January 24, 2019

IT  WAS  RAINING  AGAIN

It was raining again -

and I heard various people

complaining: “Enough!

Enough with the rain.

Enough with the pain.”

But ever since I read

about aquifers - those

big groundwater collectors

of water underneath us,

I welcome rain - lots of it.

I was hurting with hurting

people  again - and I heard

various people complaining:

Enough! Enough with the pain.
Enough with the rain.”

But ever since I heard about

our inner reservoirs - our inner

Living Waters - flowing from

Christ - those big absorbers

of pain within us - I’ll  be okay.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

ST. FRANCIS

 DE SALES

INTRODUCTION

Today is the feast of St. Francis de Sales. He’s the Patron Saint of Retail Stores, “de Sales”. Joke. 

Here are a few thoughts coming out of the life of this saint.

Saint’s feast days are usually the day they died. However, St. Francis de Sales didn’t die on January 24. He died on December 28, 1622, but that is the feast of the Holy Innocents, so they moved his feast to today -- the day his bones were moved to his present tomb or something like that.

If his feast is moved again, he wouldn’t mind. That’s the kind of personality he had. In fact, that would be my thought for the day.

St. Francis de Sales was known for his calmness -- his gentleness.

FREDDY

That’s the message I found out about St. Francis de Sales some 58 years ago in the seminary.

In the major seminary we had this teacher, Freddy -- Fred Prenatt. We had him for one class in preaching every week for six years. I remember very little from what he said in class, but I remember him for something he would always say in confession and in sermons, “Omnia suaviter.”

And when asked where that came from, he would say, “St. Francis de Sales”.

And when asked what  “Omnia suaviter”  meant, he would say, “All things sweetly.”

For some reason I never forgot that. I ended up making it sort of a prayer and sort of a motto all through the years, “Omnia suaviter.”

Translated into Italian, “Con calme” or “Reposo”.

Translated into English, “Take it easy”, “Calm down”, “Count to 10”, “A drop of honey does more good than a barrel of vinegar.”

Translated into AA-ese, “Nice and easy.” I’m sure you have all seen that on a bumper sticker. It’s a good thing to remember whenever we are feeling road rage or church rage or classroom rage or shopping line rage or in the house rage.

Nice and easy.

Easy does it.

Omnia Suaviter, Con calme. Relax.

CONCLUSION

Relax. That’s a good message to remember from the life and spirit of St. Francis de Sales.

Take it easy.

Calm down.

January  24, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“Whom the gods would make bigots, they first deprive of humor.”  

James P. Gillis

WITHERED

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Withered!”

I spotted that word in today’s gospel - early on Mark - Chapter 3: 1-6.

I would like to reflect upon healing: helping the healing process and blocking the healing process.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

In today’s gospel we have this moment when Jesus goes into a synagogue on the Sabbath and he sees a man with a shriveled up hand.

And the Pharisees whose minds had become shriveled up kept an eye on Jesus to see if Jesus would heal the man on the Sabbath. He was doing that sort of thing. Now if Jesus did it, they would be able to accuse him of breaking the Sabbath.

Jesus wanted to heal both the man with the shriveled hand and the Pharisees.

Jesus likes to heal people who are withered -- especially, people whom others want to remain withered.

Is it I Lord? Do I do that Lord?

CONVENT

Take for example, a young woman who enters the convent. She enters full of life and discovers that the convent is full of death.

In fact, it’s hell. Everyone is stuck in the past. It stifles her. She suggests change. She is cut down. She begins to wither up. She wants to leave. They want her to stay -- to stay and wither some more -- to become like them.

GEORGE WALD

One of my favorite lectures was given by the Harvard biologist, George Wald. In the talk he said that there have been religions that chose death. He calls them religions of death.

Christianity and Judaism are not.

He quotes the great text in Deuternomy, “Today I put before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life.”

JESUS

Jesus said that he was the life. He said that he was the way, the truth and the life. He said that he came that we might have life and have it to the full.

CONCLUSION: ME

Where am I?

This morning ask Jesus to heal you where you are dying, withered, where you feel like a withered rejected branch, on the vine. Ask Jesus, the Vinedresser, to prune you, to cut you, where you need to be healed.

This morning, also ask, where am I killing others, draining them, dragging them, suffocating them, hindering them from deeper living.

This morning ask, where and whom, I don’t want healed and why.

In AA one hears stories about people who keep on enabling another to be an alcoholic. There are also stories - better stories - about withered people being healed.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

PAINTING ON TOP: Crow on a Withered Branch by  Kawanabe Kyosa. 

January 23, 2019

THE  ESSENCE  OF  ANOTHER

From time to time we realize we

don’t know the essence of another.

We come to a wall around that person

built by themselves or by others or both.

We try to figure them out. We label them.

They are selfish! They are givers.

They are lazy - all lust - all envy -

all pride - all greed - all need.

Then we realize we don’t even

know the essence of the me I am.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

January  23, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“When people are free to do as they please, they usually  imitate each other.”  

Eric Hoffer

OH, NOW I GET IT!

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 2^nd Tuesday  in  Ordinary Time  is, “Oh, Now I Get It.”

GETTING A JOKE

Have you ever heard someone tell a joke - and everyone laughs - and you say, “I don’t get it.”

Like Father Tizio’s puns in the bulletin.  Has there ever been a pun and you don’t get it?

It’s smart not to lie.  There have been instances when a group of people make up a joke - that’s not a joke. Then someone tells it and the group in on it all laugh. Then those not in on it - laugh. Next one of the group in on it asks someone who laughs. “Did you get the joke?” and the person says, “Oh yeah. It’s a good one.” Then they bust the person - and tell that person it was a set up - like Candid Camera.

And sometimes  there’s a joke and we don’t get it. We feel stupid  that we don’t get it. One of our priests, Joe Austin, had a joke that he told 1000 times and I didn’t get it till a year later. He would say to people, “How long is a Chinaman.”

And people would answer, “I don’t know.”

And he’d repeat himself, over and over again, “How long is a Chinaman.”

Finally I got it, when I heard him tell a frustrated other person. “It’s not a question. It’s a statement. “How Long” -  is the Chinaman’s name. It’s like saying, “Anthony is an Italianman.”  Or “Pat is an Irishman.”

Finally the other person says, “Oh, now I get it.”

Then they add, “Horrible joke!”

TODAY’S GOSPEL

In today’s gospel - Mark 2: 23-28 -  Jesus addresses one of his pet peeves.

It’s the question of the Sabbath. He saw too many people obsessing about the Sabbath to their detriment.

As priest I’ve heard thousands of time  - people feeling quilty for missing Mass. They were on vacation - on a cruise and there is no priest on board the ship.  Or they broke their leg - or they are in the  hospital - or the weather is horrible - and they can’t get to Mass.

Jesus is saying in today’s gospel: you are not made for the Sabbath - the Sabbath is a gift for you.

He saw his fellow Israelites being off on being perfect - no work - no extra whatever - on the Sabbath. People can forget that the Sabbath is a day of rest from the rest of the week.

It seemed that they wanted to give God every second of the Sabbath - forgetting that God was giving them rest  the time of the Sabbath

CONCLUSION

Then at some point, someone gets what Jesus is saying about the Sabbath - and they realize the purpose of the day and they say, “Ok, now I get it.”

They get the whole purpose of the Sabbath as a day of rest - and not only do they stop worrying about getting to Mass when they can’t - but they stop working on the Sabbath - and it becomes a day of rest for them.

Wonderful. 

Amen,