THE THIRD SIGN: 

THE  HEALING  OF THE PARALYZED  MAN  

AT THE POOL AT BETHESDA 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 4^th Tuesday in Lent is, “The 3^rd Sign: The Healing of the Paralyzed Man at  The Pool at Bethesda.”

As you know John gives us 7 signs, 7 special miracles. in his gospel.

Yesterday we had the 2^nd sign, the Healing of the Royal Official’s Son and yesterday’s gospel also mentions the first sign: Cana, where Jesus changed  water into wine..

Today, let’s concentrate on this 3^rd sign in John: the healing of the paralyzed man at the pool of  Bethesda.

38 YEARS

It’s an amazing story: the man has been ill for 38 years.

And Jesus asks him a key question: “Do you want to be well?”

Before that question, I began wondering, “Does anyone have a sickness or a problem that lasts for a long time - like 38 years?”

I remember hearing someone say of a relative, “She talks too much.”

I never noticed that before - but every time after that - I began to notice she talks too much - giving comments on every subject that comes up.”

Is that two problems: telling or making comments about others - and second, talking too much?

38 years is a long time.

Do we all have our lifetime patterns or problems - some of which paralyze us at times?

Like overeating - or drinking too much.

I pick raised skin - usually on my lower arms.  How long have I been doing that?  Sometimes someone seeing that says, “Stop picking!”

Wondering was I doing that in my high chair as a kid after finishing my Cheerios.

I hear someone say of someone, “She’s been picking on her sister all her life - especially giving her sister diets or making comments about her behind her back - forever.”

Could someone be an alcoholic or a picker or jealous or feel inferior for 38 years or 58 years or more  of course?

I knew a guy who was born deaf - and at 24 he got a procedure that helped him hear various sounds - and wow did his face become different.  He had to wear a devise at his hip and a wire in his ear - but he began to hear - and then laugh and his face became an ongoing smile.

I heard a psychologist say once: “The earlier the problem, the bigger problem.”

Do we all have lifetime deafness in some  areas of our life?

Is the oldest, the youngest, the middle child, different because of where they are in the family tree?  Are we different for 38 years or 68 years of life because of what was going on in our family at a certain time of our life?  Is a brother or sister different because they had or had not the benefit of a grandfather or grandmother - and then she or he died or moved or what have you?

Could a mistake or something someone said or how one is treated paralyze a person for 38 years?

Can a death kill us.

CAN I BE HEALED - UNPARALYZED?

Today’s first reading is flooded with water.  Jesus said he was living water.

Could / can I be flooded, Niagara Falls washed, healed, by the flood waters of God and begin to produce fruit on all sides of my life - as today’s reading from Ezechiel  puts it.

SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION

Don’t you love those two scenes near the end of the movie, The Shawshank Redemption  when Andy Fresnene escapes  through the  water pipes - sewer pipes of water - and finally comes out free - baptized - in the waters - in the rain - and he raises his arms in salvation - and freedom - and freedom.and then you see Andy Fresnene  at the vast ocean - in the sunshine freed.

This man in today’s gospel who is sick for 38 years experiences the ocean - the living water - of  God that day.

Something to think about today - and whenever you take a shower or a bath or go to the ocean or a pool.

March 13, 2018 

Thought for today: 

“Voting  is  a  civic  sacrament.” 

Theodore M. Hesburgh, Reader’s Digest, October 1984

March 13, 2018

WATER

The earth is almost 80% water ….

Rain …. A morning shower ….

A drink of cold water on a hot day ….

Lake Superior …. Lake Erie ….

The Mississippi and the Hudson Rivers ….

The Aral Sea and the Salton Sea ….

Water, water. everywhere with lots

and lots of drops of  water to drink ….

So why Lord, did your people spend

40 years in the dessert and why Lord

did you spend 40 days in the dessert

and why did you ask us to spend 40

days of Lent in the dessert when
we can get in the car and get ourselves

to the water - to the bay - to the Ocean?

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018 

A  REQUEST

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Fourth Monday in Lent is, “A Request.”

If you heard Jesus was nearby, and you could approach him, and make one request what would it be?

It’s like the old, “You got one wish” stories.

If you had one wish or one request, what would it be?

MAKE A LIST

Don’t blurt out your immediate response. Take your time. Make a list.

Be like a kid standing in an ice cream store - and all those flavors are in those big round containers - right in front of you - behind glass. Pick one.

FOR FAMILY, FRIENDS, OR WORLD

What would be your request?

The royal official from Capernaum - comes to Cana - where Jesus was and asks Jesus to heal his son - who was near death.

And Jesus heals the royal official’s son from a distance.

And the gospel of John for today says, “Now this was the second sign Jesus did when he came to Galilee from Judea.” [Cf. John 4: 43-54]

I don’t know what I would ask for - if I had one request.

For beginners, I would pick some family stuff where people are not talking to people.

Then again, there are people with cancer, who asked for prayers - for healing.  But why not pray for those doing cancer studies so a lot of people will be healed?

I think of one of our priests, Father Dennis Billy, who had bad cancer a few years back - but is doing very well  - is teaching, giving talks,  writing books and is doing good priestly stuff.

I prayed for him and a bunch of people like my niece Margie who is in remission from her cancer.

Or should I pray for so and so that he wake up and change?  How does that work?

WHAT ABOUT THE ACTION SIDE - THE WORK SIDE OF PRAYER?

One of my favorite sayings is, “Pray for potatoes - but pick up a shovel.”

The royal official got in his chariot or however he got to Cana - to make the request in person.

Today’s first reading from Isaiah 65: 17-21 has the Lord talking about creating a new heavens and a new earth.

That triggered the Woody Allen joke comment: “God created the world, except certain parts of New Jersey” 

Aren’t we making God’s prayer come true if we do our part to make our world beautiful. I know I have always been nudged by Buckmister Fuller’s comment: “Whenever you use a public bathroom, make it cleaner than when you walked in.”  I know I have been doing that ever since.  Fuller’s comment always triggers the Golden Rule.  I like a clean stall and sink in a bathroom - so why not make it happen for the next person?  I can do that - and wash my hands afterwards.

CONCLUSION

So that’s my homily. Make a wish. Make a request. Make a prayer. Then pick up a shovel and start digging.
!                                                                               

March 12, 2018

OPINIONS

Everyone has different opinions,

perceptions and understandings

about everything.

Everything ….

Everyone doesn’t realize this so

we keep on talking and eating

with each other.

Everyday ….

Everyone has disagreements

now and then and we sense

we’re different for a few moments.

Everyone….

Everyone is different - and to prove

my theory - remember the saying

about no snow flake is alike.

Every snow flake….

 © Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

March 12, 2018

Thought for today: 

“The greatest thing in family life is to take a hint when a hint is intended - and not to take a hint when a hint is not intended.”   

Robert Frost (1874-1963)

Painting on top: Norman Rockwell, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

NOW  THAT  WAS DUMB!

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Fourth Sunday in Lent [B] is, “Now That Was Dumb.”

How many times in our lifetime have we said to ourselves, “Now that was dumb.”

We said the wrong thing. We did the wrong thing. We thought  the wrong thing. And when that’s our pattern, we continue doing the wrong thing over and over again.

That’s dumb - but we still do dumb things.

We could have got gas at that last exit - but we didn’t - and we run out of gas on this next  ramp on the New Jersey Turnpike. I’ve done that two times. I thought I learned from the first time I did that.

I did learn from the second time - so I could only say, “Dumb…. Dumber…”  but not “Dumbest.”

But in other things, I can be a repeat performer of dumb things.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s gospel triggers these thoughts.  Jesus said to a guy named Nicodemus that when Moses was in the desert people were being bitten by poisonous snakes, so he grabbed a poisonous snake - nailed it to a pole - gathered the people - pointed to the snake and said, “This is what is killing you. Avoid these creatures.  They bite. They’re poisonous”

That’s my basic message for this mass: “Don’t do dumb!”

Yet we do dumb many times.

Name your poison.

Anger - procrastination - laziness - booze - not practicing - not thinking - jealousy - comparisons - not getting enough sleep - eating too much junk food or sugary,  sugary drinks - etc. etc. etc.

Name your poison.

Know the 7 Capital Sins.

St. Paul in his letter to the Romans talks about the same thing.  I say to myself, “I’ll never do that again.”  Or “I am going to do this” and then I go out and do just the opposite.

Now that is dumb.

St. Augustine read St. Paul and said the same thing in his classic book, The Confessions.

Before you die you better read that book every 10 years - and each time you’ll hear something new.

St. Augustine said, “I tell my right hand I’m going to do this and then I do the opposite with my left hand.”

In today’s gospel Jesus says that we do this. We prefer darkness to the light.

Listen to Jesus again: “And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil.”

It’s dumb when we overeat dessert. There on the table is endless ice cream and cake and we take too much. Then we can’t sleep  because we’re having a sugar high.

It’s difficult to turn off the TV - get enough sleep - especially when it’s late and we have a busy day in the morning.

And funny - sometimes we remember the dumb - for the rest of our lives.

For example, I’m around 32 years of age. I’m in Connecticut. It’s early Sunday afternoon. Some guys asked me to join in a pickup basketball game - 3 against 3 - and I say, “I gotta get back to New Jersey - and finish a paper for school Monday morning.” I was going part time to Princeton Theological at the time working on another Master’s Degree.

“Okay,” I said - and one game ran into a second game - into a third game.

Dumb me. I don’t know if we won or lost.  I’m sure we had a good time. But Sunday traffic and a long trip from Suffield Connecticut - above Hartford - to Long Branch, New Jersey - had me home around 11 P.M.

The result was a C-Paper - staying up late - half asleep - and being very tired the whole next day.

Now that was dumb.

But I’ve been doing that my whole life: Dumb, dumber, dumbest.

I say it every time, “Now that was dumb.”

How about you?

EGGS  AND A GUITAR

We can also do smart.

It’s work.

It’s difficult.

But we can do smart.

It takes practice, practice, practice.

I remember a baseball player, Howard Johnson, who played for the Detroit Tigers.  They moved him from the outfield to third base in Spring Training.

The manager, I think it was Jim Leyland, who had him catch fresh eggs.

The first few dozens broke - but once he learned now to go with the flow and the throw - he was soon a very smooth catcher of hits to third base.

Practice, practice, practice.

The result was a good third baseman.

Eggs - practicing with eggs…. Someone might have said, “That’s dumb. That’s stupid, stupid, stupid” and never become a regular third baseman.

That’s sports. Let me switch over to music.  I remember a guy I met in my first parish on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.  He practiced his guitar 6 or 7 hours a day - and eventually he got a good job in a record recording company in New York City. The practice paid off - and this became his life - getting better and better and better. Practice. Practice. Practice.

LIGHT OR DARKNESS, SMART OR DUMB

 So we have a choice.

We can walk in the light or crawl in the dark.

There are 2 kinds of people: smart or dumb.

The dumb person when things go wrong,  they start blaming others, blaming parents, blaming teachers, blaming coaches, blaming the wind or the grass for an errors or a  mistake.

It’s called scapegoating. It’s called killing the messenger.

CONCLUSION

We’re moving through Lent now.  the major sign and symbol for Lent and for Christians is the cross.

Jesus got blamed by others - for challenging others.

He was scapegoated.

He was killed for s0peaking up and out on how to do life lovingly..

He spoke up on what is right and wrong.

He was crucified on a cross.

On one side was the Good Thief and the Bad Thief on the other side

The bad thief starting making bad comments to Jesus instead of taking responsibility for his crimes.  Now that was dumb.

The other guy, the so called Good Thief, said, “Hey knock it off. We’re here because we know what we did wrong. but this man did nothing wrong. He is innocent.”

So Jesus then said to the Good Thief. Today, you’ll be with me in paradise.”

Translation:  honesty, admitting we made a mistake is the key to paradise. Now that’s being smart.