March 5,  2020

WRONGFULNESS

Jesus was right about righteousness.

The Pharisees were wrong about Jesus –

thinking he was wrong about what was right.

Right? Or does that seem wrong?

Practice wrongfulness. Sit in the back seat

when you come to pray. Say few words.

Be like little children. Turn the other cheek

when someone tries to slap you down.

Go the extra mile when someone forces

you to go one mile. Love those who think

you think they’re your enemies. Surprise

them by loving them with your whole heart,

mind, soul and strength. Don’t throw

rocks at people you think are wrong.

Share your bread with the hungry.

Hoarded bread can turn to rock.

Broken bread brings broken people

Into communion with each other.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

March   5, 2020

Thought   for  Today

“Skepticism has an  important place in critical engagement.  It is part of the apparatus of reflection and discernment.  But skepticism can become a form of bad faith too, a reflexive paradigm of doubt that distorts our perceptions the way cataracts cloud sight.  When you are stalking the miraculous, you need both doubt and faith.”

Theodore Prescott  in an article, 

Stalking the Miraculous 

in the Wilds of Art, 

page 85 in Image, 

A Journal of the 

Arts and Religion, 

November 22,  

Winter / Spring 1999, 

Number 22

SOMETIMES   JONAH 

CAN  STILL  BE  HEARD

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this First Wednesday in Lent  is, “Sometimes Jonah Can Still Be Heard.”

This morning’s first reading is from the Book of Jonah.

Jonah is a short little book in the Old Testament that’s only 4 short chapters.  We hear from him on just one Sunday – the 3^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B – so that’s only 1 Sunday every 3 years.

We hear from him every other year for 3 days in a row – the 27^th Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday – and from one other weekday, today Wednesday in the first week of Lent.

For such a short little book or scroll, that’s not bad – and Jonah is mentioned a few times in the New Testament - like today’s gospel.

FISH STORY

We all know the fish story in the Book of Jonah – that he’s on a boat – running away in the opposite direction from God – and the boat starts having big time storm problems – so the crew figure out it’s he who is the problem – so they toss him overboard.

He ends up being swallowed by a big fish – and is inside the fish’s belly for 3 days – and then is burped out onto the shore he’s supposed to be headed.

It’s a parable. It’s a legend. It’s a made-up story to teach a lesson.

What I get out of it is that I can be a disaster in a sermon – and somehow God catches fish from my babble and blarney.  Every priest finds out in life that someone thanks him for a sermon – telling a lesson he never intended.

SECOND STORY

We all know the second great message in the Book of Jonah.  It’s not in today’s readings – but it’s a great message.  Jonah is hiding out and cooling off under the big leaf of a gourd plant – while waiting and watching for the destruction of Nineveh.  The plant shrivels up and Jonah gets really upset – and God gets really upset with Jonah for worrying about himself and not the 120,000 people in the city who were going to perish – and many animals as well.

We’ve all seen people who have fallen into that trap many a time – worrying about the tiny – and missing the big problems all around them.

FAST, FAST, FAST

And the third message is the message of fasting – probably put here because fasting is one of the regular 3 practices for Lent: fasting, praying and almsgiving.

CONCLUSION

If we read the book of Jonah, we’ll first wonder, “How did this story get in here?” and then we’ll realize: “Okay, now I get it. Amen.”

March 4, 2020

LETTING  GO

Sticks  and  stones 

may break my bones 

and names will often hurt me …. 

So too we have memories 

and deja vue past hurts 

still hurting us.

Letting go is tough going.

There are scars and echoes: 

reminders that won’t go away.

So too the Law of Gravity

is always with us – weighing us

down with stuff we can't let go of.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

March 4,  2020

Thought for Today

"Literacy is the path from slavery to freedom. There are many kinds of slavery and many kinds of freedom. But reading is still the path.” 

Carl Sagan,

The Demon-Haunted

World Science as a
Candle in the Dark

March 3, 2020

                                   

SILENCE

Sometimes, 
silence is smart
Sometimes,
it is very smart.

It’s tricky. It often

gives us time to figure out

what another might be really asking –

or it gives them time

to figure out what they are

really saying. Ooooh!

But only sometimes …. 

© Andy Costello,  Reflections

March  3,  2020

Thought  for  Today

"The  future  belongs to young people who know where the  accurate, reliable knowledge is, how to get it, how to think about it, and how to turn it into better work, better products, better lives."  

Rexford Brown,

Educator and Author