LIFE  AND  THEN  DEATH: 

IS THAT  ALL THERE  IS? 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 22^nd  Monday in Ordinary Time is, “Life and Then Death: Is That All There Is?”

Today’s  first reading from Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians 4: 13-18^th triggers this topic and this question for me.

Paul says we all fall asleep - we all die - but on the word of the Lord - there is the waking up - the resurrection.

THE METAPHOR OF GOING TO SLEEP

I find that metaphor - comparing the letting go called “sleep” - to the letting go called “death” - in lot of the literature about death.

Is it as simple as that?

If we make it to 80 there are some 29,200 goings  to sleep.  Ooops!  As we get older there are thousands and thousands more goings to sleep and wakings up - that that - more and more as we get older.

I always thought it would make a great night prayer - to compare the letting go when going to bed at night to the letting go called death.

God of the Night,

here I am letting go of all control

as I wander into the realm of sleep.

If I don’t wake up for the morning light,

God my God, please be on the beach,

making breakfast for me

on this other side of life. Amen. [1]

So maybe in a way, it is as simple as that: each going to sleep is a mini-death - and someday we won’t wake up because we’ve moved into a maxi-death.

LAST WEEK - IT ALL DEPENDS

Last week I was talking with a guy about an upcoming family funeral.  He said that in his family there were not that many deaths - and then he added, “This is sort of new for me.”

I’d hear that because we have had many family funerals.

I read somewhere that the first one is the toughest  - and each death after that makes the next one easier and easier.

I don’t know if that’s true.  I would think it all depends on who died and our relationship with them - and who we are.

I have learned life is loaded with lots of opportunities to say, “It all depends.”

I find it saddest when I’m with someone who doesn’t believe in life after death.

I’ll never forget the moment I stood at my brother’s grave with my brother’s best friend, Marty, and he said, “I don’t believe that there is anything after this.”

I said, “Some Jews believe in life after death.”

When his wife, Gloria, was dying last year she was joking about being together in heaven with my brother and laughing at all of us down below.

As I sat there with her and her cancer and her family - the only thing I heard was hope: “She knows there’s a there after this.”

So as I stood there in a Jewish cemetery a month later, I hoped and hoped that she and my brother were looking down on us - with joy and peace and eternal happiness.

To add to that joy - after that funeral in that Jewish cemetery, we headed 4 miles away to a Catholic cemetery - and stood in prayer with Marty and his 3 kids at my brother’s grave.

So life - it all depends.

So too eternal life - you never know.

Today’s first reading triggers these thoughts - no wonder it’s often read at funerals.

This is the oldest New Testament reading - from around 50 or 51 - and its message is Jesus Christ - he’s the one who takes us through death to eternal life.

I like the last line in today’s first reading: “Therefore, console one another with these words.”

Many people have.

CONCLUSION

Today’s gospel - Luke 4:16-30 - the scene of Jesus walking into his family synagogue in Nazareth -  brings us back to life.

Right now, we’re not at a funeral Mass.

We’re at this Mass - and our job is to hear Isaiah and Jesus Christ - and then to go out from here today and fulfill their words - by bringing glad tidings to the poor, liberty to those who feel trapped, sight to the blind, freedom to those who feel they are oppressed - and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. Amen.


NOTE

[1] Read the Gospel post resurrection stories - especially those in John and especially John 21: 1-14

RELIGION?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 22 Sunday in Ordinary Time [B] is, “Religion?”

"Religion" with a question mark after it?

When you see the religion question on a little box on a questionnaire, what do you answer?

“Catholic?”

“Christian?”

What?

Or maybe at times you even leave it blank. It’s none of their business.

Sometimes it’s asked when someone is admitted to a hospital.

Then someone from a church or a religious group shows up to welcome them - say some prayers - bring them communion - and for a Catholic to give them the sacrament of the sick.

For some Catholics they think the sacrament of the sick is still the sacrament of the dying. Yes - but there’s been a change. It’s also the sacrament of the sick - the anointing on one’s forehead and the palms of one’s hand - to give one the strength of the Lord and the community one belongs to - in times of sickness or going into an operation.

As priest, that’s a wonderful moment to be a priest.

And I love the word for communion for a person who is dying, “Viaticum”. It’s food for the journey - the journey into the world of death - and with faith - with Christ - heading to the Eternal Banquet of Heaven.

RELIGION

I’m sure you heard in today’s second reading from the Letter of James the following description of religion. “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

Very interesting…..

How would you describe religion? How would you describe your religion?

Has your understanding of your religion changed with the years?

A guy named John Morley wrote - way back in April of 1905, “There are said to be ten thousand definitions of religion.” [John Morley, Nineteenth Century, April, 1905]

Who’s counting?

What’s yours?

I remember hearing a talk by an alcoholic who said, “I was looking for God at the bottom of a bottle.”

Freud said that religion is a childhood neurosis as well as in illusion.

Karl Marx said religion was the opium of the masses. Sometimes at Mass I get nervous when I put people to sleep.

Others say sports is the religion of America.  Russell Baker once said in The New York Times that sports is the opiate of the masses.

I’m a Giants fan in football and the Knicks in basketball and both put me to sleep last year.

I remember hearing in the seminary that the word religion simply means, “What you wrap your life around.” Then the teacher who said that added, “Notice the root word ‘ligare’ in the word religion. It means to tie, to bind, as in ligaments - as in those tight bands of tissue that hold our bones and organs in place.

I also remember a field day in the seminary. I was kidding a fat guy and he called to a fast guy and they both chased me across a field and the fast guy tackled me and the fat guy fell on top of me and ripped my shoulder ligaments. Bummer: I was tied up in a bandage from Thanksgiving to St. Valentine’s Day, 1960 - 1961. I learned the hard way: Don’t pick of fat or fast people.

TODAY’S READINGS

Besides that comment from the Letter of St. James about what religion is, what about today’s other two readings?

Today’s first reading from the Book of Deuteronomy has Moses bragging about how great the commandments are - as well as the statues and decrees. He adds that anyone hearing them would certainly say, “This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.”

For the sake of transparency,  Moses is the one who came down the mountain with the Ten Commandments - and is given credit for the first five books of the Bible - especially all those laws in Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

And to some people,  it seems they see religion as the Ten Commandments and to keep them.

Today’s gospel has Jesus going against his own people when they see religion as washing hands and cups and jugs and kettles - but inside the cup and kettle of their mind and heart are evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance and folly.

That’s quite a list of sins and tendencies that can possess us.

RELIGION CAN MESS SOMEONE UP

We’re living in an age where religion can scare us.  We’re living in an age where people are killing people in the name of God.

I know when I sit down with a couple who are planning to get married, I always ask them about their religion. And I add: I hope you are a thinking Catholic. I hope you are an informed Catholic. And when one is Catholic and the other isn’t, I add: “If you the Catholic don’t go to church and don’t practice your religion and you the non-Catholic do go to your church, please bring your children up with your religion and your religious values.”

We hear reports about various religions in our world beating and even killing people who don’t keep the religious practices of the faith of that religion and that tribe or country.

We live in a country with separation of Church and State.  Please study and read up about the why of that rule.

Many people came to this country for religious freedom. But we ought to be aware of how religion can be very tough on people. We Catholics have our own track record - our own sins - and our own problems. I hope and pray I have not driven anyone out of our church. That scares me. I know some people want priests in the pulpit to be much tougher than they are.

I would love them to know the following about New England Puritanism.

Keeping in mind today’s gospel about complaints about Jesus and his disciples by the scribes and the Pharisees, here’s a quote to think about, “Under the blue laws of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Puritans administered religion to unwilling subjects by means of the whipping post, the ducking stool, the stocks, fines, and prisons. Mrs. Alice Morse Earle’s history, The Sabbath in Puritan New England, lists such examples: ‘Two lovers, John Lewis and Sarah Chapman were accused and tried for sitting together on the Lord’s day under an apple tree. A Dumstable soldier, for wetting a piece of old hat to put in his shoe to protect his foot, was fined forty shilling for doing this heavy work. Captain Kemble of Boston in 1656 was put in public stock for two hours for his ‘lewd and unseemly behavior’ which consisted of kissing his wife in public on the Sabbath on the doorstep of his house after his return from a three-year voyage. A man who had fallen into the water absented himself from church to dry his only suit of clothes; he was found guilty and publicly whipped.’”

CONCLUSION

Religion is tricky stuff.

It can also be scary stuff.

Hopefully it’s wonderful and our religion gives us life.

I want to get it right.

Thomas Merton, way back in 1949 wrote in his book, The Waters of Siloe, “The greatest enemy of religious Orders is not the persecutor who closes monasteries and dispels communities and imprisons monks and nuns; it is the noonday demon who persuades them to go for enterprises that have nothing whatever to do with the ideals of their founders.”

St. Alphonsus was the founder of the order we Redemptorists in this parish are part of.

If I heard anything from our founder it’s this: the whole deal - the real deal - when it comes to religion and life is this: It’s the practice of the love of Jesus Christ.

If I learned anything about Christianity it’s this: our religion is not words. It’s about a word spoken by God the Father to us: and that Word became flesh and lived and breathed and walked and taught amongst us - and my religion is knowing and loving and  following that person.

I’m not making this up. As G.K. Chesterton put it, “Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair.”

We’re here in church today hopefully because of our love affair with Jesus Christ.

August 30, 2015

 HARBORS

I grew up just above the New York Harbor.

Our dad walked us down to the waters every Sunday.

We learned early on - everything is coming or

going - but in the meanwhile there is a lot of waiting.

We saw all those boats anchored in the Narrows

waiting their turn to be unloaded and then filled up -

and then make their way out into the oceans

of our world. We heard the sound of boat horns,

but I never learned what they meant. We could

see in the distance  Our Lady in the Harbor,

the Statue of Liberty, with her welcoming light.

We also knew our parish church - Our Lady of

Perpetual Help - high on the hill  - overlooking

the harbor - with her welcoming arms and doors.

Childhood needs such sights and sounds -

memories - and a dad to take us everywhere.

© Andy Costello Reflections, 2015

August 29, 2015

PLEASE AND THANK YOU

Please, pretty please,

I want some ice cream -

and when with ease

you walk me into the store,

you let me choose my favorite:

two scoops of rum raisin.

You reach into your pocket,

take out your wallet and

pay for this wonderful treat! 

It’s then I say, “Thank you!”

By the way, in sum and substance,

I think that’s the story of my life.
I want it to be smooth as possible -
as smooth as rum raisin ice cream.
Please! Please! Please!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2015

Oooooops, thank you Thornton Wilder.
After writing this today I remembered
his famous comment, "My advice to you
is not to enquire why or whither, but just
enjoy your ice cream while it's on your
plate - that's my advice." from The Skin of
Our Teeth [1942],  Act 1,

August 28, 2015

THE DESK

The desk he had was a mighty, big, massive

- strong solid oak one - and very expensive.

He thought he had finally arrived when it 
arrived. It filled his new corner office. 

He closed the door and his eyes as he sat there  - looking at himself - in all these inner "selfies" - he had taken of himself. He stretched his arms to the ceiling.  He hugged himself as he swung around and around in his big swivel chair.

He looked out the big clear glass window 
here on the 75th floor. He looked to the north and then to the east. He had a great smile 

on his face. He could feel the feel of bigness - big above all those tiny, tiny people down below. 

He had made it.

It took him one year - almost to the day - 
to realize that it was all an illusion -
struggling all these years to make it to
the top - only to learn at the big oak desk - 
that power wasn’t here. 

He got it when he got up and began to mix

with the others on the other side of that desk -
when he mingled with the minds and hearts 
of those down the corridor and those out
in the field. They did all the work and let him,
the boss, think he did. It took him even longer
to find out about his wife, parents and kids.

God stuff? 
Oh that kind of stuff was still way off -
in the distant  future.

© Andy Costello Reflections,, 2015

August 27, 2015

BODYSCAPE

She didn’t like her body - shape or scape or shake.

She felt too fat - too ugly - too lumpy - too dumpy.

Too many comments, too many diets, too

many suggestions dumped on her from others

did that to her. She always wanted to escape.

What was eating her, to make her day - was

wanting a compliment or no comments from others.

She began to walk, walk, walk, to get in better

shape. She began to talk, talk, talk - new talk to

herself - and surprise the landscape of her body

began to take a new shape. Fresh air, sunshine,

the sound of crickets and birds were music.

Take a good look at her smile and began to see

the landscape of her being so much the better.

She felt her life was coming together as her

bodyscape began to fit in fine with the landscape

surrounding her. Sun, moon, stars, cats, dogs….

She found herself saying “Hi!” and “Hello!” to

everyone she met on the sidewalks - all folks,

all shapes, all sizes - her whole landscape became

a garden. In her new Genesis, she began hearing

God saying,  “All is good. Where are you? Can

I walk with you in the cool, cool of the evening?”

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2015

August 26, 2015

SLANTED LIGHT

I was told by a gifted photographer

to take my pictures an hour after

sunrise or an hour before sunset.

That was when I was 33 - and ever

since then I’ve always noticed the

light when it came in from the side.

It’s that first comment or the comment

a person makes as they head out the

door that I hear - little else - sorry.

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2015