October 25, 2015

WHAT POKES US?

What pokes us?

What gets us thinking, moving, probing?

What challenges us?

Weddings, wakes and funerals….

Coming around an aisle in the supermarket and a little baby 

in a shopping cart looks us

right in the eye and laughs 

and smiles at us….

A near accident while driving ….

Driving by a hospital, a cemetery, or bakery....

What pokes us?

A compliment, a dig, a criticism?

A horrible sermon or a good sermon?

A good novel or essay or short story?

A good NCIS show?
A great movie - even though the 
cost of pop corn is way too high....

Someone is not talking to someone….

What pokes us?

What gets us thinking, moving, probing?

What challenges us?

What has been the game changer for us?

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2015

October 24, 2015

COMPARISONS

Come on now, we all compare!

To be human is to compare.

Be honest now - mom was

easier than dad or vice versa….

We see a bowl of apples or a

dish of chocolate chip cookies.

Don’t we all pause before we

pick the one that looks the best.

It would be a boring beauty contest

or a baseball season if nobody won

or there wasn’t a most valuable player.

It rained all week while on vacation.
Hey, you’re allowed to complain!

Comparisons challenge - okay they

also cut - especially when parents

or kids use them to get the other

to do what they want the other to do.

So too coaches and teachers and other kids.

Hey, Jesus used them all the time.

Repeat after me: “We all do.”

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2015

October 23, 2015

DON’T WE ALL?

Sins, mistakes, dumb moves ….

Don’t we all? Don’t we all?

Sins, mistakes, dumb moves,

have one big benefit. They can

help us understand each other.

If they don’t, it’s then we throw the

verbal rocks or pull the silent treatment.

Don’t we all? Don’t we all?

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2015

October 22, 2015

A LOVE SUPREME BY JOHN COLTRANE

Just listen as you picture

all these pictures below

A LOVE SUPREME

A lone wolf lopes across

a snow covered mountain field ….

A big bear stands in a cold stream laughing 

at how many salmon he’s catching ….

A pink flamingo stands there in pain

not knowing  knee surgery would really help ….

A mosquito hovers above a prom dance

deciding which one of those bare shoulders ….

A young boy skims and slides 77 flat

stones across a still sitting mountain lake ….

A pigeon just loves, loves, potato chips, just dropped there on the playground macadam….

The ocean waves keep coming, wave after

wave, heading towards the tan sandy beach….

A brown dog with hair flowing - front seat -

no seat belt - head out the open window ….

The baby keeps looking over her dad’s

shoulder at everyone else in the church ….

The guy on the motorcycle roars 99 MPH

across the desert road - his face loving it ….

The giraffe at 7 AM going by a basketball

court and a kid practicing wishes, wishes ….

A third grader coming out of a library with

17 books and almost drops the whole load ….

A saxophone player with eyes closed - with

great gladness plays to our God, A Love Supreme ….

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2015

Connecting this to our forum tonight

at St. John Neumann - Seelos Hall - 

on Pope Francis's Encyclical Letter,

Laudatio Si' - On Care 

for Our Common Home.

October 21, 2015

HEARING AIDS

Look the other in the eye….

Watch their face....

Block out the stories and comments

the other person’s comments trigger -

the stuff you want to interrupt with

and tell your stories instead of listening
to the person who is talking ….

Tell the other what you heard them say
and ask, “Is this what you’re saying?”….

If you have time, and if the conversation

was very important,  jot down what you

heard, and then ask yourself about all this ….

When needed, buy a hearing aid.

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2015

SIMILIAR  SAINTS: 

ST. PAUL  OF  THE CROSS 

AND 

ST. ALPHONSUS  DE  LIGUORI 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Similiar Saints: St. Paul of the Cross and St. Alphonsus de Liguori.

Yesterday we celebrated the feast of St. Isaac Jogues and his companions, so today we’re celebrating the feast of St. Paul of the Cross who was bumped from yesterday to today - here in North America.

I’m adding  St. Alphonsus into my thoughts - because both saints are similar.

These 2 - along with St. Leonard of Port Maurice - were the 3 great preaching missionaries in the 1700’s in Europe.

I don’t know enough about St. Leonard of Port Maurice, so I’m sticking with the similarities of St. Paul of the Cross and St. Alphonsus de Liguori.

St. Paul of the Cross was born in 1694 and St. Alphonsus was born in 1696.

St. Paul of the Cross was born in Northern Italy - St. Alphonsus was born down there in Naples - in Southern Italy.

St. Paul of the Cross was the second oldest of 16 kids and St. Alphonsus the oldest of 7 kids.

Both came from families of upper middle class - with dads in charge of things. St. Paul of the Cross’ dad was  a struggling cloth merchant - and St. Alphonsus’ dad was a sea captain.

Both founded orders of men - the Passionists and the Redemptorists.

Both are connected with orders of contemplative nuns: the Passionist Sisters and the Redemptoristines.

Both stressed living a spiritual life. As in marriage,  life has its highs and lows, feeling and non-feeling moments, especially hanging in there when one’s life with God is boring or cold, dark, dry and not too lively. St. Paul had great mystical moments with God in his younger years and in his old age, but in between he had 45 years of plain 'hang in there" years with God. Alphonsus had his mystical moments - but he also had dry years - along with terrible scruples at times.

Both wrote a lot. St. Paul wrote some 10,000 letters and St. Alphonsus 101 books.

Both stressed the cross - and in many paintings of these 2 saints you’ll see them holding a crucifix.

Both stress remembering Christ on the cross. Even more - uniting our sufferings - with the sufferings of Christ. Last night, while reading about Paul of the Cross, I spotted a word I never saw before “concrucifixion.” I'm sure you’ve heard the word “concelebration”.

Alphonsus lived long - till 1787. Paul of the cross died 1775.

October 20, 2015

A WORD

Oh yes, a word can hurt,

if spit at us - with contempt,

with anger. Oh yes. Oh yes.

What’s worse, sometimes

it can pierce our ear drum

and remain - like a barking,

biting Rottweiler in our mind,

in our memory, in our soul,

for years and years and years

and only telling another

of the hurt and hearing a

a calming or understanding

word from them can there

be healing. Oh yes. Oh yes.

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2015