July 11, 2019

MONTE  CASSINO

81 miles - southeast of Rome - is Monte

Cassino.  If you ever get to Rome, get to

Cassino. Go to the mountain!

If you do, you’ll be standing on history.

It’s been the place of religion and power

through the centuries: BC and  AD.

It’s been bombed and blasted - sacked

and rebuilt - over and over again. It’s the

place Benedict and monks praised God.

People died here, cried here, worshiped

and watched from here - and waves of

soldiers climbed and clawed to the top.

Monte Cassino - if you get there, wonder

there, get what happened here, you’ll say

“I’ve been to the mountain!” in a new way.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

July  11, 2019

Thought for today:


“Theology is an incubus that a humanist can never shake off.  He may seek refuge from theism in atheism or from animism in materialism.  But after each desperate twist and turn he will find himself committed to some theological position or other. Theology is inescapable, and it is dynamite.”   

A.J.  Toynbee, A Study of History, 

Volume XII, Reconsiderations, 1961

July 10, 2019

SANDBOX

Who was the first person who came up

with a sandbox as a way to keep kids busy?

All that is needed is sand and water,

a small shovel and a small pail.

It’s perfect for kids learning  

to play together and to be creative.

Dig, hide, build, to prepare them for

bigger projects at the summer beach.

Wait! Take pictures - watch what they

are doing - you’re seeing their future.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

July 10, 2019

Thought for today:

“Hatred for Judaism is at bottom hatred for Christianity.”  

Sigmund Freud, 

Moses and Monotheism, 1939

July 9, 2019

SWING

Who was the first person who came up

with a swing as a way to keep kids busy?

Was it just a rope or a vine? Did the kid

just swing back and forth imitating Tarzan?

Was it with a piece of wood - a swing -

to sit on and sail through the air on?

The face tells everything whether or not

we’re enjoying the back and forth called "Life."

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

July  9, 2019

Thought for today:

“The only sin which we never forgive in each other is a difference of opinion.”  

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Clubs 1877

July  8, 2019 -

Thought for today:

“I am the vessel.  The  draft is God’s.  And God is  the  thirsty  one.”  

Dag Hammarskjold,  

Markings, 1964