October  4, 2019

Thought for today: 

“It doesn’t fit, when one is in God’s service, to have a gloomy face or a chilling look.”  

St. Francis of Assisi

IN  25  WORDS  OR  LESS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 26^th Thursday in Ordinary Time  is: “In 25 Words or Less?”

We’ve all have heard the question: “Can you tell me what you’re trying to say in 25 words or less?”

For starters - that usually causes pause - or hesitation.

TODAY’S TWO READINGS

I got the thought for this homily from today’s two readings.

In the first reading Ezra the priest  - as today’s reading from Nehemiah  8: 3  puts it, - is “Standing at one end of the open place that was before the Water Gate, he read out of the book from daybreak until midday….”

That’s a lot of words and that’s a lot of time.

As preacher I have seen at least a hundred times the watch looking gesture and signal.  “Wrap it up.” “Hurry it up.”  “Enough already!”

Did anybody do that to Ezra that day - when the reading went from daybreak till midday?  Oops they didn’t have watches.

In today’s gospel Jesus disciples are to give a message. It’s 4 words: “Peace to this household.” [Luke 10:5.]

In both readings the next thing that happens is to eat and drink.

There’s the Mass in short form: words and food.

That’s our every day: words and food.

Isn’t that what we do every day: in the daily mass called our household? We eat and we talk. We chat and chew.

5  BRIEF POINTS

ONE: ABRAHAM LINCOLN

On November 19, 1863, two men gave an address at Gettysburg Pennsylvania Cemetery.  Edward Everett gave a talk that had 13,687 words in it. It took about 2 hours.  He was followed by Abraham Lincoln who gave a 272 word talk.

TWO: SERMON LENGTH

What’s your opinion on sermon length? For a Sunday sermon? For a  Weekday sermon?

THREE: RELATIVITY OF TIME

As Einstein put it, time is relative. How long a minute takes depends upon what side of the bathroom door you’re on.  How long a sermon takes depends upon who’s speaking.  There’s actual time and “feeling time”.

FOUR: LEARNING FROM TV

Back in the late 1960’s at a New York priest’s  meeting someone asked for volunteers to give 2 religious  talks for WPIX - Channel 11. One was to begin the day; the other to end the day. They were to be exactly 3 minutes. The first was at 5:27 AM till 5:30 AM and the second was from 1:30 AM till 1:33 AM. It took me 3 times each time to be exactly  3 minutes.  Good learning.

FIVE: LEGACY

At the Water Gate Ezra - speaking for the future of the community - goes for a few hours. Could you spell out in 25 words or less your legacy - what you see is the meaning and purpose of life or what have you?

CONCLUSION

This sermon took 3 minutes and 30 seconds and was 499  words exactly. How long did it feel? Did I say anything that had a grab?

October 3, 2019

WAVES

Non-stop, they keep coming,

wave after wave after wave,

wave after wave after wave,

wave after wave after wave ….

Rolling, rolling, rolling inwards,

Pounding the shore - crashing

onto the beach, wave upon wave,

wave upon wave, wave upon wave ….

Some days the breakers are extraverts;

some days the breakers are introverts.

Sitting on the boardwalk or the beach -

I see the entire shake of planet earth ….

I learn steadiness, I learn limitations,

I learn the unexpected, I learn edges,

I learn spray, I learn sound and fury,

I learn background, I learn horizon ….

I see the moon rise out of the ocean -

in the dark of night. I see the sun rise

up in the light of morning - day after

day, after day, after day, after day ….

I need this. I need this knowing,

the familiar, the forever, the non-stop,

the regular background, the steady,

the knowing each wave is new.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

October  3, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“After a certain number of years our faces become our biographies.” 

Cynthia Ozick, Paris Review.

October 2, 2019

I  PAUSE

Sometimes I pause ….

I pause when you say something that hurts ….

I pause when you say something loving ….

I pause when you see hot dogs and buns and your kind of mustard ….

I pause when you toast me from the other side of the room ….
I pause when I know you know I don’t like to lose in cards and I just did ….

I pause when I know you were misread or misunderstood again ….

I pause when I know you want to scream ….

I pause when I know you’re in a family situation again, just like a similar moment, last year at this time ….

I pause when you’re like a fox whose leg is caught in a metal trap ….

I pause when it’s a clear night and the moon is screaming, “See me!”

Sometimes I pause ….

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

October  2, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“One of the longest journeys in the world is the journey from Brooklyn to Manhattan - or at least from certain neighborhoods in Brooklyn to certain parts of Manhattan.”  

Norman Podhoretz in Making It, 

by Norman Poderhoretz [April 11, 2017] - 

at the beginning of the book.

October 1, 2019

SACROSANCT

If I hesitate when someone is labeled “sacred” -

how much more would I pause when some

particular person might be  called “sacrosanct”? 

Oooh! Why would we do that to someone or

even something - labeling or describing them

as “sacred” or “a sacrament” or “sacrosanct”?

We canonize people after they die - and that’s

a long process - and books about saints now

list moments like doubts, struggles, and fears.

Better would it be to see and to treat everyone

and everything as good as the God of Genesis

describes all that He has created. We are good.

Moreover, the second meaning of “sacrosanct” 

is a sort of put down - a saccharin - sugar coated

holiness - different than when Christ walked with us.

Being good, being sacred, becoming a saint

has to do with being a servant, a savior, a person

who shows us the image and likeness of God.

So two bottom lines when it comes to being sacred

would be: we are good - called to be the gift we

are; and we are called to growth towards wholeness.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019