IF ASKED, WOULD I TEND TO SAY,

“I AM A CATHOLIC” OR WOULD I SAY, “I AM A CHRISTIAN?”

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “If Asked, Would I Tend To Say, ‘I Am a Catholic’ or Would I Say, ‘I Am A Christian’”?

A QUESTION BEFORE MY MAIN QUESTION

Before answering that question, here’s a primary question: If asked to describe oneself in 10 statements, would I put on my list. “I am a Catholic,” or “I am a Christian?”  Or would I list other characteristics?

On various high school, college or post college retreats, people are often asked to describe themselves in ten “I Am” statements. I have even seen 20 or 25 I Am questions to describe oneself.

For  example someone might answer:

·       “I am a husband,”

·       “I am a wife.”

·       “I am a father.”

·       “I am a mother.”

·       “I’m an Annapolitan.”

·       “I am a waitress.”

·       “I am an owner of a restaurant.”

·       “I am an engineer.”

·       “I’m a baseball fan.”

·       “I’m lonely.”

·       “I’m shy.”

·       “I am introvert.”

·       “I’m organized.”

·       “I tend to be last minute.”

·       “I’m a procrastinator.”

·       “I’m a reader.”

·       “I’m a person of faith.”

·       “I am frugal when it comes to money.”

·       “I’m considerate?”

And on and on and on.

So my question again, “, “If Asked, Would I Tend To Say, ‘I Am a Catholic’ or Would I Say, ‘I Am A Christian’”?

IT ALL DEPENDS

I would suspect most people would first say, “It all depends.”

It all depends if I would put “I am a Christian” or “I am a Catholic” or all three  on my top 25, “I am” list.

Then it also depends of what one understands by the word “Christian” and the word, “Catholic.”

They both have similar and various meanings.

Some would use the word an adjective - meaning a Christian is someone who is kind and merciful - generous and loving - aware and caring towards  others. One goes he extra mile. One who turns the other cheek. One who is a Good Samaritan. One who visits the sick. Clothes the naked. Visits those in prison.

Then there are people like  C.S. Lewis who would say it’s a noun. If you’re baptized, you’re a Christian. Then add adjectives.  I am a lazy Christian. I am committed Christian. I am a  Christian sometimes.

By Catholic some would think a person who is all of the above as a Christian, but they  see themselves in a parish and they follow the teachings of that church.

Some would say. “I am a Catholic Christian” - different than a Lutheran.

Some would say I fit the description in today’s first reading. “It was in Antioch they were first called Christians.”

CONCLUSION

If I have it right, people don’t have those little cards for one’s wallet anymore. Remember them. They said, “I am a Catholic, in case of an accident please call a priest.”  Or “I am a very important Catholic, please call a bishop or the pope."

April 28, 2015

BOX OF EXPECTATIONS

Everyone is a box of expectations,

          a box of hopes,

   waiting for e-mail,

          for letters,

          for phone calls,

          for the door bell,

          waiting for love.

Everyone hopes for the raise,

          the promotion ,

          to be shop steward,

          to be next in line

          to be union delegate,

          to get a degree,

          to get a job,

          to get the title,

          to be the doctor,

          to be the nurse,

          to be the boss.

Everyone stands in the batter’s box

          or on the foul line,

          at the corner,

          hoping to score.

Everyone goes to the movies

          hoping to be moved,

          goes to bingo

          hoping to win, 

          the race,

          the lottery ,

          the big car,

Everyone is a shopper,

          searching,

          looking,

          reading,

          for vision,

          reaching

          for her star,

          for his dream.

And suddenly everyone finds herself

          waiting for the baby,

          the child,

          the family ,

          the reason for living,

          the reason for working

Everyone is expecting,

          pregnant with hopes,

          pregnant with God. 

GATEKEEPERS

INTROUCTION

The title of my homily for this 4^th Monday in Easter Time is, “Gatekeepers.”

Here are some thoughts triggered from today’s readings, especially the gospel.

Yesterday and today and tomorrow we’re listening to the 10^th chapter of the gospel of John. Yesterday we heard Jesus talking about himself being the Good Shepherd. Tomorrow Jesus will talk about his connection - his communion with those who know his voice. Today Jesus describes himself as the Gatekeeper to the Sheepfold.

Gatekeeper to the sheepfold is a metaphor - or figure of speech - as John uses.  We can all picture a sheepfold or pen - or a corral for horses or a kennel for dogs.

I can still picture very clearly a scene from my 12 days  in Palestine in January 2000. We’re in a bus going up the road from Jericho to Jerusalem. I’m looking out the left window - seeing more that way. The roads and driving are the same as in the United States. A good bit of the trip there was a tiny shoulder on the right - and a big wall of earth and rock on the right. About midway I see a sheep pen. It was made of crooked  trees and branches serving as the bars of the pen.  At a makeshift  gate I spot a gatekeeper. In the sheep pen I could see lots of sheep and goats - some black and some white.

I said to myself, “Ah, I’m seeing three or four parables of Jesus here - still relevant - going on almost 2000 years now.

PRACTICAL SERMON APPLICATIONS

Let me voice a few practical applications  from this metaphor of the gatekeeper.

Sometimes I’m a gatekeeper. There are people I don’t allow into my life.

We hear that in today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles 11:1-18. Peter and some of the disciples thought some people should not enter into the temple. There are people you should not be eating with. They were pagans. They were profane.

Then Peter has a dream. He sees a large sheet come down from heaven. On that sheet he sees all kinds of animals - clean and unclean  - and basically we hear from this dream and from Peter that nothing God makes is unclean.

Sometimes I inwardly voice a complaint  - a harsh judgment about someone who is in this sheep pen called church.  What is she doing in this church? Do you see him? He’s wearing summer beach shorts in church? Horrible! Or the cleavage? Or he or she are living with so and so? He, he’s going to communion. How dare he do that?  He’s a Democrat and therefore he’s for abortion. When I was working in a retreat house in Tobyhanna Pa. a group of men retreatants went to the priest in charge and said, “How could you allow so and so to make a retreat here? He’s Mafia.  And George said, “Wouldn’t you want him in church? Another group of guys complained about a guy who was making a retreat every year and these guys said this guy came on retreat to be seen and to get votes. And this guy, Frank, told me privately that he came this weekend because on this particular  weekend nobody from his county would be there this weekend. “I just want to make a retreat.”

Another comment would be: I’m grateful Jesus allows me to be in communion with him - and that the chose me - I’m a lost sheep.

Isn’t the Catholic Church fabulous. We are Catholic - which means - everyone - KATA - Greek word for with and Holos - meaning the whole world.  Yes - look around who’s at Mass - the whole world. So I gotta learn how to rub shoulders with those around me and not be scared to talk, bah, baa, bal with everyone in the pen.

Enough.

April 27, 2015

SINK

All of us need sinks

          with faucets

          and soap,

          and water,

          and space,

          to wash away

          the hurts,

          the mistakes

          of everyday

All of us stand there

          in the morning,

          in the evening,

          during the day,

          behind closed doors,

          and every once

          in awhile

          we really look

          into that mirror

          above the sink

          and really look

          at the me

          I am.

All of us need that time

          at our sinks,

          to turn over

          a bar of soap

          in our hands,

          time to turn

          over a remark,

          or a wondering,

          or a relationship,

          in this place backstage,

          to think.

And then we can step back

          from the sink,

          dry off our hands

          and our face,

          and then adjust

          our masks,

          as we open the door

          and head back

          towards the stage. 

SOMETIMES  SHEEP, 

SOMETIMES  SHEPHERD. 

The title of my homily - better reflection - for this 4^th Sunday after Easter B, is, “Sometimes Sheep, Sometimes Shepherd.”

Sometimes I feel like a sheep - just one of the flock - just one of the crowd  - a nobody in the midst of a nameless flock.

Ever feel that way?

Sometimes I get lost on purpose - or do something dumb - so as to get some recognition in life - to get a good hug - to be held and told I worth while - or even to get yelled at. Doing that - at least I’m noticed and get some attention - even if this way is negative.

Sometimes I feel like a shepherd. All the responsibilities are up to me. 

Just when all is settled down after a long day on the road - or in the field -  in the sun and dust and the dirt - just when I’m ready to go to sleep for the night - I discover - when I do the pen count - one sheep is missing. I mutter a sad  “Uh oh” or a mad “Oh no!” 

The pen count is 99 - not 100.

One sheep is lost. One sheep is missing.

I think this is what it must be like for parents when their kids are out and they don’t know where they are. Lots of “uh oh’s” - lots of  possible “Oh no’s!” -  lots of “I wonder if.”

This is what it must be like when a wife or a husband is wondering where the other is in the night.

Then as shepherd I start shouting out in the dark - yelling into the dark,  “Where are you? Where are you?”

Then when I find my lost sheep, I  see the blood and cuts from hillside brambles  - along with dry blood - on my lost sheep' light brown wool.

Then when I get back home to the pen, I can hear the whining tones of “Baa, baa, baa" - from the 99 who didn't mess up.”

The Good Shepherd has seen this same thing happen in his own family when a brother or a sister is lost - and everyone is upset till the lost sheep is found  He thinks every family - every flock - must go through these moments of tension. “Oh no, not again.”

We have a niece who dropped out of the family - and we all have felt the pain that comes to a lost family.

If they ever return, the Good Shepherd can see how sheepish a lost sheep can be.

Then there is the hired hand syndrome. People who rent or borrow - can be guilty of this one. A shepherd has a problem. Sometimes something comes up. There is a death, a funeral, or a wedding comes up. This means he has to come up with a hired hand.

The sheep don’t recognize his voice. He’s just not the same as their shepherd.  Things are not as personal.

Ever notice how nervous sheep are with strangers?

Okay, you've never been hired to be a shepherd. Well, you might be familiar with the following situation. You're walking along and you see a little kid standing there or in their carriage. You're a stranger. You stop to say, "Hi." You wave to this little kid. The kid immediately turns to their parents eye or runs to their parents reach for their parents arm or leg for support. They immediately try to connect with their parent. They immediately nudge their way to someone they know much more than a stranger.

Ever notice this?  Did this ever happen to you?

Ever notice how some babysitters are very personal. The kid or kids they are waiting for after school to babysit can’t wait to see their face. This babysitter is so nice that they love it when their parents are going to a wedding - for a weekend. This babysitter plays with them. This babysitter loves her job. She's doing it for money - but she also loves kids.

So kids - like sheep - know whether the hired babysitter or shepherd of substitute parent really cares about them. Little kids and babies know whether granny or grandpa is happy to be with them - or whether they are being used by their parents and resentment is rampant. They feel stuck with the kids AGAIN.

Unconsciously they know motives about teachers, coaches, doctors, nurses, clergy, whoever is caring for them at the moment.

How do we see ourselves and how to we treat those in our care?

Good shepherd or hired hand?

Cute sheep or dumb animal?

Let's add: sheep or wolf? Sheep or goat?

So this comes down to how we see life - what our attitudes are - who we are - how we think?

Sometimes a shepherd is all heart - knowing he's about to sell 100 sheep to a butcher to sell in the marketplace. 

Sometimes a shepherd is a philosopher - seeing all of life in his life. Sacrifice is front and center for the life of a sheep and shepherd. These sheep are here to give wool and these sheep are going to sheared - and nights can be cold in the fields without their wool coats. These sheep are going to give not only the skin off their backs - but their bodies to feed a family.

Sometimes a shepherd is a preacher - and a prophet - knowing the bible texts - about who the good shepherds are - and who the selfish and non-caring are.

The title of my homily is, "Sometimes Sheep,  Sometimes Shepherds."

Hopefully never wolf or hired hand.

Hopefully cornerstone or sometimes one of the stones that build up the home - but that's another metaphor and another sermon - for another day. Amen.

April 26, 2015

THREE ON A TRAIN

He’s pecking away on his laptop.

She’s knitting something blue.

Is one pregnant with a novel?

Is one pregnant with a baby boy?

I’m sitting there with no one - all alone -

on a train from Brussels to Brugge.

We’re sitting here - knitting together -

our story, It’s naughty. It’s nice.

Is there anyone around who wants to read

the novel we’re knitting of our lives?

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2015

April  25, 2015

THE RAFT

Somewhere out there in the deep waters

          is a raft

          called Love,

          called God.

And everybody knows it’s there,

          somewhere,

          as we all swim

          around in this ocean

          of words and stuff,

          trying to find the raft

          called Love,

          knowing that Love

          is the answer,

          as all the songs sing it,

          as all the prophets tell us.

And it’s hard work swimming and struggling

          and trying to find that raft

          called Love,

          called God.

And suddenly some of us

          spot the raft

          off there in the distance

          and as we swim closer

          we see it’s almost sinking

          with people.

Then God reaches out with his hands

          and pulls us up

          out of the water

          and onto the wood,

          and just then

          God suddenly laughs

          watching us trying

          to lug our wet possessions

          on board, too.

But then God starts to clap

          and slaps somebody

          on the back,

          who just then saw our stupidity

          and threw his stuff overboard,

          and once more

          there is just enough room,

          just enough space,

          on the raft

          called Love,

          called God. 

(c) Andy Costello