THE  COMMON  LIFE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Monday in the Second Week of Easter is, “The Common Life.”

There are some Bible texts and readings that we totally ignore - perhaps semi-consciously - because they are too challenging.

There are some church goers who won’t forgive their brother or sister from their heart 70 times 7 times - even though Jesus said we need to do that. [Cf. Matthew 18: 22.]

Today I want to highlight and reflect upon the opening sentence in today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles. It’s Acts 4: 32: “The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common.”

Now that’s both a challenging  text - and a “Wait a minute text.”

It hasn’t been erased or expunged or manipulated out of existence from our scriptures for some 2000 years now.

UH OH MOMENTS

Before I came to Annapolis I was stationed in Lima, Ohio and from time to time I would hear about some folks from some years earlier - folks from different parishes in the area - who had left everything - families included - and went to live a common life on a farm that was bought by  the group.

And everything was thrown into the common pot and taken from the common pot.  It lasted a few years. It broke up some marriages and families and what have you. Looking back,  I never got nosey enough to try to meet anyone and find out about anyone  who tried this way of life.

In Christian communities down through the centuries, groups and individuals tried living in common. We see this clearly in the Early Church - especially in these  readings - after Easter - like today’s first reading.

How long did that movement last?  Was it because folks were expecting the End - the Parousia?  When that didn’t happen, did this visionary way of living life end?

Have you ever wondered or thought about living in a commune - and living a community life with a group of people.

From time to time I’m sure you have heard us Redemptorists talk about our parish and our community in Ephrata, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

And / or you might have heard that they have a historical spot in Ephrata called, “The Cloisters.”

It was where a German immigrant - named Joseph  Conrad Bissel - started in 1732 - a strict community of Christians.  1732  was 100 years before we Redemptorists  came to America.

In 1732 - that same year -  in Scala Italy - just up the steps from Amalfi - St. Alphonsus started the Redemptorists. We were to live as community - and preach and work as community - but the emphasis was on the work of preaching together more than the common life together.

That area of Pennsylvania has a history of several types of communal living. I’m sure you’ve heard of the Amish and the Mennonites.

Next, I’ve never heard of anyone who made a comparative study about these strict Christian communities and religious orders and congregations.

How about looking into the Mennonites as compared to  the Franciscans?

That would be a good study.

I had a job called Novice Master for 9 years - for 9 different classes - and I was with them in living a common life for a year - not working together, but living, learning and being together. It was a wonderful experience.  And we Redemptorists  are a religious community with the vows of Poverty - Chastity - and Obedience.

Next, I would assume, if someone spent a year living with the Mennonites or Amish or a year living with the Redemptorists or Franciscans or Sisters of Notre Dame - you would see similarities and you would see differences.

With regards money - and the common pot - and common ownership - in principle you would see underneath a common vision.

I don’t have a bank account - or oodles of money. We go out to dinner many a Sunday night as a community. We went to Adam’s Ribs this Sunday night - 7 of us. I got a Cheeseburger - burnt to death with fries and cold slaw. Someone else got salmon. Someone else got ribs.

The money came from a common box

There are benefits from this type of living. I have never had to worry about money in my life. 

CONCLUSION: A LEARNING

Now I could end here, but as I was thinking about this, something hit me.

I would suggest  taking some time to reflect upon common ownership and more sharing of our goods - and money - as we read in today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

What is like to have a vow of poverty - and live a common life?  Do the Redemptorists who serve in this parish as priests and in the past with brothers as well  - and also the School Sisters of Notre Dame - witness anything to the people of this parish?

Would families - reading today’s first reading - see their life as living a common Christian life together? Do Catholic Families ever think about the best way to budget their money and tithe their money - and look at values - and capitalism - and greed - and need - and maybe share more with the poor?

I have lived this common pot and common way of doing life since 1960.

I have read the Prophets Amos and Hosea when it comes to the poor.

I have read the Social Justice Letters or Encyclicals of modern popes about lots of issues when it comes to all this.

I know  St. Basil said, “The bread in your bread box belongs to the hungry;  the coat in your closet belongs to the naked; the shoes you let rot belong to the barefoot, the money in your vault belongs to the poor”.

I would ask people to read Matthew 25: 31-46 - the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats - about the great judgment at the end of the world - and wonder, “Maybe Jesus is very serious about all this.”

April 30, 2019

SIGNATURE

What does my signature look like?

What does it say about me?

What did it look like the first time

I put my name on anything?

What does it look like now?

Is my signature a Rorschach Blot?

If I was to put my name to the

Declaration of Independence and

I knew it was to be on display

for hundreds of years to come,

would that make a difference

in how I write my signature?

What are the most important

documents I put my name to?

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

April    30, 2019 - 

Thought for today: 

“The inner spaces that a good story lets us enter are the old apartments of religion.” 

John Updike, Introduction 

to The Best American Short 

Stories 1984, Houghton Mifflin, 

1984, quoted by Anatole Broyard, 

New York Times, November 11, 1984

ERGOPHOBIA

Fear of work ….

Now that’s a bummer of a phobia ….

We have to eat and support others ….
A  job, a title, a responsibility

gives us meaning and dignity ….

Accomplishments, a pay check,

hearing other’s ask, “How was

your day?” or having an answer

to the question, “What do you do

for a living?” makes life worthwhile.

 © Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

April    29, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“Religion is something that only secondarily can be taught. It must primarily be absorbed.”  

Harry Emerson Fosdick, 

World’s Work, February 1929

ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA 

SOME  KEY  COMMENTS

INTRODUCTION

This morning I'd like to give some key comments about a well known Catholic saint: St. Catherine of Siena.

Dates:  1347 - 1380 - She died at the age of 33.

She was born in Siena - close to the famous cathedral of Sienna. She was a twin - the 23^rd of 25 children in the Benicasa family of Siena. 13 reached adulthood.

She died in Rome in 1380.

She was a 3^rd order Dominican - which gave her the freedom to roam. If she were a nun, there would be restrictions.  Being a Dominican gave her support and a group that backed her - once they recognized they had someone special here.  She was seen as a saint in her lifetime.  Some saw her as a mystic. Others saw her as a prophetess or spiritual teacher.

QUITE A LIFE

She had quite a life: challenging and charming popes and bishops and important government leaders in Northern Italy. She was “good” as they say. One comment was, “She kissed the Pope’s feet while twisting his arm.

She challenged priests to live the life they were called to life. Quit vanity. Stop messing around.  Pope and church officials asked her a few times to be an ambassador and that she was - among waring and arguing families and factors around Italy.

In 1377 she told the Pope - Gregory XI - to get back to Rome. The French  had gotten in  control of the Church and the popes lived up there in the French town of Avignon for 70 years. It was called the Babylonian Captivity.

Well, Gregory XI went back to Rome and after his death, the cardinals - mostly French met in Rome to elect a new pope They chose an Italian, who was a disaster. He was an angry man. He was arrogant. There was other stuff too. So once out of Rome, they met - and elected a new pope Clement         VII - who moved the papacy back to Avignon,  We now had a Papal Schism from 1378 - 1417.

It was during her time that we had the Papal Schism of 1378 - the church being sort of cut up by theologians and personalities.  We had two popes in place.  After electing the pope, folks weren’t happy with their choice, so they elected another pope.

She was a writer. In 1970 they made her a woman “Doctor - that is,  a   Teacher of the Church.” Up to Catherine all were men.  Now we have 4 women doctors of the Church: Hildegard of Bingen, Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Avila and St. Therese of Lisieux.   She didn’t have much education. She would do a lot of her writing  dictating to a couple of people.

She had the guidance of Stefano di Corrado Maconi (d. 1424) - who later became head of the Carthusians - as well as St. Raymond of Capua who later became head of the Dominicans.

Doctors or teachers of the Church means there are readings and teachings to look at.  We have some 400 of her letters - written to those on the top shelf and those who were at the bottom of the barrel.  Her main book was The Dialogue - basically conversations with God.  Her other document was The Treatise if Divine Providence.

THREE   QUOTES

“Love changes us into what we love.”

We’ve all heard that in familiar slogans like: We become what we eat?  Garbage in. Garbage out.  In marriage, in a good loving marriage, the other becomes one with her or his spouse.  So St. Catherine of Siena is telling us, “Love changes us into what we love.”

The second quote is, “God is more willing to pardon than we have been willing  to sin.” 

That’s worth pondering. Jesus loves us more than we might love sin.

Here’s the third quote. In The Dialogue we read, “The soul is in God and God in the soul, just as the fish is in the sea and the sea in the fish.”   Next time you’re at the beach or at the water say, “There are fish out there. I can’t see them, but there are fish out there.”  Close your eyes and look into yourself and say, “God is in me and I am in God.”

ENOUGH

That’s enough for starters. Amen

QUESTION: NAME ONE PERSON 

WHO INTRIGUES YOU? 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is: “Question: Name One Person Who Intrigues You?”

By that I mean, one person whom you wonder about.

It could be a family member or a famous person or a neighbor or a teacher you had or you heard about.

Name one person whom you wonder what makes them tick?

I used to ask folks on weekend retreat groups  to name one person they would like to be like.

[“ENNNNNH!”]   Silence.  It didn’t work.  

“ENNNNH!” That’s the wrong answer sound on Steve Harvey’s  Family Feud  show. 

[“ENNNNNH!”]  I like that sound.

Upon thinking about that, I wondered, I figured, maybe ----  maybe nobody wants to be some other person.  We might like to have the patience of a mother of 7 or we might want to have the house some rich person who lives on the water has or they have a Mercedes we’d like - but most people know the song, “I gotta be me!”

So when I asked that question - and didn’t receive responses - I learned first of all, that most people don’t want to be someone else. Then some people answered quite clearly: “I know whom I don’t want to be like.” 

Now that was an unexpected answer. Then as I thought about that comment, I said to myself, “That’s been my experience.”

I know people I don’t want to be like.  How about you?

HAVING LEARNED THAT

Having learned that much, I found myself trying to come up with a new or a better question.

And my new question is the title of this homily: “Name One Person Who Intrigues You?”

Right now I consider that a good question. Then again maybe I’ll end up saying, “EEEEH!”

The number one topic of conversation is people.  It’s not sports or the weather or politics.  It’s particular people.

I have a niece who says: “Every office or work place has that one person who drives the rest of the folks nuts.”

To that I like the gospel text, “Is it I, Lord.” 

Hope not.

Specialists tell us that dysfunctional people suck  the energy out of the office or car or the meeting or the family.

You’ve heard sayings like the following:

“There are two kinds of people: those who cause happiness wherever they go and those who cause happiness whenever they go.”

There are two kinds of people who walk into the room.  One says, “Oh there you are!” and one who says, “Here I am?”  Frederic L.  Collins said that.

Then there was Robert Benchely who said, “There are two kinds of people in the world: those who believe there are two kinds of people in the world and those who don’t.”

SO WHO INTRIGUES YOU?

I grew up in the shadow of my older brother and didn’t figure that one out and get out from under him till my early 30’s

.

As priest - listening to a lot of people, I found out a lot of people do or did that in growing up. It’s the comparison question.

I talked to my brother once about that and he said, “I looked up to you.”

The youngest and the oldest, interesting.

It could be a writer like Flannery O’Connor or Louis L’Amour.

 

It could be a sports coach or sports figure. I remember a time there that I was reading a lot of sports biographies and autobiographies: for example, Don Shula, John Wooden, Howard Cosell,  Vince Lombardi, Sandy Koufax.

I remember reading the autobiography of Sarah Palin and Mother Teresa and also Mother Angelica - who had the great name of Rita Rizzo - from Canton, Ohio.

It could be any of those historical characters Doris Kearns Goodwin or David McCullough wrote about.

I know a family friend who was waiting for the fifth and last volume by Robert Caro on LBJ. It’s not finished yet. Unfortunately,  Marty recently died, so even though Marty told me he didn’t  believe in resurrection, I told Marty’s kids, “Now he knows LBJ in person.”  Saying that is an act of faith - a belief in resurrection.

I used to love to watch Brian  Lamb’s C-Span TV program, Booknotes. For 16 years he interviewed various non-fiction writers - often biographies.  Often, by the end of an hour TV interview,  I would know a lot about another person so much more than when I turned that program on.  If you’re techy savy, I’m sure you can get some of those programs on the internet.

Today’s gospel talks about Saint Thomas the apostle. Now there’s an intriguing person. If you want to spend time in prayer and thinking and inner talking with an apostle, pick Thomas.  Thomas basically  ends up saying he needed experience to experience faith - to experience Christ - as the Risen One - the Risen Son.

I believe he’s put in the gospels to tell us: it’s okay to have doubts. If you have doubts, you’re not the only one. If you have doubts, doubting Thomas is your saint. If you have doubts, the thinker is your statue.

One of my favorite artists is Caravaggio. There is a good biography of this intriguing dark character who does dark paintings by Helen Langdon. When I walk into a roomful of paintings in an art museum - I stand at the doorway for a moment and go and look at only 1 or 2 paintings - and stay with them for a while. If I look at them all, I don’t see any of them. I like Caravaggio’s painting of Doubting Thomas. I’ve looked at it dozens and dozens of time - wondering what Caravaggio was thinking about Christ and faith and life and forgiveness as he painted it.

I don’t know about you, but I liked what this Sunday was called probably for over 1000 years, “Doubting Thomas Sunday.” In the last century it started to get called, “Divine Mercy Sunday.”  I still prefer, “Doubting Thomas Sunday.”

You can have doubts about my opinion.  That’s what makes life interesting. There are a lot of interesting people alive and dead.

CONCLUSION

So that’s the gist of this homily.

Walk into any library - or Barnes and Noble - or used book sales - and go to the biography or autobiography section - and say, “Oh there you are!”

Or sit on one of those seats or benches in the mall or look around here at church and stop at one person and say, “I wonder who that person is and what or who are they like.”

Hi.