NOT  FAIR

[The title of my reflection for this 2^nd Sunday in Lent [A] is on today’s gospel is “Not Fair.”  Cf. Matthew 17: 1-9.]

Sometimes Jesus is not fair.

Sometimes life is not fair. God is not fair. Others are not fair. Those we live and work with:  they are not fair.

And I guess it’s important to learn about fairness - probably from the very beginning - when we are little kids - when we begin to notice the size of the other kids’ pieces of cake or amounts or ice cream in their bowl - compared to ours - and that can be pretty early on - even in high chair and wearing a baby bib times.

Sometimes there is a kid that never seems to check  other people’s plates. They just seem to enjoy the grey oatmeal  that they get - while an older sister always gets the colorful Fruit Loops. They love the Christmas present they get - the seat in the car they get. Good. They don’t scream that so and so got a better deal  - a better job - a better husband - a better wife - better children - a better life - a better piece of roast beef - even one with too much gristle.

Sometimes Jesus is not fair.

He only took Peter, James and his brother John up the mountain that day.

It was a beautiful day to climb a mountain.

Not all days are the same.

Some people think God is unfair.

Judas stood there looking at the backs of Peter, James, John and Jesus - getting smaller as they went up the dirt and rock trail that day.  Not fair.

Not fair being left behind….

Judas often had this itchy complaint about Jesus. He would inwardly grumble: “It seems that Jesus favors Peter. He seems to be afraid of the way James and John complain - so he caters to them too. And Peter’s brother Andrew seems to get left out - till Jesus needs to find out - if anyone in the  crowd has some bread.”

Judas  tended to whisper behind people’s back. Jesus whispered to himself a few times. “I think Judas thinks he made a wrong choice in following me.”

Judas whispered  to Matthew - and then Thomas - and then Philip, “Jesus doesn’t seem to like criticism - especially the criticism that he plays favorites.”

Jesus knew his disciples wanted to be looked up to - by the crowds - just as Jesus was looked up to - by some people in some crowds. And when Jesus said something that angered folks, his other apostles would think, “Stupid. Do miracles. Come up with more bread and more fish. You’re coming up with too many complaints from too many people. You’re going to get yourself crucified one of these days - and then what about us? “That’s an uh oh!”  That’s a, “Not fair!”

So Jesus left the crowds that day - as well as the other apostles - and took Peter, James and John up the mountain.

The higher they climbed, the more they could see.

Things become clearer - plainer - high above the plains - up there above the down below.

Peter felt good about being with Jesus up there on the mountain.

Mountain air can clear the nostrils and the brain - but it can also go to one’s head  with big thoughts.

Peter  could see the Sea of Galilee down below in the distance.

The smell of fish was no longer on his hands or in his robes.

Too often he fished all night and caught nothing - but ever since Jesus caught him - with that great catch of fish that morning - this was a good move - following Jesus. 

People knew him by name now. Nobody knew him when he was just a fisher of fish.  Everyone now knew him as a fisher of people - now that he was working the net with Jesus.

James and John felt great - being the other two chosen ones - on the mountain that day.

Their mother wanted them to be number one and two with Jesus - when Jesus  came into his kingdom - or whatever he was about.  Here they were two and three. Mom take a look us now.  The other guys are down below - not knowing what Jesus had in mind for us today. “Look at us - moving up the ladder of success and fame.”

The four stopped. They rested. They looked. They listened.

They saw Jesus’ face shine like the glisten off the granite rocks on the mountain. Jesus was transfigured before them.

Moses and Elijah - two of the great Hebrew prophets appeared - on the scene with Jesus - and Jesus was talking with them.

Woo, the 3 of them, Peter, James and John, were in the presence of greatness - Moses, Elijah, and Jesus - big time, star time, greatness.

3 simple fishermen - from that sea down there - were now high on the mountain - at the edge of greatness.

Peter burst out with the words, “Lord, it is good that we are here.  If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

Then this bright cloud cast a shadow over the whole scene and from the cloud they heard the words, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, listen to him.”

This scared Peter. This scared James and John, known by those who knew them as the ‘Sons of Thunder.’”

They fell to the ground - very much afraid - but Jesus came and touched them and said, “Rise, and do not be afraid.”

They looked up and they saw no one else but Jesus.

The transfiguration of Jesus was over.

They had to climb back down the mountain.

What goes up, must come down.

The disfiguration of Jesus was about to begin - but Peter, James and John didn’t know that yet.

They wouldn’t know - what that day was about -  what his betrayal, his arrest and crucifixion - were about -  till way after Jesus was raised from the dead.

They walked back down the mountain - each of the 3 picturing themselves telling the other apostles - Peter telling his brother Andrew - James and John telling their mother and family members - what they saw that day.

They didn’t say to themselves, “Wow this will impress people!”

But they knew what everyone knows when they see a fire or a great movie or a great moment, “I need an audience.”

Jesus must have been reading their minds - he always seemed to do that to people - so Jesus said to them, “Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

And all three - hearing that - dropped their heads - and inwardly moaned and groaned, “Unfair. Unfair. Unfair.”

March 12,  2017

STAIRCASE

I know of Frost’s two roads

diverging in a yellow wood -

and I thought about an elevator

as a metaphor. It has its ups

and downs - but an elevator

is too linear and too literal.

So it struck me - a staircase

could be the better metaphor -

the better image - to sit there

on a step - it becoming the top 
or bottom step - depending 
if I make the choice to take 
the steps upwards towards the
light or to descend downwards
on the dark steps leading to 
the locked basement door.

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

A  PERFECT 10

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “A Perfect 10!”

Did you hear the last sentence in today’s Gospel:  “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Do we have to be a perfect 10 - as perfect as God is?

Woo, that would be a much tougher commandment than keeping all the all the 10 commandments all the time.

Did God ever try ice skating or gymnastics? Would God get a perfect 10 every time?

PROCESS

Life takes time. Growth takes time. It’s evolutionary. It takes practice. It’s developmental. It’s a journey. It’s a pilgrimage. So hopefully there is time for some Pilgrim Progress.

In the last 50 years a new word is “process” - as in “Process Philosophy” or “Process Theology”. 

Life is a process - an evolution - hopefully.

We’re not finished till we’re finished. That’s what process philosophy and process theology teach is. We’re in process. We’re not there yet.

MANY DRAFTS

Take the process of doing a book or an article or a serious letter. The first draft is rarely the final draft. We jot down ideas. We do a quick draft. We add. We delete. We add. We cut. We do lots of drafts.

The old image was walking into a room of a person writing a book and we see hundreds of pieces of crumbled paper on the floor. I was tempted to take a bunch of pieces of paper - mimic a person at a typewriter - and crumble paper and throw them on the sanctuary floor. Now that we have computers, I’ll have to come up with a new image.

Doing a term paper, doing a book, doing a painting, doing a poem, doing life, all takes many drafts. We usually don’t get it right the first time. We learn. We develop. We grow.

Life is a process. Becoming perfect - becoming like God - more and more - is a process. It takes time.

IMPLICATIONS

Now the implications of taking a process position as opposed to a perfection position are profound.

First of all, start with oneself. Do a “selfie” exam.

Picturing oneself, how well have I learned patience and compassion with ourselves.

We don’t have faith, hope and charity down. We grow. We make good moves and we make bad moves. We sin. We fall. We revert. But hopefully we convert on a regular basis. Onwards and upwards. Excelsior. Let him or her who hasn’t made mistakes, who has arrived, who is perfect, stand there and throw rocks and him or her who is still moving onwards.

Question: do our mistakes, our slips, our falls, our sins,  help us become more understanding of ourselves? As we age, do we age in patience—and compassion—bearing with ourselves lovingly? Or do we do a number on ourselves?

Can we admit that each time we sin, each time we fall, each time we don’t get an A+ or 100, we are not God. We are not perfect.

I think the advantage of marks teaches a kid that we usually don’t get hundreds. I think sports can teach kids that only one team wins the tournament. Only one kid wins the race—only one swimmer gets the gold medal. Very few gymnasts or figure skaters get a perfect 10.

So in the meanwhile, we have to learn to do our best, keep striving and keep training.

In the meanwhile, we need to enjoy the bus rides to different track meets and different stadiums.  We need to keep practicing and do our  homework.

In the meanwhile, we don’t kill yourself if you don’t get an A. Some students do that—for example, television or newspapers sometimes report that there is too much pressure in Japan to succeed, to be perfect.

Parents who stress that, often stress out their kids and themselves. Slow down and enjoy the flowers along the way.

Jesus will still eat with us, even when we sin.

WITH OTHERS

So that’s a first step. We can also develop, learn, evolve, with our ability to be patient and compassionate with the other guy - with each other..

The problem with the Pharisees was their hiding the reality of their imperfections under a veneer of false holiness, piety and prayer.

JOAN BAEZ

Joan Baez used to sing a song,  entitled, “Be not too hard”. It was by Christopher Logue-Donovan—whoever that is or whoever they are. The song lines are something like,

          “Be not too hard for life is short,

          and nothing is given to man.

          Be not too hard we will soon die,

          often no wiser than when we began.

          Be not too hard

          for he must manage as best he can.

          Be not too hard when he blindly dies

     fighting for things 

     that he does not own.

          Be not too hard

          for he will soon die

often no wiser than when he began.          

Be not too hard when he tells lies

or if his heart is somewhat like a stone.”

CONCLUSION

My message then is: we are all on our way. So let’s be patient with ourselves and with others. Aim for a perfect 10 - but hold one’s head up when we get a 2.

March 11, 2017

BLANKIE

Fill in the blank_______.

Did you have a security blanket, 
a toy dog, a teddy bear, that 
you had to have - if you wanted 
to go to sleep or anywhere as a kid?

I don’t know. I don’t remember.

I’ll have to ask my older sister,

because we’re the only two left

after all these years?

Then again we probably bit

our thumb nail a bit - when

our mom and dad died -

and when we lost the key

comfort people and objects

of our life - like it seemed we 
lost it all as we moved from our

last home to the nursing home?

Come to think about it,

I never thought of a Bible

or a rosary as a blankie -

and YOU too, O God.

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

LENT 

TIME  IN  BETWEEN  TIME

 INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Lent! Time In Between Time.”

On Ash Wednesday we began the Season of Lent - 40 days and 40 nights - of special time.

It’s connected with the 40 days - Jesus retreated into the desert - when and where he wrestled with life’s big issues - temptations - questions - “What’s next?” Then he came  out of the desert - out of an  empty waste - ready to speak, preach, give wisdom, wash feet, challenge people, help and heal and feed people  and give that same mission to our world.

It’s connected with the 40 years the people of Israel were in the desert - dealing with the struggle to become a people. They had to grow up. Like children they spent too much time complaining and whining against Moses and God. Why did God tell us  people to make an exit - and exodus - out of Egypt? They forgot the part that they were slaves in Egypt.

NOT ALL TIME IS THE SAME

As you know not all time is the same.

Sometimes time is just time.

Sometimes time is non-descript, or time is boring, or time is super exciting.

Sometimes some times are special times.

There’s a difference between Holy Week and any other week of the year.

There’s a difference between the Christmas Season, Summer, Vacation.

Not all days are the same: some days are birthdays - or your parent’s wedding anniversary day - or the day a grandfather died.

Some days someone gets a notice they have to appear in court.

Some days someone has a career game on the basketball court and his or her name is in the paper - and the newspaper story is cut out and a great grandkid sees it in an album 65 years later and says, “Grandpa or Grandma I didn’t know you played basketball.”

Not all time, not all seasons are the same: spring, summer, autumn, winter.

Some of you - good news to you - if you end up with a drinking or a drug problem  - you’ll have to go into a rehab for 40 days or 30 days or 6 months and that period of your life will help you 100 times more than any season of Lent or Advent or year of schooling.

Not all time is the same time.

On Wednesday afternoon I was standing there in St. Peter’s Catholic Cemetery on Route 50 - some 15 miles from the Bay Bridge - after a burial. My car was trapped. So I walked around and stopped to read the stones - as a way of using my time well - instead of complaining inwardly, “People stop talking to each other. Please get back into your cars.  I gotta get back to St. Mary’s.”

There was a black stone for some guy who died around 18 or 19 years of age. I saw just his name - his numbers - and a poem carved on the back of the stone about being understood or not being understood.

And all the stones around  him had people who made it to their 70’s and 80’s.

Not all time is the same time.

Not every life has the same number of minutes and months.

WHAT AM I DOING WITH MY TIME?

Lent is a good time to look at the time of my life.

It’s about time.

It’s about time to look at how I use time.

We’re about to start the baseball season and I like to read about the upcoming season. I read that Michael Conforto of the Mets and Justin Heyward of the Cubs really worked on their swing as hitters over the winter. We’ll see.

How well do we use time?

I remember in baseball in the seminary I found one of those hand sized squeezy exercise things. So I squeezed them thousands and thousands of times in class - outside of class - forever. Being a single’s hitter, I wanted to have better bat control. That year I hit .374. It worked. 

When we use our time well, when we train well, when we read well, when we work well, we end up with great memories of great times and jobs in high school and college and life.

I recently heard someone say they skipped Spring Break in College and went to Kentucky with some other kids to help work on houses for the poor and it was a super time.

Not everyone uses their time the same.

CONCLUSION   

Every night a nice night prayer is taking a minute to look back on today and say, “How was it.”

Come up with some great moments and say, “Thanks God.” If there were some nasty moments say, “Sorry X or Y and God.” Help me to do better tomorrow. Amen.

March 10, 2017

SCARECROW  CHRIST

Christ,

too many times

I’ve neglected the

wheat of the fields,

the grapes on the vine,

because I was scared

of you - a you - I imagined

was made of straw -

till one day I saw you -

off the cross, on the street,

the stranger, the different,

the rejected, bleeding, hurting,

one - calling out, “Come to me ….

all you who are …..”

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

PRAYER  OF  PETITION 

  

INTRODUCTION

This week I have been presenting various specific practices for Lent.

Monday: The Golden Rule. Don’t do things to others that you would not want people to do to you. Do things to others that you would like be done to you.

Tuesday: The Our Father. This is in the gospel of the day. It’s a great prayer, especially when you find it difficult to pray.

Wednesday: Contemplation. I stressed contemplation. It’s the sign of Jonas. Lent is a great time to become quiet and reflect and see great realities, God’s realities all around us.

Today: Prayer of Petition. Today I would like to move into prayer of petition.

THEME: PRAYER OF PETITION

So some reflection on prayer of petition.

St. Alphonsus would love today’s 2 readings, both are about Prayer of Petition.

In the first reading Esther cries out to God for help. [Cf. Esther c, 12: 14-16, 23-25.]

And in the gospel Jesus tells us how to pray: ask, seek, knock. [Cf. Matthew 7: 7-12]

When it comes to being stuck, have we thought about trying God?

Have we thought about going to God with our needs and if we get there and the door seems to be closed, knock and knock loudly.

If we can’t find the right door, ask, seek, knock, till we have tried every door in the mansion.  

Stand outside every door and scream, “Help!

Let her or him with the most needs pick up stones and throw them at God’s window.

Be like the Syro-Phoenician woman, outsmart Jesus.

MOREOVER

Moreover, if we ask for the wrong things, God will give us the right things.

If we ask for a poisonous snake, God will give us a fish.

If we’re asking for a rock to throw at our neighbor, God will give us a loaf of bread that we can share with them.

PRAYER OF PETITION

So prayer of petition is a good practice for Lent.

ST. ALPHONSUS AGAIN

In St. Alphonsus’ time, there were a lot of arguments and questioning about the issue of freedom vs. grace. 

Is it me or is it God?

Of course it’s both.

That’s why I love the 15^th chapter of Luke - and its three stories - three parables.  In the first two stories God goes looking - and searching out sinners - whether we are a lost sheep or a lost coin. In the third story, God waits for us to get up from the pig pen and return home.

That’s why I love the story of the monkey who fell down the well. The mother monkey reaches down for her child - and makes noises that her child has to reach up for her hand - otherwise she’s lost.

That’s why I love the saying: “Pray for potatoes, but pick up a shovel!” or “In a storm, pray to get back to the shore, but start rowing.” 

Then there is the Moslem saying, “Pray that your camel doesn’t run away in the night, but make sure you tie his reins to your tent peg.”

How many times have we heard in a sermon the story of the man in building with the river rising and he keeps praying - but is drowned.  When he faces God, he yells at God for not helping. And we know God's answer. "Hey turkey I sent you a row boat and a helicopter - but no, you kept praying."

In other words, life needs to be a relationship, a cooperation, a working together with God and each other.

Into these discussions, St. Alphonsus slipped into the answers prayer of petition.

Ask, seek, knock, and don’t worry about who did what.

Just pray. Just do.

Ask and God will send help.  Ask and solutions will appear.

TODAY

Today the question is, “Why pray to God? Why ask God for help to intervene?

Are we supposed to twist God’s arm or are we supposed to go out and work for our daily bread by hard work?

Isn’t prayer about changing attitudes?

Isn’t prayer less about healing of cancer and more about grace to deal with cancer?

Yes or no?

A change of mind can change one’s body.

A change of attitude can change one’s health.

Yes, we Catholics have not been arrested for faith healing nor that we tried to stop blood transfusions.

We pray as we wait outside the operating and recovery room in the hospital.

We pray for peace and work for justice -- realizing that’s the way to arrive at peace.

In today’s first reading from the Book of Esther we see Esther praying her people about to be exterminated - but she also does something. Then she acts. Then she makes her move.

CONCLUSION

Today I talked about Prayer of Petition - a major theme of the Redemptorist founder, St. Alphonsus.

I love his saying, “Pray and you’ll be saved. Don’t pray and you’ll be lost.”

I apply that to here and hereafter.