DIG,  DIG,  DIG

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Dig, Dig, Dig.”

HAPPY NEW YEAR

It’s good on January 1^st, to stand there with two calendars in hand: the one you’re taking down, 2018 - and the new one you’re about to hang up: 2019.

Unless you’re totally electronic….

Does anyone save their old calendars?

They are an archeological treasure - a historic document - especially if you use a calendar to box in appointments - celebrations - moments. They are great to have in a box somewhere - for when you hit 80 and you write your life.

I wonder if anyone digs that idea.

It’s good on January 1^st to look ahead - to look at the stars tonight - if they are visible. Last night I saw the fireworks - but mostly mist and rainy skies. It’s good to look at the stars and say, “Someday - besides those in planes up there - right now - there will be people out there in outer space.”

It’s good to look into the future on January 1^st - what will this year be like?

Surprise!

It’s good we can’t see the actual future. Woo!

It’s also good on January 1^st to look backwards - at calendars - at newspapers and news programs - that collect 2018.  What were the 10 top moments in our lives and year?

On the evening news, every night, I hope Baltimore stops the killings. I see the yellow tapes around crime scenes and over 300 people killed on the streets of Baltimore last year.

I’ll look at the papers and magazines from the last week or so - someone took the time to dig into 2018 and come up with top persons etc. etc. etc. We remember  our people from The Capital who were killed and made part of the Time Magazine persons of the year.

Past and future - looked at in the present moment of January 1^st.

Do you dig doing the digging and the dreaming - backwards and forwards, past and future, up and down?

NUMBERS 6:24-26

I like today’s first reading from Numbers 6:24-26 when we hear the Aaronite Blessing.

I like to tell a story about Gabriel Barkay in my January 1st homily. 

He was an archeologist in Israel - who loved digs.

In 1979 he was working on a dig in Jerusalem and he was with a group of diggers. They used teenagers to help - so the young people could make some money and do some digging - hoping I’m sure that some of them will be future archeologists as well.

Well there was this teenage boy - Nathan - who was a nuisance and a pest - so Gabriel put him in a place to dig where he wouldn’t be bothering anyone.

Surprise he hears a  hollow sound from under a floor in  an old Byzantine Church which they discovered under the earth.  With a hammer he breaks open a floor and finds stuff - lots of stuff: over 1000 artefacts: 125 silver items, gold items, 40 iron arrowheads, gold stuff, etc. etc. etc.

One was a silver amulet - which people might wear using a leather cord - to hang around their neck.  It had writing on it. It was rolled silver. It took them at least 3 years to  unroll it  - carefully. They used specialists from all over the world.  On this particular necklace piece was the Aaronite blessing.

May the Lord bless you and protect you.

May the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.

May the Lord turn His face towards you and give you peace.

That blessing goes back 2800 years - from around the 7th Century BC.

SUGGESTION FOR THIS YEAR - NOT A RESOLUTION

My suggestion for this year - just finished - besides saving your calendar for 2018 is this: get a ballpoint pen and start writing - but write in spiral note pads.

I have here in hand - 3 different sized spiral pads.

In any supermarket, drugstore or Staples or Office Depot you can buy these babies: spiral pads.

I have hundreds of them with information from the last 50 years at least.

My preference is the mid-sized ones - those that are 9 ½ by 6 inch.

I have one for very night.  I put today’s date on the top of the page - then the time and place where I’m writing - and then a one or two word prayer like: thanks, help, good, or great. Then I jot down a list - of one or two words - describing a moment from that day.  Then I put a circle around the event or moment that had the most energy. Then I say a quick one or two word prayer about that moment.

I also use these medium size spiral pads to write a  2 page short meditation on any theme or topic - all first draft. I am almost finished volume 11. They have about 145 reflections in them.  So that’s almost 1500 short 2 page written meditations.

I also have at least 100 of these little spiral pads and lots of these big ones.  They too include lots of information.

CONCLUSION:  WHO KNOWS?

So what am I suggesting here?

Keep a note pad.  Keep a couple of note pad. This is like keeping a journal - but this is more practical - and time centered a bit.

Write down stuff in 2019.

Who knows?

You’ll be like Mary in today’s gospel pondering things in your life and your day.

And maybe 30 years from now - you might read - you might dig, dig, dig  - something up interesting things that happened to you in this new year of life.

And my bet is that paper will outlast the stuff in the cloud or wherever this electronic data goes. Amen.

January 1, 2019

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year 2019.

May you discover your song -

your gifts - your talents.

May all those who know you

hit the Golden Button and

shower you with congratulations
for who you are and for all you do
each day for us. May you go on 
from here to greatness and beyond. Amen.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

December 31, 2018

TAPE THE CONVERSATION

The next time you have a fight,

tape your yelling at each other.

Then watch the tape. Listen to

how each of you wants to be first.

Who me? Yes you. What are you saying?

It’s a game we all play - wanting to win.

Then laugh at each other - because

not listening is a lose - lose game.

Okay now:  Who goes first?

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

GOD  KNOWS  REJECTION

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this last day of 2018 is, “God knows rejection.”

I never heard it put that way - but God knows rejection.

At least that’s what we hear in today’s readings.

In the first reading from 1 John we hear about anti-Christs as well as not being approved - that is, being rejected.

In today’s gospel we have a summary of the whole gospel of John. We hear a key message that Jesus came to his own,  but his own received him not.

What was that like: to be rejected by one’s own people?

REJECTION FROM EACH OTHER

If there is a book out there: Life for Dummies - it has to have a chapter on rejection.

To be human is to be rejected at times. To learn how to deal with rejections is a good skill to have.

The first born kid experiences approval - especially if he’s a boy. Everyone loves the sight and the gift of a new born baby. So there is amazement, wonder, appreciation, and photos -  lots of photos - probably more than in the past with cell phones.

Not too much rejection yet….

Then surprise - in time - he or she finds out mom and dad are pregnant with number 2. He or she was king or queen up to then. They were the only child. Then with glimpses of possible rejection or another moving in on our approval ratings, a little person might let out their first “Uh oh!” or “Oh no!”

Kids go to school  and learn a lot - and they experience lots of things - and probably perceptions of rejection from teachers and other kids.

So growing up includes lots of learning experiences  from family - from the playground - from school - from sharing. One experiences  recognition as well as rejection.

I played baseball for the Bay Ridge Robins. I was in grammar school.  My oldest brother played first base for the older Bay Ridge Robins. I made the team - but only got on the field for one out for the whole season.  The manager played his younger brother instead of me.

It was only up from there.

Teens  experience rejection from elders, friends, girl-friend - boy-friend stuff.

So most people discover what they are good in and what they lack skill in - while at school, sports, clubs, college, jobs,  relationships.

There is a tendency in a lot of us to focus on the negative - the rejections more than the acceptance slips.

So we learn acceptance and rejection - approval and rejection - from teachers, from other associates, from strangers - all from those we meet on the different circuits of life.

SO  TOO GOD

God gets rejected by lots of people in lots of situations  - yawns, distractions, what have you.

Does God say to lots of people, “Thanks a lot for lots of yawns and rejections and distractions? I get it.”

If we are visible and we experience rejection - how much more - the invisible God?

CONCLUSION: THE GOOD NEWS

John in today’s gospel says for those who accept Jesus - accept God -  we get - the power to become the children of God.

It’s the same with others.  If we accept others, expect blessings.  If we shut up and listen to others - we discover it’s  wonderful when we experience the after effects of honoring -  respecting - another in our life. So too God. Amen.

December 31, 2018 - 

Thought for today: 

“When God lets me into heaven, I think I’ll ask to go off in a corner somewhere for half an hour and sit down and cry because the strain is off, the work is done, and I haven’t been unfaithful or disloyal, all these needs that I have known are in the hands of Providence and I don’t have to worry any longer who’s at the door, whose breadbox is empty, whose baby is sick, whose house is shaken and discouraged, and whose children can’t read.” 

Words of Wisdom from 

Father Horace McKenna

 December 30, 2018

GRUDGE

Grudges come in all kinds of shapes 

and sizes - but what I look at is its weight.

How much does this grudge weigh?

If it’s over 50 pounds do I really want

to carry it on my back for a long time?

Do I realize how much energy grudges cost?

I know a son who is carrying a grudge agains

his dad for about three years now. That’s crazy.

I know three daughters who won’t forgive

their mom - and this has been for 11 years.

Being a priest and hearing these stories,

I say,  “Drop the stone - and feel nothing.”

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

FAMILY: 

SPEAKING  OF  WALLS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Holy Family Sunday is, ‘Family: Speaking of Walls.”

We need walls and we need open spaces.

Anybody who grew up in a family business like a restaurant knows that the family business needs a sign for their front door - with a message on each side. One side: “Open” and the other side, “Closed” - and they need to know when to use both.

There is a scripture text: “It’s not good to be alone.”

But sometimes - it’s good to be alone - to take a walk - to breathe - to go figure - and then come  home again.

America’s poet, Robert Frost, who can be cold, in his poem Mending Walls, gives a good  summary of the pro’s and cons of walls.

One man wants to repair the stone wall that separates his property from another man. Both meet every Spring to check out their wall.

The second man wonders why they need a wall in the first place. If they had cows, he could see a good reason, but they have trees. The first man always says “Good fences make good neighbors.”  The other man asks, “Why do they make good neighbors?’

Robert Frost  reflects, “Before I’d build a wall - I’d ask what I’m walling in and walling out.” Everyone is both those men. We have within us the need for walls and the need to break down walls. And everyone should ask themselves, “Before I’d build a wall - I’d ask to know what I’m walling in and walling out.”

I think Holy Family Sunday and the beginning and ending of a year, we should look at our family and look at our walls.

AH SWEET HOME

After a long day, we often long for the four walls of the front seat of our car or back seat in a bus as we head for home.

Ah sweet home….

To come through the garage door or the front door and close it and go into our house and make the sound, “Phew.”

To hear the question: “How was your day?”

How was your day? How was your week? How was your Christmas this year? How was 2018?  How do you want 2019 to be?  How’s your life going?

Whom do you talk to? Whom do you feel at home with? Who listens to you? Whom do you listen to?  Who opens up to you? Who closes you down?  Who gives you space?  Who gives you quiet? Who gives you great conversations?  Who turns off the TV and listens to thee?  Who turns the TV on so you  can watch favorite programs with?

Answers to these questions are often in the safe - called our skull - or our brain.

Hopefully our sweet home is a place where we can be ourselves - our best self - but  sometimes we are our worst self and we want walls to hide behind.

Hopefully our home is a home of love for one another and not a home where we condemn each other - as we heard about in today’s second reading from  1 John.

TWO CHINESE PROVERBS

“Nobody’s family can hang out the sign, ‘Nothing the matter here.’”

“Better be kind at home than burn incense in a far place.”

That far place could be church.  We all know that church goers can be crummy family members - but hopefully church - makes us all better family members.

THREE  QUOTES  FROM  THREE  NOVELISTS 

Jane Austen [1775-1817], in Emma [1815] chapter 18:  “Nobody who has not been in the interior of a family can say what the difficulties of any individual of that family may be.”

Charles Dickens  [1812-1870], in David Copperfield, chapter 28 writes,  “Accidents will occur in the best-regulated families.”

Leo Tolstoi [1828-1910] in  Anna Karenia [1875-1877] writes, “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

LOOKING AND LISTENING  AND READING EACH OTHER

Looking back at my parents - I was blessed - because they were wonderful.

My dad took us to the park each Sunday to give my mom a break.

But looking back my dad was a big introvert.  When I look at old black and white family pictures I find myself wondering and wishing I knew what was behind my dad’s skull walls. He just happened to be an introvert. Life.

I find myself talking a lot with my last sister - who knew a lot more about my dad than I did.

She gave my sister Peggy’s Eulogy 5 years ago and I sat there hearing the wonderful story that I never knew: my dad would take my sister Peggy by bus from 62^nd Street to 95 Street in Brooklyn - get her an ice cream  - and then they would walk back together. I didn’t know that. She was able to get on the other side of that wall - of my dad- that I really never got through.

I had gone away to the seminary and missed out on a lot of family stuff. But it’s a joy now to find out stuff I missed.

How about you?  What is your family like? What are you like? What do you like?

Walls have doors.  People have all kinds of phones.  What walls do you need to get through - especially if people are still alive?

Are there any walls that need to be breeched? I love a verse in a

a poem by Edwin Markham:

“He drew a circle that shut me out.

Heretic, rebel a thing to flout

But love, and I had the will to win.

We drew a circle and took him in.”

I love the sign at the Taize Monastery in France.

“All you who enter here

Be reconciled

The Father with his son

The husband with his wife

The believer with the unbeliever.

The Christian with his separated brother.”

That should  be on the wall of every home and every human being.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily was, “Family: Speaking of Walls.”

In today’s gospel Jesus was separated, lost, from Mary and Joseph and then they started looking for him and when they found him, they told him, “Where have you been. We missed you.”

Is there anyone in your family that is missing from your life?

And most people will say yes. In 2019, if something can be done about opening that door in that wall, knock.

And I always add, “It could make things worse.”

Always remember e.e. cummings words, “Be of love a little more careful than anything.