August 12, 2016

AIR CONDITIONER

High cool  - pumping out cool air

all day long - allowing me to work.

The fire place is envious. It hasn’t

received a compliment since last

January when it was cold - really

cold - logs burning and bursting -

allowing us to sit on a sofa and hear

the cackle caused by bright red fire.

Compliments - they can be seasonal

and they can be self-serving. Sometimes

they are hot stuff - sometimes real cool.

 © Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

August 11, 2016

COPPER  LUSTERWARE  JUG

It sat on my sister’s dining room sideboard

forever - before that on my mom’s kitchen

top shelf - but rarely used - and before that -

I can picture it on a kitchen table - in Ireland -

c. 1900 - filled with milk or water - and I looked

up its estimated value as an antique - only to

realize I could buy another one for $19.97 -

in much better condition - but my mom’s

pitcher was filled with rich memories - most of

which I didn't take the time to drink. Poor me.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

August 10, 2016

BROKEN

Bones and branches break,

so too skin and glass and hearts -

and broken people scream at God -

for not understanding what they

are going through. Is that why

the Father sent the Son and asked

Mary to bring him into the world?

She must have been broken when she saw

friends running away from Jesus in the 
dark night. Then both saw so few under the 
cross the next day: broken Friday afternoon.
But then at daybreak - that Easter morning 
the cave and the grave split open and 
death was broken apart forever. Alleluia.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

August 9, 2016

TURNING A PAGE

If the book is good,

if it’s a page turner,

then we don’t even notice

when we're turning a page.

So too much of life.

But if life is bad, if it's 

a dread, and we feel dead,
then we notice that we don't

want to turn and move on.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

I  AM  PART  OF  ALL 

THAT  I  HAVE MET

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 19^th Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “I Am Part Of All That I Have Met.”

That line is part of the poem, Ulysses,  by Alfred Lord Tennyson.

Ulysses, the king,  is looking at his life. He is comparing being at home with his wife - to being at sea - traveling - fighting - exploring - and he wants to get odyssey-ing again. He sees that his son Telemachus is capable of governing - but does not have the gift of exploring and conquering new worlds. So he can let his son do the governing here and he’ll go back to discovering new worlds and new adventures.

For some reason, when we read that poem in English class - way, way back when -  that line hit me and has become part of me.

Maybe it was our English teacher, Father Tom Rowan, who loved literature - and who was in Brazil as a missionary - maybe his travels made him emphasize that message of - always being open to new adventures.

SINCE THEN

So since then - I have kept that in mind - when it comes to what I’ll allow into my mind - if possible or when I’m conscious of it.

I wonder about shoot-em-ups when it comes to movies. I hope watching Kill Bill I and II and the Bourne movies and various other fast moving - bullets flying movies - I haven’t messed myself up.

When was it that someone in American Cultural essays said, “Garbage in, garbage out.”

Eat junk, you become junk.

But that’s looking at the negative…. I have also looked at the positive. Good stuff in, good stuff one becomes. So good music, good conversations, good vacations, good books. They can all become me.

TODAYS FIRST READING

I’m thinking all this because of today’s first reading - when Ezekiel is told to eat the scroll. He is told to eat the words of scripture. 

The message is obvious: let the word nourish, feed, and become us.

Did Christianity marry - words with bread - with Christ in the Eucharist.

And the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Eating communion - eating Christ - eating the scriptures - eating the words of Christ - hopefully Christ becomes us.

As St. Paul said, “I live now not with my own life but with the life of Christ who lives in me. [Galatians 2: 19]

Hopefully by digesting a gospel reading like today’s from Matthew - that it hits us with the message of humility and to be like children.  And if we mess up, to trust that Christ the Good Shepherd will come looking after us.

So we hear the scriptures, we digest them, they nourish us -  they become us.

So too good example, being a good person, all help us to become good examples, to become a good person.

IT’S OBVIOUS - BUT WE FORGET IT

All this is obvious. However, we forget it - so it’s good to be reminded every once in a while.

We speak the language we heard from our parents. We take on their smile or lack of a smile. We pick up their customs and their values.

We become what we eat and hear - and surround ourselves with and in.

CONCLUSION

One experience I had brings this home to me.

 I had a long car ride to New Jersey - and by myself- so I grabbed some old cassette tapes - that I hadn’t listened to in 20 years at least.

I listening to this tape and I hear the speaker use this great example.

I turn the tape recorder off. The speaker used this great example that years later I gave in a homily - and I thought I was so clever or original - that I made it up.

I ate that story and it became me.

So yes I am part of all that I have met.

Thank you for being here.

CALLS: 

CALLED  BY  GOD - 

THREE  PEOPLE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is “Calls: Called by God - Three People.”

I wasn’t sure what to preach on, so I decided to go with today’s first reading from Ezekiel - where he receives a call from God.

CALLS

Let me begin by pointing out that we are very aware that people are getting calls all the time.

We see people everywhere with cellphone in hand - or next to their ears.

People must be calling each other all the time - every chance they get.

Just grab a bench in the mall or look out the window when you drive up Main Street - and you’ll see a dozen people on their phones.

Then there are inner calls. We are getting calls from somewhere in our brain every day. I call them, “Gottas”.

• I gotta empty the dishwasher.
• I gotta call Charlie.
• I gotta pick up some catsup at the supermarket.
• I gotta clean the trunk of my car.
• I gotta remind him to pick up the tickets.

The title of my homily is, “Calls: Called by God - Three People.”

We know we have daily calls and daily demands. In this homily I’m going to lead into calls from God - being aware of them - having pointed out we know about local calls from each other.

I want to state that it’s a good idea to talk to each other or look at others about the calls of life.

Others: you can talk to family members or friends about what their experience is with the calls and demands of life - and how they think, feel, respond to them.

In this homily, let me pick three people who received calls: Ezekiel, Dominic, the Saint of the day, and then finish by talking about ourselves.

FIRST PERSON:  EZEKIEL

Today and for the next two weeks, the first reading for daily Mass is from Ezekiel. That’s a possible 12 readings - but for the feast of the Assumption I’m sure will have a different first reading.

Ezekiel lived around 590 BC.

He is the 3^rd of the three major prophets in the Old Testament: Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

The Book of Ezekiel is sizable: 48 chapters.

It has some good stuff for prayer and reflection. 

Read or browse through the book - or the readings we’ll hear in church these two weeks.

Notice how today’s first reading from Ezekiel 1: 2-5, 24-28, begins with the call message: “the word of the Lord came to the priest Ezekiel….”

There it is: the call.

Then as you listen to Ezekiel ponder his messages.

In Chapter 3 Ezekiel is called to eat the scrolls. I love that image - so that the words might become flesh. What a great calling: to eat the word, to digest the words, let the words become us.  Be nourished by the word of God. Be in communion with the word.

In Chapter 16 we have the powerful image as a young girl who is dumped into an open field, unloved, exposed and God sees her struggling - picks her up - cleans her - raises her - dresses her in beautiful clothes and then after all that she prostitutes herself.

The obvious message - the obvious call - is that we do not follow that same path.

We’re all familiar with Ezekiel’s vision of Israel as a field of dead bones. It’s in Chapter 37. He calls out to the dead - to rise - to come back to life.

Some think he might have been a deaf mute - because of his odd way of preaching at times. He uses gives great pictures - images - visions - props -to announce to Israel God’s calls.

SECOND PERSON: DOMINIC

The second person that I’d like to mention who heard God’s call is Dominic - Saint Dominic - whose feast day is today. His dates were 1170-1221.

He had plans on being a contemplative type priest - but everything changed when he traveled from Spain with a bishop who went to Southern France and he discovered people who were into the Albigensian heresy.

He realized he had to do something about all this - so be began preaching - realizing that was needed - but even more - example. If preachers were fat cats and the Albigensian spiritual leaders were very penitential, example wins out every time over words.

There’s a message there.

THIRD PERSON: ME, MYSELF AND I

Each day we hear calls from God to make this a better world.

The most basic call is the Great Commandment: "Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. And the second is this: You must love your neighbor as yourself". [Cf. Mark 12: 28-34.]

If we want more: Jesus calls us to give up stuff - simplify - and follow him.

Sometimes we have to speak up - but for starters - example is much more powerful than words.

As they say, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

So too good example as Dominic found out. So too Ezekiel. Show people examples.

I think that’s enough with the words.

August 8, 2016

TRANSLATION 

Translation from another language

can be tough - but tougher still is

figuring out gestures, signals, itches,

body language, holding hands,

a look with our eyes or teeth that

grab our lower lip - but our mouth

is saying nothing. How long does

it take to translate what we really

want to say to each other - or maybe

we don’t even know ourselves?

 © Andy Costello, Reflections 2016