June 7, 2019

Thought for today: 


“I have treated  many hundreds of patients …. Among [those] in the second half of life - that is to say, over 35 - there has not been one whose problem in the last resort was not that  of finding a religious outlook on life.”  


Carl Jung, Time, 
February 14, 1955

June 6, 2019

THE  FIRST SCHOOL HOUSE

The first school house is the home

we’re brought up in - where we learn

love and language, laughter and how

to butter our bread - sweep the floor -

mirror our parents smiles - dance, sing,

pray and play cards - all those life

learnings before we go to school.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

June 6, 2019

Thought for today: 

“The motto was ‘Pax,’ but the word was set in a circle of thorns.”  

Rumer Godden, 

on a Benedictine motto, 

In This House of Brede, 

Viking 1969

June 5, 2019

THE GOLDEN CUP

God handed me the Golden Cup -

to take a taste of God’s Precious Blood.

I did - as well as a piece of the

Sacred  Bread. I did - as I realized

God without pause accepts me as is.

Wait! Stop! Pause! I just realized

God wants to taste of my precious

blood and my sacred body - but I
cannot fathom why God would  want

to be in Sacred Communion with me.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019
Chalice on top commissioned by
Catherine the Great in St. Petersburg
in 1791, Designed by Iver Windfelt

June 5, 2019

Thought for today: 

“Knowing  your  own  darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness of other  people.”  

Carl Jung, in a letter to a former student 

on reassessing religious values outlined 

to Sigmund Freud a half century later, 

quoted in Gerhard Adler, 

editor of Letters, Vol I, Princeton 1973

June 4, 2019

HE  DECIDED 

He decided on dropping church -

out of his life. How long was this

decision  on his mind - in his heart? 

Being a priest, should I have asked?

I didn’t - but  he did say he was fed up

with his parish priest blasting gays and

getting into politics from the pulpit.

I sense  this dropping out is on the

increase. It adds to the pressure on a priest

to be light and salt - example and inspiration -

hope and challenge - Christ and Church -

to the many. It  makes me want to scream,

“What are you  doing to make people want

to be here? What’s your example like?”

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

June 4, 2019

Thought for today: 

“Being with an  insanely  jealous person is like being in the room with a dead mammoth.” 

Mike Nichols, 

New York Times, 

May 27, 1984