Monday, March 25, 2019

March 25, 2019

Homily
March 25, 2019


Thought for today: 

“A painting about which we were unable to separate fact  from  fiction was the ‘Virgin and child’ in the Paulin monastery at Czestochowa, in Southern Poland.  A Polish reader living in Leicestershire asked us to confirm the following story about the painting, knows as the ‘Protector of Poland’, and said to have been painted by one of Christ’s apostles.

“When Sweden invaded Poland in 1655, the Swedes tried to remove the painting in a horse-drawn wagon, but could not budge it an inch. Exasperated, two Swedish soldiers drew their swords and slashed the virgins cheek.  As soon as their swords touched the canvas, the soldiers fell dead. And nobody has since been able to cover up the scars.

“Although unable to confirm it to the letter, we were happy to find out that such a good story certainly was based on some fact.  Admittedly Our Lady of Czestochowa, first said  to have been painted by St. Luke, is now believed to be the work of an unknown Italian artist in 1383.  But the painting certainly took on a special significance after the heroic defense of the monastery in 1655, when the invading  Swedes were defeated after a 70-day siege.

“Following this miraculous victory, King Casimir of Poland proclaimed: ‘To touch Our Lady of Czestochowa is to touch the very soul of Poland.’ Whether by Swedish swords or not, the Virgin’s cheek remains scarred, and every year thousands of pilgrims go to see it.”   

Old Codgers’






MOST  VALUABLE  PLAYER

M V P:  now that’s  a  very tricky award! 
M V P:  now that could be very subjective. 
M V P:  now is that just for teachers or 
athletes, or necessary people? 

M V P: how about down syndrome folks? 
M V P: how about the handicapped? 
M V P: the blind, the deaf, and the lame? 

M V P: everyone has value. 
M V P: everyone is unique. 
M V P: everyone deserves notice. 


© Andy Costello, 
Reflections 2019

Sunday, March 24, 2019

March 24,  2019



SECOND  CHANCE  
FIG TREES


[Instead of a homily for this 3rd Sunday in Lent [C] I wrote this story yesterday. I used it for the Kids’ Mass this morning and the 11 AM Mass.]


The title of my story for today is, “Second Chance Fig  Trees.”

Once upon a time there was a farmer whose only fruit trees were fig trees.

And he had lots and lots and lots of fig trees in his orchard - thousands and thousands and thousands of them.

Now when he first started to grow fruit trees, he had orange trees,  apple trees, pear trees, but he  had his best luck with fig trees. So that’s what he settled on: fig trees.

He sold  his figs to Nabisco - for their fig newton bars - to Keebler and to Kellogg’s - for their fig newton bars - and his figs were the best in California - where he had his many, many fig trees.

His trucks brought his figs to bakeries all around the country and then ships brought them to countries all around the world.

He sold his figs to Costco, Walmart, Sam’s Club, and Amazon.

Vegans loved his fig bars. They were perfect for snacks and power bars. In time creative bakers put in chocolate chips, blueberries and raspberries.  Then they came up with new products. The latest is organic dark chocolate fig truffle bites - brand new March 2019.

“Uuuum delicious.”

Now to the story about the day that changed everything for him and his fig trees.If a fig tree wasn’t producing figs, he had his workers chop that tree down - almost immediately.

 “No use ….”  he would say,  “No use  wasting time and space, land and fertilizer on lazy fig trees.”

“Cut em down!”

Then  one day, believe it or not, he gave the order to cut down this one little fig tree  - but something stopped him. He couldn’t believe his eyes, but this one little fig tree - seemed to be crying. He couldn’t believe his ears, but he seemed to hear this little fig tree saying, “Give me a second chance.”

He told his workers, “Give this tree here extra water. Give it extra fertilizer - and if by this time next year, it doesn’t start producing, more and better figs, then cut it down. Why should we let it do nothing?”

Sure enough,  it started producing great figs - the best he ever tasted.

Sure enough, something else happened, not just to his fig trees, but to his personality.

He was known to be a really tough boss - always grouchy - always yelling at his workers.

He was also -  always yelling at  his kids - never, ever, ever, giving them or their teachers of their coaches or anyone a second chance.

Well after giving that fig tree a second chance, he didn’t notice this about himself, but he  started to be nicer to drivers on the highway - to people on line - in the supermarket - to neighbor and family members who just wanted to talk about nothings.

Surprise his kids saw this change in their dad and they gave him a second chance.

And this is not the end of the story. A twist turned things around a bit more.

His dad died - his dad who had started their fruit tree business - way, way back, and a long time ago.

Now  he was always tough on his dad - for not being busy enough - for not doing enough - for not figuring out - fig trees were the way to go.

Now the priest who was doing his father’s funeral didn’t know any of this. He was just trying to come up with a homily for the funeral. He did know that the family was famous for their figs.  So he looked up in the bible the two stories about Jesus and fig trees,

In one story, the figs were not given a second chance.  In the story we heard this morning, the fig tree got a second chance.

Well,  the priest who preached at the funeral of the father of the man who gave that fig tree a second chance - used that second story of Jesus for his homily and he said our God is a God of second chances.

He really didn’t know anything about that farmer - and his father -  but when that farmer heard that story that Jesus gave,  he was hearing about himself.

He started coming back to church - giving church and Jesus a second chance. He gave himself a second chance. He really didn’t like himself.

But most importantly  - his whole life changed -   giving lots of people - lots of chances - second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seven times seven chances.  Amen.


March 24, 2019


CORNERS

Some people seem
to have been sent
to sit in the corner ….

My hope is that  they
meet someone there
who feels the same way.

And then the rest of us hear
them laughing and we wish we
too were sent to sit  in the corner.


© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019 


March  24, 2019

Thought for today: 

“We  must  reserve a little back shop, all our own, entirely free, wherein to  establish our true liberty and principle retreat and solitude.”  



Montaigue [1533-1592]  
French essayist 

Saturday, March 23, 2019

March 23, 2019




 EYES

Horses eyes, cows eyes,
elephants eyes, cats eyes,
alligator eyes, fish eyes,
we stare into them ….
They stare into us ….
We pause - we hesitate -
then we breathe easier,
because we know all eyes
are so different from
looking into the human eye.
We know there is nothing
to worry about inside animal
eyes - but so much behind
the human eye - what they know
know about us what we know
about another.  “Uh oh!”
  
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019