BLUE OWL

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Blue Owl.”

I had trouble putting today’s three readings - for this Second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C - into a recognizable theme and message, so I decided to write a story about an imaginary someone - to try to give some meaning to what today’s three readings are about. I like to do this especially when I’m not sure on what to preach about. [Cf. Isaiah 62: 1-5; 1 Corinthians 12: 4-11' and John 2: 1-11]

So here is an imaginary story called, “Blue Owl.” It’s total fiction - but I know it has become reality many times over for many, many people.

BLUE OWL

Eventually, years later, when they did the paper work they discovered that Blue Owl was born with blood and family lines that were part of 4 different Indian Tribes in a dry deserted part of Arizona. He was part of the Zuni, Pima, Yuma and the Apache Native American Peoples and didn’t seem to fit into any one of them.

His parents had long ago disappeared - as well as any connection to any siblings, or aunts of uncles.

Yet he  survived - living in three different orphanages and was making it.

At 11 years of age he was living in a Catholic group home with about 45 other little kids. It was poor. It was lonely. But it was home - a home run by a small group of American Catholic Nuns.

The nuns did their best. Better days were behind them. Yet the kids had a bed, meals, schooling, and a future promise of learning some life skills so they could get a job and a life somewhere.

Things change. The nuns had a big community meeting to go to - and at that meeting - they had to face the reality they were aging - and they had to give up some of their places.

Unfortunately, Blue Owl’s place was picked to close. The 45 kids would have to be relocated - somewhere, somehow.

One of the nuns had a grandnephew who was a newspaper reporter in St. Louis and she told him in an e-mail the horrible story about what was going to happen. He wrote the story up - giving the history of the orphanage/ school  - the work the nuns had done down through the years - and how many of the kids got jobs ranching - forest fire fighting - and doing this and that - advancing in life - some doing very well by entering into the military.   He didn’t mention - he was tempted - but he didn’t mention in the article about the alcoholic problem that afflicted many Native American People.

A dad in a family in Minnesota - Minneapolis to be exact - just happened to read the paper while waiting for a plane in St. Louis - after a business meeting - before heading back to Minneapolis. He got the thought, “I wonder if we could adopt one of these kids.”

He asked his wife and family when he got home and they thought about it - and even said a prayer about it - and they all said, “Why not?”

“Let’s go for it.”

So they called the reporter who got them in touch with the reporter’s aunt and they talked and talked - and asked if any of the kids would be able to be adopted.

“Yes!” came the answer.

So mom, dad, and three boys  - one 11 and still in grade school and two in high school  - flew down to Arizona on the long Martin Luther King Jr. weekend - got a rent-a-car - and drove 156 miles to where the orphanage school was.

The nuns provided rooms for the family there and introduced them to the kids.

Blue Owl didn’t stand out. He was quiet - off to the side - sort of out of it - but Henry from Minneapolis - the family’s youngest son - went over to Blue Owl and made a dent into his brain and story.

He told his mom and dad and two other brothers, “Blue Owl’s the one!”

All hesitated - because they had other kids in mind - and Blue Owl seemed so non-descript -  but Henry insisted that Blue Owl was his choice and invited Blue Owl to eat with them that Saturday for lunch.

The other 4 hesitated - because Blue Owl seemed so “Forsaken” - so “Desolate”  - but Henry - Henry had a forceful  personality and won the day. He said, “Most of the other kids will find a home, but I don’t know about Blue Owl.”

Blue Owl arrived at their home a month later. Dad and Henry had been in contact with him and they are the ones who flew down to Arizona to get him and get his stuff - the little that he had - and come to their home in Minneapolis - and experience plenty of snow and cold - but also warmth and love, home and family.

Years and years later, looking back at that whole experience, Doctor Blue Own Peterson - that became his Norwegian American adopted name - told many an audience at Medical School where he taught surgery - how lucky he was to have someone to pick up a newspaper in an airport - get an inspiration - and then do something about it.

He would tell his students and different audiences - it was like eating at McDonald's all your life and then you’re at a wedding banquet and they are feeding you like a king. It was like living on the street and you scraped up two dollars to buy a Powerball lottery ticket and you won.

He would conclude many a speech or lecture, “I won that day when I moved from a small run down orphanage on a dirt road in nowhere Arizona to a wonderful home on a tree lined street in Minneapolis, Minnesota - discovering I had a mom and a dad and three wonderful brothers - especially my twin: Henry.”

Sometimes he would add, “I don’t know how I got the name ‘Blue Owl.’ I might have been too moody - too dark blue owl night moody like - but when I came to Minnesota I became in time Yellow Canary - a happy Yellow Canary.”

“But no, I still like the sound and feel of Blue Owl.”

January 16, 2016

2 BLESSINGS

Two blessings:
the ability to say 

some day and back when….

To have dreams and memories….

To look to the Future and the Past….

To know there is a Spring and an Autumn,
To enjoy inwardly youth and old age....

To know I am going to do and I did that ….
In the meanwhile, right now

I have to take the garbage out

and empty the dish washer.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

REGRETS  AND  RECOVERY

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Friday in the first week in Ordinary Time is, “Regrets and Recovery.”

R and R

That should take care of today’s two readings.

FIRST READING

It sounds to me that today’s first reading from 1^st Samuel is loaded with regrets. [Cf. 1^st Samuel 8: 4-7, 10-22a.]  It’s also loaded with hindsight. Hindsight with negative consequences.

Of course parts of scriptures are written in the present tense - but in reality they are looking back.

A group in Israel comes to Samuel and tell him they want to have a king.

Samuel responds by telling them all that having a king will entail. It will mean you might lose your sons - your land - heavy duty taxing from you - tithing - big time tithing, etc. etc. etc.

In other words there are consequences. And they are consequences that will cost you and you will regret your decision in wanting to have a king.

It could be switching a job - a moving to a new house - getting a divorce - what have you.

The title of my homily is, “Regrets and Recovery.” 

Part one could also be entitled, “Cost and Consequences.”

It could also have the title, “Foresight and Hindsight”. That would be another reflective twosome for a homily.

RECOVERY; TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s gospel - Mark 2: 1-12 is a great text for reflection.

We can’t see them  - but I have a theory every person on the planet is carrying a back pack on their back. You’ve seen kids going down the street coming home or going into school with back packs.

Well everyone has their back pack. 

Question as in the Capital One Advertisements: “What’s in your pack?”

People carry their sins, their mistakes, their consequences, their regrets,  their story, their autobiography, on their backs.

And our past can paralyze us a bit.  Obviously, some more than others.

This guy in today’s gospel is paralyzed and his four friends carry him to Jesus.

They can’t worm their way through the crowd. Wait your turn.

So they go up on the roof and then  through the roof.

And they lower him in front of Jesus - and Jesus heals the man - starting with forgiveness of his sins.

And the man gets those consequences of his sins - off his back and he stands up straight healed and all are astounded and glorify God saying, “We have never seen anything like this.”

Let Jesus heal you.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “Regrets and Recovery.”

Take some time to check what’s in your pack - the stuff that might be wearing you our and wearing you down.

January 15, 2016

COMMUNION

The Eucharist, Christ in the bread,

settled down on the lonely hand, on

the lonely tongue, as if he/she were

the only person in the full church.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

January 14, 2016

SACRED  WORDS

What are your sacred words?

Make a list of your 10 top words

and then pick your top 3 in order

of importance?

For example:

Communion

Home

Listening

Love

Friendship

Meals - with pie

Life

Others

Cards [Playing]

Today

Top three:

                 Jesus [On the other side of the                          door into God]

Listening

Others

Tomorrow my list will be different. Smile.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

January 13, 2016

MORE 3 WORD SENTENCES

Here are 3 more 3 word sentences to

practice saying to an another in a mirror. 

You are awesome.

You are lovable.

You are thoughtful.

You are challenging.

You are demanding.
You aren’t listening.
You aren’t careful.
You are helpful.

You are cautious.
You are good.

You are sweet.

You are easy.

You are lazy.

You are lying.

You are quiet.

You are precious.

You are giving.

You seem nervous.

You seem scared.

You seem edgy.

You are not.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

PAUSE 

OR  CHECK  YOUR  SHOE  SIZE 

BEFORE  YOU PUT YOUR FOOT 

IN YOUR MOUTH 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Tuesday in the first week of Ordinary Time is, “Pause Or Check Your Shoe Size  Before You Put Your Foot In Your Mouth.”

How many times do we have to misjudge someone before we stop misjudging someone?

EXAMPLES

We’re at Country Buffet and we see this big - big person - going back for seconds. And we think to ourselves, “Fatso, no wonder you’re so fat - going back and for seconds.”  Then we notice they’re not getting this round of food for themselves, but for their mom or someone in a wheelchair right next to them.

We’re sitting on the porch. It’s summer. We see someone with their dog on the other side of the street. The dog does his or her business on another person’s lawn. Then the dog walker walks away without scooping up the poop. We think, “Those are the people who make this world one selfish planet.” Five minutes later we see the dog walker coming back with a plastic bag and their super dooper pooper scooper.

So and so is in the restaurant in the booth across from us with this other woman. Wow. She’s gorgeous. We think, “Hope his wife doesn’t know about this.” Surprise his wife walks in and says “Hi sister-in-law - I got caught in traffic. There was an accident. Did you order yet?  I’m starving.”

The title of my homily is, “Pause Or Check Your Shoe Size  Before You Put Your Foot In Your Mouth.” Or: How many times do we have to misjudge someone before we stop misjudging someone?

TODAY’S READINGS

In today’s first reading from the first Book of Samuel Eli judges Hanna to be drunk and says to her, “How long will you make a drunken show of yourself? Sober up from your wine.” [Cf. 1 Samuel 1:14

She says, “It isn’t that my Lord, I am an unhappy woman, I have had neither wine nor liquor; I was only pouring out my troubles to the Lord.”

Did Eli learn from his foot in mouth moment?

In today’s gospel the crazy man in the temple knows who Jesus is - the Holy One of God! - but misreads Jesus’ motive for coming into the temple.  Yet Jesus heals him and the whole crowd is amazed. [Cf. Mark 1: 21-28]

LEARNING

So a learning for today is to pause more - before our tongue jumps words out of our mouth - to make room for our foot.

Pause: think of the first 3 letters in the word mistake - or misjudge - or misread - or misquote - or mislead - or misconnect - or misperception - or mislabel - or misinform - or  misappropriate…. Mis:  the prefix simply meaning miss. Pause - something might be missing. Sometimes we might not know the whole story. Maybe we haven’t been called to be on jury duty to judge our neighbor.

Pause: before speaking. Maybe we’re wrong. Maybe what we think we’re seeing is not what we’re seeing. Maybe what we’re spreading is rumor, gossip, whispers - and not the real story, the whole story, and we’re simply putting you know what on someone else’s lawn - and not cleaning or clearing it up.

CONCLUSION

We all know the old story about the town gossip and the man with the wheelbarrow. Every day a man walked home from his gardening job with his wheelbarrow. Every day he stopped in for a beer on his way home - and left his wheelbarrow out in front. It was a safe town.  One day - when about to leave - the rain came pouring down. A buddy said, “My car is out back. Let me drive you home and you can pick up your wheelbarrow  on the way to work in the morning.  Well, the town gossip spread the rumor that he was dead drunk on the floor of the bar - all night long. She peaked out her front window every hour on the hour.  The guy with the wheelbarrow got wind of what the town gossip had done, so that night - on his way home from work - he parked his wheelbarrow right under her window just across the street from the bar.