Sunday, April 17, 2016

April 17, 2016


EMERITUS

Coming back home,
to the old house, the old school,
the old classroom, to climb the
old stairs to hear the sounds of
the old teachers, the old neighbors,
to meet with a few old friends,
to visit the graveyard - to read the
stones, to stop into the old church,
to sit in an old bench, to say a
prayer - to realize God is never
Emeritus. It’s good to come back home.


© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016




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





Thursday, April 14, 2016

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.

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

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

Tuesday, April 12, 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 6th 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.