May 11, 2015

SKIN DEEP

Everyone is skin that

          gets touched,

          gets cut,

          gets neglected,

          gets burned,

          gets loved.

Everyone is skin that

          needs Vaseline,

          needs bandages,

          needs caring,

          needs the loving touch.

Everyone is skin that

          packages a

          and contains

          and holds

          a vast organization

          of memories,

          or nerves,

          of thoughts,

          of feelings,

          of wonderings.

Everyone is skin that

          blushes,

          and pains,

          and vibrates

          with joy,

          when one

          is accepted,

          and loved,

          and welcomed

          into the group,

          the family.

Everyone is skin that

          scars,

          and wrinkles,

          and gets old,

          and finally

          dies and

          is boxed away

          deep into

          the earth

          from which

          it was formed

          by God.

MOM -  ENTS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Mom - Ents.”

It’s from the word “MOMENTS” - with a dash after the first three letters MOM - then the ents.

My overarching theme is that on Mother’s Day - WE  - including our moms - think about moms in general and OUR own mom in particular - or our mom - herself - thinking about her life as a mom.

KAIROS AND CHRONOS

I want to point out in this homily that there are two types of time according to the ancient Greeks. We learned this when we studied the New Testament.

They are indicated by two Greek words for time: Chronos and Kairos.

We might know “chronos” from Chronos - a brand name for a watch - or the word “chronology”.

Our St. Mary’s High School kids can make a retreat at the end of their Junior year or during their senior year called the Kairos Retreat.

Chronos means ordinary time and Kairos means special time - moments different from the everyday.

Not all days are the same. All have 24 hours - but all days are not the same. Mother’s Day is different from the Wednesday in the week after Thanksgiving or the third Thursday after Father’s Day.

Kairos moments are moments when time sort of stopped - moments where we had a choice to make key decisions where we have the opportunity to change or we experience a surprise that changes our lives.

On a Kairos Retreat the hope is that these 4 days - will be a decisive time in a kid’s life. I always remember a comment a guy made in a eulogy about a friend of his who died in his mid-forties of a sudden heart attack. The friend was standing here in this pulpit and said that Tim’s life changed wonderfully for the better because of a Kairos Retreat when they were in high school.

A KAIROS MOMENT FOR A MOM

It could be the moment when our mom heard she was going to be a mom for the first time. It could be the moment we were born and she saw for the first time who it was who was kicking her.  It could be a moment when our mom thought about her life - and she was overwhelmed with the blessing she was feeling at the moment.

Our mom could sit down at a computer or with a pad and jot down the 10 most important moments of her life - so called Kairos Moments - so called moments when she changed. She could put them on a time line.  She could rate the importance of each date - 1 being the highest moment.

EINSTEIN

When Albert Einstein was talking about the relativity of time he could be quite complex - and lots of people didn’t get it. But when he said when you’re with your boyfriend or girlfriend time can fly - but when you’re in a boring class in school  - time can drag like a snail on its tail.

My favorite saying about the relativity of time is, “How long a minute takes depends on which side of the bathroom door you’re on.”

One I made up this morning would go like this: “The relativity of time: depends upon which relative we’re with.”

SO BACK TO MOTHERS

So on Mother’s Day moms see this day different than others.

I assume the number one sentence mom’s appreciate today is a sentence of just two words: “Thank you!”

I assume the number one hope from all mothers has just three words, “Make me proud.”

I assume the 4 main places that love Mother’s Day are card shops, florists, restaurants, and gas stations. What am I missing?

EXERCISES

We were told if you hear something in a sermon or a talk or you read something in a book, use it immediately - otherwise you might forget it.

So I heard a wonderful exercise at a workshop I recently went to. A poet in Washington D.C. talked about the Elevator Exercise. You take your present age - and draw a building with that many floors.  Put an elevator in it.

Next get into the elevator - and push the button for any floor.

You might be 39 or 75, but you can get off on the 16^th floor.

Get off and walk around. Look around. Where were you?  See everyone. See everything.  Jot down the surprises.

Grace Cavalieri - the poet - I think she said she was in her 80’s - said it was a great way to come up with ideas for poems.

This morning I was thinking, “What would it be like to sit down with your mom and take a lot of elevator rides with her.”

Let her walk around the 18^th floor - when she was 18 or 28 with you.

Have a spiral note book or a recorder and get the details.

I did this with my dad before he died - yellow legal pad.

I did this with my mom before she died - this time with a small tape recorder.

She took me to many stops on her elevator - and this was before I had heard the elevator metaphor. I got her life on precious tape - at the age of 82. She was still working at the time. I’ve mentioned this a few times - but two weeks later she was killed in a hit and run accident on her way to church - and I have her precious voice - with laughter and tears - her life and her stories - on tape. I haven’t cried yet - which surprises me - but I have cried at other deaths.

SUGGESTION

As a closing comment or suggestion, from experience I know sitting with a mom or dad - Father’s Day is next month - get their story on all its floors.

Record it. Jot it down - watch them smile. Watch they cry.

Simply take some elevator rides with mom or dad and ask them to tell you the 10 top mom - ents or mom - events of their life.

++++++oooooo++++++ooooo++++++

PAINTING ON TOP:

"Climbing Mother" by Brian Kershishik

May 10, 2015

MOM

I didn’t know whom they were talking about

when I heard someone call you “Maura” or

was it “Maura Donn." In Gaelic that’s

“Mary the Brown Haired One” in contrast

with your best friend “Maura Rua” - whom we

knew as “Mary Red”? - the one with the

red hair. I did hear some calling you “Maina”

now and then. Come to think about all this,

I didn’t know what daddy called you. I think 

it was “Mary” and she called you “Mike.” 

To us, growing up, you were always “Mom”…. Wonderfully pronounced, “Mom.” You were always there “Mom.” Thanks, I’ve seen  them, yet, sorry mom, I was never tempted to get 

a “Mom” tattoo of you - the ones with the heart

and the arrow right through the middle of the heart. But what happened to that cup I saved up 10 cents to buy - the one with the mom on it - the one you used for tea all through the years?

© Andy Costello  Reflections 2015

May 9, 2015

HUNGERS AND THIRSTS

To be

To be born

To walk

To be held

To be taught

To be understood.

For food

For family

For caring

For trust

For satisfaction

For friendship

For recognition.

To share

To serve

To be asked

To think

To speak

To be noticed

To be heard.

For dreams

For justice

For peace

For laughter

For music

For meaning

For the Kingdom of God.

To risk

To love

To go beyond the valley

To climb the hill

To die

To rise

To embrace the Father.

May 8, 2015

THE OLD NEWSPAPER

All of us are newspaper reporters,

          telling our story,

          selling our story,

          trying to catch

          the other’s eye,

          reporting to others

          that we’ve been to Europe and Hawaii,

          that we have three grandchildren,

          that we have a cousin in California

          with a $750,000 home,

          and therefore please read

          that I’m okay,

          that I’m not a failure.

And sometimes when we begin

          to really trust another reader,

          we begin to report our failures,

          our sad stories,

          about our kids who dropped out,

          about divorces and drinking

          in the family,

          and how it all makes us feel so small.

And all of us know

          what it feels like

          to be misread,

          or what’s worse,

          to be rejected,

          to have someone

          just look at our headlines

          and then be thrown onto a pile,

          or to be used to wrap the garbage

          or for cat litter.

And all of us are part of every robbery and rape,

          and all those stories

          in Dear Abby or Dear Ann,

          stories of wives being used,

          and husbands being rejected,

          and teen-agers being sent to bed’

          right in the middle of their

          favorite TV show,

          story after story on insensitivity.

And all of us know the feeling

          of being used as paper

          to line the bottom drawer,

          hoping that someday,

          somebody will pick us up and say,

          “Hey, look at this old paper.

          Let’s see what it has to say.”

© Andy Costello Reflections, 2015

May 7, 2015

WAITING ROOM

Sitting here in this hospital waiting room ….

It’s a recovery room for the family - for friends sitting here in a vinyl chair - which is getting harder by the hour. Each time the door opens - all faces look up. Everyone is waiting - waiting for good news: How the operation went? 
How she did. Is she OK for now. Finally 
after 4 hours comes Good News. Now what? And now comes the real waiting - the future -
and then some more waiting in this vast 
waiting room - called earth, called life.

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2015

WAITING ROOM 

[Version 2]

Sitting here in this hospital waiting room -

just down the corridor from an operation

recovery room - a room for the family -

many families - many people - waiting.

Sitting here on a vinyl seat getting harder

by the hour. Each time the door opened,

all faces looked up - looking, wondering if

this was the doctor who would bring news.

Sitting here waiting for Good News - how

she/ he was, how the operation went, Finally….

It must be tough being a doctor - a nurse -

especially when the patient is not good.

Sitting here in the car, watching her/ him

out the front windshield - heading for the car -

wondering about the nexts - more waiting -

in this waiting room called earth, called life.

May 6, 2015

VISION CENTER

All of us are looking and searching

          for a vision center,

          for the answer

          to the question

          of the meaning of our lives.

So we go to temples,

          universities,

          psychiatrists,

          astrologers,

          book stores,

          buying fads,

          trying movements,

          looking for answers

          to our quest,

          looking for the Way,

          the Truth and the Life.

Some of us think the center is

          Washington, Moscow or Beijing,

          Mecca, Rome or Jerusalem,

          Paris, Hollywood or New York City,

          always searching

          for the center of life,

          fashion, style, money,

          politics, power, dance,

          forgetting that the veil

          of the temple

          has been cut in two,

          forgetting that the kingdom

          of God is within.

Some of us stop along the highway

          at those buildings marked,

          “Adult Books and Movies,”

          “For Mature Audiences Only,”

          and only years later

          come out wondering

          what maturity

          and being an adult

          is all about.

All of us then are tiny ships

          making for harbors

          in the night,

          leaving at dawn and

          launching out into the deep,

          lowering our nets

          for a catch,

          for the Center.

All of us keep looking.

          Wise men and women,

          following the star,

          journeying towards

          the Center of the Universe.