February 14, 2018

Black History Month Thought for today: 

"Love  makes  your soul crawl out from its hiding place."  

Zora Neale Hurston

TEMPTATION:

WHOSE  FAULT  IS  IT? 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 6^th Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Temptation: Whose Fault Is It?”

A couple of months ago there were articles in the papers and on National Public Radio that Pope Francis wants to change the Our Father.

I read the articles back then - but didn’t give them enough time and thought and study.

So when I read today’s first reading from James and his comments about temptation, I decided to do a little research on what I might have missed  a few months ago in Pope Francis’ comments.

LETTER OF JAMES

James says, “No one experiencing temptation should say, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God is not subject to temptation to evil, and he himself tempts no one. Rather each person is tempted when lured and enticed by his desire.  Then desire conceives and brings forth sin, and when sin reaches maturity it gives birth to death.”  [James 1: 13-15.]

That’s rather dogmatic. That’s rather clear. Don’t blame God [POINT FINGER] when it comes to being destroyed by a temptation.  Check out those other four fingers pointing back on ourselves.

That text from James uses the language of pregnancy: desire, conception, birth - then death - an abortion of one’s spirit. Powerful poetry - language - imagery.

And in reading various articles and newspaper comments about Pope Francis’ comments about the Our Father being changed a bit - this text from James is used by various folks.

JUST ONE PHRASE

The hubbub is all about changing the phrase “and lead us not into temptation” into “do not let us fall into temptation.”

The pope and others want to point out that the Our Father prayer is saying, “God doesn’t tempt us - God does not tempt us into temptation - we do.” So we pray to God to not let us fall into temptation.

That’s basically the question in hand. That’s what the pope wants to possibly change. Right now the  prayer can sound like it’s  sort of saying that God leads people into temptation - whereas God doesn’t do that.

NOT ENGLISH

We better add that we’re dealing here with translations.

The Pope is aware that the Italian church has been dealing with this since 2001, 2002, and 2008. The Spanish speaking Catholic dioceses have also been studying this and suggesting a basic change. Lately, the immediate situation is the French Church.

Most of the articles I was reading last night talked about the prayer being started by Jesus in Aramaic. In time, we next  have 2 versions of that prayer in Greek. We can find them in Luke 11: 3-4 and Matthew 6: 10-13.

Then we have the Vulgate. That’s the Latin translation. Then in time we have the modern languages.

TO MAKE IT MORE COMPLEX AND COMPLICATED

To make it more complex and more complicated the Our Father is a rooted prayer in the prayer psyche of so many people.

So to change the wording, we’re tinkering with some deep stuff here.

Everyone knows the prayer - and this includes not just Catholics - but also our Protestant brothers and sisters.

For example, most Protestant scholars know that the addition of “For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory,” was added on long after the gospels were written - yet they are part of so many traditions. In fact, the Catholic Church added it onto the prayer in the Mass - but a bit further down in time.

To make it even more complex I noticed someone said  the key word is not the verb “to lead” but the noun “temptation”. That word “temptation” is the word and issue to change - and to change the prayer to say, “test” not “temptation”.

CONCLUSION

 I would think that they might change the Our Father a slight bit in our future. But when? My bet would be on when the next big revision of the Mass prayers takes place. Many agree that the prayers we have now at Mass - are tied too tight to the Latin prayers - and for our English Speaking world, a better translation is necessary. One was made - but pushed aside - for the one we have now - but Pope Francis recently said, “We need to get a better translation into local languages.”

I assume I will be dead - when and if this happens - so in the meanwhile pray as one prays and do it well. Amen.

February 13, 2018

Black History Month Thought for today: 

“Greatness occurs when your children love you, when your critics respect you and when you have peace of mind.”  

Quincy Jones

February 13, 2018

HE’S  BACK!

“He’s back!”

I heard someone yell that out.

“Who he?” I thought. “Who’s back?”

Did anyone ever yell that of me

when I came home from a long away?

Was it “Good News” or “Bad” for them?

Did God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

ever yell that to each other about me?

“He’s back.”

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

February 12, 2018

A  STONE OR A SONG?

A stone is deaf.

It has no ears.

It has no mouth.
It has no song.

It doesn’t hear screams.

It doesn’t feel pain.

Lord, looking at my life ….

Please, I never wanted to be a stone.

At the end make me a dead sparrow

in the snow.

At least I sang a song or two.
At least I lived and flew

and gave anyone who spotted

me flying in a flock over a corn field

on an autumn afternoon a brief moment

to think and praise you, O God.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

February 12, 2018

Black History Month Thought for today: 

"One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can't utter."

James Earl Jones

SKIN  DEEP

INTRODUCTION

Listening to today’s first reading and today’s gospel - for this 6^th Sunday in Ordinary Time [B], an obvious title for my homily would be: “Skin Deep.”

Our skin is the largest organ in our body - and the most obvious - the most noticed - by ourselves and from others.

Mirrors mirrors - are everywhere - in our homes - in church - in movies - in songs -  novels - conversations - TV programs - any place or any situation which helps us see ourselves.

We are our skin - and our skin goes deep - and then we can go deeper and deeper into ourselves as our life goes further and further along.

I thought of that for starters: Skin deep.... Now what?

Where do those two words - skin deep - take us?  Homework: reflect upon them this week.  

Skin deep.

And this week - this Wednesday - ashes will be rubbed into our skin - into our forehead - to remind us that we are dust and into dust we shall return.

And surprise when doing research last night on skin I heard someone say that 80% of the dust in our homes are from dead skin. 

What?!!!!!  

Yep - someone said that.

BLIND

If we were blind - wow would we be different people - judging each other from sound and scent and feel - and not by skin or sight?

A classmate of mind - who has hearing problems and who has worked with the deaf - all his life as a priest - described to me once how deafness impacts people compared to blindness. He said that we think differently. He said something like: “Abstract thinking is tougher for deaf folks, who have been deaf all their life.”

I don’t know what it’s like to be born deaf or to be blind.  But like many people my age, my hearing is slowly going - and I feel out of the loop at times. I missed what was said.  And like people who aren’t in on something that happened, I might say, “I’m blind. I didn’t see what happened.”

However, I don’t know enough about this whole area of understanding each other.

SKIN PROBLEMS

Today’s first reading from the Book of Leviticus - and today’s gospel from Mark - can certainly get us thinking about what it is like to have severe skin problems. [Check out Leviticus 13: 1-2, 44-46 and Mark 1:40-45.]

I wonder if skin doctors attend lectures and classes and hear from people with skin problems. “What’s it like to be Gorbachev - with a darkish red birth mark on his forehead?

I have a cousin whose daughter was severely burned. A group of young teen age girls were trying different dyes on their hair. They didn’t like this one color or shade - so someone said, “I heard lighter fluid will remove the dye.”  Someone lit a cigarette and boom - a horror story.  Luckily a policeman was cutting his grass next door. They came screaming out of the house. He ran in - filled the bathtub with water and got her in there till the ambulance came. She survived but when you meet her you can tell - even after 50 some operations she was burnt. I did her marriage - to a fireman. No I didn’t say, “Jeanne, a bit late - but I knew them enough to say I was tempted to say that.”

You should see their beautiful kids.

I like to tell the story that I got the skin cream treatment to take care of precancerous skin on my face and ears and neck twice. My brother died of Melanoma - so I watch my skin. You put this cream on everyday for a month and it pulls out stuff - and the patient starts to look like a pizza.

The skin doctor suggested getting it in January - when I would have less work. I was at my last assignment in Ohio. Myself and a guy named "Tom" were on the road every week preaching parish missions - and things were slower up till Lent.

I was at our parish and I was hearing confessions on a Saturday afternoon.  I was in the semi-darkness. You could go face to face in the confessionals or behind the screen - like here - unlike the confessionals in St. Mary’s. There was a dim lamp in the corner.

That afternoon everyone went to confession kneeling and behind the screen - except the last person. She was a lady who came in - sat down - made her confession - without really looking at me. I was hiding my face sort of - with my hands.

She finished the act of contrition - I raised my hands to bless her and pronounce the words of absolution. Still sitting she saw my face as I reached out my right hand to give her the sign of peace. She shook my hand and her face showed shock and without thinking she wiped her hand on her hip - and got out of there as fast as she could.

I said to myself, “Ooops.”  Then I thought, “What a great example for a homily on the man in today’s gospel - some day - but not here. I wouldn’t want to embarrass her.”

I didn’t know who she was and really didn’t notice her - and I was a bit nervous - and it all happened in the semi-darkness of a confessional.

SIN AND THE SKIN OF OUR SOUL

Being poetic I like to talk about the skin of our soul.

When we get cut badly - or have a serious operation - sometimes we end up with a scar - on our skin.

Sometimes poets and graduation speakers will say, “Show me your scars!”

We get them from the battles of life - from relationships - rejections, divorces, disasters, firings, being burnt, being cut, and if someone is like me, from picking.

I pick skin that is raised.

I’ve heard people yell to me and at me, “Stop picking.”

I smile, because as priest, I know there is a lot more picking of the skin of one’s soul - than the skin of one’s body.

Skin pickers pick raised skin.

Soul pickers pick raised sins.

Raised sins are triggered - by the stories of the moment.

There a lot of men out there - who are worried about this “Me-too” movement - right now.

ME TOO - THAT’S MY STORY

If we hear, if we read, today’s two readings as stories about inner leprosy - inner skin of the soul stories - as my stories - then this week’s reflection on skin deep - can make these two Bible readings really real.

In the first reading the person with the sore of leprosy - and has been declared so by the priest - uh oh with that comment  - that person has to walk around with ripped garments, head bare, and say with muffled voice - muttered into his beard, “Unclean, unclean!”

I assume the comment about muttering into one's beard - means, "Lower your head. You are an unclean person."

I hate the next line in this first reading, “He shall dwell apart, making his abode outside the camp.”

Please God:  therapists - and I hope priests - will help people who feel unclean - to come back to family and the human camp - when they feel, “unclean, unclean” - when their inner mantra is “Shame, shame on you” for something they have done.

CONCLUSION

For starters I would suggest to someone to announce to themselves and to God  a sin they have committed. 

I like to suggest using a rosary for a lot more than Hail Mary's. So using a rosary - say something they have done that hurt themselves or another - over and over again on a rosary. Say that something 59 times. And still using the  beads. say 59 times, “Unclean, unclean” and “Shame, shame on you.”

Then be the person in today’s gospel and say to Jesus with your beads, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Or, "Clean me!" or "Heal me!"

Where to find Jesus?  The gospel for today says he’s outside in deserted places - and people kept coming to him from everywhere.

Be one of those persons who finds Jesus. Be healed - underneath skin deep - deep in the inner room of your soul. Find that room deep within yourself. It can be here at church or the Eucharistic Chapel or on nice long walks at the Naval Academy or Quiet Waters Park or your neighborhood or in quiet places in your house.

Then keep your eyes and your ears on how you feel when healed.

It's much deeper than skin deep.