Tuesday, March 20, 2018




COMPLAIN,  COMPLAIN,  COMPLAIN

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 5th Tuesday in Lent, is, “Complain, Complain, Complain.”

There’s  a moment in the Book of Numbers - today’s first reading - where the Israelites are complaining, complaining, complaining,   against both God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water. We are disgusted with this wretched food.”

In the history of the world, is complaining about food the Number 1 thing people complain about?  Or is it about politicians and priests.  I don’t know. You tell you.

HORSE BUNS

A story I’ve heard a dozen times down through the years is about  4 guys who went camping for a week. Nobody would volunteer to do the cooking - so one guy finally agreed to give it a try. However he said, “The first person who complains has to cook.”  They he looked them all in the eye and asked, “Do the 3 of you agree to this?”

They agreed.

Well, the meals were atrocious - really bad - and the 3 other guys would grunt and gripe - moan and groan - but they would add, “But we’re not complaining.” 

They didn’t want to get stuck with the cooking and any complaints about the cooking.

So he tried to make the food worse and worse, to force one of the 3 to complain and get stuck with the cooking.

 Nothing worked.

On the 4th afternoon the guy who was cooking spotted some horse buns on the trail. When nobody was looking he retrieved them carefully, and served them for supper - with catsup or course.

Well one guy says, “This stuff tastes like hoss manure” - then he paused and said, “but it’s good.”

QUESTIONS

Does every person have at least one complaint?

Does every group have at least one complainer?

Will someone always say every March, “It’s too cold.” Or, “It’s too hot in the office.”  Or, “This has to be  the worse winter of all time.”

Is there someone in every parish who says, “This has to be the worst parish in the United States - with the worse priests. Where did they get them?” Or will there always be someone to complain about the music. Or if there is  a youth mass, will someone always report, “The high school Mass was okay, but someone has to train these kids to be quiet and be more disciplined in church.”

No matter what the restaurant is, will there always be someone who will say, “Did you notice, that the waiters and waitresses at that restaurant  are the worst servers in the world?”

CONCLUSION - A FEW QUOTES TO WARD OFF COMPLAINERS ABOUT THIS SERMON. “DID YOU NOTICE, HE MENTIONED HORSE BUNS IN CHURCH FROM THE PULPIT?”  OR, “HE DIDN’T SAY ANYTHING OF SUBSTANCE.”

Let me conclude with a few quotes in case I didn’t make a case for “Stop Complaining!”






March 20, 2018

SENSIBLE

We have these basic  senses.
We used to be taught there
were 5 senses: seeing, tasting, 
touching, hearing and smelling.

Then we heard and figured out
there were more senses: fear,
motion, commotion, wonder, awe,
common sense and imagination.

Then we memorized life and called it
knowing by experience. Then we had
to be careful, because déjà vu could
take over and we stop learning.



© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

March 20, 2018



Thought for today: 

“During my eighty-seven years 
I have witnessed 
a whole succession 
of technological revolutions.  
But none of them has done away with 
the need for character in the individual 
or the ability to think.” 


Bernard M. Baruch, Baruch: My Own Story, 1957


Monday, March 19, 2018

MARCH 19,

ST. JOSEPH CARPENTER
March 19

ST.  JOSEPH
PATRON SAINT OF HIDDEN FIGURES

INTRODUCTION


March 19, 2018


THE SHAPE OF WOOD

It can  be
a pencil,
a piece of paper,
a desk,
a drawer,
a baseball bat,
a fan,
a house,
a door,
window frames,
window shutters,
an oar,
a canoe,
a yard stick or a 12 inch ruler,
a picture frame,
a yo yo on a string,
an ice cream pop on a stick,
a living room floor,
a bed,
a table and a chair,
a handle for a ping pong paddle,
etc. etc. etc.


© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

March 19, 2018 

Nelson Mandela,
photo by Yousuf Karsh 1990

Thought for today: 

“Old age and sickness 
bring out the essential characteristics 
of a man.” 


Felix Frankfurter, Felix Frankfurter Reminisces, 1960