September 20th, 2015

PATTERNS

People are patterns.

Well, that’s not true, but people have their

patterns and when we’re with each other,

we’re trying to figure  each other out -

from the inside out. Is that true for you?

We look for patterns. We look for déjà vu.

We are trying to find out what’s actually

going on inside this other person. Is that

true for you? Do you do that too?

I sense that there’s something in us

that moves us to try to pick up each other’s

patterns - habits - routines - grooves.

I would suspect that one major pattern in life

is ease - simplicity - and to avoid complexity.

I would suspect that another pattern in life

is you come before me. My family, my kids,

my parents, those I work for, come first.

I suspect that for others it’s just the opposite.

I suspect some like life outside my home and

some can’t wait to get home.

Some people are stuck in the past and some

are stuck in the future and some live in and for

the present moment.

Some want it now - some are more relaxed on

lines - in traffic - while sitting there in the restaurant.

Some dream and don’t do - some do and don’t dream.

Some are all heart - some are all cool blue brains.

Some know there is a God and they are grateful

for all God’s gifts. Some don’t accept that there

is a God and keep complaining about God for all

the things that are  going wrong in the world.

Some look you in the eye - some look over your

shoulder to what’s coming or they look at their watch.

Some are optimists. Some are pessimists. Some

don’t even see the glass.

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2015

September 19, 2015

GLIMMERINGS

September 18, 2015

MOVING  ON

September 17. 2015

          SOARING ABOVE 
             WHAT'S NEXT

September 16, 2015

SHHH! SILENCE

God, so silent sometimes ….

I feel I AM without a Word -

too many times. Speak God,

I’m trying to listen to you, for you….

Shhh! Silence.

God, wait - it’s still so early morning -

before the world wakes us - but God,

“Wake up ! Rise up before all of us!”

Be on the beach - cooking breakfast

for us and tell us where to fish.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2015

Cf. John 21

WHAT’S  YOUR  TAKE 

AND  THOUGHTS  ABOUT MARY? 

OR,  “WHY  MARY?”

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “What’s Your Take and Thoughts About Mary?”

I’ve often asked that question about Mary. Feast days of Mary trigger that question.

Today, for example, is the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.

CANDLE BOY

As a kid I was a candle boy at O.L.P.H. church in Brooklyn.  Every Wednesday we had a full church of people making the OLPH novena - with 5 services.  

Everyone there - it seemed - lit a candle.

They were the 10 cent type and lasted 2 hours or so. 

Then when these candles died or burnt out, we changed them. 

We candle boys would take  a pick type tool. We would  snap out the tin metal square that held the wick - then putting in a fresh candle.  

They paid us $2.50 a week - to work on Wednesday, Saturday afternoon and all morning long on Sunday.

Moral of the story: never work for the church.

In my lifetime I’ve seen in various churches that OLPH novena go from large crowds - and several services - with a sermon - to just a few prayers after Mass.

What’s with that? Is Mary only popular when people have sorrows?

When I look at paintings of Mary as Our Lady of Sorrows - I see ladies with sorrowful faces.  Has life become less sorrowful since post World War II moments in a big Catholic Church in Brooklyn N.Y.?

When I first got here to St. Mary’s Annapolis we had the OLPH novena and then that died.

In the meanwhile every Wednesday in Beclaren - in the Philippines - over 100,000 people go to the O.L.P.H. novena.  Why? What? How?

PAINTINGS AND STATUES

If you go to the big museums of the big cities of our world, you’ll find in the big rooms for classical paintings, big ornate gold framed paintings of Mary  - so too in the bedrooms of Catholics over 65 years of age you’lll find copies of some of these same masterpieces - like Our Lady of Sorrows by Murillo or the pieta by Michelangelo.

Mary. Mary holding Jesus as a baby. Mary holding Jesus on her lap after he is taken down from the cross.

If you watch the evening news, especially with all these young moms with kids escaping Syria, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, you’ll see mothers holding their children, alive and dead. Our Lady of Sorrows still haunts the streets of our world.

Is that what’s going on with Mary - and her presence in our lives as Catholics. She’s there. She’s always there - especially when the cross is dragged into our lives?

CONCLUSION: SO THE QUESTION

What’s your take on Mary? What are your thoughts on Mary?

That’s the title and the question of my homily this morning - on this feast of Our Lady of Sorrows?

When someone comes up to Our Lady of Perpetual Help picture here at St Mary’s - after or before lighting a candle in prayer - their back is to us. We don’t see their faces. Is their face a picture of Our Lady of Sorrows?  Are they here because their child is the sorrowful Jesus as well.

Is that what images of Mary are all about?

Here in this church - dedicated to Mary - St. Mary’s Church on Duke of Gloucester Street, Annapolis, Maryland - the question I’m asking is: “What is Mary about to you?”

September 15, 2015

OUR LADY OF SORROWS

Sitting on a hard wooden chair,

just outside his front door, the 
old man could see the whole world 
going by. On the road right there 
he was looking at packed people
with all their belongings moving on

towards a new life. When he saw her 
with her baby, this old man shouted, 
“A sword will pierce your heart….” 
Does every old person think that feeling 
seeing crowds of people fleeing terror, 
violence and war? Does every mother
who brings a child into this world have 
that worry stabbing at her heart as well?

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2015