March 16, 2018

MARCH

Here in the north - March is often

an enigmatic month - cold, warmth,

snow, rain, a weather guessing game.

Then there's March Madness, Spring Training, Spring and the Ides of March.

March begins as a dark barren tree month.

March has Purple Lent - with lawns 
that will soon be green - with  buds 
and crocuses - signaling new life. 
Resurrection is about to arrive. 
The winter of death never wins. 
Christ is with us all days.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018 

March 15, 2018 

Thought for today: 

“What  people  say  behind  your back is your standing in the community in which you live.” 

Edgar Watson Howe, Sinner Sermons, 1926

March 15, 2018

HIGHER  MATH

The Life Cycle: Learning how to add,

more toys, candy, experiences,

education  friends, geography.

Next there is multiplying all that

till middle age -  then discovering

life also calls for subtraction -

learning how to let go. 

Then there is a reality called,

“division”.  Sorry: it too happens.

It's part of every family and every life.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018 

March 14, 2018

COUGHING

You have that March cough 
again this year. Bummer!

But it tells me you're here, you're
breathing, you're continuing. Good ....

At times it seems to rip your ribs,
as you put your hands to your chest.

It seems to wince your face as well. I see
the stress  and strain on your  jaw and chin. 

Cough .... Uh .... Cough .... Aaaah.....
Cough .... Uhhhh .... Cough .... Aaaaaah ....

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018 

March 14, 2018

Thought for today: 

“Egotism is the  anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.”  

Frank Leary, Look, January 10, 1955

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