FAMILY
QUOTE FOR TODAY - December 29, 2013 - Sunday
"How many different things a family can be - a nest of tenderness, a jail for the heart, a nursery of souls. Families name us and define us, gives us strength, give us grief. All our lives we struggle to embrace of escape their influence. They are magnets that both hold us close and drive us away."
George Howe Colt, Life, April, 1991
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Saturday, December 28, 2013
THE POEM
Robert Penn Warren, Saturday Review, March 22, 1958
Friday, December 27, 2013
THE INVISIBLE POET
The title of my homily is, “The Invisible Poet.”
Years ago there was a saying to put on refrigerator doors,
“Inside every fat person, there is a thin person trying to get out.”
Could we say, “Inside every person, there is a poet trying
to get out.”
THE LADY IN
PENNSYLVANIA
I remember visiting a nursing home in Pennsylvania . It was part of a parish
mission we were giving in a parish there.
I’m talking to this one lady, For some reason, I blurted
out, “You’re a poet!”
She smiled and pointed to a chair on the other side of her
room. I headed towards her point [POINT]. Then she signaled to go behind the big
cushioned chair. I spotted a loose leaf
filler and picked it up. She signaled with her smile. “Good!”
She then spoke, “Turn to page 16 or so.”
The binder was filled with poems. As I was looking at page 16, she recited the poem from memory.
I said, “These are your poems?”
She said, “Yes!”
Then she recited a few more of her poems.
She was good.
EVERYONE A POET
Could we say, “Inside every person, there is a poet trying
to get out”?
Does everyone have their loose-leaf binder of poems - or at
least one poem somewhere?
I would think that all of us in our lifetime wrote a poem at
some time.
Then there are those who try their hand at a poem at a
wedding or with a Christmas greeting - or somewhere along the time line of
their life.
TODAY IS THE FEAST
OF ST. JOHN
Today is the feast of St.
John the Evangelist - the writer of the 4th Gospel.
If there is one thing, you can say of the four gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, John captures the poetry of Jesus - the most.
John’s symbol is that of the eagle - high above it all.
Soaring way up above the earth with ox and lion below.
Jesus was a poet of sorts.
John was a poet of sorts.
It takes a poet to spot a poet.
A poet spots the invisible in the visible.
A poet lets us fly - make leaps - see poetry on the other
side of a broken branch or a flower petal caught on a metal fence or in a loose-leaf binder - behind a chair - on the other side of a room.
John was a poet - and a poet sees the invisible.
John has preserved for us many of the great images of Jesus
- images that give us insight into the hand behind the bread - or the mind
behind the creation - the who and the why behind whatever we’re seeing: light,
doors, water, shepherd, wine, wind,
walls, birth, tomb, stone, eyes, word, healing, night, gates, oil …..
See Jesus walking on the water; see Jesus in every body of
water we see. See rocks in the field; see the hands of rock throwers who have walked away. See Jesus in every piece
of bread and cup of wine. Feel Jesus’ spirit shaking in the wind and the
washing of feet. Feel Jesus’ presence
with Mary at every wedding. Stand in any cemetery and make acts of faith in
resurrection and hope for new life.
I love to say there is a invisible difference between a
postcard on a metal rack in the airport gift shop and a postcard in a book - with or
without writing on it - and it’s been sitting there as a book mark for 27 years. So too there is a difference between a wedding ring on someone’s hand and that same
ring years ago in a jewelry store. The one on the ring finger has mystery and
history going around and around the music in its band.
This earth is filled with energies, jumping out of birds, flowers, cemeteries, churches, rings and dates.
For example, on the top ofMain and Duke of
Gloucester Streets here in Annapolis ,
stands the Maryland Inn. I go by it at least a dozen times a week - and each
time I whisper a prayer for my niece Margie and her husband Jerry. That’s where
Jerry proposed to her. And every time I’m at St.
Andrew by the Bay, I remember doing their wedding there.
For example, on the top of
I’m asking you the question: what are you seeing, sensing,
every day?
Today is December 27, 2013. For many it’s just December 27, 2013.
For others today is an anniversary of a loved one who died on this date or it’s a wedding anniversary. In fact, just this morning I did a marriage
renewal of vows for a couple - Jose and Jamie - who were married right here in
this church - exactly 10 years ago today. Today they stood with their two
little boys. Jamie told me - pointing to her tiny son, “In the car, he asked,
‘Why didn’t you invite me to your wedding?’
‘In a way,’ she said, ‘I did.’”
CONCLUSION
The title of my homily is, “The Invisible Poet.”
Inside every person, there is a poet, a Fourth Gospel,
waiting to come out.
Don’t forget the last line in today’s gospel: “... the one who
had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed.”
The invisible…. The poet in us sees all and believes. Amen.
SAD STORY
"This is the saddest story I have ever heard."
Ford Madox Ford [1873-1939] - First line in The Good Soldier [1915].
Comment: I spotted this quote when I was looking for a quote for today. Wouldn't that want one to get into the book to find out what that story was? Then I asked: What's the saddest story I ever heard? I came up with 5 - and how does one then judge which was the saddest?
Thursday, December 26, 2013
THE FRAGRANCE
OF FORGIVENESS
December 26, 2013 - Quote for Today - Thursday
"Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it."
Anonymous
Comment: Forgiveness is the message of December 26th, the feast of St. Stephen the Forgiver. Can't find something: pray to St. Anthony or St. Gertrude. Can't forgive: pray to St. Stephen. [Cf. Acts of the Apostles 7:54-60 and Jesus' words from the cross: Luke 23:34.]
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
BLESSING # 5
May a small piece of straw stick
to your coat as you bring your kids
to the Christmas crib this Christmas.
May the sent of bread and wine
from the Body and Blood of Christ
at the Christ Mass be ever
on your breath and in your words.
And may you be the best Christmas
gift you give to your families and your
friends this Christmas - you being
the Real Presence of Christ - the Way,
the Truth and the Life - to each other.*
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2013
*This is a fifth Irish
Blessing which I just put in my Book of Irish Blessings. It's a book I’ve been working on for years. The word “sent”
is a mistake on purpose. Irish prayers and blessings often have some humor and some word play in them. This one is based on the Old Latin command at the end of Mass:
“Ite Missa est.” “Go you are sent!” Missa - becomes the English word “Mass” -
which means we come to Mass to be sent
into the week with his love and power and grace. Amen.
GRANDFATHER CLAUSE
[For the past 20 Christmases, I have written a Christmas story of some sort
in memory of a priest I was stationed with: Father John Duffy. He was a funny
and unique English professor. - whom had
taught us in the seminary. Every year he used to write a new Christmas story
and send it to his niece up near Boston
GrandPop Ralph died 5 years
ago.
At family gatherings from
time to time - the name of Ralph, Pop, Dad, GrandPop, Uncle Ralphie, Grandfather Puff - that name came
from one grandkid who had trouble pronouncing Ralph - so Ralph was “Puff “- for him - and it became a cute
family nickname always said with a smile. And the jokesters would add, “Ralphie - you always were a puff over!”
“GrandPop,” that was how his grandson
Frank began his thoughts about Ralph while driving along - alone - heading for
a business meeting - some 150 miles away - just a week before Christmas.
He was listening to his car
radio and a correspondent was talking about the “Francis Bounce” - the so
called Pope Francis effect on so many Catholics who had dropped out of Church
years ago - and came to Church at Easter or Christmas or the First Communion of
a grandkid or what have you or when have you.
Frank turned off the radio
when that report was finished and he began thinking about his grandfather, Ralph - whom he always called “GrandPop!” -
all through the years.
“The ‘Francis Bounce’ - the
‘Pope Francis Effect’” - Frank said out loud in his car. “What about my GrandPop
- what about the ‘Ralph Bounce’? What
about the bounce towardsd goodness we’re all supposed to be giving each other?”
“Yeah,” he reiterated to
himself, out loud in his car. “What about the ‘Ralph Bounce’ - how my GrandPop
had such a great impact on so many people? - way before anyone ever heard of
this new fellow on the world stage: Pope Francis?”
He thought about how his
GrandPop - after he retired - loved playing Santa Claus all through the
Christmas season: in nursing homes, schools, and at the hospital. It was one of
his many volunteer jobs - that he loved to do.
“Ho, ho, ho!” He loved giving
out gifts to kids of all sorts - old ones in nursing homes - and new ones in kindergartens. He didn’t have that much of a mid-life belly
- so as Santa Claus he loved to tap his
tummy and say to other adults: “It’s a pillow!” - or to a few of the guys:
“It’s silicone!”
After he retired - after his
hair turned whitish gray - he grew a great, real Santa Claus beard.
As he drove along Frank
thought about the half dozen or so folks who came up to him at his grandfather’s wake -
saying, “Your grandfather got me back to my church and I’m not a Catholic. He
didn’t nag me with words. He pulled me back by good example. He was extremely
generous. Many times, I saw him with his
twenty dollar bills. He’d slip them into the hands or side pockets of guys who
were stuck.”
Frank knew it was his
GrandPop who got him back to Church - after he dropped out a bit during college
and those first years of his marriage. His grandfather never said anything -
but once during a summer family reunion at a big rented beach house, he
overheard his mom talking and crying and complaining to her dad - his
grandfather - as well as God - on an
outside porch - just outside an open window to a room - where he, Frank, was taking a summer nap. They didn’t know
Frank was in there. Or if they did, his Grandfather was quite clever.
His mom was complaining about
her kids losing their faith - after all the effort - we put in - getting them
religious education - and getting them to Church every Sunday - growing up.
Frank noticed that his
GrandPop said little. He just listened and listened and listened some more.
He didn’t join in the pity
party with his daughter - but just said,
“Give them time. Give them time. Sometimes people have to arrive at that first
station of the cross - before they discover there are at least 13 more. Ha. Ha.
Surprise! Surprise! Give them time. Wait till some of their walls come
crumbling down. That’s how God gets inside some people’s castles.”
His mom became quite quiet
after that.
Frank remained even quieter
in the room he was trying to sneak that summer nap in.
In the car - still driving
along - Frank said a prayer to God our
Father and added, “Thanks GrandPop. Thanks Mom and Dad - for giving us the gift
of faith - even though we blew it at times. Thanks.”
As he drove along - those
highway roads - Frank was very silent - and he realized how often he loved
these long quiet trips - these long moments of silence - no noise, no music, no
nothing in the car - nothing but good think time.
Then he laughed and said out loud to himself, “And where did I get that attitude from?”
He answered his own question
with his own answer, “Thanks mom. Thanks dad. Thanks grandmas. And especially,
thanks GrandPop. Thanks!”
His GrandPop, Ralph, could be
the life to the party. He could also be a great ear at a meal together - when
he, Frank, needed advice, about whether to take another job or how to deal with
a boss who was a disaster.
And then there was the time
his GrandPop gave him great advice when he Frank hit a blah boredom uggy lonely
stage in his marriage to Judith. His GrandPop
said, “Frank give your grandma and me a weekend and we’ll take your kids
for you and you take Judith for a honeymoon and tell her what you’re feeling -
and listen, listen to where she’s at - and hear her boredom with you or the
kids or what have you.”
Frank smiled at that -
remembering how that was the ticket to a new beginning - to a whole new phase in his marriage with
Judith.
He remembered giving that
same advice to a buddy - who was in the same boat that he had been in. He told
this fellow he worked with how he talked to his GrandPop and what his GrandPop told
him.
His buddy said at first, “You
talk to your grandfather? And your dad? I’ve never done that since I was a kid. That
stopped when I got into high school.”
Frank heard that - and called
his Grandfather up and took him out to Olive Gardens
And he told his GrandPop that
the guy said, “You talk to your
grandfather?”
His grandfather said, “Haven’t
you ever heard of the Grandfather Clause?”
Frank hesitated when his
grandfather threw him that question. He never liked to not be in the know. So
he deflected his grandfather’s question with a: “Refresh my memory.”
So his grandfather said, “A
grandfather clause simply means - the old rules always continue to apply -
whether we know it or not. I got my ideas from my father and he got his ideas
from his father and back and back and back - fathers, grandfathers,
grandmothers, whoever. The big stuff.
The big life stuff.”
“Oh,” said Frank.
Well, once more, he thanked
his GrandPop.
And he thought while driving,
way before this pope came along, he remembers saying something like this to him:
“GrandPop, you know what, you’re my Pope - more than the pope is my pope.”
And he thought his
grandfather said - stroking his long white beard, “Ho, Ho, Ho. I rather be your
Santa Claus than your pope.”
Well, when Frank arrived at
the meeting that week before Christmas - those 150 miles felt like 15 miles. He
felt refreshed - ready for the meeting and ready for Christmas this year. And he
had a great smile on his face - and he thanked his GrandPop in prayer for being
the cause of so much joy in his life and teaching him all about the grandfather
clause: There are some old rules in life - that never run out of life. Use them
and we’ll all be giving each other a great bounce effect on how to live life to the full.
Amen.
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