November 8, 2015

OVERHEARD  IN  CHURCH

“Mom, what are you doing?”

“Putting 2 pennies in the poor box!”

“What for?”

“For the poor.”

“Wow! Can I do that?”

“Here!”

“Thanks.”

“Mom, why do you do that?”

“Because I saw my mom do that.”

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2015
Picture on top of the poor box
in St. Michael's Cathedral in Toronto

November 7, 2015

D N A

A white tissue was tossed towards a trash basket

in the mall. Missed.  It just lay there as I sat there

on a small mall  bench  - some thirty feet away.

I saw a mall cleaner with rubber gloves walking.

Nope he missed it goo - so the tissue stayed there.

Dozens and dozens of people went by it - till I got

up - picked it up - and slam dunked into the basket.

Sat down again and began thinking about so many

NCIS TV programs. That tissue contained someone’s

DNA - someone’s nose run - someone’s something.

Began wondering where my DNA might still be

clinging. I looked up on internet the question,

“How long does DNA last?” I got two answers:

521 years and if the conditions are right, 6.8

million years. Now that’s a long, long time.

This got me wondering - especially about my parents.

Is my DNA still on their foreheads where I kissed

them or on their hands which I touched before

the casket lid was closed and oops, obviously,

I’m walking around with their DNA all the time.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2015

November 6, 2015

GOD HANDS US

God hands us so much,

but all is always so, so different.

Sometimes a rock, sometimes a rose;

sometimes a snail, sometimes a spider;

sometimes water, sometimes a wounded dog;

sometimes a seed, sometimes the soil;

sometimes a field of snow, sometimes a desert.

God hands us so, so much and says,

“Look, learn, love - but don’t get stuck.”

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2015

November 5, 2015

PLACES

A large map graced the wall

with tiny, tiny red headed pins,

placed here, there, everywhere.

It got me to stop and to look:

Caracas, Venezuela; Durban,

South Africa; Ballynahown,

County Galway, Ireland.

Then I spotted a red pin on the floor.

Where had it been I couldn’t find

an empty hole anywhere on the map.

Oh well, you never know at times

where another person has been

- as well as the why and the whatever.

Then it hit me - why not pin down all the

places I’ve been - and see if I remember

the why, the what and the who of each place.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2015

November 4, 2015

AS I WALKED BY

It was morning….

As I walked down the street

I noticed an aluminum walker -

leaning against a blue garbage can -

right on the edge of the sidewalk.

Besides the walker, it looked like

a lot of stuff was being tossed.

Did someone die? Did they walk enough?

Did they think they did enough?

Did they see enough as they walked by?

Love enough? Learn enough? Laugh enough?

Did they finish what they wanted to finish?

Will I? Maybe I should take this aluminum 
walker because I want to see a lot more
as I walk by.

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2015

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2015

November 3, 2015

UNNOTICED

Gum under church benches, golf pencils,

the spring in a ballpoint pen, the knobs on

stoves, tiny white  rocks in tire threads, but

surprise God not only knows about the

unnoticed things on the floor of our planet,

but God is also aware of the hair in our ears,

nose and the top of our head - and especially

the tear in the eye of a father at the wedding

of his daughter or a lost son - somewhere

out there tonight - who is not even thinking

of coming home yet - but God is aware of

the father’s tears, his hopes and his prayers.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2015

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2015

November 2, 2015

ALL SOULS DAY

I'll  be taking my last breath some day ….

I'm picturing my eyes closed ….
I’m picturing myself dead ….
In a bed? In a nursing home? I hope it
will be on the street - like St. John 
Neumann - while doing someone a favor....

Is that the last picture I take?

Or is there another next? A beyond -
beyond all this - beyond my powers  - to rise 
again - out of the ground - a new birth?

I see all these dead November leaves.
I imagine next Spring - new leaves budding -
after a long cold winter - new life showing.

So here we have THE elephant in the room sized question: Is there something that 

happens to me after I die? A now what? 

A next?

I’m not talking about the next being someone calling the undertaker or the church. I’m not talking about my funeral 
or who will visit me and stand above 
my grave. I'm talking here about me.

I'm asking:  is there a beyond all this?

I'm asking: is there SOMEONE in control here?

I'm asking: take my index finger and see
what I scratch in my dust or in my blood.  

When it comes to a next, do I answer with
a "Yes" or a "No" or a "Help!" or a nothing? 

For those of us who believe in a God - a God we've been conscious, semi-conscious or very conscious of throughout our life - or in Jesus if we are a Christian - then is the after death posture a total letting go? Is it a waiting to see
if someone will start me up again in a new mode - a new control - a new way of being -
that is totally out of my control? 

As I stand here  - I hear the Risen Lord Jesus
say, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."

This is my hope as I stand here on the cold ground - with all these dead leaves surrounding
me - here at my sister's grave on All Souls Day?

                                                                    © Andy Costello, Reflections 2015