May 7, 2018 

Thought for today: 

“She always loved the old  adage.  

‘Leave them while you’re looking good.” 

Anita Loos from 

Gentlemen Prefer Blonds [1925]  

chapter 1.

SOME PEOPLE SLIP

THROUGH THE CRACK

Some people slip through the crack.

I don’t know how this is possible - but some people slip through the crack and end up with amazing powers and knowledge - that nobody else has - and we have no idea how many people down through the centuries have these unique powers.

I would think it’s very rare.

I’m sure God wouldn’t want - anyone to know - what these few people on our planet - who slip through the crack - know. 

Actually,  it would be unfair to them.  It would be too much to know what they know. 

It might bring joy - but then again - it would also bring sorrow. 

Tears sometimes; smiles at other times.

What am I talking about?

Well, right now, there are right now some 7.7 billion people on the planet.

It’s estimated by skilled researchers that there have been some 108 billion people who have lived on planet earth so far.

It’s estimated - numbers wise - that there have been 15 dead  people - who have gone before us -  for ever living person on the planet right now.

Now that’s a lot of people - but that’s not what I’m about to get at today. But I’ll be  sliding into that in a moment or two.

In these 7.7 billion people on the planet right now - today - and in these 108 billion people who have lived on this planet so far, every once and a while there is a special person who  slipped through the cracks and they have powers and knowledge that very few other people have.

There might be one exception: babies. What do babies know?  We don’t know what they know, but sometimes we wonder.

Some think all babies have what these few people have - and then as they age - week and after week - month after month  - babies lose this gift. It simply disappears - but not for these other people.

What gift? What are you talking about?

What do you think babies are looking at -   and thinking about as they look around - all the time - and sometimes they cry and scream?

I don’t know about this - but it’s possible - but I sort of doubt this.

What are all those little babies we see in supermarkets and in church looking at and wondering about? They are staring at something - to their right, to their left, to their up and to their down. What are these babies smiling at - sometimes - and we didn’t do anything to cause that smile  - or that scream?

Okay it’s time to fess up and tell you  just what these few people on the planet know  - these folks who have slipped through the crack and know what they know and see what they see and wonder about what they wonder about.

They see futures.

They hear all the trees on the planet asking the age old question everyone asks every little kid when they are little kids: “What are you going to be when you grow up?”

They hear every tree give their hope. For example, “I want to be a dining room table - so I can be in on everything: meals, card games, homework, people doing their taxes. I want to be a great table that every family member wants when their mom and dad pass away.”

They hear another tree say: “I want to be a baseball bat. I want to get into every game free - and hit lots of home runs. The Orioles could use me big time.”

“But,” some other tree says, “Baseball bats break and are tossed.”

“Not me,” that future hall of fame  bat from that tree said, “I’m thinking positive. I’m going to last. I’m not going to break.”

So for starters, this person can not only hear  every tree, but they can hear every rock, every watermellon, every grain of salt, talk about their future.

Think about it. This could be very stressful. This person with all these voices coming at him or her, would  have trouble hearing their own family members. They could be constantly overloaded with TMI - too much information.

And these people who slipped through the cracks - whom God forgot for a moment - felt double whammy pain in their heart and mind - because this tree here - who wanted to be a Grandfather’s Clock - in a great mansion hallway - could end up being  wood for a fire for a family whose electricity went off for a week in the middle of winter and they had to cut down this tree for fire wood - to stay warm.

Then there was that 5000 acres of trees in Arizona - which had thousands and thousands of stories and dreams on what they were going to become - all were burnt up in a late autumn forest fire. Dreams of being pianos, violins, ladders, pencils that were used to write prayers in the back of churches - they all went up in flames.  They never became their dreams.

Then there were those pessimist trees who felt they would never amount to anything.  This person who feel through the cracks - this person whom God didn’t notice - knew that this pessimist tree would end up being a frame for a 2 million, 3 hundred and 50 thousand painting by Renoir - in a big Paris art museum - hanging there for a couple of hundred years.

And this was just trees and wood.

This person who slipped through the cracks could hear cats and dogs, birds and bees, gold fish and salamanders, talk to themselves about their future - their hopes to be in mansions or be the poodle of an old lonely lady or the gold fish or guppy of  and only child in Bejing or Boston.

And this person who fell through the cracks - in time - discovered that trees and apples, all  got calls from God - sometimes  tree whispers or wind sounds - that life is all about  giving one’s life  for others - to be canes and crutches - banisters and benches - for others - or to be firewood and matches - or newspapers - all for others.

And this person who fell through the cracks - knew - and this was the most beautiful knowing and the most painful knowing - they knew - that the God - who fell through the cracks and appeared in Mary in Bethlehem and Nazareth, this Jesus told us what it’s all about.

Each of us is not called to be a selfie   - but to be an  otherly - and the greatest love in life is to know this and do this - to lay down our lives for others - to die to self - so others can rise.

That’s what we’re growing up to be and to do. And those who didn’t like this, hung him on  a tree and no tree wanted to be that tree of the cross.

May 6, 2018

WITHOUT WINDOWS

Without windows,

we wouldn’t see church towers

in the distance.

Without windows,

we wouldn’t see sunrises

and sunsets.

Without windows,

we couldn’t peek to see

who’s coming up the street.

Without windows,

we couldn’t let in fresh air

and catch a cool breeze.

Without windows,

we might not be able to

escape in case of a fire.

Without windows,

we couldn’t catch the sounds

of kids on the street. Amen.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018  

May 6, 2018 

Thought for today:  

“The Promised Land always  lies on the other side of wilderness.”   

Havelock Ellis [1959-1939] 

The Dance of Life  [1923] Chapter 5

May 5, 2018 - Cinco de Mayo

365  DAYS IN A YEAR

Most years - except leap years -

we have 365 days of the year.

There are various indicators that

make us human compared to the animals.

This is one of them: the naming of years.

Others: Birthdays, anniversaries and holidays.

But, Lord, time is time -

let me live life to the full - a day at a time.

And if I live well enough my death day

will be remembered as different by some.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018  

May 5, 2018 

Thought for today: 

“You can learn more about human nature by reading the Bible than by living in New York.” 

William Lyon Phelps [1865-1943]

WITH PEOPLE,

EXPECT  DIFFICULTIES 

AND DIFFERENCES

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 5^th Friday after Easter is, “With People Expect Difficulties and Differences.”

SAL

I used to work with a priest named Sal.

We were part of a team of 3 Redemptorists - formed to get people to talk to each other - about living and working together - becoming better communities.

We would go into Redemptorist rectories and parishes and try to get people to communicate better.

One of the things Sal would say was this: “If you can get along with all the people in this room, you can get along with everybody and anybody on the planet.”

I heard him say that about 5 times - to a group of 100, 50, 25, 15 and 10.

I finally asked him, “How many people is your bottom line - on that number in a room - if you can get along with all the people in this room, you can get along with everybody  or anybody in a room or the planet?”

He paused.

He thought for a few moments and said, “Two.”

Would you agree about that?

I didn’t.

Think about that?

What would be your number - if you agreed to what my friend Sal was saying.?

Would anyone make it one?

Would anyone say, “If you can get along with yourself, you can get along with everyone on the planet.”

OUR PROGRAM

We had a neat program that we presented to the communities and our province and some of the parishes we worked in.

We talked about expectations:  everyone is sitting there in every marriage, in every relationship, in every parish, in every group, with expectations.

In other words, everyone has expectation s.

We had methods of outing expectations.

We would name a group: say  “PRIESTS”  - and put that word on top of a big piece of white paper - front and center.

Then we would ask people to add expectations to a group. Of priests, for example, people would yell out different expectations. People would yell out in a small group different descriptions of what they would expect of priests, good preachers, holy, always present, listeners, caring, creative, don’t mention money, not overweight, reads, liberal, conservative, and on and on and on.

That would be step one. We could do that same process for Mass, Sermons, Parish Councils, Politicians, Schools, Teachers,  Bosses, etc. etc. etc.

Then step two was the clever step - the learning moment step. We would ask the group to put the letter R or U after each stated expectation.

We called that the adjective step.  R stands for realistic and U stands for unrealistic.

That was a great group process. Try it.  It could be called, “Expectations and Then the Adjectives.” That’s a way of naming the expectations and voting on whether it’s realistic or unrealistic.

Another process that we used was called, “Personality Types.”  We used the Jungian Types - known by many as the Myers-Briggs test.  We used a simple test of the same testing called “The Wheelwright Test.”

Companies - businesses - groups often come up with personality tests. There are many.  I found out that many people love personality tests. It told me that people want to get to know more about themselves and others.

Smart move.  I like the Enneagram because it gets at 9 types - but by our negatives. Some say it’s the 7 capital sins plus 2 more. I don’t know about that.  I like the Firo Test.  A guy name Bill Schultz came up with it to find out who will be compatible on a submarine.

We used material from a movement in the Catholic Church called “The Better World Movement”-  which was started by Father Ricardo Lombardi in Italy after the Second World  War. I became a member of that moment and got the training. The main idea is not the individual, but the group - that we are to live in the image and likes of God - not God as one as much as God as a community - a 3 that get along with each other so well, that they are one.

CONCLUSION

By now, I’m on page 3 of this talk, I assume you have at least 2 expectations.  One is that I end this. Oh yes, like expectations another process we used was to list the assumptions we all have.

The 2^nd expectation is this - unless your mind left this room about 10 minutes ago - or never got here. It’s this: Why are you telling us all this?

Answer: in our readings at Mass - all these days - after Easter - we have readings from the Acts of the Apostles - and if you listen carefully, you’ll hear them having many of the same problems we have in our church today.  People all have their agendas - their expectations - for the others.

For example in Acts for today people are complaining about Jewish laws regarding eating certain types of meat - and being in so called unlawful marriages.  Today’s gospel from John is talking about the commandment to love one another.  People put up No Smoking signs if people are smoking. People quote Jesus’ commandment to love one another if people are not loving one another.

P.S. We ended our team to get Redemptorists and the guys we live with to talk to each other better. We failed. It’s called life. It’s called the ongoing struggle. The good news for me I put some of what I learned into a book called, How To Deal With Difficult People. It sold over 60,000 copies. It was even translated into Korean.  I’m hoping it appears on the table at the North Korean-South Korean peace talks.

When asked if my book will help or work, I laugh and smile - and say, “It sounds good on paper like the scriptures.” Then I might add. “It works if like Jesus the word becomes flesh - if it becomes us.”