April 1, 2016

APRIL   WISDOM 

One would have to be an April fool

not to see the changes in the scenery

surrounding us each Spring.

Earth erupts with clumps and clods

of dirt that rise and reach - because 

seeds and flowers want the sun and rain.

Wheat, grapes, corn, potatoes, want

resurrection. Plants want to get going

again to feed the earth - and all life on it.

This planet is not stupid. It sees the

barren moon and nothing growing on it,

as well as Mars and beyond. Comparisons

cause - spur -  bring on creations. Planet

earth knows. She shows and knows pregnancies.

She remembers this is how Spring springs.

This round host - Earth - keeps saying,

“This is my body; this is my blood,

I’m giving my life for you …. but  first you

have to sacrifice, to die, to do the work:

the planting,  the growing, the changing, the
rising, the reaching out, over and over again.”

  

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

March 31, 2016

 STILL

“Be still and know that I am God….”

Those words from Psalm 46 are still

around and still sound in our ear -

from time to time - and if we become

quiet enough - sometimes it happens -

down deep we know God is still with us.

“Be still and know that I am God….”

Sometimes we sense that the house

is moving - shifting - ever - ever - so

slightly. We hear a car come up the

street  or we hear  a train or a boat

in the distance signaling, “I am here.”

“Be still and know that I am God….”

Sometimes we hear our heart beat.

We put our thumb on our wrist. We

feel our pulse. Steady. Steady. Steady.

Beat. Beat. Beat.  But heart don’t be still

yet  - because I still don’t know you God.

“Be still and know that I am God….”

 © Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

March 30, 2016

Man in a 

Wheelchair, 

1961, 

Leon Kossoff 

JUST IN

Just was in a nursing home….

Just visiting Charlie ….

Just sitting there in his wheelchair….

Just talking small talk….
Just asking small questions ….
Just feeling the silence ....

Just feeling the isolation ....

Just praying with him a bit ….

Just feeling a bit nervous ….

Just asked him how the food was ….

Just screamed, “Get me out of here….

Just got scared knowing I couldn’t ….

Just got out of there ….

Just driving home ….
Just thought, “That’s me in 10 years….”
Just blurted out, “Who will visit me?”

© Andy Costello
 Reflections  2016 

March 29, 2016

DEEP-SEATED

Deep-rooted I get, but deep-seated,

I think I get - but I still need more time

to think about that idea or image.

Deep-seated?

Deep?

Okay down deep within us. Got that.

Seat? Whoever originated this word

“deep-seated” for the first time - did

they imagine we have parliamentary

seats or chairs around an inner table,

somewhere down deep within us, where

all our voices have a say in our decisions? 

I guess I have to figure out how many

people have a vote within? Does the vote

have to be a clear 2/3 majority or more 

for a decision to become deep-seated?

Whom am I listening to? Who has a

voice?  Am I still hearing the voices

of my parents or religious leaders

or teachers or pundits or writers?

What songs, what movies moved me?

What was our family table and

living room like when I was a kid?

Did that first TV get the best seat

in the house and have the loudest

voice in the room? Uh oh? Did

anyone notice the changes in our

conversations - if that took over?

Who has given me my opinions

and my takes, my votes on money,

politics, sex, love, God, others?

And what about that inner room that

Jesus talked about in Matthew 6:6?

Am I supposed to picture two seats

or pillows there? Is that what that’s

all about - to have inner chats - in

there with Jesus - and/or Our Father?

And what about the Last Supper?

Oh my God, the Last Supper? I haven’t 

even had my First Supper with Jesus yet.  Mass? Yes, but that meal is only taking 

place in church. It hasn’t taken place

within me yet? Oops.

Oh my God that’s what Revelation

3:20 means, “Look I am standing

at the door, knocking. If one of you

hears me calling and opens the door,

I will come in and share his meal,

side by side with him.”

Oh okay, this is some deep-seated

stuff - some starting ideas about what
deep-seated might be getting at.

How close am I to the original intent?

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

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