April 16, 2016

ONE SECRET OF HAPPINESS

One secret of happiness, there are more -
is to do something for someone else -
quickly - today - without hesitation.

What to do - some specifics: a call, a
visit, a surprise e-mail, a prayer, a look in
in the eye "Thank you" - to a waitress.

You can do it. You have hands and feet.
You have time. You have eyes that see
those in need. Quick help someone.

You have ears to hear - another. Just
ask how they are doing this day.  Just
ask and just listen - and just shut up.

One secret of happiness, there are more:
to die to mouth - to self - to rise for others -
and to just watch and see how they are today.

(c) Reflections Andy Costello

April 15, 2016

YEAR OF MERCY

The pope - the General - is calling us

to a year of mercy. Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy.

Jesus is calling us to less fear

and more forgiveness. Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy.

Mercy and truth must meet - must kiss - and be 

the choice we make with gratitude. Lord have

mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy.

Mercy is the eye opener, the I opener.

It’s brings all of us to the same table. Lord have

mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

Check out Pope Francis
call for the family to "The Joy
of Love" - "Amoris Laetita".
Check out as well the movie,
Babette's Feast.
Rent the movie and watch it
as a couple and/or  as a family.
Type into Google,
Babette's Feast and watch
excerpts and scenes
or the whole movie -
subtitles and all. 

April 14, 2016

MORNING

Morning has broken...
Another day, O Lord.
Thank You. 

Morning has repaired
the light. That doesn't 
sound as musical, 
as "Morning has broken...,"
but Cat Stevens and 
the birds are singing -
and the dark has gone
and the light is on. 
Another day, O Lord. 
Thank You.

Morning! The gift of
another day, O Lord.
Thank you.

April 13, 2016

DEATH OF A CLASSMATE

My classmate Jack just died.

This was a sudden surprise.

That’s 3 in the past 3 years.

I guess that’s to be expected

after hitting 73. The Bible gives

us 3 score and 20. That’s 70.

Time's up for me one of these days.
Who’s going to clean my room?
Who’s going to pitch my stuff?

But as they don’t say, I’m taking

a lot with me to my grave, to You,

O God, the other Sure of my life.

Amen.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

April  12, 2016

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Ahem…. Ahem …. AHEM!

A H E M!!!

I’m here.

Please acknowledge me. At least

recognize that I’m in the room. I’m

here. I have a voice. I have ideas.

I can count. “One!” “Two!”

That’s me Number 2 when

we’re the only two in the room

or 200 when we’re in a crowd.

You’re number One in whatever

room you’re in. We all know that.

A H E M!!!

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

I’M  HUNGRY! 

I’M  THIRSTY! 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Third Tuesday after Easter is, “I’m Hungry, I’m Thirsty.”

We’re in the 6^th chapter of John these days and the theme is: using bread Jesus takes away the deepest human hungers and thirsts.

DESIRE

At the core of every one of us is hunger and thirst - desire: the inner fire called “desire”.

I want! I need! I was hoping for ______.  I desire. I’m hungry. I’m thirsty.

The little baby - when it comes to all this - can be very obvious - naked - with his or her hungers and thirsts. I want what I want when I want it. I want you - and where are you when I need you - for food, for milk, for love, for attachment, for touch, for skin, for the scent of mom and dad - for their real presence.

The little baby - every little baby is “The Scream”. We’ve all seen Edvard Munch’s painting of  “The Scream”. Babies don’t care where they are. They just scream when they want - when they are hungry - when they are thirsty. I’ve also seen “The Scream” from people in their second childhood - in nursing homes as well.

The core motive for everyone - down deep - is satisfaction - otherwise when their Pampers or Depends are uncomfortable  - out comes “The Scream!”

Today’s gospel ends this way. Hear it again:

So they said to Jesus,
“Sir, give us this bread always.”
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life;
whoever comes to me will never hunger,
and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”

There they are the two words: “hunger” and “thirst”.

WE KNOW THE FEELING

We know what it is to be hungry - to be starving - whether it’s for ice water on a warm day or warm tomato soup on a cold day.

We know when our relationships, our marriages, our families, our friendships are going right. We know satisfaction when our hopes and desires for connection - for good family stuff is going on.  We know when we hunger and thirst for solutions to family problems.

ONION

I remember reading about the onion as an image - about life.

I for one never liked onions. They are like mushrooms - I don’t like them either.

But I liked the saying, “Life is like an onion. You peel off one layer at a time and sometimes you cry.”

I also heard that an onion has no core - you peel and peel - and in the end all you have is nothing - and transparency - hold that last peeling - that last layer - up to the light  and we can see right through it to nothingness.

This is true - if we cut off the stem of an onion. However, we all have stems, we all have roots. It tells us where we comes from.

When we start peeling off our layers - when we start seeing our motives - we are getting closer and closer to our deeper and deeper hungers and thirsts - where we come from.

Life is peeling - and sometimes we cry. We are layered.  We might go one layer down into ourselves and discover that another is using us - or we are using another. We might spend our life bragging about our children or our accomplishments - so that others will love us and be impressed - but when  study this thought - hold it up to the light and realize our motive for bragging is because we feel small and unimpressive to ourselves.

CONCLUSION: JESUS GETS US TO PEEL

Jesus gets us to peel off lots of layers - and find out what’s underneath.

And when we go very underneath, we discover what we’re saying, what we’re screaming about down deep underneath. It’s all about our hungers and our thirsts.

And that’s where Jesus is - down there in our underneath hungers and thirsts.

However, he’s not an onion, he’s bread. 

TWO GREAT SIGNS:

BREAD AND WINE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 3^rd Monday after Easter is, “Two Great Signs: Bread and Wine.”

In today’s gospel Jesus challenges the crowd - the great crowd of Chapter 6 in the gospel of John. [Cf. John 6:22-29]

Chapter 6 is the Eucharistic Chapter, the Mass Chapter, the Chapter to read if you spend time in the Eucharistic Adoration chapel at St. Mary’s - or you sit here in the quiet of this church or St. Mary’s or any Catholic church - before or after Mass to pray - with Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.

In the gospels, we hear Jesus from time to time going after folks who follow him because they are following him because of the signs, the miracles or because of  the zip and brew-ha-ha of being part of a big exciting place to be crowd that crowds around Jesus. [Cf. Matthew 12;38; Matthew 16; 4; Mark 8:11-12; Luke 11: 16; Luke 11: 29; John 4: 48; John 10:41; John 12: 18.]

In this gospel for today, he’s going after folks who are following him because of food.

BREAD AND WINE AND TIME

I don’t know about you, but I’m discovering in my old age that Jesus’ choice of bread and wine makes big time sense.

We accept by faith that Jesus Christ is present in this great sacrament.

Good -  but I’m also discovering by reason - by human behaviors - that Jesus uses a meal to present basic messages. He uses  bread and wine to help us make greater sense about life - to have a real presence in life.

I’m hungry for food…. I’m thirsty…. I am hungry for meaning! I’m hungry for love. I am hungry for appreciation. I am hungry for God.

Take bread - basic bread - part of meals for lots of people. I don’t know about bread in the Chinese culture. That’s one thing I miss at Chinese restaurants. Bread. I have never been in a Chinese family kitchen or meal to check this out. So to be discovered ....

Back to bread…. Bread, bread, bread,  in all its many variations: rye, pumpernickel, wheat, Italian bread, French bread - as well as in all its shapes - twists, loaves, round, rectangular, rolls, sliced, broken, pulled, shared…..

A whole loaf of bread can be broken and shared with many people.

Bread can bring us together. Let us break bread together. Let us be in communion with each other. Give us this day our daily bread.

When we don’t like each other, we don’t like to eat with each other. Sometimes we can’t stomach each other. We don’t want so and so’s words to take flesh and dwell within us. We don’t want to sit with them or near them and let them wear us out. We want to table their motions - and/ or to sit on another table.

Bread - to become bread - needs to go through a long process. Seeds are planted.  They fall apart in the soil. They die. They change. They stretch out roots. They grow. They become wheat. They are cut down. They die. Wheat is crushed. Wheat rises as flour. To become bread it is kneaded together. To become bread it has  to take the heat. Then with leaven it can rise as bread. Bread brings us to the same table.

Unleavened bread is a whole other story....

So too wine. Grapes - hanging there together, growing, clustering, picked - crushed - and in time it becomes wine. Some wines - look like blood - doesn’t it? Wine also brings us together. Wine tastes good. Wine gives a glow, a high, a lift.

When as priest,  I lift the chalice at Mass at the consecration - before the Our Father - before communion - I think it's like a toast at a wedding banquet - or toasting each other at a meal - clinking glasses - connecting - with glass, sound, the tink, tink clink sound of a toast, the short brief  words we blurt across and up and down the table, the eye to eye connection, the smile to smile connection - the truth that comes with wine. In vino veritas.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “Two Great Signs: Bread and Wine”. 

What do you want? What are you hungry for? What are you thirsting for? What is Jesus saying to you today, in these sacred signs? Amen.