LOT’S WIFE:

FOUR POEMS

 INTRODUCTION

Instead of a homily this morning, I would like to read four poems. Three are by someone else, the fourth is a first draft poem by myself for the occasion. 

For some reason, the story of Lot's Wife, is a Bible story we all know - how she was told when leaving Zoar not to look back. She did. She turned into a pillar of salt.

FIRST POEM

This first poem is entitled, “Lot’s Wife”. It’s by Anna Akhmatova and is translated from the Russian by Stanley Kunitz and Max Hayward.

LOT’S WIFE

by Anna Akhmatova

And the just man trailed God’s shining agent,

over a black mountain, in his giant track,

while a restless voice kept harrying his woman:

“It’s not too late, you can still look back

at the red towers of your native Sodom,

the square where once you sang, the spinning-shed,

at the empty windows set in the tall house

where sons and daughters blessed your marriage-bed.”

A single glance: a sudden dart of pain

stitching her eyes before she made a sound …

Her body flaked into transparent salt,

and her swift legs rooted to the ground.

Who will grieve for this woman? Does she not seem

too insignificant for our concern?

Yet in my heart I never will deny her,

who suffered death because she chose to turn.

-1922-1924

SECOND POEM

The second poem is by Wislawa Szymborska. It also is entitled, “Lot’s Wife.”  It is translated from the Polish by Grazyna Drabik and Austin Flint. It gets at possible reasons why Lot’s wife turned her head to look back at the city where her husband demanded that they must flee.

LOT’S WIFE

by Wislawa Szymborska

I looked back, they say, out of curiosity.

But there might have been other reasons.

I looked back because I missed my silver bowl.

By mistake, tying my sandal thong.

Not to look any more at the righteous nape

of my husband, Lot.

Suddenly sure that if I died,

he wouldn’t even stop.

From the disobedience of the meek.

Listening for the chase.

Touched by silence, hoping God had changed his mind.

Our two daughters were disappearing behind a hill.

I felt old. Distant.

Drowsy. I thought of the futility of wandering.

I looked back because I didn’t know where to step.

In my path appeared snakes,

spiders, field mice, young vultures.

Neither good nor bad – simply all that lived

and crept and jumped in mass panic.

I looked back in loneliness.

Ashamed that I ran so furtively.

From the wish to scream, to return.

Or merely when the wind rose,

loosened by hair and whipped my dress up.

I felt they saw it from the walls of Sodom

and burst into loud laughter, again and again.

I looked back because I was angry.

To feast on their grand undoing.

I looked back for all those reasons.

I looked back unwillingly.

It was only a boulder that turned, growling under me.

It was a crevice that abruptly cut off my road.

And then we both looked back.

No. No. I was running farther,

I crawled and flew upwards

until darkness tumbled down from the heavens,

and with it hot gravel and dead birds.

Breathless I spun around many times.

Someone watching might have thought I was dancing.

Maybe my eyes were open.

It’s possible that I fell with my face towards the city.

THIRD POEM

The third poem is by James Simmons. It too is entitled, “Lot’s Wife”.

LOT’S WIFE

by James Simmons

Uneasiness confirmed his words were right:

there was a rottenness in all she knew.

She could not see where she was going to

but love for him felt stronger than her fright.

Yet as she traveled on she was bereft

of every landmark but her husband’s eyes:

her whole life echoed in her friends’ goodbyes.

How could he take the place of all she left.

For him or them, but not for heaven’s sake,

she made decisions: these two were opposed.

He led her on his way, her eyes were closed.

At every step she felt her heart would break.

At last Lot drew his wagon to a halt;

dog-tired but glad, he groped his way inside,

looking for pleasure in his sleeping bride,

kissed her, and on her cold cheek tasted salt.

FOURTH POEM

The fourth poem is a first draft poem I put together this morning, just to try my hand at this. I want to watch your reactions, if any, at hearing some poems from the pulpit.

LOT’S WIFE

At times 
haven’t we all found ourselves

stuck in the past.

We're spending too much time

looking in the rear view mirror of life.

We want the back then now.

We want someone who has died to be still alive.

We want a return to the good old days?

We’re mad, sad and definitely 
not glad about our present situation.

As a result, we’ve become

like muggy summer salt.

We’re sulking in the shaker.

Dang it!  Nothing is coming out.

We’ve become a lot like Lot’s wife. 

STORM

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 13 Tuesday in Ordinary Time - July 4^th, is, “Storm.”

Storm! What a great name for a dog.

I grabbed that theme and that title from today’s gospel [Cf. Matthew 8: 23-27]

Jesus and his disciples got into a boat so as to  cross the Sea of Galilee.

Suddenly a storm comes up and almost swamps them. They panic, They wake up Jesus and say, “Lord, save us, we are perishing.”

Jesus says, “Why are you terrified, O you of little faith.”

And Jesus calms down everything.

And they say, “What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey?”

CROSSING THE LAKE: STORM

In January of 2000 we were in Israel.  I was with about 25 priests - for a retreat. Our bus dropped us off at the edge of the lake or sea - of Galilee - with the idea we would go across the lake and then our bus would meet us at the other side. 

We got onto one of these small boats - Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, or Paul. I don’t remember which one we were on. Each could hold 40 or so people. We set sail. Our retreat leader and guide, Father Stephen Doyle - a Franciscan from Philadelphia - read today’s gospel.  About 5 minutes later - up came a small storm. We have understood this gospel that much better for the rest of our lives.  Stephen Doyle pointed out two small hills or mountains - through which the wind would whip up - and come through  - with these sudden and quick storms on the lake.

We couldn’t cross the whole lake. We stayed near the top of the Sea of Galilee till we got to another dock where our bus met us.  The bus could see us as we moved along.

STORMS: NAME YOUR STORMS

Name your storms - troubles, problems, that suddenly popped up in your life.

It could be a death, an accident, a surprise - someone did something dumb in our lives - and we had to scramble and re-scramble our lives.

Everyone knows that people watch TV news to find out what’s new and what’s happening in our world.

Everyday there is a story of violence - from somewhere in the world.

Today’s first reading from Genesis sounds like the latest news coming out of Mosul in Iraq.  The TV scenes of that city look like what Sodom and Gomorrah must have looked like in its day. [Cf. Genesis 19: 15-29]

Everyone knows weather reports from watching TV.

Everyone knows we can’t always predict the weather.

Everyone knows John Lennon’s words - John Lennon of Beatle fame - shot and killed coming out of a hotel in New York City.

“Life is what happens when we are making other plans.”

Today- July 4^th - we commemorate the Declaration of Independence - although now historians and newspaper writers like to say it might have been July 2^nd.

Whatever…. A revolution was happening in the colonies.

King George III wrote in his diary for today, “Nothing of importance happened today.”

Little did he know what was happening in Philadelphia that day - or days around that date - before and after. There are different stories about all the events. Those who signed the Declaration of Independence kept quiet about their putting their name on the paper till at least January of 1777.

This weekend - we’re also looking at the storm called the Civil War and what happened July 1,2,3 in Gettysburg.

It takes a while to figure out what happens in storms - where they are named the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, Katrina, Sandy or September 11^th.

So too our family and personal storms.

So too what’s happening in our world and our country these days.

Each of us stands there on a boat that is crossing our current sea - and we see what we see.

CONCLUSION

In the last few months - if I have heard it once - I’ve heard it a dozen times, someone saying,  “I’m scared and I hope another war is not going to happen. “

Each of us has to do our own praying and putting into words what’s hitting our hearts and minds and thoughts - and not cause more storms than necessary because of our mouths and our words. Amen. 

July 4, 2017

OOOOOOOOOOOH!

Gossip, whispers,  razor blade words,

slid out of the side of their mouths.

These cutting comments - got edgy laughs.

But they quickly hid under the couch -

in the dark - underneath butts above.

Embarrassed - with the content of such

nasty news - these words lay low in a

foetal position for the rest of the evening.

Sometimes not nice words can have the

smell of a kitchen sink sponge or wash cloth.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh.

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

FEAST  OF  ST.  THOMAS 

IT'S  OKAY IF WE HAVE DOUBTS

INTRODUCTION

Today is the feast of St. Thomas the apostle. He is famous for being the one who doubted. Hence his nickname: “Doubting Thomas.”

So I decided to say a few words in this homily about doubts and doubting.

The classic message of the gospels seems to be: “Don’t be like Thomas. Don’t doubt. Have faith.”

So the message is we should not be like him.

THEOLOGY MESSAGE

That was the message that I heard from time to time when I was studying to be a priest. One should not have doubts. The old teachers and theologians  that I had seemed to be men that did not have doubts.

However, in my opinion, the day comes when we get to their age and we know the reality is: To be human is to doubt.

So we are all like Thomas. We have doubts.

Recently in the May 7, 2017 The Washington Post Magazine, there was an interview by Joe Heim of Paul  Scalia, Catholic Priest.

The subtitle of the section was Just Asking.  Father Paul Scalia - the son of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia - was asked, “Every person of faith that I’ve talked with has moments of doubt in their faith. Have you ever experienced those.?

His answer: “I’ve been blessed with having no doubts. Doubt is different from difficulty.  I think a lot of people confuse doubt with difficulty. They run into difficulties with believing, and they think that means that they doubt. But difficulties are there so we can trust God more.”

When I read that I said, “I have had doubts as well as difficulties. 

As to doubts, I have had them more about the divinity of Christ - about Christ’s presence in the Eucharist. I sense less doubts about the existence of God because creation tells me there is a creative force that created this universe - which could not exist without a creative “mind” behind all that we can see.

As to difficulties, I have difficulties with some of the answers the Church people gives  to theological questions like: ways and means to deal with divorce and re-marriage;  women priests, a married clergy, cardinals,  etc. etc. etc.

So when Father Paul Scalia says he has no doubts, I react by thinking, “best of luck guy”.

TO BE HUMAN

So my thought is this:  to be human is to have doubts - doubts about God, self, others.

Miguel de Unamuno said, “La vida es duda

y la fe sin la duda ex sola muerta."

Life is doubt,

And faith without doubt is nothing but death.

Wilson Mizner describes doubt as, “What gives you an education.”

FIRST: DOUBTS ABOUT GOD

The day we have doubts about God is a good day. I say this, because I would think that it could be the day we stop seeing God as a thing and we start thinking about God as a person. Hopefully, we then also start talking to him as a Person. That could be  the beginning of deep way of praying.

Many people are like all those people in the Bible who have gods made of stone or wood. And stone and wood are things that we don’t have doubts about. They are there. They are solid. We don’t give them a second thought.

We don’t have doubts about this podium being here. It’s solid. It’s marble. But the day will come when it might crack or what have you and it will need to be replaced or what have you.

Today’s gods are made of ink and paper - words - in books or in mind - solid - till they get cracks.

My words on this written document are first draft. In time I would hope I would make them clearer and with better theology.

SECONDLY - SELF-DOUBTS

We also have self-doubts, doubts about ourselves.

So what else is new?

We know this area better than anyone else. And as we get older, this experience of having self-doubts can return – the same self-doubts we had when we were teen-agers.

We’re talking with someone at a get together – and suddenly the person we’re talking to starts to drift away – first with their eyes – then with their body – and we’re standing there all alone. I pause and think to myself, “Am I losing it?”

That’s the basic thought that hits us. Then the feeling, “I guess there are other people more interesting than me in the room.”

Or we’re talking with someone and they start to fall asleep as we are standing there talking to them – and they are only 2 feet away. I have experienced this at various times doing a homily.  Like a funeral I had the other day. As I spoke, I was getting zero feedback from the body language of those in church. I don’t give up, but I wonder, “Is there anyone here who is listening or caring what I am talking about?”

THIRDLY: DOUBTS ABOUT OTHERS

We wonder about other people. Are they here because they have to be here?

Obviously, we can’t know the motive of others, but sometimes we wonder. 

Take this poem by G.K. Chesterton. I doubt it has anything about the child abuse problem - but we should have had a lot more doubts about signs and signals that some priests and possible perpetrators gave off. Here’s the poem of sorts:

John Grubby, who was short and stout

And troubled with religious doubt,

Refused about the age of three

To sit upon the curate’s knee.”

From Poems [1915] “New Freethinker.”

So we have or ought to have  doubts about others as well.

Doubts in this case has the benefit of getting us to talk to ourselves.

CONCLUSION: THOMAS IS IN OUR CORNER

So my points today, would be: it’s okay to have doubts. In fact,  it’s human to have doubts.

I sense that’s why Thomas is a favorite saint. Okay Jesus says it’s better to have faith than to have seen - but ….

In this sermon, I’m not telling you to have doubts, but to get in touch with the doubts that you have: the doubts that you have about God, self, and others.

It will bring us down a peg, to our knees, to the ground, to the humus. Isn’t that the truth - the reality -  that we come from the earth and go back into the earth from which we came?

We were made from the clay of the earth and into the earth we will return.

It's after that where we really need faith. Is this life all there is or is there more because of Christ - the resurrection and the life.  That's where we are called to be like Thomas - to put our finger into his side as we see Thomas doing in the Caravaggio painting on the top of this blog entry. Hi.

July 3, 2017

MAYFLIES

I read somewhere that mayflies

live or last for only 24 hours.

Woo! Not fair. House flies get

about 4 weeks - unless we zap

them with a fly swatter for being

such pests - with their constant

flyovers. Question:  What would I do

if I only got 24 hours. I’m a diabetic -

Type 2.  I would certainly sit and

sip the best milkshake in the area:

chocolate. I would flyover as many

places I want to visit. I would bug

those I love with many an “I love you.”

And I would find some church or

beautiful garden where I could sit

and ponder the two big questions:

Why am I here and is there anything

after this? And oops - the third question:

How much time do I have left?

And P.S. Besides letting you know they
are here, I also read, “In their short

24 hour life span,  they form groups

and dance on all available surfaces.”

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

A CUP OF COLD WATER

[The following is sort of a story homily. I’m just going to reflect on the closing words of today’s gospel.]

A disciple went up to the master and asked, “What shall I do as one of your disciples?”

The master said, “And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because the little one is a disciple - amen, I say to you, he or she will surely not lose their reward.”

“… a cup of cold water…? “That’s it? That’s all?”

“Yes,” said the master. “A cup of cold water. That’s all.”

That image - those words echoed into the disciples ears and seeped down into his well and he went out and gave other little ones cups of cold water.

It was summer.

It was very hot.

People were thirsty.

On a hot sidewalk, the disciple saw a very hairy dog - with a winter coat of hair on him. He was walking up the street and the dog looked thirsty. The dog also looked very, very hot and very, very  overdressed.

The disciple spotted a general store - walked in and bought a neat silver bowl and a 12 pack of bottled water. The water had to be cold. The master had added that word - loud and clear: “cold”.

He walked up to the top of the street and saw a Starbuck’s coffee shop. It was in the perfect location. But it had no customers at the time. It was hot summer - early afternoon.

He walked in and spoke to the two young people behind the counter.

“Could you do me a favor?”

They said, “If we can….”

The disciple said, “Could you put this silver bowl - just outside your front door - off to the side  - and keep it filled with cold water.”

Then he added, “And here is plenty of cold water” as he put the 12 pack of water bottles on the counter.

The two young people were surprised at the request.

The disciple said, “Wait, let me show you what I mean.”

So they walked out front. The disciple put the silver bowl near the front door, but off to the side. Then he went back and got one bottle of cold water and came back and poured half the bottle into the bright silver bowl.

The disciple added, “I noticed a lot of dogs look like they are looking for water today. It’s such a hot day.”

“Good,” said one of the Starbuck’s workers, “we’ll do this.”

Then he added, “It won’t effect the competion. Most dogs don’t drink coffee.”

Just then a dog on a leash spotted the water and drank up almost the whole silver bowl. Her owner, a spiffy looking young chick, said, “Thank you. Great idea.”

The disciple noticed that bowl of water was still there and it was late October - almost near the end of Indian Summer.

And one day, the disciple was in another part of town, and one of the Starbucks workers spotted him and said, “Hey you’re the dog water guy. Great idea. Business improved at least 20 % with that cold water at our door. Dog owners - especially with spiffy looking modern dogs - have money and drink Starbucks.”

And the disciple said, “Thank you.”

It was a hot day and the disciple spotted about 5  men working on a lawn. He stopped to watch them and it looked like they didn’t have any water, so he went and bought a 24 pack of cold bottled water and brought it back for the men. All five said, “Wow! Gracias! Hey man, that was nice. Muchas gracias.  Muy caliente today.”

Next, the disciple saw a short fat guy - who looked like he had shortness of breath - walking and then leaning on a fence - then walking some more - then leaning on a tree - going down the street.

Sweating.

The disciple caught up with him and said, “You need water. See this library here. It has a great cold water fountain just inside the door. Why don’t you go in - and cool off - and get yourself some nice cold water?”

And the short fat guy said, “They don’t have a cold water fountain in there. I go in there all the time.”

And the disciple said, “Let me show you.”

And the two walked to the library - the disciple pausing and leaning on a tree and then a post - every time the man stopped to catch his breath.

They went in. It had wonderful air conditioning. The disciple showed him where the cold water fountain was - around the corner from the front door.

“Wow, I didn’t know this was here,” the short fat guy said.  “I’m going to tell all my friends where this is. Thank you.”

And the disciple said, “I have to say the following very carefully. Haven’t you heard the old saying, ‘Fat people always know where the cold water fountains are.”

And the short fat guy laughed - patted his tummy - his pot - as he said, “Thanks for the compliment. Thanks for calling me thin. I didn’t know about this cold water fount.”

And both laughed a good laugh and the disciple got a good sip of cold water from the library cold water fountain and headed back to the street.

Next, the disciple was walking around town, It was another hot, hot day and he spotted the master on a park bench - feeding the birds of the air - and watching them dipping into the big water fountain - in the center of the park - bird after bird after bird.

He also spotted a convenience store and he went in and got two large bottles of cold water from the refrigerator section. He paid for them and walked back to the park - walked up the master and said, “Want a cup of cold water?”

“Thank you,”  said the master. “Thank you.”

Just then a mom walked by - pushing a stroller with two kids in it. “Hey,” the master said, “Want a sip of cold water.”

“Thank you,”  the mom said, putting the bottle of water to her kids lips first - then her’s. And then she said, “Thank you. Muchas gracias." 

July 2, 2017

SNAPPY VERBS

Some writer said,

“One snappy verb outweighs

a pile of adjectives."

Okay then, lure with the words ….

Scribble those sounds ....
Toss the dart ….

Plant those trees ....
Flower power your garden ....

Blue the oceans ….

Empurple Lent ….

Leapfrog the rock ….

Prod me when I'm lazy ….

Shuffle the cards ….

Shun gossip ….

Squelch the rumor ….

Pamper the baby….

Egg on ….

Go figure ….

Magnify the Lord ….

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017