Thought for today:
“When any organizational entity expands beyond 21 members, the real power will be in some smaller body.”
C. Northcote Parkinson [1909 - 1993]
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
Monday, August 27, 2018
FOR THE SAKE OF TRANSPARENCY
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for you teachers for this new high
school year - 2018-2019 - is, “For the Sake of Transparency.”
I don’t know when this principle or mantra or slogan
became a value - used at meetings and brought up and into relationships.
I don’t know if teachers and school staffs pause before a
new school year and look at what they are thinking - hoping - wondering about
for this new year a-coming.
We’ve been here before - but some days are different than
other days. We go through some of the
same doors each day - but some entrances are different than other entrances.
Not every day is the same.
There is the last day of school in June and the first day
of a new school year in September.
What do teachers think about the day - the weeks after -
a school year ends.
How was your day is not the only question in life?
How was this school year that just ended?
What will this new year of school be like?
When I’m watching some of these pre-season football games
and a team has a new coach, how does the coach see this team, this new season.
If he was on some other team and he was cut, what did he learn from that
experience - and how will he see a new year - a new coaching experience?
In other words what were our learnings. A new year can trigger that question.
For the sake of transparency what are your thoughts right
now.
FAVORITE QUOTES
“For the sake of transparency” is one of my favorite
quotes.
Do you have any favorite quotes?
I don’t know what this day for teachers and high school
staff will be like - but if you have some small group sessions - share your
favorite quote.
If they have any coffee breaks, share your favorite
quote.
For the sake of transparency, this is where I’m coming
from.
One of my favorite quotes is: “The power is in the coffee
break.”
One of my favorite quotes is from Kojak, “Talk to me.”
One of my favorite quotes is from Kojak, “Who loves you,
baby?”
One of my favorite quotes is from Kojak, “Do you want a
lollipop.”
If you watch NCIS you know that Sloan, the therapist, offers
lollipops as well. “What color do you
want?” For her it’s a psychological test.
One of my favorite quotes is, “Be who you is, because if
you be who you ain’t, then you ain’t who you is.”
For the sake of transparency, let me state that again, “Be who you is,
because if you be who you ain’t, the you ain’t who you is.”
For the sake of transparency we can also say, “Be where
you is, because if you be where you ain’t, then you ain’t where you is.”
I don’t know where you are right. Sometimes it’s hard
getting back into the swing of things. I
went to bed too late last night - I was watching the movie, “The Pelican Brief”
so I found it difficult getting a homily for this morning.
One of my favorite quotes is, “The greatest sin is our
inability to accept the otherness of the other person.”
That’s true in a school, office, place of work, and
classroom, and our families and our groups.
It’s a new school year, for the sake of transparency, a
possible resolution could be, “Let’s see each other in a new way.”
Our theme for this new year is all about seeing.
The blind man or woman in the gospel prays, says, “Lord,
that I might see.”
For the sake of transparency, it’s hard to see people.
Their weight, color, age, language, clothes can block us from seeing and
sensing the other.
For the sake of transparency, it’s easy to judge others -
and we can’t see through the other to see their mind - heart - and personality.
We haven’t read their autobiography. They haven’t told it
to us - so we make them a biography - our reading of the other - and we don’t
listen to their audio autobiography of themselves.
TODAY’S GOSPEL
Today’s gospel - Matthew 23: 13-22 - has Jesus seeing
through the Pharisees - those who want to appear goody goody and the scribes -
those who could read and write and thought that made them better to a degree.
For the sake of transparency religious leaders can be
hypocrites - actors - trying to change everyone to their way of thinking and being.
For the sake of transparency, Jesus says guides can be
blind guides.
For the sake of transparency - Jesus said we can go for
the gold - but we get caught up in the glitter - and miss out on what and who
are the real gifts in the room are.
Jesus says, “We swear to ourselves, we have it right -
when we are all wrong.”
Jesus says, there is a garbage dump - right there in Jerusalem - and it’s called Gahanna -
translation “hell” - because it stinks
of burning garbage and dumped stuff - and that’s where we can be living.
Get out of hell - and be free.
TODAY’S FIRST READING
Today’s first reading is from 2nd
Thessalonians - written and sent some time around 50 to 100 AD - the year of
the Lord.
It’s more gospellly than today’s gospel - in that it
gives more good news.
It has some good stuff for this new year.
This new year be peaceful with each other.
This new year be thankful for each other..
This new year have faith - may it flourish
This new year - check out how you judge - judge with
God’s judments.
This year bring about the kingdom of God here at St. Mary’s.
This year - we’ll have sufferings of different sorts -
help each other with them.
This year, have a good purpose.
One of those can be, to be transparent - open - clear
with and to each other.
CLOSING
Today is the feast of St. Monica - mother of Augustine -
who really got messed up in his head - but he
was smart.
For the sake of transparency, she stuck with him - prayed
for him - and then for the sake of transparency - he gave the world his inner
stuff - his confessions - so that all of us can be transparent and give our
best to the world. Amen.
I WISH SO AND SO
HEARD THIS
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 21st Monday in
Ordinary Time is, “I Wish So and So
Heard This.”
One of the
experiences every preacher has is the following: someone comes up to a
preacher or speaker and says, ‘I wish my daughter-in-law heard what you said
today.”
THE PREACHER’S REACTION
For starters, it’s a compliment in a way. Someone heard something and it has a grab of
importance for them.
Sometimes the preacher has a second experience. They say to themselves. I wasn’t preaching to
those absent, but to those present. Maybe this person should apply what was
said not to others, but to themselves for starters.
TODAY’S GOSPEL
Today’s gospel -
Matthew 23: 13-22 - has the first 3 of Matthew’s 7 Woes of Jesus. Scripture
scholars like to point out that in Matthew they are a teaching technique. He
does the same thing with the 7 Beatitudes in Matthew 5: 3-12. Sometimes it’s listed as the 8 Beatitudes.
Tomorrow we’ll have 2 more woes and Wednesday we should
have the last 2 woes, but we have a feast day on Wednesday, August 29th, for John the Baptist -
so there is a different gospel for that day.
Question: when we hear these 7 warnings, these 7 blasts,
these 7 criticisms, these 7 woes, of the
Pharisees and the Scribes, do we think of others, or do we apply them to
others?
If there is anything I learned from the Jesuit Exercises
from Saint Ignatius of Loyola, it’s to apply all these readings to self - not
others.
I read a Bible text, I put a finger on it, and say, “Now
this if for me!”
It’s to see myself in the gospel stories and the
scripture texts, not others.
How am I a hypocrite? How am I a Pharisee or a Scribe?
When preachers are preaching and everyone listening is
screaming inwardly at the preacher, “Practice what you preach!” it would great
if the preacher knew what everyone was thinking about him at that moment.
Ouch!
It’s a good sign - in a way - if the person being corrected
- at least said the following, “Do what I say, don’t do what I do?” If they say that much, they might have half
of the problem correct.
The Pharisees and the scribes were always trying to
correct others - and they didn’t look into the proverbial mirror - at
themselves.
As preacher I know I’m guilty of doing this at times.
Sometimes after I finish a homily, I go through it and change all the you’s to we’s or I’s.
SPECK OR 2 BY 4
Jesus knew this
and said all this very clearly when he said, “Remove the 2 by 4’s in your own eye first - instead
of spending your energy seeing the tiny specks in your brother’s eye.”
People even did this to Jesus when he challenged him by
yelling back at him, “Physician heal yourself.”
People got this message when they dropped their rocks
when Jesus said at them, “Those without sin, cast the first stone.”
Jesus told us to stop judging each other.
TODAY’S FIRST READING
In today’s first reading Jesus tells us what to see in
the other.
See the good stuff. To live with peace and in “grace” with each other.
Here in 2 Thessalonians, we are called to be thankful for
the others around us.
We’re called to have faith - a faith that is growing.
CONCLUSION
I’m not saying in
this homily that we can’t say something to another.
Today we’re celebrating the Feast of St. Monica who
challenged her son Augustine to straighten his life out.
She succeeded - her tears and her prayers worked - and we have the great St. Augustine.
Sunday, August 26, 2018
STAYING OR LEAVING?
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 21st Sunday in
Ordinary Time [B] is, “Staying or
Leaving?”
Question mark. Notice
I have a question mark after that word, “leaving”.
In this homily, I’m asking the question: Staying or
leaving?
IT’S A BASIC
LIFE QUESTION
Staying or leaving is a very basic life experience.
We’re at a wedding or a picnic or a family get together.
Do we stay or leave?
We’re at a movie and it’s horrible. Do we get up and
leave - or stay till we see those wonderful two words: “The End.”
And sometimes - we don’t want the party or the
celebration to end.
We were at a Bowie Baysox baseball game two weeks ago. It
was a double header. Bowie was playing the Richmond Flying Squirrels. It’s the mascots.
The 3 of us during that second game got the thought at
some point: “When are we going to get moving?” Someone finally said it out loud, “Have we had
enough?”
Couples know the signals - looking at the door, the
watch, the Iphone, seeing others getting up, the yawning, seeing the eyes -
seeing if they are saying, “Let’s get
going.”
I learned in listening to people: when they take their car keys out, it’s close
to closing time.
TODAY’S READINGS: STAYING OR LEAVING
I hear that question in today’s readings.
We’ve been listening to the 6th Chapter of John as our
gospel reading for 5 Sundays now. Today is the finale: stay with Jesus or leave
Jesus.
And the decision is based on whether a person accepts or
walks away from Jesus. Do we accept Jesus as the Son of God - as the Bread of Life - as the Precious Blood
of God.
Jesus says, “This is a hard choice. This is a hard
saying.”
Jesus is asking his disciples, “Where do you stand on me - with me? Are you going to stay or are you going to
leave?”
And the last paragraph in today’s gospel begins, “As a
result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and
no longer accompanied him.”
Today’s first reading from the Book of Joshua has Joshua
gathering together all the tribes of Israel and asking everyone that day, that
moment, “Decide whom you will serve: the gods your fathers served beyond the
river or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now dwelling.”
And Joshua makes the preemptive choice: “As for me and my
household, we will serve the Lord.”
In today’s second reading from Ephesians the staying or
leaving question shows up in marriages - in the hearts and minds of husbands
and wives.
I know a lady in Ohio who calls up her local church every
time this reading about wives being called to be subordinate to their husbands is
the reading for the following Sunday. She calls around Wednesday. I’m sure the parish secretary has no clue what
the priest for the following Sunday is going to do. I would assume that it doesn’t make any
difference to that woman that this letter to the Ephesians is challenging husbands in this same reading
to love their wives - to hand themselves over to their wives - like the church is
called to be subordinate to Christ.
I would assume it wouldn’t make any difference if this
woman was told that of course that was the attitude in the Mediterranean basin
in the 1st century and is today in many places. If I was asked, I might comment, “I like to jokingly say, ‘Why
don’t we make God female and only females as priests, bishops, popes, for the
next 2000 years and I’m sure things would be different.”
I wouldn’t say - but I’d be tempted to say, “The reason
we don’t have female priests is because in some places, they want at least one
male present.”
Why do we stay or leave?
That is the question.
LETTERS TO THE PASTOR
I’m sure pastors and bishops got a lot of letters in the
last week or so about the horrible abuse of children, teenagers, and cover ups
in our church.
I said last week from the pulpit that when the Pennsylvania
news reports came out, it wasn’t an easy day being a priest.
Father Tizio gave us a letter from a couple leaving the parish
and the church because of all this.
I wonder how many other people in our church - in our
country - are asking that same question: to stay or to leave.
I’ve been talking to 3 people this year - who are looking
to come into the church. Because of their jobs and schedules, they can’ t make our RCIA program - which we
be starting soon in preparation of coming into the church next Easter. Will they ask and address this question?
THE EDGE OF A RAZOR BLADE
To stay or to leave is sometimes like being placed on the
edge of a razor blade.
I am thankful for whoever it was in my family line in Ireland
who started going to church. The answer to that that question is not listed in
my DNA - Ancestry Dot Com.
I remember hearing from my mom about her house in Ireland
- which was right on the waters of Galway Bay. She said, “In the morning I could
stand of this big grey flagstone at our back door and I could stick my big toe into
the water.”
When I finally got to Ireland for the first time in 1995
and saw where my mom was from, I found out that my mom’s house was down - but
that grey flagstone was right there - with water lapping it.
When I looked around at the rocks - lots and lots and
lots of rocks - I remember my mom saying, “Ireland has nothing.” She was glad she went to Boston around 19
years of age - and began a new life in America - working as a hotel cleaning
woman, then a maid at the Adam’s Hotel.
About 3 years ago - by luck - I heard a wonderful story
that they carted away the stones from my mom’s house - when they tore it down
and used those stones for the foundation of the new church in that area.
Tully Church Inverin
I heard that and said to myself, “I’ll use that for a
homily some day.”
Today is my chance. I’m glad my mom and dad - both from Ballynahown, County Galway Ireland - but
got married here in the States - that they stayed in the church and passed that
faith down to us 4 kids.
My mom knew of the weaknesses in priests and people.
When I came home from the seminary for the first time, first
vacation, when I got off the train, my dad seeing me so thin said, “You’re not going back, are you?” I
said, “Of course I’m going back.”
Like most priests - especially seeing the negative stuff
in our church - as well as seeing so many priests leave - [9 out of the 16
ordained in my class left - 2 came back] - at times I’ve asked, what many married
people have asked, what many Catholics have asked, “Stay or leave?”
Obviously my answer is the same answer the disciples at the end of today's gospel gave: "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God."
Now that's a creed!
Obviously my answer is the same answer the disciples at the end of today's gospel gave: "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God."
Now that's a creed!
CONCLUSION
I’ve always liked the comment: “An old lady in Jersey
City once said, ‘The 5 marks of the Catholic Church are: it’s one, holy,
Catholic, apostolic and it survives its clergy.’”
August 26, 2018
WHY TEARS?
I still haven’t cried at my mother’s death -
a hit and run accident - way back on
April 7, 1987…. Why? Why? Why?
I cry at movies - like The Natural and
It’s a Wonderful
Life, Dr. Zhivago and
songs like, “If I Had a Hammer.”
I cried at my father’s, my brother’s
my nephew’s, my sister’s death,
but I still haven’t cried at my mother’s
Why?
Why?
Why?
© Andy Costello, Reflections
2018
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