TEST: 

LOOK AT THE  

FACES IN THE CROWD 

Which kid in this class picture is Hitler?

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About the top picture - here is what is written in the book, Photoanalysis by Robert U. Akeret. "Find the Fuhrer in this photograph.  One of the children in this school picture is Alois Schicklgruber, or Adolf Hitler, as he later became.  It's a typical fourth-grade class, like the kind any of us might have been in if we had attended an all-boys school. The difference is that one of these boys as an adult tried to dominate the world.

"Study the faces, the body postures, the positioning.  Imagine for a moment that your are Hitler as a fourth-grader, and you already have some mind-blowing plans.  Where would you place yourself as this class photo was about to be taken?  Holding the fourth-grade sign?  Close to the teacher?

"Hitler is in fact in the exact center of the top row, not only central, but also slightly higher than anyone else in the photo.  "Deutschland uber Alles" was the German World War II battle cry, and in this early photo it''s "Hitler uber Alles!"  What the photo shows, in all too chilling dimensions, is that Hitler's personality was set at a very early age." [Page 143]  Further question: agree or disagree or undecided?

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Do you often find yourself looking back?

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Have you ever folded your arms, disagreed, but didn't say anything?

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Can you find the 7 nuns in this picture?
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Can you find the 2 sisters in this Sunday School photo?

In the book, Photoanalysis, by Robert U. Akeret, we read the following about this picture which has the 2 sisters. "This is a group of Sunday school girls with their teacher. Look carefully at each student.  Which two girls would you pick as being sisters?  What clues would you use as evidence?

"Parents frequently dress siblings alike, even when they aren't twins, and here the two girls with the same tilt of the hats, and the same coat with white collars, are sisters. Now that you know, you can also tell that their facial features are similar." [pp. 64-65]

January 4, 2018

FACES IN THE CROWD

Whose face will you see

among all the faces in

the crowds you'll see today?

Who stops to look into

your eyes and asks you about

your attitudes and your moods?

Who wonders and worries

about you - where you are

and where you’re headed?

Who looks back over their

shoulder making sure

you’re okay this very day?

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

January 4, 2018 - 

Thought for today:  

“When you reread a classic you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than there was before.” 

Clifton Fadiman [1904 -1999] in Any Number Can Play [1957]

January 3, 2018

Thought  for today: 

“A lifetime of happiness! No  man  alive could bear it: it would be hell on earth.” 

George Bernard Shaw [1856-1950] in Man and Superman [1903] epistle dedicatory.

January 3, 2018

ANNUAL  CHECK  UP’S

Check your eyes.

You might see more.

Check your ears.

You might hear more.

Check your mind.

You might think better.

Check your attitude.

          You might understand others better.

Check your heart.

You might be neglecting someone.

Check your faith.

God might be going, “Ahem!”

Check your hope.

Opportunities might be knocking.

Check your charity.

Love might be sleeping.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

REMAIN

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for January 2^nd, is, “Remain.”

The word “remain” appears 6 times in today’s first reading from the First Letter of John 2: 22-28 - so I took that as a hint to preach something about the theme “remain”.

Now I’ve preached on this theme - “Remain”  at various times - and I don’t want to repeat sermons. Themes yes.  However, we’re being asked - according to surveys - to speak about spirituality - and schools of spirituality.  Well, “Remain” is a key theme in John’s School of Theology in the New Testament - that is, the gospel of John and the First Letter of John.

I think it’s a theme worth reflecting upon.

Remain … stay … be with … lodge … abide …be present … stand with ….

The Greek word for remain is “meno”. It sounds like the English word “remain”.  You can also hear the Greek word “meno” in the Latin word “remanere”.  The English word -  “remain’ - as in mansion - is dated from around 1400.

The Greek verb  for remain - “meno" - is used 40 times in John’s gospel but only 12 times in the synoptic gospels - that is Matthew, Mark and Luke.  So it’s a key theme in Johannine Theology.

TO REMAIN IS A LIFE ISSUE AS WELL AS A DAILY ISSUE

To remain or not to remain is a life issue.

Do I stay or do I go?  That’s a daily question.

How much time do we spend with another?

How long do we remain on the phone?

Yesterday afternoon I visited two people - both of whom were in nursing homes.

The first was a guy in Somerford Place - on Riva Road. His wife and a son and I figured his daughter-in-law were there as well. He was out of it - failing a lot lately - and about to enter into hospice.  I chatted, talked, connected with them. We prayed. I anointed him. At some point, I asked myself, “How long do I remain?”

The second was a lady in the Annapolitan Assisted Living. That’s a nursing home off Route 50, off Bay Dale Drive, off Old Mill Bottom Road. She was much more out of it. I anointed her. She knew the Our Father. I have found out those with memory loss know the words of the Our Father and the words of Happy Birthday.  Once more I inwardly was wondering, “How long do I remain?”  I spent more time with her - mainly because she was all alone.  I heard that her daughters come to see her most every night.

LOVE OF GOD AND LOVE OF NEIGHBOR

How to love God and to love our neighbor? One way is to remain with them.

The gospel of John has in Chapter 1 the story of Andrew asking Jesus: “Where do you stay?”

Jesus said, “Come and see.”

Jesus will say in the gospels, “Abide with me.”

Live with me. Abide in me.

Be like the apostles abiding in the Upper Room - as well as being with the Lord Jesus.

Be like the grapes on the vine - connected - remaining alive on the vine.

ONE OF MY FAVORITE STORIES

One of my favorite stories was told by a psychiatrist.

I think all of us can connect with this story.

There was this old lady in a dementia ward. When the psychiatrist would see her, he would first get a cup of tea for himself and a cup of tea for the old lady. He would go into this big room. It had a great window view - looking out to a big lawn and then the woods.  He would sit with her and enjoy the tea. Now a word was spoken in return for a couple of years.

Well on this one visit, the psychiatrist was sitting there in the silence. He slowly drifted off into thinking and talking to himself about where he would be that evening. The old lady - who hadn’t  spoken to this psychiatrist in years suddenly spoke up and said to the doctor, “Don’t leave me.”

She was saying: Remain with me.

Do we all know it when another is physically present - but they have left us and left us alone in the room.

Is our conscious down deep aware of whether another is really present or not.

I don’t know about you, but when I’m listening to a boring or complicated sermon - I drift elsewhere.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “Remain.”

Prayer is sitting in the presence of God - and remaining with God.

So too friendships.

January 2, 2018 - 

Thought for today: 

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” 

Oscar Wilde [1854-1900]