WHO  AM  I, 

WHEN  NOBODY’S  LOOKING?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 11 Wednesday in Ordinary Time is, “Who Am I When Nobody’s Looking?”

Who am I, when I am alone?

I think Jesus did a lot of thinking about this question.

Was it because he didn’t start his public life, till he was around 30?

Was it because he saw too much public posturing by the Pharisees and the Scribes, etc, etc. etc.

The scribes could write. They had the degrees on their walls.

The Pharisees were the religious purists.

When it comes to worship and religion, Jesus saw some tricky possible places where we can trip up. We heard about them in today’s gospel - and we hear about them at the beginning of every Lent.

FOR EXAMPLE

For example, he must have seen a lot of people praying to be seen praying. He said, “They are already getting their reward.”

For example, he must have seen lots of people putting money in the poor box - with loud coins or much fanfare.  Those who emptied out the poor box must have known human nature and how to get more coins and cash.

For example, he must have heard lots of folks bragging about their fasting - just as everyone on a diet - seems to let us know they are on a diet.

In other words, don’t toot your own horn.

Folks who toot their own horn must know the old saying, “If you don’t toot your own horn, your own horn goes untooted.”

INNER ROOM

Jesus discovered somewhere along the line the importance of one’s inner room, one’s inner temple, one’s inner sanctuary.

The title of my homily is, “Who Am I When Nobody’s Looking?”

When we are all alone, that’s the real me.

Who am I when I am alone?

We spend all our waking hours talking to ourselves.  Sometimes we don’t listen to what we are talking to ourselves about.

Sometimes we blot out those sounds with babble, with words, with prayers, and never stop to listen to ourselves as well as to our God.

Sometimes we keep talking so we don’t have to listen to God who surrounds us.

I was stationed in another diocese once and I often heard that when the bishop comes to a rectory, he does all the talking. I was there when he finally visited our place. Sure enough, he sat at the head of the table and controlled the whole conversation.

I wondered if he ever heard that everyone said behind his back he didn’t know how to listen.

In silence, in our inner room, that’s where we can meet the real God -  as well as the real me.

THE SINGER IN THE CHAPEL

Let me tell you about a favorite moment in my life. It was the early 1990’s and I was with our novices on a 3 day workshop. It was midnight and I was sitting in the corner in the back bench of a chapel in a retreat house.

It was dark and I was simply sitting in the dark in prayer.

The door opened.

“Uh oh!” I thought.

But whoever it was, the person didn’t turn the lights on.  So I didn’t know if the person was male or female, young or old.

The person walked carefully to the front of the chapel.

I kept quiet - so as not to scare the person.

The person sat down on the other side of the altar. I could tell that by the red tabernacle candle.

I heard the person open something. Click. Click. And I could then tell it was a guitar coming out of a guitar case. The person then began to sing a love song in prayer to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

It was obviously a young woman - a novice - in one of the religious orders of nuns - on the novice program we were attending.

She finished. She put the guitar back in the case and click, click, closed it.

I remained absolutely quiet and still.

After about 10 minutes of prayer I presume, she got up and walked out.

I was just privy to a sacred moment in another person’s life.

Did she do this every night?

What ever happened to that young lady? Did she become a nun?

CONCLUSION

One of my favorite quotes is from William Sloan Coffin -  - who was Senior Minister at the Riverside Church in New York City.  When asked if he enjoyed being a minister, he said, “Of course. It’s an honor being invited into the secret garden of another person.”

Obviously being a priest all these years and having had that experience all these years, I would like that comment.

It’s good to go into the secret garden of one’s soul. It’s good to go into the dark chapel - the dark inner room - of oneself and to sing and pray and be with oneself and with the Lord.  

The more we do that, the more we get to know who we are as well as who God is. Amen.

June 15, 2016

"I THIRST"

Study for a Figure at the Base
of a Crucifixion by Francis Bacon

I THIRST

God,  at times,  I am all thirst.

I am hunger, want, desire, fire,

drought, itch, cry, complaint.

And by accident or coincidence,

I spot your dry mouth open on

the cross blurting out, “You thirst?

I thirst? Where have you been?”

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

KARMA

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 11^th Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Karma.”

When was the last time you heard someone use the term, “KARMA”?  Sometimes it just slipped its way into a conversation - like various other foreign phrases slip their way into our talking with each other - like “Déjà vu” or  “Hasta luego”.

The word “karma” - whatever karma is - hit me when I read today’s readings - as well as something from Sunday’s first reading that I didn’t preach about.

Let me first mention a few comments about the Sunday comment. It’s relevant to today’s readings. Nathan the prophet shows up at David’s house and says to him, “The sword shall never depart from your house….”

It’s like saying a deadly virus is in your computer and you’re not going to be able to get rid of it.

Here’s the context for Nathan’s comment to David, “You have cut down Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you took his wife as your own, and him you killed with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah to be your wife.”

Eastern religions - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism - along with their different branches and groups would say to David: “Expect bad karma to continue because you have done some bad things here.”

We’re very familiar with Jesus’ words from Matthew 26:52, “Those who live by the sword die by the sword.”

We’ve also heard, “What goes around comes around.”

We’ve also heard Paul’s words from Galatians 6: 7, “We reap what we sow.”

Way before Paul, the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad from way back in the 7^th Century BC, has someone saying what Paul said,

Now as someone is like this or like that,
according as he acts and according as he behaves, so will he be;
a person of good acts will become good, a person of bad acts, bad;
he becomes pure by pure deeds, bad by bad deeds;

And here they say that a person consists of desires,
and as is his desire, so is his will;
and as is his will, so is his deed;
and whatever deed he does, that he will reap.

In other words, if you plant watermelon seeds, you get watermelons. Plant good deeds, you’ll  get good results.

We become what we plant.

We become where we stay.

We become what we think.
We become what we desire.
We become what we do.

We become what we eat.
We become what TV channel we watch for news.

If you doubt that last one, you have listened to others lately.

KARMA

We are who we are - because of the atmosphere and attitudes in the air where we are staying and breathing in.

For me, this is the basic meaning of karma - for starters.

But I’m more than me, so I spent about 2 hours of time last night reading up on what karma means,  so as to have a basic thought for the day in this homily.

Let me also say it’s quite simple and quite complicated as well.

As I thought about it, when people who are not Buddhists or Hindu or Jainists, use the word “karma”, I think they are simply saying, “When we feel everything is going right, that’s good karma.  When you feel everything is going wrong, that’s bad karma.”

Eastern religions - like all religions -  have thought forever about why people are doing well and why some people are all messed up.

Why do good things happen to good people and why do bad things happen to bad people?

But also: why do bad things happen to good people and why do good things happened to bad people?

Sound familiar?

Didn’t Jesus say in today’s gospel, “… your heavenly Father makes the sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust”?

Jesus saw homes where violence bred violence - but the sun and the rain fall on their roofs like every house on the street.

So how does this good stuff and bad stuff happen anyhow?

Answer: some Eastern teachers say it could be from someone else’s life and we inherited it - in our reincarnation.

But if that’s true, what about free will and free choice - and how do we know if that’s coming from us or from some life we inherited?

We know we can’t tell the judge, “The Devil made me do it.”

Nor can we tell the judge, “It wasn’t me, it was something the last person I was, did and I am simply stuck in their bad karma.”

As I said, “This can get complicated.”

Christianity won’t accept this reincarnation idea that we were someone else in an earlier life. Christianity won’t accept that we die and then become someone else in our next life.

Yet - apart from the reincarnation teaching - I sense that  there is something about family sins - as well as goodness hanging around in people - into the next generation.

Bad example - good example - goodness - evil - continues - echoes in us.

Did you notice the subtle comment in today’s first reading? Jezebel and her husband Ahab the King lived by the sword  - but only Jezebel dies a violent death. Dogs bit into her dying body and licked her blood as it spread on the stone street where her body landed after being pushed out the window.[Cf. 2 Kings 9:33.] But Ahab - like David - humbled himself  and admitted his crime. However, the next generation had to pay for their father’s sins. [Cf. 1 Kings 21: 27-29.]

Tragedy leaped a generation for Ahab - but is this simply historians rewriting history - or making commentaries on history after the fact?

CONCLUSION

I need to conclude somehow. This is just a weekday homily - and it’s gotten too long already.

Jesus thought and taught a lot about this issue of karma. Different religions and different cultures might not use the word “karma” - but we can spot the questions that are imbedded in it.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus talks about breaking evil cycles. He talks about forgiveness, turning the other cheek, going the extra mile.  In today’s gospel he explicitly says, “You have been told to love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…..”

June 14, 2016

5  OBVIOUS  SECRETS

Obviously, it’s easier to talk about

someone than to talk to that someone.

Obviously, long before cellphones,

people have been talking to others inside

their mind all day long and all the time -
even when they are with someone else.

Obviously, long before phone cameras, 

people have been taking selfies in every

mirror as well as every shiny surface

they are walking past.

Obviously, strange people get avoided.

As a result, people avoid them even more. Then they become odder and odder.  Then

people avoid them even more and more.

Obviously, when we speak up, we can

expect consequences, as well as some

inconvenient requests for help. So
some people never speak up. Nope -
they just sit there with a soul smirk and
an inward smile - seeing us as, "Stupid!" 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

LEX TALIONIS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 11^th Monday in Ordinary Time is, “Lex Talionis” - “The Law of the Talon.”

TODAY’S READINGS

Today’s First Reading from the 1^st Book of Kings tells us the nasty story about how Ahab and Jezebel steal another person’s vineyard. They frame Naboth and have him stoned to death. Then they take his land.

Today’s gospel from Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount has comments about the Lex Talionis - “talon” being the word for claw. The Lex Talionis was basically: “when someone claws our eye out - or knocks one of our teeth out” - we have the right to retaliate by knocking the other person’s eye or tooth out in fair exchange.

Jesus - to stop the bloodshed - to stop the violence - goes the extra mile on all that - and tells us not to resist evil. Turn the other cheek. If someone wants your mink coat - give that person your diamond necklace as well.

Imagine if someone countered Jesus when he said that and told the story of Ahab and Jezebel - which we heard in our first reading -  and asked if we should give all tyrants what they want and never resist the Hitler’s of this world.

That’s a question we all need to face when it comes to violence and horror stories.

Today’s Gospel - today’s readings - can get us in touch with some pretty basic human emotions. Today’s readings challenge us to look at some nitty gritty stuff - some basic human responses to how we react when someone hurts, injuries, ignores or puts us down.

Today’s readings can get us in touch with feelings that erupt within us when we want to get back at others.

The other person annoys us with a remark. They ignore us. They bother us with loud music. They slam doors in our face. They reject us.

And we react by wanting to return them the disfavor.

JESUS AND THE HAMMURABI CODE

Relief of the Hammurabi Code in the Louvre

Jesus quotes the Lex Talionis from the Hammurabi Code. “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”

This was a good law - dating back to 1754 BC.   It was created to limit revenge - to fix exact compensation for an injury.

The human tendency is to escalate. It’s the tendency to come up with a more brutal retaliation - doubling our response. You take one eye, I’ll take both of yours.

Down through history there have been folks who scream out: “Wait a minute.”

Mahatma Gandhi said, “An eye for an eye makes us all blind.”

Gandhi also said, "Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as cooperation with good."                                        

Gandhi chose the way of non-violence and was killed on January 30, 1948.  A man named Nathuram Godse thought that Gandhi was hurting Hindus by being friendly with Muslims. So he shot Gandhi and killed him. Notice the year: 1948.  Read the papers this week in 2016.

Martin Luther King Jr. also chose the way of non-violence and he too was killed.

JESUS - NEW TESTAMENT

The New Testament is called “NEW” for a reason.

Jesus gave us a new law. He tried to eliminate the old  law of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

Jesus called for patience.

Jesus said, “Don’t insist on personal rights.”

Jesus said, “Don’t get back with hate.”

Jesus said, “Respond with love.”

Jesus said to “Turn the other cheek.”

In his day, people knew what cheek to slap for starters: the right cheek.

The back of the hand was still more insulting.

On page 52 of Robert Bractchet’s, in his A Translator’s Guide To The Gospel Of Matthew, says this about the text, “one cheek ... the other cheek.” It is probable that the language is purposely chosen. A person’s right cheek is ordinarily struck with the back of the hand of the one doing the striking, which was a particularly insulting way to strike a person. So if possible, the biblical language should be retained in translating.”

“That was a slap in the face!” is still an euphemism in use.

Joachim Jeremias in his commentary on the Sermon on The Mount says that a slap on the face was the insult given to one judged a heretic.

In the literature about this Sermon on the Mount text I noticed someone saying that there was a Jewish law that you must give your cloak if that would be all another would have for a cold night.

Also, a person could also be pressed to carry a soldiers pack - as they walked down the road. Remember Simon of Cyrene being pressed into service to carry Jesus’ cross.

Commenting on Leviticus 29; 18 Dr. Moses Aberbach tells of two men who were agricultural workers. One asks the other to borrow a sickle and the other refuses.  The next day the one who refused to lend the sickle asks to borrow an axe from the one who had asked to borrow the sickle. He answered “No. You refused to lend me your sickle when I asked to borrow it.” That was retaliation that was equal.

But if he asked for a grinding stone and was refused,  now that would be bearing a grudge - that is, if he responded, “No, because you refused to lend me your axe or sickle yesterday.”

Today’s gospel also talks about loans. There were a lot of problems with loans. Farmers would have crops that died or dried up because of droughts. As a result, they would need to borrow. Sometimes money lenders would charge interest rates that were 100 - 200 %

Or merchants and business people would  lose everything because of shipping problems: sinking, pirates, unplanned on taxes - or this or that.  

So all this is real - back then and up to now.

DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

I read with interest Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s comments on this section of Matthew in his book, The Cost of Discipleship. He calls for non-violence. He calls for turning the other cheek. He calls for the principle of non-resistance. He gives all the regular objections: that you will be crushed by the state, stupid, that you will be walked on. He says that this is what Jesus stressed. He ends by saying that Jesus did not come to give a political blueprint. He ends by saying that Jesus died on the cross by the state.

I checked the year when Bonhoeffer wrote this book. It was first published in 1937. I wonder what his thoughts were those last few years under Hitler. He resisted. Yet he still said, “When Jesus calls a man, he calls him come and die.”

CONCLUSION

So this morning, that’s some stuff on revenge and retaliation. 

June 13, 2016

NO VOTES

What would happen

if we woke up

that Wednesday morning

in November and discovered

after all the words

and all the drama
everyone saw through him
and nobody voted for him?

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

June 12, 2016

IN ME

To be honest, I’ll admit, there is in me,

a bit of inaccuracy, inability, insecurity,

indecision, inattention, and I can be

inconsiderate, infantile, as well as

insensitive at times. Okay better add

some positive qualities such as

industrious, independent, as well as

having a bunch of other insights about

me that begin with im, intra and inter…..

Now, that’s in me. What’s  with you? 
What's in you? What do you own up to?

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016