October 27, 2016

WHAT’S WORSE?

What’s worse? Going to your grandson’s

football game and they lose 41-0 or to

find out the team that beat them lost the

weekend before 41-7? You’re kidding!

What’s worse? Getting your car washed

and it rains on the way home?

What’s worse? Someone gives you a

5 pound box of dark chocolates and you

have to offer them to others because you

have serious and well established diabetes?

What’s worse? You quit a job you love

but they don’t pay enough. You get a new

job that pays you a  lot more - but then 

the first job calls and offers you a lot more

than what your new job pays you?

What’s worse? Your granddaughter has

twin girls and they name them after his

mom and her mother - both of whom

you can’t stand and don’t understand?

What’s worse? You don’t leave home

and you don’t mess up - and your younger

younger brother does - comes home -

is forgiven and he gets the hug and the

banquet and the dance and you feel you

never got nothing - no how - and never.

What’s worse? You work in the vineyard

from 9 to 5 - and the other guys and gals

only put in an hour or two and get the same

pay as you get? No way any of this is fair!

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

October 26, 2016

THE  OUR  FATHER 

It was the year 3016 and nobody seemed to

know the ancient prayer: the Our Father.

Nobody…. Nobody…. Nobody…. Nobody

was aware of the prayer: the Our Father.

Nobody was praying…. Nobody was aware of

the beauty of daily bread and daily forgiveness.

Nobody was aware of the Kingdom

and working to bring it about each day.

Nobody made holy, hallowed or called out

on earth or into the heavens, “Our Father….”

Then someone found a copy of this

ancient prayer and things began to change.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

[I got this impression at a funeral lately.

I said, “Our Father” and nobody seemed

aware or dared to say, “Our Father….”]

October 25, 2016

GOING TO CHURCH,

GOING TO COMMUNION

He never went to church, okay,
he went for Christmas and Easter.

She always went to Mass, okay,
sometimes she also went on weekdays.

They were married many years ago and
because of her, he started going to Mass.

He became a regular, in fact going
two times a week when he retired.

She stopped going to church.
He couldn't figure out why.

Both need to sit down at a table and
go to communion with each other.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

THREE THINGS I KNOW

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 30^th Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Three Things I Know” or “Three Things I Learned.”

When I read today’s readings - a scripture passage hit me: but I don’t know where to find that scripture passage, so maybe I read it in some other book and it isn’t in the Bible. I don’t know.

Someone said somewhere, “Three things I know….”

So I looked up that phrase last night in a Bible Concordance as well as on Google and found possible possibilities.

The Book of Proverbs - chapter 30 has some numerical proverbs. Maybe that’s what I was remembering.

For example it has this text: “There are 3 things beyond my comprehension, 4 indeed, that I haven’t figured out: how an eagle makes its way through the skies, how a snake slides its way over a rock, how a ship makes its way through high seas and how a man deals with a younger woman.”

For example, “the earth trembles at 3 things - 4 which it cannot endure: a slave who becomes a king; a complainer who has had too much to eat, a jilted girl wed at last, and a slave-girl who supplants her mistress.”

LISTS

Next I found mention of making lists. Some people like lists; some don’t.

How about you?

If you like them, here’s an exercise various folks can do today. Jot down 3 things you know. Have other family members or office workers do the same thing and then compare what each has come up with.

I also noticed that this simple exercise can be done by coming up with 5 things I’ve learned or 7 things or 10 things I learned or know.

TODAY’S READINGS

Today’s readings triggered this thought so here are 3 things I learned from them.

From the first reading and then thinking about marriages that I know, I learned that those with a good marriage know what it takes to have a good marriage - and today’s text would not cause problems for them.

Today’s gospel triggered the thought that one knows when to use mustard - when mustard is used and how mustard makes a difference. So too compliments. They are the mustard or the mayonnaise on the sandwich called “conversations”.

Today’s gospel also tells us bread doesn’t rise without leaven - so too a Christian life - without the bread of life - without being Christian leven.

MY 3 LEARNINGS OR 3 THINGS I KNOW

The title of my homily is, “Three Things I know.”  They are the things I learned about life.

I’m asking you to do your homework on this - so I did my homework last night. Here are 3 things I know.  Tomorrow my list might differ. The value of doing this now - putting them down on paper - pushes one to do some thinking.

So my 3 would be:

·       Nice makes things nice and nasty makes things nasty - so it’s nicer to be nicer than to be nasty.

·       We might be using the same words - and our dictionaries might be the same - but words coming out of our mouth are different than those same words coming from another.

·       There are consequences - and there are consequences from those consequences and on and on and on.

CONCLUSION

That’s homework for today: jot down 3 things you know - 3 things you learned.

October 24, 2016

ONGOING MUSIC

Songs, better, some songs,

get recorded in our memory

without our being aware of it

and we hear  some haunting

melodies, music and lyrics,

for years and years to come,

like the ocean waves - ongoing

music hitting our beach day

after day, night after night,

on and on and on and on,

over and over and over again.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

IMITATE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 30^th Monday in Ordinary Time is, “Imitate.”

That’s a message from Paul.

Right here in Ephesians 5: 1, he tells us to imitate God.

Question: how does one imitate God?

In 1^st Corinthians 11: 1, Paul tells the folks there to take him as a model. “Imitate me - as I imitate Christ.” 

That’s a bit clearer.

In 2 Thessalonians 3: 7 he’ says, “Imitate us.” He spells out what to imitate in the us. It’s,  “Work.”  It’s,  “Don’t freeload.” He says, “When we ate with you, we paid for our food. We hope you noticed that. We weren’t idle. We worked.”  I was taught to notice comments like that. Evidently, some people must have that as a complaint against traveling preachers.

In Galatians 2: 20, Paul tells us that “the life of Christ is in me and I am being crucified with Christ.”  Down through the centuries Christians have looked to the cross when they were carrying a cross.

So a message for today: reflect on the theme of imitation.

MIMIC

The word used for imitation in our Greek text is “mimeomai”.

We know the sound of that word - as in mimic - or imitation - or mimeograph. 

So it means to copy.

We’re born to mimic.

Yesterday I had four baptisms - and one little girl, “Elizabeth Ann” had this great smile - the whole time. When I saw that, I turned to see her mom’s face. She, her husband, the whole family were giving this baby their smiles or were they imitating Elizabeth Ann  and she was imitating them.

Education is all about being a mimic for starters.

Just watch kids and you’ll see imitation is the name of the game.

Kids in Chinese speaking homes are not speaking Lithuanian.

Just watch kids. They see their grandfather on a couch reading a book. They grab a book and sit in close to grandpa and start reading - even if their book is upside down.

Little kids imitate their older brothers and sisters.

Artists, actors, athletes, mimic other artists, actors, and athletes.

SO IMITATE GOD - CHRIST - PAUL - THE HOLY ONES

The book of Genesis starts off by telling us we’re made in the image and likeness of God.

How? For starters, be creative.

How? Keep the Sabbath, a day of rest.

But notice in today’s gospel, you can break the Sabbath, like Christ did, when it comes to caring and sharing with each other - even if it’s the Sabbath. The 10 Commandments were written in stone; the love commandments of Jesus were written with flesh and blood lips.

Paul tells us to imitate Christ. How? By going around and building up the body of Christ.

How? By handing over ourselves as a sacrifice for others and we’ll become a fragrant aroma. Nice.

How? By not being sinful or obscene or greedy or arguing or being in the dark?

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “Imitate!”

Reflect upon the power of imitation.

Life imitates life all day long.

Look how the evening news programs are set up - one imitates the other - desk - words - what they cover.

Watch the TV commercials - for insurance, for cars, for medicines - they follow suit.

Now many CSI programs are there now?

The Catholic church has known this forever in giving us saints to imitate.

However if you want to sell your house, don’t bury yourself upside down in your backyard.

THE  PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN

BY  THOMAS  DERRICK