ASH

The title of my homily is, “Ash” -  A S H - as in Ash Wednesday.

It’s Ash Wednesday and every year when I come to doing a new sermon - I like to see where I am this year - so last night I looked at the words,  “Ash Wednesday” - and wondered where to go for this Ash Wednesday - 2019.

It was then that the short 3 letter first  word,  “ash” - A S H hit me.

I said to myself, “For a reflection on Ash Wednesday, simply  go with some ponderings of the  word  ‘ash’.

I’m not a scientist, but I began to wonder about how much ash can be found in a breath of air - if any?  Annapolis has to be better than Dakar, Senegal - featured in today’s New York Times - as having plenty of pollution.

Are there ashes floating in the air around us?

We’ve all seen a scene from a movie where someone crumbles or tosses a letter into a fire  -  in a fireplace.

It could be a “Dear John….” letter or a rejection letter and we see on film the  paper burning  and dancing and disappearing in the flames.

Do tiny - tiny - tiny - much, much, much,  smaller than a piece of dandruff - pieces  of ash float into the room - into one’s lungs - or land on door tops.

Rejection letters, or angry letters - remain in one’s memories for years - when one is burnt - long after those letters are burnt.

Ash remains in the fireplace - in the campfire - in the backyards of our lives.

Carl Sandburg in his poem,  “Cornhuskers” [1918] wrote, “I tell you the past is a bucket of ashes.”

Are we surrounded - are we standing in - the ashes, in the dust, in the backyard, in the graveyard, of all those who have gone before us?

Memories - tiny gestures of love or neglect - or regret - of those who have gone before us - continue to exist - even though our loved ones are closed and coffined and casketed - as ashes in fine boxes - buried in our cemeteries - buried in our memories - but sometimes they flame up - or float around us.  They return. They remain.

We humans have this wonderful gift called, “Memories.”

We human beings have this powerful word and commandment, “Remember.”

We humans do a lot of things in memory of others and from others.

So on Ash Wednesday we ponder these heavy thoughts - that are sitting there like dust - on the furniture of our being.

We hear the heavy words, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

We hear the words, “Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

We ponder that Ash Wednesday is Day One of Lent - that we are living in borrowed time - that time is lent to us to live - with love - and care - and to serve others. The ones who give - who live for others - and not for themselves - are the ones we are happy that they continue to live in our memories - even when they  have turned to ashes - to dust.

We ponder that the Son of God entered into our story - into our history - into our time - and dies like all of us at the end of Lent - on Good Friday - Good because three days later God - Christ - the Son of the Father rises in the flesh. There is no dust of Christ - no relics of Christ - in our dust - in our air - only the Spirit of God - floating in and out of our being when enter into his Spirit.

But there is bread…. There is wine… So we eat Christ - we drink Christ - we take the life of Christ into our ears and into our mouths. We enter into Communion with him - and that’s what lasts - that’s what makes this life - so beautiful - as well as the knowing that at the end of all this is not ashes - not dust - but eternal resurrection.  

So we pray: “Thy Kingdom Come - on earth as it is in heaven."

March 6, 2019

Reflection

LENT

A four letter STOP sign 

not in red - but in purple. 

A time to STOP being selfish, 

but to be more giving, more forgiving. 

A time to STOP being petty, 

but to be a pretty nice person to be with. 

A time to STOP being all mouth, all words, 

but to be more ears and more understanding. 

A time to STOP being with a statue God, 

but to be in communion with the Trinity. 

 © Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

March     6,  2019 - 

Thought for today: 

“Pray for  us  sinners now and at the hour of our death / Pray for us now and at the  hour  of our death.”  

T.S. Eliot in his poem, 

“Ash Wednesday”.

March 5, 2019

BRIEF  INTERVIEW

“You’ve been married to your wife,

Lizzy, for 45 years now. What have

you learned about relationships?”

“I don’t know. I guess I learned

that the best thing you can do -

sometimes  - is to shut your mouth

and let the other person do what

they need to do. It takes a lot of

acceptance to make a marriage

work, and you have to keep

listening and talking. And you have

to like the other  person, too. That

helps an awful lot … and there’s

more but I need to think some more.”

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

March 5, 2019

Thought for today: 

“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” 

Milton Berle

March  4, 2019

THE  MUSIC  OF  LIFE,  LIFE, LIFE

Sounds, refrains, melodies,

beats, repetitions,

drums, drums, drums,

back and forths, ups and downs,

turns and returns,

violins, guitars, banjos,

pianos, organs, key boards,

strings, strings, strings,

air, the use of air,

blow Gabriel, blow,

fingers, the use of fingers,

feet, the tapping of feet,

the tapping of toes,

dancing to the tunes,

the thousand tunes of life,

tip, tap, tip, tap, tip.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

TOO  MUCH 

CAN BE  TOO MUCH

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 8^th Monday in  Ordinary Time is, “Too Much Can Be Too Much.”

TRIP TO JAPAN

I just finished a trip to Japan with 24 people. Most were from this parish.

Now I need some time to process - to think about what we saw and what we did - and what it told me.

for starters, it was a bit much.  It was too much to see - and experience - but I took notes of what happened.

The title of my homily or thoughts for today is, “Too Much Can Be Too Much.”

I only had one suitcase and a small duffle type bag for stuff to carry stuff to have on hand while on the plane.

One time there I helped someone who was trying to get on an escalator with two suitcases - wrong move - I almost fell - as one bag slipped down on the moving staircase - and I grabbed the side banister, but that was moving as well.

I was reading a book on preaching about a month ago  - and the author said a priest had a great sermon - made his point - and then he made a second point - which was good, but it was too much - and he proceeded to kill his whole sermon.

Sometimes, “Too Much Can Be Too Much.”

So too eating - so too speaking - so too so much.

Three scoops of ice cream on a cone - too much - the top two - rum raison and butter almond can land on the side walk - and all one is left with is the chocolate scoop on the bottom - which might be one’s third preference.

Soo too -  too many prayers.  Sometimes folks do too  many prayers and too much time on getting one’s prayers done.

So too TV or any kind of couch potatoing  life.

JESUS IN TODAY’S GOSPEL

Jesus is edging up and around this topic of too much in today’s gospel.

A man comes up to Jesus and asks the secret of life. He wants to inherit eternal life. He wants it all? Don’t we all?

So Jesus keeps it simple and says: “Keep the commandments.” Then Jesus gives a few of them.

The guy says, “I do all that.”

Then he adds, “But I want more!”

“Okay,”  says Jesus,

So Jesus gives him more - which is paradoxically - taking on less - giving up his wealth, giving up his too much, to the poor - and he can’t do that.

So his too much is preventing him from seeing the more - begommm which is to live lighter and less filling - and he walks away sad.

CONCLUSION

Mark’s gospel tells us the guy had too many possessions.

And they were possessing him.

He couldn’t fit through the eye of the needle - so there were too many rips in the fabric of his life.

The title of my homily is, “Too Much Can Be Too Much.”