Thought for Today
“What do we do when the foolishness of the cross actually makes more sense than the wisdom of the sword?”
Shane Claiborne,
The Irresistible Revolution:
Living as an Ordinary Radical
Friday, April 10, 2020
April 10, 2020
UNDER THE CROSS
I stand under the cross wishing
I could hear Jesus’ words to Mary and John
addressed to me:
“Woman, this is your son!”
and “This is your mother.”
I stand under the cross wishing
I could say what the Centurion said,
“Truly this was the Son of God.”
I stand under the cross watching
the scene between the Good Thief
and the Bad, but their voices are about
saving oneself and being saved and
robbing paradise at the last minute,
aren’t my scene either.
I stand under the cross wishing
I could say, “I am thirsty” wishing
my faith was thirstier, but it’s not.
I stand under the cross in the dark
seeing the spit and the blood on the ground,
wondering down deep if the echo of curses
in the air still being thrown at Jesus
are my inner sounds. I hope not. No Never.
I stand under the cross and hear,
“Father forgive them because they
don’t know what they are doing.”
I stand under the cross saying and praying,
“That’s me. You know me. Into your hands,
O God, I hand over my spirit. Amen.”
© Reflections, Andy Costello
SELF-RELIANCE
Somewhere along the line someone spotted a postcard - with our family name on it - along with our family coat of arms - along with our family motto. They sent it to me.
I wasn't in on the drafting of the shield, or the motto or the coat of arms. I didn't even know we had a coat of arms. My mom described where she came from in Ballynahown, Ireland, "Ireland has nothing." I saw the spot - on Galway Bay - as not that hot.
And my father used to say that he was within a rock's throw of where my mom was from.
I wasn't in on the drafting of the shield, or the motto or the coat of arms. I didn't even know we had a coat of arms. My mom described where she came from in Ballynahown, Ireland, "Ireland has nothing." I saw the spot - on Galway Bay - as not that hot.
And my father used to say that he was within a rock's throw of where my mom was from.
Asked to translating the Latin on the coat of arms, I said it means something like, "Don't be searching for yourself, outside yourself."
"Quaeseveris" is the only tricky word of the 4 words in the motto. The quest, the seeking, the searching, the asking is at the heart of the motto.
"Quaeseveris" is the 2nd person perfect active subjunctive of the verb "quaero". It means questing, as indicated, asking, seeking, inquiring, requiring.
I would like to translate it as: "Be who you is, because if you be who you're not, then you're not who you is."
Ralph Waldo Emerson calls this "Self-Reliance."
Here is Emerson's famous lecture on Self-Reliance. Just hit the triangle on the button.
Thursday, April 9, 2020
April 9, 2020
COMPASS
Walking - early morning - in the woods –
coming to patches of light and darkness –
depending on the steep of the low hills -
then deeper and deeper into the trees ….
I come to a clearing - a palace place of light….
The light seems to be forming halos around
all the trees in the forest - lessening the
darkness everywhere - north, east, south, west.
It was as if I was standing in a compass of light,
and I stood there wondering if God the Father
had the particularity he had about Mary for the
tree 2,000 years ago chosen to be the cross of Christ.
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
April 8, 2020
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
There’s one book worth reading….
We don’t have to write it, but that
book would be really worth reading.
It’s our Autobiography. Then again,
It would be really worth writing. Give it
a title for starters. You can revise it.
Where were you born?
Where have you been?
Where did you hope to go?
Whom have you met?
Best days? Worst days?
10 top things than changed you.
10 top things you have learned.
10 top books you have read.
10 top surprises that surprised you.
10 gifts you never expected.
10 twists and turns.
10 persons who changed your life.
10 gifts you never expected.
10 twists and turns.
10 persons who changed your life.
Sit down at your computer.
Pick up your pen. Get a
spiral note book and write.
For whom? For yourself.
Then picture yourself reading
it in your old age. Wow God!
It’s for yourself, but picture
your great granddaughter,
finding it 3 years after you’re gone.
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020
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