IT’S  A  WONDERFUL LIFE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this October 2^nd, Feast of the Guardian Angels is, “It’s A Wonderful Life.”

It’s the title of the wonderful 1946 movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

It’s on TV every Christmas for at least the last 50 years. And I've often heard high school kids like you say, "I love that movie! It's part of Christmas in our house every Christmas."

It’s a wonderful life.

It's listed as one of the top 100 movies of all time. I've seen it listed as #11.

Hopefully every one of us says at least once a month, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone of us went home today and said to our parents, “It’s a Wonderful Life!”  and then added, “Thank you.”

Wouldn’t it be great if everyone of us said to one of our teachers, “It’s a wonderful life. Thank you for  being part of it.”

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every one of us said before we went to bed every night, “It was a wonderful day God. Thank you.”

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone of us said every morning as we woke up, “It’s another day God, wonderful, thank you.”

As you know - the movie, “It’s A Wonderful Life” is on TV every Christmas season - at least 10 times. It’s the story of a very generous guy named George Bailey - who works in Bailey Brothers Building and Loan. George helps all kinds of people and is loved by the whole town - except for Mr. Potter.

In every story there always seems to be an antagonist - someone who goes against the protagonist - the good gal or guy.

George’s Uncle Billy brings $8,000 to the bank to deposit it. He’s distracted - thinks he deposits it - but doesn’t. Leaves the money there in the bank and Mr. Potter the bad guy finds it - but hides it - and George is in trouble.

That’s the movie. George realizes when he can’t come up with the money and people in town will go down - so he wants to commit suicide. He wishes he never existed.

ANGELS

In the meanwhile an angel appears.

Angels don't have bodies - yet we picture them - with robes and wings and angelic smiles.

Angels are messengers.  You might have heard about a question philosophers used to ask in the middle ages, "How many angels can sit on the head of a pin?"

If angels are messengers - we can say that there are millions and millions and millions of messages flying around us right here, right now in this church. Cell phone messages, iPhone messages, radio messages, millions and millions of messages are flying around our pin heads all day long - and we can hear some of them if we have a receiver.

Some messages - hopefully most messages are angelic, wonderful, encouraging, but there are also demonic, gossipy, evil, ugly messages as well.

I'm sure you've heard in religion class there are good angels and bad devils. They fly around whispering messages into our consciousness.

Listen to the good voices. Chose good choices.  

Today is the feast of our Guardian Angel or Guarding Messenger. 

I would like to describe our Guardian Angel as the whisper, the voice, to see life as wonderful and make it wonderful for those around us. 

In the movie, It's a Wonderful Life, it’s Clarence - an angel - who is sent to save George - and he does - showing George all that would have happened if didn’t exist.

Without ruining the movie any further -  but I will ruin it at the end of this homily. I take that back, you can't ruin this movie. Well George discovers he is loved - that he is necessary and that “It’s A Wonderful Life.”

It’s a wonderful life.

BAROMETER

I like to use the image of the barometer. It tells us the weather - what’s going on in the atmosphere.

I like to ask folks to come up with a barometer for their marriage, for their job, for their life.

I think the statement, “It’s a Wonderful Life” is a great barometer.

Kids like to write words on their hands. It could be the name of the person they love or an answer for a test.

I think the statement, “It’s a wonderful life.” It should be written on our hand and if someone asks us the secret of life, cheat, and read the answer on our hand and say, “It’s a wonderful life.”

Clarence taught George Bailey that message.

There are people out there who say every other day, “It’s a horrible life.”

I was reading the papers this morning to see if they have come up with the motive of this guy who killed those folks in Oregon at a community college. I’m willing to bet that he walked around thinking, “It’s a horrible life.”

BEING WONDERFUL

I would like to say that the call of life is to be wonderful and how do you do that?  Answer: make life wonderful for those around us.

How do you become wonderful: each day see all the wonders that surround us.

When someone sees us, do they say, “I want to sit with that person at lunch.”  “I want to be next to that person at a game.”

I want people who come to my funeral to say, “Andy was a wonderful person - a wonderful priest.”

I hope every teacher here has that as their goal, “I want to be a wonderful teacher.”

Does any teacher want to be a loser - a disaster? Of course not.

Well, to a wonderful teacher, student, person, priest, principal, you have to do what Jesus kept stressing: be welcoming, understanding, serving, giving, forgiving, caring to and for others.

A WONDERFUL GUY

I did a funeral yesterday of a wonderful guy. His funeral ceremony - and the eulogies - spelled and yelled that out loud and clear.

About a month ago his wife asked me to go see him with her in a nursing home. He was basically shut down - from a rare form of Parkinson’s disease.

On the way to the nursing home, I asked how they met. I love that question. Well, his wife told me that she was on a date with this other guy and she spotted Jerry.

She said to herself, “What a wonderful guy!” and she asked him if he could go on a date with her. Being a wonderful guy he asked the former boyfriend if he could. The guy said, “Yes.”

In the drive to and from the nursing home she told how wonderful a husband he was for 50 years this year. She told me that he did great things in his life in the Aerospace Industry - developing materials for going deep out into space and coming back home. She told me how much she wanted to see him at the nursing home as much as possible - because she loved him so much. 

No she didn't sing the song, "Wonderful Guy" but those were her sentiments.

CONCLUSION

A barometer of a wonderful person is to be a person that others want  - in their life - at their table - in their conversations - on their teams.

Remember the movie, My Cousin Vinny. Vinny is a disaster as a lawyer for his nephew. He falls asleep in the courtroom. He can’t figure out what to do. But surprise, he comes around and becomes so great, that his nephew’s friend dumps his lawyer and says pointing to Vinny in the court room, “I want him.”

Be so wonderful that people say of us, “I want him.”

Who doesn't want to be with wonderful people?

October 2, 2015

EARTH GOD

God, sometimes I can see how folks

mixed you up with creation: a storm

from the north causing scare, a mist arising

from the morning earth - a hint of mystery, 

a fire burning - burning down a whole forest -

and we realize - all is out of our control,

the ocean pounding the shore with wave

after wave - then calming down and

lapping the beach with tiny two inch waves -

then moving out to sea - and we scratch

our scalp and say this is all too much for me -

the sun, the moon and the stars - night and

day - mountains, clouds, seasons, change

after change after change, and I’m just

little old me. God, God, God, when I try

to be one with you on a gray rainy day

or an Arizona desert sand, desert tan,

blue cloudless sky day - you seem to hide

from me and it’s then I know I’m still so far

from you and I have a long, long way to go.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2015

October 1, 2015

ROSARY  BEADS

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 30^th, 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.”

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 -

a glance not to say that again or,

“Let’s get out of here!” - like now.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2015

DEFINITION  OF  MERCY: 

“GIVE  ME  A  BREAK!” 

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.”