September 3, 2018 

Thought for today: 

“The first person  who’s  on your mind the  moment you open your eyes after a long sleep is the reason for either your Happiness or Pain.” 

Could not find author.

THE  HEART  OF  THE  MATTER 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 22 Sunday in Ordinary Time  [B] is, “The Heart of the Matter.”

The human heart is just a pump - but there is something about the heart -that it shows up in literature and basic human psychology -  as the center of a human being.

The heart is the heart of the matter.

We know this. We know this every Valentine’s Day - and every feast of the Sacred Heart.

How many sons and daughters - call up their mom and dad - and say they are dropping out of school or a marriage - and in that conversation they  say, “My heart isn’t in it anymore.”

That’s a whammer every time.

And sometimes we know what state there in - long before they get out a map - long before they know where they are in life or in their marriage.

Sometimes we put our hand over our heart when we are pledging our allegiance. Sometimes we put our hand on our heart when we scared or nervous - and life is in a tight squeeze and we’re in a tight situation or place.

When it comes to the heart, we know when we’re in an “Uh oh!” situation. Things don’t look good. We also know when we’re in an “Oh yeah!” situation. That’s  when we think we just met our  heart’s desire.”

JESUS KNEW THIS

Jesus knew this.  In today’s gospel Jesus  quotes Isaiah - when challenging the Pharisees and some scribes. He says, that God says, “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me ….”

We  know this.  We know when the preacher in the pulpit, the singer with the song - microphone in hand - has their heart somewhere else.

The distance from the lips to the heart can be 12 inches or 1,200 miles away.

We  know it  when the other person is somewhere else.

The eyes are a dead giveaway - and sometimes yawns.

A NO NO

Years ago I was with a group of co-workers from a retreat house in New Jersey at a Broadway matinee. It was a re-run of the musical - No No Nanette. The only seats we could get were off to the side - up in balconies of sort. We could only see the front of the stage - but looking down - we could see right into the orchestra pit. All through the musical, I’m sitting there watching a violinist. On top of his music  - on the music stand - he had the New York Daily News and he was reading it all through his playing. I’m sure he did that music 100 times at least.

I don’t remember anything about that musical - its plot or its songs - but I membered that violinist.

I got a life lesson that day. I have a choice to put my heart into my music or read the Daily News. I hope every time I’m tempted to stop listening to another - to stop being with another - I’ll scream, “No, No Andrew No”.

I’ve said Mass as priest since June 20, 1965. I’ve been going to Mass probably every day since 1947 or so - we went to daily Mass at OLPH grammar school in Brooklyn - at 7:30 AM  - Monday to Friday. It was a Requiem Mass - a Mass for the dead. The priest wore black vestments. And I was an altar boy - so I was at many more masses - after a while - they can be all the same.

So I’ve been to a lot of Masses - so yes, I drift - but I’m still trying not to be like that violinist.

I did play the trombone once - for about 2 weeks. Then I quit. My heart wasn’t really in it in the first place or the second place. When I started and when I gave it up….  Now if I was practicing for 2 years and my parents put a lot of money into music lessons, and I was dropping out, now that might  be a different story.

That’s the heart of the matter.

The secret of life is to find our heart’s desire and then to put our heart into that pursuit and play - and to enjoy the music.

That’s the heart of the matter.

INSIDE THE HUMAN HEART

Okay - sometimes we don’t know what’s going on in the other’s heart -  till we read about them in the paper.

Jesus in today’s gospel gives us a balcony view of the human heart.  He calls together the crowd and says, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from the outside can defile that person, but the things that come out from within are what defile.”

The scribes and the Pharisees were off on externals; Jesus was off on the internal - the human heart.

Then he gives the heart of the matter, “From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly,  All these evils come from within and they defile.”

This is heart of Jesus’ message right there.

We know this - but we’re tricky - we human beings - because we can avoid the truth - the truth that can set us free.

Instead of looking within - we go after others - blame others - pick on others - gossip about others  - in order to not face ourselves.

Do that enough and we might kill the human heart - and stop enjoying playing the violin or the trombone.

SPEAKING OF DEATH AND FUNERALS

This week we had the death of Aretha Franklin and John McCain - and others.

On TV we had the blessing of being able to watch and to listen to people go up to the microphone and camera  and give their take on another human being - getting to the heart of the matter.

Yesterday,  I watched the funeral service for John McCain. The main speakers - his daughter, Joe Lieberman, George W. Bush, Barack Obama - looked down into his heart and tried to get to the heart of what mattered to him.

They said things like: He was honest. He had zest. He had a sense of humor. He loved to tell jokes - some jokes over and over again.  He was optimistic. He was independent - a maverick. He was imperfect and he knew it. He was a fighter. He forgave and asked for forgiveness.

George W. Bush told a story about him that took place right here in Annapolis - over at the Naval Academy. Here it is word for word: “One friend from his Naval Academy days recalled how John – while a lowly plebe – reacted to seeing an upperclassman verbally abuse a steward. Against all tradition, he told the jerk to pick on someone his own size. It was a familiar refrain during his six decades of service.”

When we die, all those we left behind will speak of our heart. They will sing of the familiar refrains of our life  - for all the decades of the mysteries of our rosary - our life.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily was, “The Heart of the Matter.”

I’m assuming we’ll all take the time to go heart to heart with Christ, with ourselves, and with those key to our lives - as we grow in grace and wisdom and strength,  Amen.

Drop into church or the Eucharistic chapel down below here at St. Mary’s and ask Christ about yours and other’s heart. 

Drop into your cemeteries in your heart or on West Street or the Naval Academy and ask John McCain or others, “What was in your heart? What really mattered?

September 2. 2018

 I ASKED

I asked rock - what are you about

and it answered, “Presence.”

I asked rain - what are you about
and it answered, "Green."

I asked wood - what are you about

and it answered, “Growth.”

I asked dirt - what are you about

and it answered, “Break down.”

I asked bone - what are you about

and it answered, “Support.”

I asked water - what are you about

and it answered,  “Life.”

I asked ink - what are you about

and it answered, “Word.”

I asked word - what are you about

and it answered, “Stories.”

I asked another - what are you about

and it answered, “Questions.”

I asked God - what are you about

and God answered, “You.”

I asked myself - what am I about

and I answered,  “You too.”

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

September 2, 2018 

Thought for today: 

“The smaller the function, the greater the management.” 

C. Northcote Parkinson [1909 - 1993]

September 1, 2018

Thought for today: 

"It's so hard to forget pain, but it's even harder to remember sweetness. We have no scar to show for happiness. We learn so little from peace."

Church Palahniuk, Diary

GLORY TO GOD 

IN THE HIGHEST 

Why wait till Christmas,
why  wait till Sunday,
why not sing Glory to God
in the highest right now -
as we bring peace to people 
of ill will or good will - Christ 
the Lord, - this day and 
every day. Amen.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

STUPID, STUPID, STUPID 

SMART, SMART, SMART 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 21 Friday in Ordinary Time is, “Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, Smart, Smart, Smart.”

If you’re anything like me, you say at least  a dozen times a year, “Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.”

I miss an appointment or say the wrong thing or can’t find my keys.

Or sometimes I or we say, ‘Dumb, dumb, dumb.”

Meaning: “How could I be so dumb?”

Next, making a jump, I don’t know if we ever say, “Smart, Smart, Smart.”

Okay, we might say that once every 10 years - especially when we do something smart. Smile, it could be a moment when we do something - and we realize at the moment we were not dumb. We didn’t do dumb. We did smart.

When we say, “Smart, Smart, Smart” - we might think we shouldn’t say that, because it’s not right. That’s more like the sin of pride.”  And we all want to avoid criticisms like: “Who does she think she is?”

In the meanwhile, we rather go for humility and keep saying,  “Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.”

But is that humility? Because there is that saying, “Humility is truth.”

And the truth might be there are times when we’re smart.

TODAY’S READINGS

Today’s readings triggered these thoughts.

In the first reading for today, 1^st Corinthians 1: 17-25, Paul talks about wisdom and foolishness.

The word “wisdom”  and the word “wise”  are used 10 times in this English translation of today’s first reading. In the Greek text  - the Greek words used are “sophia” and “sophos”.

 In today’s gospel, Matthew 25: 1-13, our English  translation uses the word wise - in describing the five wise virgins - but the Greek word is not “sophos”.  The word is “phronismos” - which in my opinion is better translated “prudent”.

The word for foolishness “moros” in Greek - is the same in both readings.

I know you were dying to hear all this - whereas I’ve read it’s not wise in preaching to bring in Greek words.

WISDOM

The title of my homily is, “Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, Smart, Smart, Smart.”

An obvious message would be: Wisdom is a goal in everyone’s life

We hear this all through the scriptures and I’m sure all through our early life from our parents and our teachers.

Jesus often calls out people to be wise.

So that’s a desired goal in life.  

It’s a goal and a hope in Israel’s library - in the scrolls called: the wisdom literature.

I would think the call would be to be wise in relationships, use and attitude wards  money, and how we use or manage or balance our time.

I would think it would be good to know what skills we have - and to look to where we can share our talents. An obvious skill is to grow in wisdom, age and grace.

This is a good area to talk to our peers, parents, and counselors about.

It would be wise to figure out who the wise are.

It would be wise to find out from others what others are skilled in and to give them “atta girl’s” or “atta boy’s”.

CONCLUSION

One last message from all this would be to pause and look at our life and say, “Stupid, Stupid, Stupid”  where we are dumb and to say, “Smart, Smart, Smart” - where we are smart.  But, of course,  it would be smart to talk to each other about all this - and maybe then we’ll get a better handle on the wisdom of life and others see us performing. Amen.