February 25, 2017

WALLS

He wanted walls

and the wind stirred

the soil and the dust flew

over the border - laughing.

He wanted walls

and the water became

mist and became rain and the

Pacific laughed becoming the Atlantic.

He wanted walls

and the crowds laughed

and told him his mother and

his wife were from the other side.

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

February 24, 2017

YO-YO

Life is a yo-yo -

up and down,

up and down….
Rock the cradle....

Walk the dog....

Around the world....

Sometimes there are knots,

and sometimes yo-yos are left

on a kid’s bureau, then slide

into the top drawer,
forgotten for a while - 

only to be picked up again
in another season… some 

other time.  Amen.

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

FRIENDSHIP

INTRODUCTION

Today’s first reading from Sirach 6: 5-17 focuses on the theme of  friendship.

In this text, Sirach or Ben Sira,  looks at several aspects or issues when it comes to considering this important topic of friendships.

AQUAINTANCES AND FRIENDS

The first issue is the difference between acquaintances and friends.

Today’s text says, “Let your acquaintances be many, but one in a thousand your confidant.” (Verse 6:6)

The English of this Greek  text from Sirach uses the number  “thousand”.  I would like to know what the Greek text has, but I couldn’t locate one at present. I know they found in Cairo, Egypt, between 1896-1900, a Hebrew text of Sirach from the 12^th century. However, I couldn’t get my hands on a Hebrew Text either. As you know, Sirach is not in most Jewish Bibles. So I don’t know what Hebrew word they use for 1,000.*

But think of that word 1000. How many times have we heard people say, “I have thousands and friends”? I find that significant, because people juggle and toss the word “friend” around an awful lot lately.  I’ve heard various people - when discussing the word “friend” say things like what Sirach says.  I hear him saying: we have lots of acquaintances - but in reality a few friends or confidants.

I like the statement that if we have 5 friends in a lifetime we are lucky.

I don’t tweet or text - or use some of these social media things - other than e-mail - but I know the word “befriend” flows freely. I have heard people say that they have thousands of friends - because they invite all kinds of people into their chat rooms and Facebooks pages, etc. etc. etc.

So that’s the first message I take from Sirach - the difference between acquaintances and friends.

SOMETIMES FRIENDS BECOME ENEMIES

The second issue Sirach tackles is the horrible experience of a friend who becomes an enemy.

I would add that experience tells us loud and clear the difference between an acquaintance and a friend. The degree of hurt tells us the quality of a relationship - whether this other is a friend or an acquaintance.

If it really hurts, then we’re talking more about a friendship - or an assumed friendship more than an acquaintance.

Sirach describes this person as one who talks about a fight we’ve had with them or whatever - to our shame.

Jesus knows this one very well - with his friend Judas who betrays him.

Today’s gospel talks about divorce - the horrible experience when 2 people who hopefully were best friends - had their marriage fell apart - and they often become enemies. Sirach stuff is good stuff to reflect upon when reflecting upon one’s marriage.

THIRD - SUNNY DAY VS. RAINLY DAY FRIENDS

Sirach talks next about shallow friends and friends who are there in tough times - especially when we need them. When things are going great, great; when things are going sour, see you later alligator.

In fact, when things are going bad for us,  this type of friend turns against us or avoids us.

Someone said, “False friendship, like ivy, decays and ruins the walls it embraces; but true friendship gives new life and animation to the object it supports.”

Ben Sira wrote his stuff around 180 B.C.  It’s not in the Jewish Bible, but it’s in ours. As one reads today’s first reading, it sounds like stuff  that could be written in our time. It’s stuff that lasts - and that’s probably why it lasted.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is “Friendship.”

I urge you to jot down 3 to 5 life time friends.

They are home to us - a sturdy shelter to rest under  as Sirach puts it. They are a treasure - to cherish.

FOOTNOTE

·       [As an aside - or a distraction - I want to sneak in mention of a book I read last year: Sacred Treasure -- The Cairo Genizah by Rabbi Mark Glickman. I found out that a Genizah is an attic or big room in a synagogue where they sort of “dump”  old sacred writings or anything Jewish in print. The one in Cairo was a gold mine of old Jewish writings. Between 1896 and 1982 - but most early on - they found 4 texts of Sirach in Hebrew from the 10^th to the 12^th centuries - plus fragments. Scholars say Sirach was written in Hebrew by Ben Sira. Then his grandson - according to the Translator's Foreword - says he translated it for the Jews in Egypt. I'm assuming that translation was into Greek.  I’d also recommend checking out information on Genizahs. There is another book about them. This one is not called, “Sacred Treasure” but  “Sacred Trash”. In the Catholic Church people often bring a shopping bag containing old prayer books of someone who died. The practice is to burn them - which Jews are not supposed to do - hence the Genizah. It’s my experience that Catholics sometimes dump them in a rectory side room and run.]

February 23, 2017

TIME

Time is not a tick, tick, tick,

the moving of a dial through

a circle or the jump of some

digital numbers on a clever

clock every 60 seconds.

No, no, no…. Time is moments,

memories, interactions, specific

significant events - mysteries we

spend so much time on - trying to

figure out - just what a time meant.

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

February 22, 2017

EDGE

Approaching the edge

of an egg - white or tan shell,

I realize skin is easier.

It bends, stretches, survives

plops on couches or hard boiled seats.

Not egg shells. They have no face,

no eyes to read - no ears to hear.

So I prefer to approach the edge

of another - to sit with them - for more

than a one minute egg time frame  -

to listen - to not be egg shell fragile -

but to be me - even though I’m thin

skinned and crack so easily. Smile!

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

FEAR  THE  LORD 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 7^th Tuesday in Ordinary Time comes from  today’s first reading: “Fear the Lord.”

Sirach - in our first reading - has a  4 part litany about fearing the Lord:

You who fear the LORD, wait for his mercy….

You who fear the LORD, trust him….

You who fear the LORD, hope for good things….

You who fear the LORD, love him….

TWO MORE TIMES

And two more times in today’s first reading we hear about fear.

When you come to serve the Lord, stand in justice and fear….

Trust in God and “keep his fear and grow old therein.”

ALL THROUGH THE SCRIPTURES

As you know all through the scriptures we hear “fear the Lord” and then we also hear, “Do not fear.”

Which is it?

Obviously it’s both - but this morning I’m looking at the fear issue.

In preparing this homily last night, I simply typed into the search box of Google, “Fear the Lord.”

I got some stuff to think and wonder about - stuff we’ve all heard in sermons. I’m sure we have thought at different times in our life about the complexities of fears and phobias.

For starters I heard the following:

There are two kinds of fear: good fear and bad fear. 

Bad fear is when we become paralyzed  - dreading God - and others and also ourselves. It’s wipe out fear. It’s too much fear in a given situation.

Good fear is prudence - pause -  aware that we ought to be hesitant of the seriousness of a situation and the consequences that could come out of our actions. Translation: think before we act. Pause before proceeding. Breathe.

Next I heard the practical teaching that Fear of the Lord is just a beginning - a first reaction. Fear of the Lord is a gift of the Spirit - the first of the seven classic gifts of the Spirit. 

So the first realization is that fear can begin things - but we need to move beyond the fear.

The two classic scripture texts are: the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Knowledge and fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

A good example of this would be what police sometimes do: bring kids into a jail cell - to see what that’s all about - with the idea of instilling a bit of fear into the fog of their brains - so that they don’t end up there years later.

Or on the first day, week, month of a new job, we better have some good fears to be aware of - and we have dressed for the job.

Then at some point in any relationship or any situation, we need to let go of our fears and move into love - as well as enjoying the job or the relationship or the situation.

THE VALUE OF FEAR

So today’s first reading underlines the value of prudent  fear, practical fear, smart fear.

Don’t give a kid who is clumsy the keys to a Mercedes or Lexus.

I remember once I was holding a Boehm Porcelain statue of a bird and I asked the owner who made it, “How much is this bird worth? He  said, “$1,700.” I said, “Here, take this back from me very carefully.”

So too of anything, a sprinkling on - of some fear - helps.

I love e.e. cummings saying, which fits in right here, “be of love a little more careful than of anything.”

So too marriage - a little bit of fear - the high number of divorce statistics - hopefully keeps a couple aware of the need for good ongoing communication in one’s marriage.

So too preaching. I assume fear of criticism - as well as people yawning or looking at their watch - adds at least 5 more minutes of preparation to a sermon.

CONCLUSION

So too in our relationship with God.  St. Alphonsus told his Redemptorists that fear works in preaching - but it doesn't last. Love does.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Painting on top: "Fear" by Robert Vickrey [1954]

"In 1948, Robert Vickrey found a photograph of two nuns from the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. He was fascinated by the image and created many paintings of nuns in austere and often sinister surroundings. In Fear, Vickrey used egg tempera paint to create a detailed view of a barren landscape, in which a nun appears to be running in distress. He once claimed that his paintings did not tell stories, but this image suggests that the nun, symbolizing purity and Christian charity, is fleeing from what Vickrey described as 'the rubble and erosion of contemporary civilization.'" (Mecklenburg, Modern American Realism: The Sara Roby Foundation Collection, 1998)

February 21, 2017

KEY  WORKS

Instead of gathering dust in the basement

of my mind, why not take a week or two

to gather the key works of my life? Dust

them off. Gold paint a frame or two. Then

hang them on the walls of my upstairs

living rooms. If old enough, then announce

to myself: “This is me. This is my life. More.”

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

Painting on top:   Rossetti and Watts Dunton 
at 16 Cheyne Walk, by Henry Treffey Dunn, 1882