WHO  WERE  YOUR  TEACHERS?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily on this feast of St. Mark is a question: “Who Were Your Teachers?”

To come up with a short homily  for today - for this feast of Mark - I looked at my bookshelf - for something on Mark or the Gospel of Mark. Surprise! At first instance I saw mostly books on John - a few on Luke and a few on Matthew but almost nothing on Mark.

Then I spotted a green book entitled, “The Journeying Self: The Gospel of Mark Through a Jungian Perspective” by Diarmuid McGann. He was an Irish priest from the diocese of Rockville Center in Long Island, New York.

[1942-2015]

WHO WERE YOUR TEACHERS?

He begins by telling his readers who his teachers were. I found that interesting.

He talked about his mom and dad first - then his three brothers and his one sister. Next came a scripture professor in Ireland - Father P.J. Brophy - who loved scripture - and that was the teaching and that was the learning he received. It was nothing very specific or particular about the Bible - just his love of scripture.  Next came the Jesuit Father Teilhard de Chardin and lastly were his professors at Iona College in New York.

Just reading that much - not even getting back into a book I read years and years ago - I asked myself - what did I learn from my mom and dad - brother and two sisters?

When couples are preparing for marriage that is a key question: family  of origin.

How has our family of origin effected/ affected us?

Diarmuid’s dad was the extravert - and he learned what it’s like to live in the shadow of an extravert - a bigger than life person. My dad was just the opposite. My mother was also more the introvert.  My brother was the extravert.  Diarmuid’s mother was more the introvert and she learned from suffering. She broke her neck in a car crash as a young woman.  She stayed with her oldest son in his difficult days and as well as his sister who has hospitalized for a few years.  Mom knew and learned from suffering - like her blindness coming on her in her old age.

MY TEACHERS?

Who have been my teachers?

One of the teachers who influenced me was also a scripture professor -

Eugene McAlee.  When it came to the four gospels,  he didn’t like Matthew. He didn’t give us that much on Luke - only Mary’s stuff - in the beginning there. He gave us some stuff on John - but Mark was his gospel.

And instead of taking Mark from the beginning - he taught us method. He taught us that we have the rest of our lives to learn the gospels.

He taught us the Greek side of reading the Gospels.

He taught us that Mark was precise. Mark was not poetic. Mark was details - lots of details - specific.

Mark was Joe Friday - “Just the facts mam.”

So Mark would be one of my teachers.

Mark starts off with Jesus as an adult. He challenges us right off the bat - to be face to face with Jesus the Son of God. He’s present in our midst.  Do I have an adult to adult relationship with Jesus?  Mark talks about the kingdom. It’s in our midst. Do we sense that every day - that I’m in the Kingdom and what a way to live every day?

Matthew - Mark - Luke and John? I like John first - because he was the poet and I like a poetic approach to life.  I like Luke next - because he was the story teller - and I like story tellers.  I too like Matthew least - because he can be too strict at times - especially compared to Luke - who was big or mercy and forgiveness - the message of Pope Francis - big time.  

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “Who Were Your Teachers?”

Name some names - and what did you learn? What does that say about you?

What’s your favorite gospel? What does that say about you?

What do you know about the gospel of Mark?  He has many of the same stories about Jesus but tells them in his unique way. What does that tell you about Mark?

April 25, 2016

MISSING   PERSON 

Some folks seem to slid out back doors -

and disappear into the night - out of our

sight - sometimes for weeks at a time - and

some past people - for a lifetime. Oh…. Where

did all those folks in all those yearbooks go?

Me - I seem to slide away - in plain sight -

going down a side alley - into a pub within - or

a back porch - in the back of my mind - or I

like to take a long walk alone. Relax I’m talking

to you at times - but where have you been?

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

April 24, 2016

TRAVELING  COMPANIONS

When traveling alone, we travel, with

so many different voices: our fears,

concerns, worries, doubts, regrets,

what if’s, oh no’s, and I told you so’s.

When traveling with others, we travel

with so many different voices: laughter,

story telling, sharing, witnesses, and

who cares if we missed a turn or a stop?

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

A  SENSE  OF AWE 

AT  THE  EARTH 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 5^th Sunday after Easter [C] is, “A Sense of Awe at the Earth.”

Last Friday - April 22^nd - was Earth Day. It's something that has been  going on since 1970.

At our last staff meeting we were asked to say something for the good of the earth this Sunday - so here goes.

THREE READINGS

I read today's 3 readings with the hopes that something in the readings would be a good lead in for this theme of “Earth Day.”

Sure enough today’s second reading from the Book of Revelation is perfect. It begins, “Then I, John, saw a new heaven and a new earth.”  It ends, "Behold, I make all things new."

Perfect.

The reading talks about the heavens, the sea, the earth, the city, dwellings and the human race. [Cf. Revelation 21: 1-5a]

Perfect.

Let’s work - let’s complain - let’s do our part to make everyone and everything better.

Next the reading uses the metaphor of a wedding.

We had two weddings at St. Mary’s yesterday. Seeing a bride on her wedding day: what better image of newness and new life. 

Now at a wedding nobody notices the bridegroom - except for two moments. The bride is it. He’s chopped liver. 

I've noticed that the first moment is when the bridegroom is all alone at the top of the sanctuary steps. Then the music starts: "Here comes the bride..." or what have you. All stand and turn to see the bride coming down the aisle. At that moment all the bridesmaids in the seats turn to see the bridegroom's face as his face sees his bride come down the aisle in all her beauty. 

Tears and tissues. It's an awesome moment.

The other bridegroom moment is at the reception when he is called out on the dance floor to dance with his mom.

Perfect.

Life is the moments.

AWE AND AWFUL MOMENTS

The title of my homily is, “A Sense of Awe at the Earth.”

Not all moments are the same - obviously.

Some are same old,  same old,  same old. These are the moments we are on automatic pilot and we don’t notice anything awesome.  These are mac and cheese moments.

But then there are moments that are awesome - moments that overwhelm us.

These are Lobster Thermidor or Baked Maryland Lump  Crab Cake moments - or great burritos moments - depending on your taste buds.

I saw the following in someone’s house recently. It was handwriting on the wall: “Life Is Not Measured By the Number of Breaths We Take, But By the Moments That Take Our Breath Away.”

Of course.

It’s good to sit down at the end of each day and look at the moments of that day.

You saw a little kid put a dollar in the hat of a street violinist. She creeped up carefully - looking back at her parents twice - her parents who signaled her to go on. She looked up at the musician - and put some green in his hat - looked up at his face again - and then ran back to her parents with great delight and a great smile on her face.

You stopped to smell the roses or the lilacs on a neighbor’s lawn.

You bought yourself an ice cream cone. Hey it’s good to treat oneself besides the kids to ice cream and your got yourself two scoops - rum raisin and pistachio with chocolate chips. Nobody was looking. Uuum good. Uum. Great lickings. And you even toasted yourself with the cone.

You saw an old couple holding hands as they were headed for an afternoon matinee movie.

You stopped to watch a flock of birds flying north.

It’s good to pause to look at what you saw that day on the planet - and hopefully you had some awesome moments.

I hold that if a person does this every evening - as a night prayer - you’ll  see a lot more the next day - because you have to do homework every night. I discovered this from vacations - keeping a journal - and making a report of my journey that night - on what I saw that day.

But there are also some moments that are awful - and we spot them each day as well.  

Ugh.

We saw a fight. We saw someone yelling at a kid. We saw someone dump their garbage or wrappings or coffee cup on the street.

I notice in putting this homily together the close connection between awe and awful  and awesome.

Life can be the good, the bad and the ugly.

Life can be the awe - the awful - and the awesome.

ACTION

I also began thinking about action - the action step - in life.

By declaring a day as Earth Day - the hope is to get action.

It works. 

Mother’s Day helps florists and card shops - and moms get a lot more “Thank you’s” that day compared to other days.

So too Father’s Day.

So too Qingming Day. I never heard of this till I was looking up stuff for Earth Day.

Every April 4  to April 6, in China, it’s Qingming Day - a time everyone heads for the cemetery where their parents or grandparents are buried and they sweep and clean up the graves. Neat.

They also bring flowers and burn paper money and incense at their graves.

Neat - for the flowers. I wonder about the smoke - and the stuff left on the cemetery grounds.

So too because of Earth Day - schools and churches and organizations and cities do stuff to sweep up the mess. They plant trees. They challenge us to not dump on Mother Earth. Let’s clean up the air and clean up the water.

I noticed in a story in the New York Times the other day about a parish in Brooklyn. They marched to the Gowanus Canal and prayed over the water and poured holy water onto it. It’s still a mess. It was close to the last stop on the subway before we got to Coney Island as a kid. We’d go over a small bridge and we kids would hold our noses as we did and yell out, “Perfume Bay.”  I guess it’s still a mess.  Some day - someday. The first step is awareness and then action.

This year’s theme for Earth Day is not to waste food - not to dump food - and awareness of the amount of food that is just dumped into landfills - has gone down.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “A Sense of Awe at the Earth.”

I talked about the reality that there are moments when we see things happening on our earth that take our breath away.

I remember my first trip into Mexico - going over the border in a car in Nogales Arizona into Nogales Mexico - and as we went down the highway I began to realize in 5 minutes the value of emissions control here in the United States. Cough. Cough. Cough.

We have seen smoking going down in our lifetime. Cough. Cough. Cough.

For the sake of transparency my dad died of emphysema - not because of smoking however  - but from what they called “White lung”.  He worked with flour at Nabisco in New York and New Jersey.

Awareness hopefully leads to action

So where can make the earth more beautiful today  - this week - in this life.

Last Sunday I suggested picking up at least one piece of trash - paper - what have you - each day.

And be awesome for each other - each day - and when another is awesome - give them an awesome “Atta girl” or “Atta boy” or “Atta earth.”

And “Ooops!”  it’s Spring - and awesome beauty surrounds us - so make sure you see all around and give God at least one good, "Atta God" each day. Now that's a great Atta Prayer.

April 23, 2016

SHAKESPEARE! 
TODAY IS THE

400^th ANNIVERSARY
OF HIS DEATH

William Shakespeare - dates - were from April 23, 1564 to April 23, 1616.

“What’s in a name…?”

“I’ll note you in my book of memory.”

“He’s sudden if a thing comes into his head.”

“An honest tale speeds best being plainly told.”

“There is something in the wind.”

“How long a time lies in one little word.”

“Play out the play.”

“All the world’s a stage ….”

“The play’s the thing/ Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king.”

“The web of our life is a mingled yarn, good and ill together.”

“Let me tell the world.”

“There is a history in all men’s lives.”

“We are in God’s hand.”

“Bait the hook well: this fish will bite.”

“Everyone can master a grief but he that has it.”

“Brevity is the soul of wit.”

“I have bought / Golden opinions from all sorts of people.”

“Come, give us a taste of your quality.”

“To be or not to be: that is the question.”

“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”

“Lord, what fools these mortals be.”

“A politician … one that could circumvent God.”

“Words pay no debts.”

“Good counselors lack no clients.”

“Necessity’s sharp pinch.”

“Pray you now, forgive and forget.”

“The wheel is come full circle: I am here.”

“My salad days / When I was green in judgment.”

“Nothing emboldens sin so much as mercy.”

“You pay a great deal too dear for what’s given freely.”

“Let us not burden our remembrances / With a heaviness that’s gone.”

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

Is this a first?  I spotted with today's newspapers - April 23, 2017 - the above picture on page 13 of the Target Ad  18 page Input Insert.  Is this a first?  How about that!  Nice going Target!



A First

April 22, 2016

JUST SAY SOMETHING

Just say something to the person right
there with you: while holding the door, 
on the plane, on the short elevator ride -
even if it's only to the second floor.

"Hi!" "Beautiful day." "How's it going?"

"Welcome home!" "Where have you been?"

Hey! You never know what a word -
just a greeting - or an eye shake and
a head nod - might mean - to the person 
in the car right next to you at the red light. 

Just say something. Eye to eye something.

At the end of a day, at the end of a life - 
all those words might have taken flesh - 
and both of you might have met Jesus 
Christ in each other's life: at a well, 
on a road, at a table, on another's cross -
and both of you experienced Easter Joy.

© Andy Costello Reflections, 2016