MISSION 

OF SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO 

Check it out. Every year the swallows are supposed to fly from
Goya, Argentina up to the Mission of San Juan Capistrano. They
have not been going back there for the big feast: the feast of St. Joseph/

The situation is bin studeedlll

WHAT  YOU  GET 

WHEN YOU GET CHRIST 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 29^th Tuesday in Ordinary Time  is, “What You Get When You Get Christ.”

PART ONE:  LIFE WITHOUT CHRIST

Today’s first reading from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians [2: 12-22] begins by telling us what we get - without Christ.

We get alienated from the community.  We are strangers to the covenants of promise. We are without  hope.  We are without God in the world.

I don’t know about you - but when I read that - I feel for relatives - who have dropped out of church and religion.  I also am thinking of those who have been dropping out of the Catholic Church because of the priest scandal.

It also triggers all those  people I sense have no church sense. They tell me by body language, they are at the edge of faith. I always hope I’m dead wrong - but my belly and their  standing back - at edges  in church at funerals and weddings and baptisms - is telling me something.

Of course I’ve been wrong in my judgments many times but ….

I’m praying to God to touch these folks who are going it without Christ. I have been talking to some people one to one - who were at a wedding - and a few at funerals - who got the thought, “I need to revisit faith and God” and they gave me a call.

So the beginning of today’s first reading from Ephesians triggers what it is like to be  -  without Christ Jesus.

PART TWO: LIFE WITH CHRIST

Then Paul in this letter to the Ephesians tells us, “But now in Christ -  you who once were far off -  have become near by the blood of Christ.”

Paul tells us Christ is our peace. Paul tells us Christ is one with us. Paul tells us Christ broke down the dividing wall of enmity, through his Flesh.

Paul then tells us the great message in Romans - the great Christian breakthrough from Judaism - the great message that there is a new covenant: The law with its commandments and legal claims are abolished.

Have we got that message yet - that breath of fresh air Good News - that the Old Law, the old way of seeing existence, living, under dread of hell - under fear of God - is over - because  Christ - came and lived among us?

Christ put that way of thinking to death with his death.  The veil of the temple was torn that day - and the Spirit of God freely flew out and roams the earth.

As Paul puts it right here in this reading, “He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.”

So Christ is not just in here - at Mass - but Christ is out there in the mass of details that is called Daily Life.

Paul is telling us there are no walls - we are to no longer be strangers and sojourners - but all of us are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God - built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.

Do we get this profound vision - this profound image - that we are one - no walls, no borders, no divisions by skin color, no language barriers, no nationality, no party, none of these divisions made of walls made out of words - but the one word that became flesh - Christ - sent to us by the Father can give us what we all need, all we hope for - that will give us peace?

CONCLUSION

This message is found here in Ephesians and in other places in the scriptures in various ways.

This profound message  can be found in the documents of Vatican II, especially in the Dogmatic Constitution of the Church, Lumen Gentium, where it says that the kingdom of God is proclaimed in 4 ways: first from pastoral life - raising animals. We are a sheep in s sheepfold with Christ as our Good Shepherd. Secondly, we are a field  to be cultivated, to become  bread and wine. And Thirdly, this image is from from architecture and home building -  we are a building in progress.

This third image is  the main image from today’s reading from Ephesians.

Then the last image is from marriage and family. We are the body of Christ - and without Christ we are missing so much.

Now of course this is dreamy - slippery stuff. It’s idealistic stuff. It’s spiritual stuff.

We’re citizens of a country - with concerns about our different peoples - our economy - our place in the world.

However, we are more than being citizens of our country. We are citizens of this planet - this world.

For the sake  of transparency, I am also a member of a worldwide group of brothers and priests called the Redemptorists - all over the world

For the sake of transparency, I also a member of a worldwide Church - the Catholic Church - all over the world.

PAINTINGS  BY 

WILLIAM KURELEK 

MY   DESTINY 

It’s my destiny.

Some stress and struggle - 

thinking I have to do what my

parents want me to do or what  

I think God wants me to do. 

Is that how life is supposed to go?

So what is my destiny? 

Artist, architect, actor? 

Mechanic, parent, priest? 

Farmer, pharmacist, nurse? 

What’s my destiny? 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

October 23, 2018 

Thought for today: 

“A farm is a hunk  of land on which, if you get up early enough mornings and work late enough  nights, you’ll make a fortune  - if you strike oil on it.” 

Fibber Mcgee - Jim Jordan

THE  ABILITY  TO  ACCEPT 

OTHER   PEOPLE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is “The Ability to Accept Other People.”

This is one of life’s great skills: The Ability to Accept Other People.

On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, how good are you in accepting other people?

I’d assume your obvious next comment would be: “Well it all depends on who it is I’m being asked to accept?”

The obvious response to that comment would be: “Well, that’s the whole point.”

UNFORGETTABLE COMMENTS

Have you ever read something that you have never forgotten?

It could be a quote. It could be comment.  It’s just something that is like a bumper sticker on your car.

I have one. I often quote it. I often think about it. I often hear it in my brain when I run into certain situations. I read somewhere this comment: “The greatest sin is our inability to accept the otherness of other people.”

Years ago, I wrote a whole book on this topic: How to Deal With Difficult People. It’s out of print, so I’m not pushing it.  It sold  60,000 copies and was translated into Korean and  I still don’t know how to deal with difficult people. It told me a lot of people want the answer to that question.

How about you?

Do you have any difficult people in your life? Do you have some people whom you can’t accept or you find difficult to deal with?

One of my favorite scripture texts is, “Is it I, Lord?” 

That’s Matthew 26:22. Jesus says, “One of you is about to betray me.” and the disciples at the Last Supper say to Jesus one by one, “Surely, it’s not I, Lord?”

When I hear people complaining about priests or just people in general, I like to say, “Is it I, Lord?”

It’s not nice to be rejected or not liked or not accepted.

A SKILL TO LEARN

How many parents or friends or others have said to their kid or another, “Well, not everyone is going to like you.”

Teachers, waitresses, priests, human beings have to learn, “Not everyone is going to like you.”

I read somewhere, “Well, 1/3 are going to like you; 1/3 ain’t going to like you; and 1/3 don’t care.”

One of our priests told us - he’s no longer stationed here - so you don’t know who he was.  “I’m standing in the back of church on a Sunday morning and the cantor announces who the priest is - who will be saying the Mass, and I hear a voice say out loud, ‘Oh no!’”

What would that be like?

TODAY IS THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN PAUL II.

Pope John Paul II was arriving at Kennedy Airport in New York.  This polish priest is out on the tarmac - with a crowd of big shots - many from the New York Archdiocese.  Some Monsignor - sort of in charge - spots this Polish priest from some small parish standing there. He goes over to him and says something like, “What are you doing here? This is for chancery staff - or something like that” and so the priest leaves and goes back home.”

The pope gets off the plane and looks around and immediately asks for his priest friend from Poland.

Silence.

Well the priest who ousted the pope’s friend - I heard he got stationed way upstate after that one.

EVERYONE HAS TO DEAL WITH THE ACCEPTANCE REALITY

Take popes.

They too have to deal with this issue of acceptance.

Pope John Paul II was our pope for 26 years. He travelled the world and was greeted by all kinds of people. However, someone shot him. Thank God, John Paul II recovered and the Pope ended up forgiving him. Then there was  a Spanish Priest who tried to stab Pope John Paul II with a bayonet at Fatima.

Not nice.

Next came Pope Benedict. He had his praise and I’m sure some complainers.

So too Pope Francis.

So too presidents and governors, pastors and parents.

Everyone gets their “Oh yes!” and “Oh no!’ votes.

BOTTOM LINE: A CONCLUSION

So that’s my homily for today.

My title was, “The Ability to Accept Other People.”

The bottom line is: we all need to learn how to deal with being accepted or rejected.  We all need to not commit the greatest sin: the inability to accept the otherness of the other person.

Get over it: people are different.

Get over it: not everyone is going to like or accept us.

October 22, 2018

BURIED TREASURES

Gold,  diamonds,  oil,  have been

buried down deep in the ground 

around us for a long,  long, time.

So why don’t we expect treasures

to be buried down deep in the 

ground of the persons all around us?

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018