed

the edge of his nose. Then she added,

“I think that guy who made Pinocchio had it right.

They usually touch their nose.

Who said we need lie detectors?”

And sure enough 1 of the 5 dropped out

of the race 3 days later. Someone checked up

on something he said and found out it was false.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2012

       CLIMBING

He was a priest.

He wanted to be one

ever since his second year in college ….

He was ordained at the age of 29 and immediately

was sent to study Church or Canon Law ….

He worked in the Bishop’s office for 22 years ….

He wore the French cuffs….

He always said the right stuff….
His shoes were always shiny black.

He never stepped on toes.
He was made a bishop in his early 50’s ….

He was moved to a bigger diocese at 55 ….

His desk was always neat ….

He never sat in the wrong seat ….

He was moved to Rome at 60 ….

He saw important people every day ….

He was made a Cardinal at 63 ….

He started to cry at 66 ….

He didn’t know what it was or why ….

He thought his empty room was too, too empty….

He thought the Roman ceilings were too, too high….

He picked up a book at an airport once -

Selected Poems by Langston Hughes

and read the following poem,

MOTHER TO SON

Well, son, I’ll tell you:

Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

It’s had tacks on it,

And splinters,

And boards torn up,

And places with no carpet on the floor --

Bare.

But all the time

I’se been a-climbin’ on,

And reachin’ landin’s,

And turnin’ corners,

And sometimes goin’ in the dark

When there ain’t been no light.
So boy, don’t you turn back.

Don’t you set down in the steps

‘Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.

Don’t you fall now --

For I’se still goin’, honey,

I’se still climbin’

And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

He put down the book

and cried all the way back to Rome -

wishing he had a home somewhere ….

He was named Pope the following year ….

He became a father and a mother

for the first time in his life ….

And he slowly knew why he was crying

and why he was climbing - - finally

after all those years  ….

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2012

BAKING

He loved baking bread -

kneading, rolling, squeezing,

pushing his body into the dough -

and then to hear at supper,

at table, “More bread!

This is delicious! Thank you!”

And he would make extra loaves

of bread for neighbors for free -

and he would hear thanks from them

when they spotted him 
on the street during the week.

All this was brought out

in the eulogy at his funeral.

And his wife and kids saved

that last loaf - well half a loaf -

which is better than none -

as they say - from his last supper

with them - and then came the

heart attack that last night -

that last supper with him.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2012

EATING

She liked to eat - but she ate 

too much. She knew that.

She could feel the weight

on her butt - but that

didn’t stop her. She felt the

pressure on her knees. That

didn’t stop her either.

She began spotting articles

about weight loss and eating

smart - but that brought guilt

and comparisons which

made her eat even more.

If she heard it once, she

heard it twenty times: “It’s

not what you eat; it’s

what’s eating you.” And

every time she laughed

at that one - saying,

“It’s what you eat!” 

Then she met someone

and she took off 38 pounds.

Then she had a t-shirt made

with the words, “It’s not what

you eat, but whom you meet!”

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2012