November 10, 2017

FALLING  LEAVES 

Might as well, float, spin,

do pirouettes before I hit

the ground. Up there in

the branches,  I was just one

in a crowd - and when I hit

the ground in a moment

I’ll be lost in a pile of leaves,

so this is my last moment - my

last chance, my last dance….

Now how do I do a parachute?
How do I do the helicopter.

 © Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

November 9, 2017

ONE  WORD 

Wondering: does everyone have one word

they use more than any other word - using

it over and over and over and over again?

Who’s counting? Could this be figured out?

Would we have to wear a tape monitor that

gets our every word? Would we want this?

Here are some candidates: sorry, help, hi,

crazy, God, remember,  stupid, great, stop,

when, why, how, thanks, no, yes, wow!

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

SUBJECT:  THE SPALDEEN

FOR THOSE WHO GREW UP IN NY YOU WILL HAVE FOND MEMORIES OF THESE.

THIS story is about a ball, the most wonderful ball ever invented.

It's better than a baseball, basketball or football. It's better than any ball you can name.

It was gone for 20 years, but it is back now.

It is called a Spaldeen, which might not mean anything to you, unless you grew up on the East Coast, preferably New York City before 1979. I grew up in Brooklyn in the 1950s and 1960s, which means my childhood memories are filled with Spaldeens.

Starting in the 1920s, the Spalding Co. manufactured tennis balls at its home base in Chicopee, Mass.

But overruns would occur, so there wasn't enough of the fuzzy stuff for the outside of the tennis balls.

Some anonymous genius -- and I use that word "genius" with reverence -- got the idea to market the bright pink, unused rubber cores as the "Spalding High-Bounce Ball."

Because New York City people don't talk so good, they pronounced Spalding as "Spaldeen"  -- as in, "Hey, Joey, you wanna play? I got a Spaldeen."

Spalding would box the Spaldeens and ship them down to New York City, where kids would buy them for a quarter each.

And, my God, when you bought a brand new Spaldeen, the aroma alone would cause ecstasy; it was the smell of Bazooka bubble gum and summer and childhood and joy and hope.

Then you would go out and play. All those legendary New York City street games began and ended with Spaldeens.

I'm talking about games you've heard about but might never have played -- stickball, punchball, stoopball, hit the penny and a million others.

When it came to inventing games with a Spaldeen, the only limit was your imagination.

We didn't have baseball fields or any other kinds of fields. We played ball on playgrounds -- really slabs of concrete surrounded by cyclone fences -- or we played in the street, using sewer covers as bases.

The virtue of a Spaldeen, besides that you could whack it a mile, was that it didn't break things.

You hit Mrs. Smith's Olds 88 with a Spaldeen, no big deal. No broken glass. No broken mirror. No broken nothin'.

Of course, Mrs. Smith would come running down her steps, screaming, "I'm gonna tell your mutha."

I apologize, Mrs. Smith, wherever you are.

I mostly played in the playground of St. Pat's or on 95th Street or Shore Road's handball courts.

And every kid would come to the playground with a Spaldeen in his back pocket. If someone had a stick, we'd play stickball.

The stick was an old broom handle or a dowel from the closet. We'd draw a box on the wall and pitch to it, and if the batter hit it over the fence, it was a homer.

We'd play handball with the Spaldeen, and sometimes we'd go to a friend's house for stoopball. A kid would throw the ball at the steps in front of someone's house, and as the ball sailed back, you'd try to catch it on a fly. If it bounced once, it was a single, twice a double, and so on.

But the king of Spaldeen games all over New York City was punchball. You'd toss the ball over your head.

You'd swing down overhand as if you were serving a tennis ball. And then you'd punch it with your closed fist.

Guys could hit it 200 feet, long fly balls that seemed to never come down. The puncher would be running around the bases -- painted squares on the playground's grimy concrete -- while the outfielders ran like mad after the Spaldeen.

THOSE WERE THE DAYS !!

[I want to thank Ms. Annette Hogan for sending me this bouncing nostaglia: the Spaldeen.]

November 8, 2017

NOVEMBER DAY

God, you have 30 days to come up

with a perfect November day. It has

to have grey, some moody dampness,

some cold, plenty of leaves on the ground

and half still on the trees. Add the sound of

leaf blowers or removers in the distance.

Also brown, rust, orange colors on the gals;

checkered flannel shirts on the guys.
Sprinkle in thoughts of Thanksgiving, family, apples, apple pie, pumpkin pie, mince pie. 

Wait. I’m talking about mid-America - 
middle and north to Canada, America. Today:

it looks like the best entry in the contest so far.

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

THE GREAT TRADE-OFF

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 31^st Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “The Great Trade-Off.”

TODAY’S READINGS

I read today’s two readings - First reading from Romans  and today’s gospel from Luke - and I wondered just where to go with this material.

Then I noticed that both readings had folks with negative qualities and Christ was always hoping for people to improve - so let me pick on God and 3 persons to think about.

God the Father got frustrated with us - he was sick and tired of the evening news.

There was too much yellow tape - too many crime scenes - too many people hurting too many people.

God saw too many kids unable to sleep because their parents were doing too much fighting.

But what to do?

So God said, “ I already sent the prophets. That didn’t work.  I already sent my son. That worked for some - but not enough. What to do?”

So God looked around and tried to find something that worked. And he was intrigued by gun returns.  People - in various places of our world - brought guns into police stations and they got paid for the turn in - the trade off. It cost a lot of money, but shootings and murders went down.

And the trade-off wasn’t perfect, but a lot of folks went for it.

So God began whispering in people’s ears.  “If you turn in something negative, I’ll give you a pay-off - a trade-off - that is positive.

FIRST  PERSON: THE ANGRY MANAGER

So this manager who always flew into a rage when things didn’t go his way - turned in his rage and God gave him instead the ability to laugh when he didn’t get his way. It worked.  In fact, he’s the one who came up with the saying, “Want to make God laugh, tell God your plans.

SECOND GUY - THE PROCRASTINATOR.

This guy who made excuses, excuses, excuses, for not doing the necessaries of life - like showing up for banquets, especially ones he didn’t like - like going to family weddings,  turned in his excuses and started doing the things he didn’t like. In fact, his marriage improved because his wife finally had a chance to see him out of his lazy boy chair, he watching 14 hours of football on the weekends, he getting a beer belly, and she losing 14 pounds and bought some nice dresses. And surprise, he was the one who came up with the saying we hear 1 million times, “Happy wife, happy life.” 

THREE - THE WAITRESS WHO CURSED

This person - a waitress - who was always cursing - cursing people who were slobs - people who were poor tippers - people who were on cell phones the whole meal -  turned in her cursing patterns and God gave her the gift of small talk - giving compliments - and  engaging people into talking with each other - instead of to someone else in some other state on their cellphones.   In fact, she started to get better tips and greater smiles.

CONCLUSION

And God celebrated - this new whisper campaign that he noticed people came up with - the ability to trade in their negative quirks for sweeter and happier  life patterns. 

November 7, 2017

A  PENNY  SAVED  IS  
A  PENNY  EARNED 

Lord, I have time for NCIS

and Monday Night Football,

and I have time for coffee

breaks and donuts - good

donuts - but I don’t seem

to have time for giving my

Aunt Penny a visit - after

all the Andrew Jackson’s

she gave me when I would

be going to Coney Island

or the City when I was a

kid. Nursing homes don’t

have the grab that a trip 

to the track has or golf of 

a good game of poker has. 

So what’s it going to be this 

Saturday or even Sunday, 

Aunt Penny or the boys?

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

WE’VE  BEEN  INVITED 

TO  A  BANQUET 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 31 Monday in Ordinary time is, “We’ve Been Invited to a Banquet.”

Can you believe it?

We’ve been invited to a banquet - or since it’s 12:10 - should we call this a luncheon?

Either way, we heard Jesus say in today’s gospel, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner….”

LOOK AROUND THE ROOM

We look around and we see all these people - here in church right now.  We are lots of people. All of us have been invited. We see young and old, male and female.

Luke even says Jesus was in the house of a leading Pharisee.  And we bow our heads and say, “That’s me at times.  I hope not the leading Pharisee, but I’ve been there, done that at times.” [Cf. Luke 14: 12-14]

We look around and see Jesus sitting there smiling, pleasant, breaking bread and sharing wine and words with those around him.

We  spot Paul and Mary and the apostles as well.

We hone - rhymes with phone - we hone in on Jesus as he says, “When you hold a banquet - invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind.

And we close our eyes and sip that statement and digest that description and we open our eyes and Jesus winks at us.

We breathe a great  burst of air - we sigh - because we are just realizing we  are blind, lame, poor and crippled and we have been invited - along with all these other folks.

All these years we felt guilty that we didn’t invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind to our meals.  Surprise we’re it.

ST. PAUL IS ALSO AT THE BANQUET

And we turn to Paul and he says to us - elbowing us - that first sentence in today’s first reading from Romans, “Brothers and sisters: The gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.”  [Cf. Romans 11:29-36.]

The gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.

Then you hear him say, “Oh, the depths and riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!”

CONCLUSION

We lean back on our banquet seats.

We inwardly think, “Great. Wow. we’ve been fed today.  Good think I accepted the invitation to come to this banquet today.”

Thank you God.