CERTAIN   CHAIRS

Sometimes certain chairs end up 

as sacred chairs – a chair that 

everyone wants when mom or dad 

dies or has to move to a smaller place. 

We have ours. It’s wooden. It’s red. 

It’s old.  It would be passed by if left 

at the curb when people are getting 

rid of stuff – but this one has stories. 

My father sat in this chair, In fact he 

made this chair in the 1940’s from wood 

he picked up on the beach  at the Narrows –  

the water  leading  into the New York Harbor. 

It was down our basement in Brooklyn 

for years  My mother sat in this chair.
My brother sat in this chair. 

My 2 sisters sat in this chair.  

My nephew Michael sat in this chair 

playing the role of King of the World 

in games with kids – that is,  till he died 

suddenly at the age of 15 of cancer. 

It’s now outside – on my sister’s porch 

in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Not too 

many chairs last this long – but I hope and 

pray there is fight to see who gets it next. 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

August   2,  2020

Thought  for  Today

“Never let yesterday  take  up too much of today.”

Texas  E. Schramm

FEAST  OF  ST.   ALPHONSUS

Today is the Feast of St.  Alphonsus.  Here are two videos for some background.  Enjoy.

August 1, 2020

VERBS   OF  SAINT  ALPHONSUS

Consider, contemplate, choose,

turn,  return, desire, call, wish,

ask, seek, knock,  pray, remain,

realize, react, reflect, experience,

love, delight, approach, understand,

write, read, imprint, inflame, see,

feed, free, give, carry, belong,

go,  do, complete, learn, open,

carry, appreciate,  give, persevere, 

converse, forgive, thank, agree,

serve, speak, realize, wish, allow,

permit, pray, consider, thank,

acquire, detach, perceive, pray,

dedicate, permit, promise,  pierce.

 © Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

August  1,  2020

Thought  for  Today

“The  human  heart  is, 

so  to  speak,  

the  paradise  of  God.” 

Alphonsus  de  Liguori

Feast  August  1.

July 31, 2020

AT TIMES

DURING THE HIDDEN YEARS

At times he looked around

the carpenter shop. His eyes

and his thoughts stopped at

hammers, saws and pliers ….

Oh! To be as simple as they are

or to be like a chair or a door

or like that empty cross he saw

on the main road into town

yesterday – that coarse cross –

that that held a screaming man  

who  died during the night before.

He wondered if the prophets within

him were saying you’ll have your

turn or sneak out now and go down

the road with your pliers in hand

and unnail this man and set

him free – but there were those two

soldiers guarding and taunting him.

Then – at times - in the market

place he saw life as wheat and

fish hooks - nets and needles –

or he would slip into the synagogue

and if there was nobody there he

would walk up front and unroll

a scroll of Isaiah or Jeremiah and

run his fingers over the words –

until they entered his flesh - 

but what really refreshed him

were walks into the hills or down

to the waters of Galilee where

he learned from the birds of the air

and the grapes on the vine and

the house of the father waiting for

his son to come home as he wondered

when it was his time to leave home

and finally head for far countries.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

July  31, 2020

Thought  for  Today

“Many are the instruments through which the  soul seeks utterance:  form and color of paint or clay;  hewn stone; strings plucked or hammered; breath  blown through reed or brass; chords vibrating in a human throat; and earliest of all primeval instruments – the whole human body itself.” 

Peggy Baum Gerry,

contemporary American

teacher and analyst