He had stopped going to Church - too - too many years ago. But… then came
this moment when Hail Mary full of grace
moved him
- at the hour of her death.
Amen. He saw his mom’s bone white
knuckles - like rosary beads - moving
in her hand. He was studying her face -
her breathing - along with her dark green
Connemara marble rosary beads.
Her lips moved in prayer. All this
moved him back to the faith.
What he didn’t know - as he sat there -
in her chair - next to her death bed -
was that she was still praying for him for all these years to come back home.
Andy Costello Reflections, 2015
OCTOBER
THE MONTH
OF THE HOLY ROSARY
It seems to work when we spell out specific days, weeks,
months or years with a specific theme.
Like Pope Francis is stressing that the next Church year:
Advent to Advent, 2015 to 2016 is a Year of Mercy. It’s the year to mend
relationships - forgive anyone who hurt us - and to accept forgiveness for any
mistakes we have made - from abortions to be a zealot and driving everyone
around us crazy.
So October is a month every Church year to use our rosary
beads.
Say the regular rosary - 5 decades of 10 Hail Mary’s etc.
etc. etc.
Then I like to stress options. I do this because instead of
an all or nothing approach to the rosary or life - try “small beads” or “worry
beads” or the KISS [Keep it simple, stupid] principle.
Translation: if you can’t say a whole rosary, use your beads
to say just one decade of 10 Hail Mary’s.
Translation: if you don’t want to say a whole rosary, and
you don’t want to use Hail Mary’s, use your rosary as worry beads - and just
thumb or use two fingers to gently squeeze the 59 beads to say to the Lord just a word or two or
three.
I like to say, “Rosary beads are not just for Hail Mary’s all
the time.” You'll hear that mantra in my sermons and blog pieces from time to time.
I would love it if everyone resurrected their rosary, kept
it in their pocket or pocketbook, and took it out from time to
time to pray for 3 to 5 minutes.
Then someone might spot us and ask, “What are you doing?”
and we say, “Just saying a prayer.”
What a way to be a spirituality promoter - a gospel [Good
News] promoter and you explain if another asks, “Oh I use my rosary as a way to
remind myself to pray - to say ‘Thanks to God’ or ‘All is grace!’”
Or we could say, “For example, I use these 59 beads to pray,
‘Help!’ or ‘Thanks!’ or ‘I love you my God.’ or ‘Help me to forgive ___.’ and it only takes 3 minutes.”
You can add, “Folks take coffee breaks - I take prayer
breaks.”
Or you just hold your rosary beads in hand as a way of telling yourself you're entering your inner room of prayer. Moslems have their prayer rug to do just that. Protestant and Catholics use their Bible to do just that. Catholics use their rosary beads to do just that. Check out Matthew 6: 5-6 on all this.
I have on my blog two e-Books of short meditations on the 20
mysteries of the rosary.
The first is from back on October 26, 2007 and is entitled, “How
To Use The Rosary to Make Christ Connections to Our Life.”
The second is from back on May 30th, 2008 and is
entitled, “How to Make the Rosary Make More Sense - Moving Through the
Mysteries and Moments of Life We All Go Through.”
[You can type this 2008 title into Google and add my name “Andy
Costello” - after that long title and subtitle - and you can catch it on Google
- without the trouble of scrolling back to 2008 or 2007.
October is the Month of the Holy Rosary.
If you pray, as the Pope kept saying, “Say a prayer for me.”
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
September 30, 2015
NOTICING
Somewhere, some time ago, I noticed
that marriage and relationships, have
all kinds of tiny unnoticed moments -
ripping, yes ripping, a piece of bread
off the other’s dinner roll - buttering it
with the butter of the other’s plate and knife - so too a shoulder touch when going by the other - so too an eye touch -
The title of my homily for this Mass for you in the 3rd, 4th and 5th grades is, “Definition of Mercy: Give Me
a Break”
Can you all repeat after me the following: “Mercy: Give
Me a Break.”
When I raise my hand like this [Gesture] could you say, “Mercy: Give Me a Break.”
A kid is clumsy and he keeps on tripping over his own
feet and everyone makes fun of him and he says,[Gesture] “Mercy: Give Me a
Break.”
A teenage sister gets braces for her teeth and her
younger brother keeps kidding her on how funny she looks and she says, [Gesture]
“Mercy: Give Me a Break.”
A kid is too short, too tall, too fat or too skinny and
other kids make fun of their shape or size, so the kid says, [Gesture] “Mercy: Give Me a
Break.”
A kid misses a tap in volleyball and all the way home in
the SUV the other kids are needling her for her miss that lost the game and she
says, [Gesture] “Mercy: Give Me a Break.”
A kid forgets her homework - it’s on her desk at home -
and the teacher is on her case and the kids says, [Gesture] “Mercy: Give Me a
Break.”
A teacher is having a bad day. Her dog is sick. Her cat
is sick. Her husband just lost his job. And last night it rained and knocked a
tree over in their driveway and the kids in her class are noisy and bothersome,
so she says, [Gesture] “Mercy: Give Me a Break.”
So that’s my definition and description of what mercy means.
It means giving someone a break.
Pope Francis was working hard every day he was here in the
United States and Cuba and never once did he say, [Gesture] “Mercy: Give Me a
Break.”
The gospel you picked for this Mass is from Matthew 25:
31: 46. It listed a whole lot of people who wanted a break. The hungry, the
thirsty, the stranger, the person without clothes, the sick, those in jail - all those people were saying to anyone who could help them, [Gesture]
“Mercy: Give Me a Break.”
Last week when the pope was here he went to see some
people who were in prison and people who were poor and people in a soup kitchen
- all kinds of people who were saying, [Gesture] “Mercy: Give Me a Break.”
And based on what I was seeing on television he kept
going, and going, and going like the Energizer Bunny. Along the streets when he was in his popemobile, he got out
and people were handing him babies and little children from the back of the
line so he could bless them and kiss them. I’m sure the guards were thinking
that the pope would love to say, [Gesture] “Mercy: Give Me a Break.”
But he didn’t.
And that’s the message this pope hopes all of us will put into practice for this year that's coming up - that all
of us give each other a break - that we show mercy to each other.
Did you know that Jesus was not fair? Did you know that
God is not fair? God likes to make mercy be much more important than justice.
Jesus told a story about two brothers. One was perfect.
He was the older brother. The younger brother wasn’t. He left home and went far
away and ended up a total disaster. He hit bottom. I noticed that Pope Francis
told this story of the Prodigal Son the other day and everybody clapped for the Father of those two
boys. Well the younger son decided to come home. When his dad saw him coming
home over the hill, the father ran and hugged him - even though he needed a
shower big time. Isn't that a great story about mercy? His father yelled, “Quick get my son some new clothes, new
sandals, clean him up and lets have a big dinner to celebrate his return. The
younger son didn’t ask for all this - but he got all this mercy. His father was
giving him a break. Now, when the older brother who was out working on their farm, heard music and dancing he was
wondering what was up. Someone told him that his brother is back. Well, the older brother became angry and furious. His dad tried to get him to show mercy to his brother. He
said to his dad, "You never did anything so nice for me." So he wouldn’t go into the house
and welcome his brother home. So his father kept saying to him, [Gesture] “Mercy: Give Me a
Break.”
Jesus was off on mercy. That’s where Pope Francis gets
his messages.
Jesus once told a story about a man who had a big
vineyard. That’s where they grow grapes.
It was time to start picking - so he went down to the marketplace to get some
people who would be willing to pick grapes for him. He said he’d give them a
daily wage. They went and he needed more
pickers so he went back down at noon and again at three o’clock and again at
the last hour. When it got to six and it was time to pay the workers he gave
everyone the same amount - a whole day’s pay.
Well, when those who worked the whole day saw that those
who only worked an hour or two or three got what they got, they got really
angry and the man who owned the vineyard said, [Gesture] “Mercy: Give Me a
Break.”
He added, “If I want to be generous, why are you so angry?
Jesus told that story because when we get to heaven we’re
going to hear people complain about so and so and so and so being there - and
they were so bad and God is going to say, [Gesture] “Mercy: Give Me a Break.”
And everyone is going to laugh.
And even though today’s gospel has these people who were
goats - for not feeding the hungry, or visiting the sick, or visiting those in
jail and for giving clothes to those who didn’t have any clothes - I’m willing
to bet if they said, [Gesture] “Mercy: Give Me a Break.” They would get a get out
of jail free deal - because our God is a God of Mercy.
So the title of my homily is be merciful - because God is
merciful - so use that on your teachers and your parents when you mess up. Say
to them, [Gesture] “Mercy: Give Me a Break.”
And if they call me up for being preaching and teaching
them this message this morning, guess what I’m going to tell them, [Gesture]
“Mercy: Give Me a Break.”
ANGELS
WE HAVE HEARD ON HIGH
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “Angels We Have Heard On
High.”
Since today is the feast of three archangels, Michael,
Gabriel and Raphael, I thought it would be a good idea to say something about
angels.
Angels appear in
movies. We’re all well aware of Clarence in the movie, It’s A Wonderful Life. Hopefully
we’ve all seen that movie at least 5 times in full and 25 times in part. Then
there are at least 2 dozen other angel movies. Here Comes Mr. Jordan and Heaven Only Knows has stories about people
who weren’t supposed to die so angels help them on their return. Then there are the movies, Angels in the Outfield, Angels in the Infield and Angels in the Endzone.
It looks like the Los Angeles Angels are going to make
the Playoffs while the guardian Angels of the Oriole players must have been
asleep.
Angeles can be found not only in Judaism and
Christianity, but also in various other mid-Eastern religions - Islam etc. etc.
etc. Gabriel for example was considered Muhammad’s protector and the one who
revealed to him the Koran.
Then there is so much stuff about angels in popular myth today
and down through history and religion - that we are not that sure what we can
know and believe about angels.
Catholic theologians and Church statements from on high have
told us what is essential when it comes to beliefs about angels.
It’s Catholic doctrine that they are not God or gods.
They are not to be adored - and that has happened. Only 3 have names officially:
the 3 of today’s feast - Michael, Raphael and Gabriel. We have 2 of them on the Our Lady of Perpetual
Help picture: Michael and Gabriel.
When you come up to pray at the O L P H - the Our Lady of
Perpetual Help shrine pray for peace in and with Islam.
Angels were around before creation. They are creations of God. They don’t have bodies. They
are spirits.
They are good by nature - but they also have the ability
to choose - so there is the possibility of bad angels - Satan and those who followed him.
So key to angels - maybe even more to our awareness - is
the possibility of demons who give us messages of temptation. At least, at
times they are blamed.
Angels are called to worship God - and they help human
beings. There are guardian angels. We’re called to do the same: guard others,
help others, and worship and give God the glory and thanks.
They appear before the Old Testament, during it, as well
as into the New Testament. They bring messages and protect human beings.
Then there is development in thought and imagination
about angels down through the history of our religion about angels. They don’t
have bodies, yet we picture them and make sculptures of them. For example, it
wasn’t till the fourth century that wings appeared. For example, it wasn’t till
the Italian Renaissance that little cupid baby faced angels appeared in images.
They are masculine, young and move fast.
However, you can’t tell about whether they are male or female - much of the
time.
ANGELS IN THIS
CHURCH
The title of my homily is, “Angels We Have Heard On
High.”
Yesterday afternoon I took an hour and a half to walk
around this church and count how many angels are pictured or sculptured in this
church.
In the middle ages there was the question about could a
million angels sit on the pin point of a pin.
Up here in the sanctuary there are the 4 obvious statues
of angels around the old altar and the tabernacle.
There are 3 angels on the sanctuary lamp. There are 2
angels on the OLPH picture Gabriel and Raphael.
Then there are the same two angels on the plaque over there that
describes the OLPH picture. There are 2 angels at the end of each section of
the communion rail. There are 6 angels on the candles up front up here. Then there are 8 chubby faced little cutie
angels up there on that painting above the altar.
On the stained glass windows there are 24.
On tops of pillars there are 10 - 5 on each side.
In the back there are 2 angels at the holy water fonts.
There are 24 angels in the stained glass windows.
That’s 63 angels.
CONCLUSION
The title of my homily is, “Angels We Have Heard On
High.”
Find yourself
singing that hymn with others if you can sing or alone if you can’t sing and
then bring Christ and his Many Messages
to others and maybe someone will give you the message, “Hey, you’re an angel.”
September 29, 2015
RAIN ON METAL
Rain on metal - like on the top of an
air conditioner - I like that sound - the
ping - ping - ping - of rain - letting me
know throughout the night that the soft
fall of rain is sinking silently into the soil,
into the earth - into my soul. And the alleys and the cars will be washed and life will go on and on and on - green, green, on and on - and on - even though it's the end of September and grass will soon brown and leaves will become rust orange, red and brown and fall to the ground - so too me - so too slow crumble - so too winter - so too the slow knowing about resurrection and Christ and hope and the Eternal Spring.
