January 9, 2019
Thought for today:
"When I first heard Wind Beneath My Wings, I
thought: 'I'm not singing that."
Bette Midler [Then longtime friend
and producer Marc
Shaiman insisted
and it was the biggest hit of my career.]
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
Tuesday, January 8, 2019
January 8, 2019
CONCERT
Sometimes, at some concerts,
the music squeezes itself into
every inch of the crowd - people
leaning into each
other - eyes
closed, laughing, smiling, toes
tapping, fingers drumming, lips
mouthing the words of the songs.
Now that’s a concert. Now that’s
what I want everyone to feel in
church - when it’s time for me
to have my final Mass - but I’m
Catholic, so I can only dream -
but relax because
I’ll be dead.
© Andy Costello, Reflections
2019
THE LETTER
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this Tuesday after the
Epiphany is, “The Letter.”
Have you ever received
a love letter - which knocked you over - because of the person who sent
it?
You believed the words. The words moved you and you knew
you were loved. Tears came to your eyes …. A warm glow filled your heart and
mind.
After you put that letter down - you realize that this is
what you needed - this was what you wanted - this is what you longed for.
Another person told you they love you.
IT ALL DEPENDS
Today, a lot more people say, “I love you” than 50 years
ago.
Is that true? I
don’t know, but that’s my perception.
However, like hugs, they can be shallow throw a way’s or they can be depth charges
that blow us up.
In other words, it’s my opinion that today’s “I love you's”
are often throw away comments that often lack depth.
SAMMY DAVIS JR.
I remember from years and years ago a moment on Johnny
Carson’s night time TV show. Johnny
Carson had as a guest Sammy Davis Jr. He
was interviewing Sammy and Johnny asked him, “How come you tell everyone, ‘I
love you!’ more than a lot of people?”
And Sammy Davis paused and said, “I’ll tell you why. I had a friend in high school, a buddy, whom
I really liked and I often wanted to tell him. ‘I appreciate you. I love you.’ But
I didn’t and then he died suddenly in a car accident - and I resolved at that
time to say to anyone I love, ‘I love you.’”
THE MOVIE: THE LETTER
It was time to go to bed.
Joe left. I got the wondering: “What
movie is on TCM - channel 36 - Turner Classic Movies?”
The movie was from November 1940. It was an old black and white movie that
I never heard of before. It was entitled The
Letter. It stared Bette Davis and Herbert Marshall and some old time big
time actors.
Bette Davis - plays the part of Leslie Crosbie. I missed
2/3 of the movie. I looked it up afterwards for more of the plot. Leslie cheats
on her husband. She falls in love with another man. He is also married
and loves his wife. she is just a moment.
Discovering this enrages Betty Davis. Out of rage and anger, she kills this guy -
shooting him 5 times - feeling she was lied to by this guy.
Her husband doesn’t know about the affair. He gets a
great lawyer who gets her off in a trial on the grounds of self-defense.
After the trial, her husband finds out about all
this. He also finds out about The Letter. Her lawyer and Bette have to
go to the wife of the man she killed to buy that letter - for $10,000. The Letter could be used to convict
Bette.
I only saw some of the movie the other night, but I’ll try
to catch the whole movie some time.
Without ruining the movie, near the end it had some powerful lines and
scenes.
One is this: Bette Davis’ husband - after finding out
what had happened - says, “It’s amazing. You can be married to someone for 10 years and you find
out you do not know hardly anything about them.”
Another is this: Bette Davis’ husband says, “I could
forgive you, but I have to know if you really love me.”
She says it. Then
she takes it back. She falls apart and
says how much she loved the man she murdered - and still loves him - and doesn’t
love her husband.
CONCLUSION
When I read today’s two readings, the thoughts of this
homily hit me.
In the first reading from the First Letter to John, we
hear how much God loves us. We hear that God is love. [Cf. 1
John 4: 7-10]
In today’s gospel from Mark we find out how far God will
go for us - to feed us - to love us - to heal us - to watch over us. [Cf. Mark 6; 34-44]
Recalling the line from the movie, I believe God could
say what Bette Davis’ husband says, “It’s
strange how people can be with God for
years without knowing how much God loves them.”
Has God’s love overwhelmed you yet? Amen.
Recommendation: Want to read a love letter to you? Read the letter, called the First Letter of
John, over and over again.
Monday, January 7, 2019
THE PRESENCE OF PEOPLE,
IN PEOPLE, PLACES
AND IN STUFF
AND IN STUFF
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “The Presence of People, in People, Places and In Stuff.”
Rings and things …. Places and spaces….
COMMON EXPERIENCE
I was wondering if you have had the following experience.
You’re in some place - any place - and you sense the presence of people - from
the past - being in this spot - where you’re in right now - in this present
moment.
When I see chairs, sometimes - I get the thought, “I
wonder how many people have sat in this chair….”
Like, sometimes, we see a bunch of little kids pushing
and trying to all together squeeze together into one big Lazy Boy lounge chair.
Like sometimes I sit in a church bench or pew - [I prefer
the word bench to pew] - and think about all the people who have sat in this
spot and I unite myself to their prayers in this spot right now. That’s a nice prayer - that’s a nice way to
have or receive communion - with the body of Christ.
Like sometimes we’re in our house and there is the chair
our mom or dad from long ago - and long dead - used to sit - and their presence
crowds that chair - in this present
moment.
Like - there are roads - especially in Pennsylvania -
when I’m driving - and I see a long low
lying mountain up ahead of me and I picture Civil War soldiers heading to Gettysburg
or somewhere - and I wonder what it was like that day - heading towards battle
and possibly death - and tough climbing up that hill ahead to get there.
Like I see carvings in trees or initials in sidewalks
where teenagers from long ago are
telling the world in a carved tree or in fresh cement - that J.L loves
M.T. We go to Malvern for the high
school retreats and I open up a drawer in a small dresser in the room I’m
assigned and there in pencil on the wood I read a message: “Jane, St. Elizabeth’s,
February, 1997.”
Kilroy was here.
I can’t count how many people have come up to me at St.
Mary’s - and pointing towards the front of the church - they say: “We were married
here 25 years ago this year.”
Where have you been? Where do you feel present again from
way back?
In every restaurant, who has sat where we’re sitting? Who
has used the silverware, the menu, the plates we’re using.
In 1984 - I went to a small restaurant in Rome with
Father John Ruef. The owner came over
and said to me: “You’re sitting in the seat that Pope John Paul II used to love
to sit in when he came here to eat when he was Cardinal Karol Wojtyla.”
During this Mass close your eyes and be in the presence
of all who celebrated Mass and sat in the bench you’re in right now.
When I drive by Parole I think of all the Civil War
Prisoners who were on Parole there.
History, ambiance, memories, are everywhere.
Someone on TV said the other evening that people live in
12 different houses in their lifetime?
Have you ever gone back to the street of your childhood and felt the
presence of so many people from 12 or 25 or 50 or more years ago.
Look at your hand and pray for peace for all those whose
hand you have shook. You can do this with lips and hugs, etc.
You hear a song - and it was your love song at 22!
TV commercials - songs - movies - move us - to remember,
to tear, to get in touch with.
CONCLUSION: TODAY’S
GOSPEL
Today’s gospel gave me this theme for this homily.
I was in Israel once - in January of 2000.
That first night we got our hotel rooms in Capernaum on
the Lake of Galilee. We didn’t unpack.
We walked out of the Palestinian Hotel we were in and walked about 2
blocks to the water. I stood there at the water’s edge and could feel the
presence of Jesus in that spot. Looking out on the lake, I said to myself,
“Jesus was here.”
And I felt his presence in so many places on that trip to
Israel: in Nazareth, Jericho, Nazareth, on the mountain, at the place of the
beatitudes, in Jerusalem on the way of the cross.
To be human is to do this. Welcome to the Human Race. Welcome to the
human place. We’re all here.
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