ON  LEAVING

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Easter  is, “On  Leaving.”

If I heard anything from other priests,  it’s our “uunh” - a word that won’t make it in Scrabble - when we read  these post Easter readings - especially from the Gospel of John. We say that because we like to give a homily on weekdays - but  there is too much repetition in these readings - especially from John

It has a series of themes about loving, remaining in Jesus’ love, this is my commandment, love one another as  I have loved you - and we hear this over and over again.  They are wonderful - but enough already.

TODAY’S TWO READINGS

So we read the readings a couple of extra times in hopes something pops up that he have not touched upon lately.

I did that last night and today’s two readings talk about leaving several times.  That’s a recurring theme: leaving.

So let me see if I can milk some comments about leaving.

LEAVING

That’s something we’re always doing  in various ways throughout our life: leaving.

We leave the womb. We leave the hospital.

We leave for school that first time. Then for an overnight with friends. Then we go off to college or the military or where have you.

We leave for work. We leave relationships. We leave for Marriage. We leave after death or a divorce.  We leave jobs. We leave when we retire. We leave for Tennessee or Florida. Someone dies, so we come back home again. Hopefully, we get out and get moving and get leaving again.

IN THE SCRIPTURES

There’s lots of leaving …. lots of migrations …. lots of moving in the Bible.  Adam and Eve leave the Garden…. Noah gets on the ark…. Abraham does a lot of moving…. Abraham’s descendants are often heading elsewhere.

Joseph ends up being sold into Egypt.  Moses leaves Egypt. He  leads those descendants towards the Promised Land. They finally leave the desert - and land in the Promised Land.

So there is not only an Exodus, but there’s also the Exile.  

THEN WE GET TO THE NEW TESTAMENT

Jesus moves around in his early years.  Then he settles into his quiet years. Then he finally leaves Nazareth and gets going.

Then he calls disciples to drop everything, to leave home and to follow him.

Then he leaves his disciples and leaves and ascends into heaven.

Then we’re called to leave our inner perceptions on how life is supposed to work.

LESSONS

With all these leaves of absence, we need to learn something.

We have not here a lasting home here.

We need to learn to let go at times.

We can get stuck in stupidity or sin or regrets or resentments. I preached on that last Sunday.

When we leave - we can look back from a distance - and see what’s back home and who’s really important much better.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Out of sight, out of mind can also happen.

We come to church; we leave from church - hopefully all the better.

CONCLUSION

Today - at the end of this day, to ask, “Did I leave a good feeling in all the rooms I was in today?”

Or in Fortune Cookie Language: So leave that they wished you stayed more than they wanted to see you leave.”

May 15, 2018

 THE  ALTAR  TO 

THE  UNKNOWN  GOD 

St. Paul walked around Athens

checking out all the Athenian gods -

till he found  an altar “To the Unknown God.”

He said to himself, “Wow! Now I have

a sermon to the Athenians.”

There are no Letters to the Athenians.

They listened to his long speech. A

few joined him - but the majority said

the same old - same old - put off,

“We’ll hear you again about all this.”[1]

Every one of us in every age

has to walk past our outside gods

and then walk within to our inner

room where we can find

“My Lord and my God.” [2]

[1] Acts 17: 16-34

[2] Matthew 6: 5-15

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018  

May 15, 2018

Thought for today: 

“Among animals, one has a sense of humor. Humor saves a few steps, it saves years”

 Marianne Moore, “The Pagolin,” 1941

CEMETERY  MOMENTS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Cemetery Moments.”

There are moments and there are moments.

What are your thoughts when you stand on cemetery grass - and you look down on grey granite cemetery stones  - or upright white marble tombstones? What are your thoughts?  What are your wonderings?

There are stories here. A cemetery is a library - but most books can’t be opened and read. They are closed books in boxes buried six feet underground. We don’t know who this person was. Sometimes all we see is a name and some numbers.

VIETNAM VETERAN’S MEMORIAL

It’s a human experience - this wondering about people buried beneath our feet - on behind a wall - like the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington D.C.

I’ve been to that Wall a few times. I remember going with a Vietnamese Redemptorist: Hai Dinh. We were in Washington D.C. and this was the one place he wanted to see. He was quiet as he stood there.  His biggest surprise was -  how far away from the Wall -  the tall Washington Monument was. When he saw the Memorial Wall on TV, he noticed the Washington Monument in the sky behind the memorial.

My experience was different. Every time I’ve been there, I  deliberately looked for a name on that wall - the brother of a Redemptorist who died in Vietnam: Thomas Francis Campbell - 19 years of age. Born May 18, 1948. Died April 9, 1968. He was in Vietnam just a few months:  February 6 till April 9, 1968.

YOUR FAMILY STONES - YOUR FAMILY MEMORIALS

Where are your family stones? Who’s buried there?

Has anyone taken pictures and made a photo album of many of the grave stones they know of in their family. Then they can sit down at times with that album as a prayer book. It’s as good as an old person’s prayer book getting fatter and fatter with the years with death memorial cards. Or they can sit with that photo album and tell the next generation about who has gone before them?

Does anyone ever take the little ones - or the next few generations - to the stones and tell the stories?

More and more people are into cremation and some into saving the cremains on mantle pieces or buried in back yards or at sea. It’s my opinion that stones - memorial stones - tomb stones last longer that urns - just as people give diamonds and share the word “forever” with each other.

FEAST OF SAINT MATTHIAS

Today is the feast of Saint Matthias: May 14.

The only thing we know about Saint Matthias is that he took the place of Judas - and got chosen by a lottery of sorts.  After that come the legends and the traditions.

Some say he traveled to Ethiopia. Others list the region of modern day Georgia - formerly of the Soviet Union.  Catholics, Lutherans and Anglicans honor him.  He is patron saint of alcoholics, carpenters, Gary Indiana, and Great Falls and Billings Montana. There are written fragments of the so called Gospel of Matthias - a 2^nd century document from a heretical group.

SISTER MATTHIAS

Now why am I mentioning all this?

When I was a kid, I went with my father to Portland, Maine to visit his sister, a Mercy Nun, Sister Mary Patrick.  We went to the graves of two of his sisters who were Mercy Nuns as well, but they died in their 20’s - one as a young nun, 29, Sister Matthias,  and the other as a postulant who also got sick and died in her 20’s.

Well, a few years ago some of us from the parish went on a cruise to New England and 2 places in Canada: St. John’s New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

On the day we stopped into Portland Maine I went off by myself to St. Joseph’s convent - where my dad’s sister worked for 50 plus years in the kitchen. I didn’t know where anything was, so I didn’t want to stick anyone with a wild goose chase. Then I walked to a cemetery to find my father’s sisters. I found 2 of them:  Sister Mary Patrick - and Sister Matthias.

I knew Sister Mary Patrick - but I knew nothing, nothing about Sister Matthias.  I found her grave - but I didn’t find the other grave. 

Anyway I was doing something in memory of Sister Matthias Costello - and the only other thing on her stone besides her name was: 1884 - 1913.

CONCLUSION

It’s good to know that somewhere 100 years from now, our names will be somewhere - in a graveyard, on a ship manifesto, in a telephone book, on a memorial card, in a handwritten something, with the words, “Love” and then our name.

It’s good to have been here - even if all we did was to replace someone else - like Saint Matthias - and we did our best.

May 14. 2018

BOYS  DO  THAT!

Boys do that!

They see a worm.

They see a kid right in front of them.

They put that worm in that kids pocket.

Boys do that!

They see a stick.

It’s dueling season.

It’s hitting season.

Boys do that!

They see a rock.

They see a cow.

They throw that rock at that cow.

Boys do that!

They have been doing these things

ever since their parents told them

to go play outside the cave.

Boys do that!

What? You want them to stop?

Be thankful. They haven’t even discovered 

girls yet. Get ready for what’s next.

Boys do that.

Haven’t you heard the old Latin saying,

“Sunt pueri pueri, pueri purerilia tractant.”

“Boys will be boys and they’re always going to be boys.”

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018  

Thought for today: 

“Don’t let your ego  get too close to your position, so that  if your position gets shot down, your  ego doesn’t go with it.” 

Colin Powell

A  LITTLE  MUSIC 

ON  A  RAINY  DAY