February 8, 2018

Black History Month Thought for today: 

“The  outside  world told black kids when I was growing up that we weren’t worth anything. But our parents said it wasn’t so, and our churches and our schoolteachers said it wasn’t so. They believed in us, and we, therefore, believed in ourselves.” 

Marian Wright Edelman

February 7, 2018

OUR  FATHER, 

FORGIVE  US  OUR  TRESPASSES 

Okay, I dropped your coffee mug.

It broke big and you forgave me big.

I didn’t want to play baseball

and all the other dads were

bragging about their sons -

you let me play lacrosse instead.

I didn’t want to go to college.
I wanted to be do car repairs

and work in a body shop - and

dad you said, not at first, but

you said, “Okay, son. Go for it.”

I married her. I knew she wasn’t

the one you hoped for, but our

5 daughters made you one big

wonderful mushy grandfather.

When your younger son messed

up - disappeared - and finally

came back begging, you took him

in immediately. It took the rest of us

a while, but thanks for the good example.

Dad, there are 70 times 7 more times

and examples and episodes of forgiveness

that you showed us. Thanks for those

lessons and a lot more. I just hope

I live up to all you taught me.

  

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

WHO  DO  YOU 

THINK  YOU  ARE? 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 5^th Wednesday in Ordinary Time is, “Who Do You Think You Are?”

That’s a question that is often asked of others - especially when they seem to be uppity.

It’s a good question.

It can also be a nasty question - when it’s a dig against someone else.

It’s  a great question when we ask it of ourselves - especially when we bring it to prayer - and in communion with God.

How would you answer that question: “Who do you think you are?”

FIRST READING

Today’s first reading from 1 Kings begins with the words, “The queen of Sheba....”

When I read that, it triggered the comment I’ve heard of others: “Who does she think she is: the queen of Sheba?”

Here in the 1^st Book of Kings, the queen of Sheba is a queen who comes to see the famous king of Israel, Solomon.

She comes with a lot of servants  - probably also with guards and soldiers - as well as a whole herd or caravan  or flock or train of camels - carrying gold, jewels and spices. 

This is what people do when visiting heads of state. A friend of mine, Anthony Dragonetti, worked on the two Boehm birds - porcelain swans - the Birds of Peace, which President Richard Nixon in 1972, brought to China - for  Mao Tse-tung. Instead they were presented to Premier Zhou Enlai.

He told me it was valued at $150,000 when a similar pair were sold in London 5 years later.

We can picture that scene - as well as the Queen of Sheba scene - arriving at Solomon’s house. We’ve seen that in lots of movies - with similar scenes.

This queen Sheba is important. The reference books say she might have come 1200 miles. She might have been from Yemen or then again from Ethiopia. Her real agenda might have been trade - and not the quest for wisdom.

For my purposes, all this doesn’t make much difference. I just want to put her on a pedestal. Then I would like to contrast her and Solomon with a picture of Jesus as the total opposite. Jesus was a servant - kneeling on the floor washing feet  - a criminal who dies on the cross - pictured wearing only a loin cloth.

Come to think about all this, in a way, my using the Queen of Sheba as uppity is not fair. I have no clue in the world, what her personality was like.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

In today’s gospel Jesus says what’s important is not what the externals are like - but what our heart is like.

We’ve all heard wisdom teachers poke fun of folks who think their you know what is different and smells differently  than everyone else’s. I heard an old Italian lady talking about a stuffy priest - describing him as thinking out of him came ice cream and Pepsi Cola.

Don’t be surprised with that commment. That’s exactly what Jesus is saying in today’s gospel.  Notice the word “latrine”.

HUMILITY

Jesus modeled humility - a word that comes from humus - earth - from which we were sculpted by God - right there at the beginning of the Book of Genesis.

If there is one issue that hit Jesus’ button, it was show offs - especially when it comes to putting others down.

As kids, if we were being uppity, my mother used to say, “Who do you think you are, Lord Killanin?” Translated: don’t think you’re the Queen of Sheba or King Solomon. Be real. Be humble.

Lord Killanin was an Irishman who was made head of the OCI - Olympic Committee International. I never found out how my mother knew of him.  He wasn’t rich. In his Olympic job he had to ask for money. Those who had that job before him - were quite rich. He wasn't.

We never knew who Lord Killanin was, but in checking this out for this homily, I found out that my mom was wrong about Lord Killanin.

Lord Killanin was wanted by some of those in the Olympic committees because some of those in the Olympic movement  wanted Apartheid to be broken. They wanted Taiwan included in the Olympics and not just China. There was a story that Lord Killanin was sitting on a bench in South Africa with a dark skinned person and the police came over and said, “You’re not allowed to sit together.”

I don’t know what happened next, but I assume Lord Killanin said, “Watch me.”

To be fair to my mom, she was only referring to him as a big shot and that we kids should not act like big shots with our noses up in the air.

OPTICS

The word that is uppity lately is “Optics.”

When people see you - whom do they see? How do they see you?

A test would be how we treat the waiter or waitress.

A test would be for us to ask ourselves how we see ourselves?

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily was, “Who Do You Think You Are?

My message was: don’t be uppity.

My message was change some of those LOVE commands in the New Testament to SERVE commands.

February 7, 2018

Black History Month Thought for today:

 ‎

"When  there  is no enemy within, 

the  enemies  outside cannot hurt you.”  

African Proverb

THE  REASON 

UNDERNEATH  THE  REALITY

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 5^th Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “The Reason Underneath the Reality.”

One of the most important rules in life is to question the reason behind a law - or a rule or a regulation.

St, Thomas Aquinas would say, “Authority is the weakest argument.”  In other words, it’s not, “Who said so?” but “Why do you say so?”

We often don’t ask because we might labeled a pain if we do.

I know I don’t like to be questioned  on some things, because I’m not the boss and I realize  I can’t do anything about lots of things - especially in the Catholic Church. For example some marriage legislation, etc.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

The title of my homily is, “The Reason Underneath the Reality.”

I don’t know if that’s a message from today’s gospel, but that’s one issue that hit me.

Today’s gospel has Jesus being quite critical of the Pharisees - and their practices - and dare we say, “One of the reasons they wanted Jesus dead was right here.”  He was going after them for all these washing rules they were pushing.

Of course, it’s important to wash one’s hands - especially during the flu season.

We want those who work in restaurants to wash their hands after going to the bathroom. I saw that sign in a Burger King bathroom the other night - and I said, “Good!”

So washing jugs and kettles and hands is important.

However, if folks become extremists - then maybe enough’s enough.

Is that the point we’re being asked to consider. If the Pharisees amongst us attack  those of us who don’t take everything so totally serious - that we aren’t living up to their standards.  Are they then trying to make the rest of us look dirty and make themselves look so clean?

I don’t know. I assume we know a lot more about cleanliness today than back in Jesus’ time. So maybe they were onto something.  I don’t know.

WHERE I WOULD GO WITH RULES AND REGULATIONS

I remember seeing a documentary about strip mining in Kentucky.

Coal miners - and coal companies - in the short run found it too expensive to live up to all the environmental safety regulations - so it was much cheaper to pay the fines.  They were saving money and making more money and keeping afloat.  Then what happened was run off - because trees were not replanted after strip mining and soil, water, were ruined downstream and down into the valleys.  Then there were big time health problems.

There’s a dilemma that is always there.

The title of my homily is, “The Reason Underneath the Reality.”

I assume the rules for washing hands started off for the right reason, but in time it became an extreme and people were doing it as an extreme - and then they rubbed it in and were saying, “We’re better than you.”

There’s the Pharisees in today’s gospel avoiding helping their parents financially in their old age, by putting their money into a fund called korban.

W.C. Fields in some movie had a Bible in hand and was paging through it and he says, “Just looking for loopholes. Just looking for loopholes.

I would assume the maintenance of parents is more important than donating for maintenance of St. Mary’s and St. John Neumann churches.

 I would assume that the trick is to study all this - ask questions - ask reasons -  and then make sure the reasons below the surface are good ones.

 If they are pride, selfishness, and to feel cleaner than others,  then pause and recalculate our motives and behavior.

CONCLUSION

So obviously in life we need to ask questions.  We have to do our homework.  We need to be humble and honest.

February 6, 2018

Black History Month Thought for today: 

"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love. For love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite."

Nelson Mandela

February 6, 2017

ROUND AND ROUND

I woke up as the sun was rising.

I looked to the east and this gigantic

round, round orange ball was moving

up the blue morning sky  like a pop up

in slow motion. Now if you told me that

what I was seeing was not what I was

seeing, I don’t know if I would believe you.

It was our round, round earth that was

spinning as well as the round, round sun

and I was seeing mystery in motion -

and if you told me there is no God -

I wouldn’t believe you because

you’re not seeing what I’m seeing.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018