THE EARTH 

IS FULL OF 

THE GOODNESS OF THE LORD

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Tuesday after Easter  is, “The Earth Is Full of the Goodness of the Lord.”

That’s the Psalm Response for today - from Psalm 33.

Most of the time I preach on something from the Gospel and sometimes the first reading, but it hit me last night to reflect upon the Psalm Response for today: “The Earth is Full of the Goodness of the Lord.”

We said that 4 times - so it hit me: Try to come up with 4 examples where we see the goodness of the Lord.

FOUR EXAMPLES

The first example would be this earth itself which we live on. It has water, air, food. It has temperatures in which we can live - or move to and move away from. We have our seasons. The average temperature on earth is 61 degrees Fahrenheit.  That doesn’t mean it’s not hot in a desert in Libya or Death Valley in California which has registered the hottest temperature on earth - 134 Fahrenheit in the air and land that registered 159.3 Fahrenheit. The coldest spots would be Antarctica which register minus 128 Fahrenheit. Mars is tempting with 70 degrees Fahrenheit in summer at its equator, but it can jump to 100 below that same night. Talk about cold. It can be minus 400 on Pluto.  So for starters, we have a wonderful home to live in and on - with variety and something to talk about besides sports and each other.

The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

The next example would be people who are full of goodness: family, friends, volunteers, especially  people who give their lives and time and energy and study in service to others - doctors, nurses, teachers, researchers, fire fighters, police, EMT folks, etc. etc., etc.

The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord

Third would be places and scenes of natural beauty all around the world: mountains, oceans, beaches, lakes, the Mississippi, the Grand Canyon, national parks, city parks, ski slopes, glaciers in Alaska. There are whales, sea lions, eagles, robins, roses,  magnolia trees, pugs and puddles, black and white cats - that sometimes look like the ying-yang black and white spiral circle. 

There are wonderful surprise twists and paradoxes: ugly gnarled trees sometimes end up as beautiful furniture. In churches like ours we see the cross flowering.  THEN…. Then there are unique surprisingly beautiful interesting like the brown yellow glisten of the sunset on the back of a brownish hippo in a mud hole in Africa.

I add mention of a hippo because of a favorite quote from Albert Schweitzer, “Late on the third day, at the very moment when, at sunset, we were making our way through a herd of hippopotamuses, there flashed upon my mind, unforeseen and unsought, the phrase, ‘Reverence for Life.’” [1] Out of My Life and Thought (1949)

The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

And fourth and last we could list our creations. We’re all made in the image and likeness of God. So check out our creations:  paintings by Van Gogh,  statues by Michelangelo, crayon drawings by grandkids, buildings by Frank Lloyd Wright or Frank Geary, monuments like the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. designed by Maya Lin, cities like Paris or gardens like those in Kyoto, Japan.

The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord

CONCLUSION

Ooops! Better bring in Christ and Mary, and Mary Magdalene and St. Peter whom we hear about in today’s two readings  and all those who have given us, passed down to us the gift of faith - and hope - and love.

Ooops! Better say:  Isn’t it our daily call: to do nice, to be neat, to be caring so others at the end of the day will say spontaneously, “The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. Amen. 

FEAR IS A  PIANO 

[This is a reflection for Monday after Easter - coming out of one sentence in today's gospel,
Matthew 28: 8-15 - the sentence being, "Do not be afraid."]

We walk into someone’s house and there is a black piano.

Most of the time it’s a stand up piano - against a wall.

Most of the time it’s closed - but not always. When open, we see the black and white keys.

Some homes - have a baby grand or an adult grand piano.

But as I have heard reported on TV - people are buying pianos less and less. Sales are down.

Some people have key boards. They take a lot less space.

And sometimes people walk up to a piano and hit a key or two and the sound resounds through the air - through the house.

And sometimes we’re walking down the street and we hear a piano  - like when I take a walk from St. Mary’s - out the door - up the street - down Green Street - walking through Ego Alley - heading for the Naval Academy - and I hear a piano playing in a house on Green Street - just across from the public school.

Piano sounds trigger thoughts…. Piano sounds triggers memories….

Pianos do that. Fears do that.

Pianos hit notes. Pianos hits memories. Lessons. Songs.  And the sounds resound through our souls.

Pianos….

Fear is a piano.

Phobias - the Greek word for fear - abound  - resound - rebound in our inner being and our inner attic or basement.

A piano has many keys - and each has a distinctive note.

Phobias have different keys. Each have distinctive notes. There are fears of elevators and  fears of escalators - fear of planes and fear of submarines - fear of bridges - fear of cracks in the sidewalks.

I have a classmate who can’t eat chicken - because as a kid he was visiting a relative on a farm and the farmer cut a chicken’s head off - and the chicken ran across the yard without a head on.

Ooooh.

Fears can get us to run around without our head on.

And many fears evoke the “Oooh!” or “Eeeck!” sound. They can be like a sound from a plunked piano key going down and sending a high note rising up and going through a room.

The little child fears the dark - so too the tourist who won’t go into the cave - in which the whole group of tourists goes into - but this person says, “I’ll see you when you come out.”

Fears cripple, paralyze, scare - and get people to call for a priest - or say to another, “Hold my hand.”

In today’s gospel Jesus says, “Do not be afraid!”

“Fear not!” - “Don’t be afraid!”  - those words - that message appear over 450 times in the scriptures.

Easter is a time of hope. Remember that T-shirt message from a few years back, “Fear not!”  - well it’s the Easter Message -

How not to fear:  realize the Risen Lord walks with us. Amen.

Fear is a piano - it has many notes.

Jesus is the music - the Alleluia to hear and to play and pray when fears abound and sound warnings at the entrance of our cave. Amen.

Pianoaphobia - Fearaphobia - Pantophobia are around.

How to learn to play the piano?  “Practice. Practice. Practice.” “Take lessons from a teacher - from a Rabbi.”

How to deal with fears? “Practice. Practice. Practice.” “Take lessons from a teacher - a Rabbi - named Jesus.” 

March 28, 2016

DRIED  TEARS

Sometimes the salt in tears

sear the skin just around

the eyes or is it from the

rubbing with the side of

our  hand - nature’s tissue?

The phone rings. We hear

in our ear and then our tears

that she died from the overdose.

Or we hear in our ear that a

daughter’s marriage is breaking up

and “What about the kids? Yeah!

What about the kids? Is either

of them thinking about them?”

And what about the consequences

that cause  more pain and more

tears - many of which never dry up?”

Or does resurrection happen any more?

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2016

March 27, 2016

EASTER IN THE 

SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE 

How do they do Easter in the

Southern Hemisphere? How

do they do Christmas for that

matter as well?  Do all the

images and metaphors come

across as strange? Easter is

Spring and budding trees and

flowers - and the return of the

birds on the wings. Winter is

over - so how do they do Easter

in the Southern Hemisphere?

How does resurrection from

the dead look when trees are
losing their leaves? How does 
God show up as a baby in the
summer time? Does everyone 
down there look up at the night 
sky stars and wonder and 
ponder the Southern Cross?

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

Picture taken today

 by John Yackus

at 36,000 feet just

north of Anandyr,

Far Eastern Siberia,

Easter Sunday morning

March 27, 2016

EASTER

DAWNING ON US

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Easter: Dawning on Us.”

East - obviously - the direction of the sun rising.

East - where we first see the dawn - the morning light.

East? When was the last time we took the time to attend the liturgy of the rising sun? At the beach? Out our bathroom window? When?

Easter? What has dawned on us about the meaning of this faith belief?

CENTERPIECE

Easter:  the central feast of Christianity.

As St. Paul put it in First Corinthians 15:  if Christ did rise from the dead, our preaching is useless. What are we doing here in church this morning? Let’s head for the doors. If Christ did not rise from the dead, we’re liars. We’re committing perjury. We’re saying something - that is, that there is life after death - and it didn’t happen for Christ. If Christ did not rise from the dead, we’re still stuck in our sins. “And what is more serious, all who have died in Christ, have perished.”

In other words, if Christ did not rise from the dead, we won’t either.

It’s like one of my favorite sayings - from Groucho Marx, “If our parents didn’t have any kids, chances are, we won’t either.”

The human world anthem will be Peggy Lee’s song: “Is that all there is … and if that is all there is, my friend, then let’s keep dancing.”

Easter. It’s the central belief in Christianity.

LOTS OF ROCKS

I read somewhere that one of the key moments in human development was when pre-historic migrants moving across the hills somewhere stopped to bury their dead. Before that the body would be tossed off a path and folks kept moving on. Moving on. But for some person who died, the person was buried  under some rocks and a marker marked the spot - so that it could be spotted when that family group came along that path in the future.

I am reading right now an interesting book,  A History of Religion in 5 ½  Objects - by S. Brent Plate.   One of the 5 ½ objects is stones.

He gives example after example of the significance of stones when it comes to spirituality. The little girl goes camping with her family for the first time and has a great time. She picks up a stone that last day and brings it home with her and keeps it on her bureau as a reminder of a great time. Then she keeps it in her significant life stuff box as a memory. Millions and millions of people have done that before and after. Gift shops at the shore and T-Shirt stores with crab magnets  in Annapolis have made their living on that human quirk and quest. We want solid reminders of where we’ve been. Memories. Stones - the solid - lasts.

Israel has its mountains and its Wailing Wall of hundreds of huge stones - with the dome of the rock of Islam just above it. Islam has its square stone quadrant in Mecca.

I have a piece of the Berlin Wall on a shelf in my room.

Christianity has its stone marble altars - but it also had its stone that locked in the dead body of Christ - in his borrowed tomb and in today’s gospel we hear the words that the stone has been rolled away and Christ is not there.

Our graves are everywhere. Christ’s grave is nowhere.

Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again and again and again - but he’s not locked in some stone tomb.

The stone has been rolled away.

Christ is in the bread and the wine. Christ is in his followers. Christ is in his words. Christ is with Our Father and all those who have gone before us in Christ. Christ is everywhere. Christ is all time: the alpha and the omega.

Take and eat,  this is my body. Take and drink, this is my blood. Listen and hear my words. Close your eyes and  feel my Spirit.

The Spirit of God is in the wind and in the fire. The risen Christ is everywhere.

Easter us, O Lord. Dawn upon us. Let your light shine upon us and we shall be saved.

ST. ALPHONSUS

The priests in this parish are members of a religious order called the Redemptorists. We’re around 6,000 members - all around the world. We’re getting older here in our Baltimore Province. We are much younger and growing in India and Vietnam, Poland and Brazil, Paraguay and Africa. 

Our founder, St. Alphonsus de Liguori, 1696-1787, wrote over 100 books - but he didn’t write a book on the Resurrection.

He wrote big time about the Suffering Jesus Christ being the meaning of our faith - our hope - and our charity.

The other day I was talking to Father Mickey Martinez - from Paraguay - a member of our Community here in Annapolis. He  does much of the Latino, the Spanish, ministry here in St. Mary’s. He mentioned that Good Friday has much more meaning for Latinos than Easter Sunday. He added, “Just look around….” Then he added, “They have a lot more struggle in their lives.”

That hit me.

St. Alphonsus wrote over and over again about the cross and the struggles and the sufferings of Jesus Christ. He has a whole book on the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ. He wrote a small booklet, The Stations of the Cross, which is still used almost everywhere - especially during Lent.

Up till 1950 in the Catholic Church,  Good Friday was the big moment in Lent. Easter Sunday was celebrated. People dressed up. Flowers were central - but in theology it was still the Suffering Christ of Good Friday.

In 1950 out came a book by a Redemptorist F.X. Durwell. It was entitled, “Resurrection”. The horror of World War II was over.

The Catholic Church made a leap in its theology and the meaning of Easter around that time.  The Easter Vigil became prominent . The RCIA became prominent - when thousands and thousands of people on Holy Saturday evening became Catholic.

CONCLUSION

Becoming Catholic ….

The title of my homily is, “Easter Dawning on Us.”

Becoming Catholic….

We’re all still becoming Catholic. We’ll renew our baptismal vows today - in a moment.

What has dawned on us - so far - about what it means to be a Catholic?

If we are still having babies and raising them, Christ, Christmas, still means a lot to us.

If we are having struggles, sickness, family problems, Christ on the Cross, means a lot to us.

If - if - if  - what __________ fill in the blank what it takes to be  going through, for Easter, for the Risen Christ to mean a lot more to us.

Is the meaning of Easter - dawning on us - in a new way?

Has that stone been rolled back and the dead Christ risen in a new way in our life?

Hopefully our answer is, “Oh yeah. Oh yeah!” 

March 26, 2016

PASSOVER   MOON 

Bright white light in a dark monstrance sky….
Jesus was in the garden - just two nights

ago or so. It was after the Passover Meal.

Praying - he was hoping they would pray

with him - but no, they were sleeping.

Then came the arrest - because of Judas’

betrayal - money and a kiss. Jesus was

arrested - mocked - put on trial - dragged

and killed on a hill - on a cross that Friday

afternoon. He was buried in a borrowed

tomb. Then the Father pulls him out of

that stone tomb tabernacle - to rise, to

proclaim:  hope, peace, new life, resurrection

to those in locked upper rooms - brains in

stubborn skulls - minds that were Thomas

sure that there was no more. But there was 

more at Galilee’s shore - bread - full nets

of caught fish  - breakfast with Jesus on

the beach of the future - still going -

2000 years later. Looking at the

Passover Moon, does anyone have 
Thomas doubts that there won’t be 
more - much, much, more - to come?

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

LAST  WORDS

The title of my reflections for this Good Friday Mass tonight is, “Last Words.”

On the death bed of our cross - what will be our last words?

On Good Friday - down through the years -  it’s been a tradition - to reflect on one or two or all of the traditional 7 Last Words of Jesus.

Actually they are seven  sayings or statements of Jesus - like, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” Or “Father, into your hands I place my spirit.” Or “I thirst.” Or, the words which Jesus said  to the Good Thief on the other cross, “Today you’ll be with me in Paradise.”

Someone wasn’t under the cross with a tape recorder or a Cross Ball Point pen jotting down these last words of Jesus.

But in time to help us, they were written down in Greek in the Gospels - and we find three of them in Luke and three of them in John. And the other statement, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” we find in both Matthew and Mark.

What will be our last words?  I would say that we can’t plan on what we’re going to say when we’re dying. In books of quotes we find various death bed words from famous people - and some are apocryphal like Lincoln saying to his wife, “I told you - I didn’t want to go to - a damn play.”

I remember reading -  that Goethe’s last words were, “More light.”

This afternoon in writing this homily to get some light - I looked up on Google, “Death Bed Words” and found some interesting comments.

One woman said, “My mom's last words to me were 'You have to learn the difference between Chinese and Japanese people, because they don't like it when you mix them up.' I wish I was joking. Those were my mom’s last words.”

Another lady said, “I was a health care aide on a geriatric ward - when a woman - so old and frail - she looked dead already - motioned to me to come to her. I put my ear next to her mouth and she quietly said, 'I just wanted to say 'goodbye' to someone.' It broke my heart. She died a few days later….”

Another person said, “When I first started as a 911 dispatcher - I had a call come in - and all that the person said was 'Tell them I'm sorry,' and hung up….’ “I knew right away what we were going to find when we got there. It was the worst feeling. I just felt so dirty that I was the last one to talk to this guy, and no matter how fast we sent help it didn't matter - it was just too late. So I guess he was confessing, but it just made me feel icky.”

“In nursing school a lady in her mid-40s came in after a car accident.” “She needed surgery, and before she went in - she made me promise to tell her husband that she had a child before she met him and put it up for adoption and should her son ever come looking for her to let him know she was sorry and loved him every day.” Then this nurse said, “She lived and I hope she got to tell him that herself.”

Frank Sinatra died after saying, “I’m losing it.”

William Henry Seward, architect of the Alaska Purchase, was asked if he had any final words. He replied, “Nothing, only ‘love one another.’”

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote the Sherlock Holmes stories, died at age 71 in his garden. He turned to his wife and said, “You are wonderful,” then clutched his chest and died.

As he was dying, Alfred Hitchcock said, “One never knows the ending. One has to die to know exactly what happens after death, although Catholics have their hopes.”

Father Tizio would love this one. Former baseball player “Moe” Berg’s last words: “How did the Mets do today?”

The night before my brother was to have major surgery in the Washington Hospital Center on his brain cancer,  I talked to him on phone from New York and my last words to him were, “I love you.” And his last words to me were, “I love you too.” I got down to D.C. the next day - but he didn’t make it.

I have my last words with my mom on a tape recorder - 45 minutes’ worth of wonderful words. I got the thought to get her story on tape. She was still very healthy and still working - at the age of 82. So I set up a small tape recorder and asked her about her life. After a while she got tired and said, “The moo is out of me.”  She then said, “Next time we’ll get the rest of the story.”  

She was killed in a hit and run accident two weeks later - so that tape is very precious - very, very precious.  

And I got the moo part of her comment when years later we visited a family graveyard not too far from where my mom was from in Galway,  Ireland. To get into the graveyard, they had like a turnstile to keep cows out. I was with my two sisters and my brother-in-law. Wow was my sister Peggy the nun surprised when she stepped in you know what. Evidently the cows had an Easy Pass Path in some other way.

Nope what she said was not her last words. I got to hear a few of them in a last chance conversation with her in Scranton, Pennsylvania before she died.

The title of my reflection for tonight is, “Last words.”

Jesus had some wonderful words on the wooden death bed of the cross. The one I like the best and have said 1,000 times is, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.”

I would like and love to add something my classmate Larry told me. He had had a sort of fight or disagreement with his mom over something as he was going back to Brazil where he was stationed - and he gets back and gets a call a short time afterwards that his mom had died.

He flew back to Brooklyn but before going over to the funeral parlor he dropped into church and had a great prayer talk with his mom - that was filled with forgiveness - and then he was able to face her in the casket.

We Christians have Easter. We have our great faith gift that there is life after this - and we only have metaphors and hopes what heaven is like - but my hope and my faith tell me - we can all love one another for all eternity and say the things we always wanted to say - the “I’m sorry’s” - the “I love you’s” - the saying, “With you and God I am in paradise.”