August 3,  2021

 

 

Thought for the Day

 

“The past is a foreign country; they do different things there.”

 

Leslie Polels Hartley

 August  2, 2021

Reflection

August 2,  2021

 

Thought for the Day

 

“If you cry “Forward,”  you must make plain in what direction to go.”

 

Anton Chekov

 

SAN  ALFONSO

 
The title of my homily is,  “San Alfonso.”
 
Today,  August 1^st is his feast day, He died today – in 1787 – at the age of 90 – almost 91.
 
When I was stationed here at San Alfonso around 1975 I got a phone call from some guy who said, “I was driving by your place on Ocean Avenue this afternoon and I saw a sign on a brick wall saying, ‘Sam Alfonso.’ Well I said to myself, ‘That’s a big building.  Who the heck is Sam Alfonso?”
 
I guess he didn’t notice the big church on the front lawn that looks like the prow of a ship.
 
So I told the man - who was calling, “It’s San Alfonso – San – not Sam.” Then I added, “I’m sure you heard of San Diego or San Francisco or San Antonio.  San means saint – as in St. James – which is Diego in Spanish or San Francisco as in St. Francis or San Antonio  - St. Anthony.”
 
Alfonso’s father - Giuseppe was a navy captain working out of Naples Italy. His mom was Donna Cavalieri. Alfonso was their first child.  His dad wanted him to be well educated  - providing him tutors – to get him to become a lawyer – which he started at  - at 13 years of age – becoming a lawyer at 16 – 4 years earlier than most.
 
He never lost a case in his first 8 years as lawyer.
 
His father arranged a marriage for him – but that didn’t happen.
 
In 1723 he was hired as a lawyer in a real estate case.
 
We heard that he missed out on a key clause in the legal wrangling – in the paper work. As a  result he fell apart – and locked himself in his room for a couple of days. Years later we heard that it wasn’t  a mistake. It was a manipulation of the records and Alfonso was on the wrong side.
 
He used to visit a hospital – to visit the sick.  It was called the Hospital of the Incurables – not  a great name for a hospital. He had to decide whether to remain a lawyer – find someone else to marry or what.

An inner voice said to him 2 times: “Leave the world and give yourself to me.”

Like we heard from John McGowan yesterday, Alphonsus like St. Ignatius went to a church – put his sword on an altar decided to become a priest.

He studied theology at home and was ordained a priest at the age of 30.

He spent 2 years preaching all through the kingdom of Naples.

Someone said of him,  “It’s a pleasure to hear your sermons. You forget yourself and preach Jesus Christ.” 
He was neither strict nor pompous.

He worked out of his home – but at 33 he left home and became chaplain at a college that trained missionaries for China.

He met a bishop named Thomas Falcoia – who pushed him towards starting a new group of priests for preaching around Naples.  This bishop also asked him to check out by giving a retreat to a nun who was starting a new order of nuns. He did and they seemed legitimate. In 1731 they became the Redemptoristines – with a different name at first. They wore red and blue habits.  They were contemplatives.

In 1732 Alphonsus began the Redemptorists – called at first the Congregation of the Savior. In 1749 – when we finally got approval by Rome – we got the name Redemptorists – because there already was a group called the Congregation of Our Savior.

Alphonsus was preaching all over the Kingdom of Naples – especially in small towns. There were a lot of priests at the time – but they liked Naples - the big town. So his group went to the forgotten – the neglected – the poor.Since Alphonsus and his group became so successful – he was criticized.

In the meanwhile Alphonsus wrote a lot of books – 111 in his lifetime.

In the meanwhile Alphonsus and his congregation grew – even though there were dropouts.

Alphonsus put out a Moral Theology textbook – which began as notes on the work of a Jesuit with the name of Busenbaum. Alphonsus stressed God’s mercy.

Alphonsus  steered a middle course between the rigorism of a theology called Jansenism and big time laxity. As a result of staying in the middle  – he was criticized from both the right and the left.

In the meanwhile Alphonsus did music, painting and lots and lots of preaching.

In the meanwhile Alphonsus became a bishop – of a small diocese in Italy  called St. Agatha of the Goths.
After retiring from being a bishop, Alphonsus came back to the Redemptorists.

In time he got serious arthritis and needed a wheel chair – as you see him in the statue out on the lawn between the conference room and the dining room.

In time a guy named Clement Hofbauer came down from Vienna, Austria – became a Redemptorist and was sent back to Vienna – to start our group up there on the other side of the Alps.

We started in Naples in 1732.  By 1832 – some of those Redemptorists from Austria were sent to the United States.

We reached 9,000 plus – but we’ve shrunk a little to around 5000 at the present time.

I joined the Redemptorists to go to Brazil – but never got that assignment.

We are all around the world – pushing the ideas and ideals, the vision and vocation, of St. Alphonsus. “Forget yourself and preach Jesus Christ.

A key book that Alphonsus wrote was: The practice of the Love of Jesus Christ. He said:  “Sanctity – the whole of it can be summed up in the practice of the  love of Jesus Christ”– which we hope everyone who comes here to San Alfonso Retreat House – hears and gets – and brings home Christ  to our world. Amen.

 August 1,  2021

                SWEET   AUGUST  JAZZ

Taking  it  easy -

Swinging slowly on a hot August Evening  -

In a hammock -

On a porch - 

Eyes closed -

No rain -

Falling asleep -

Late on a long slow night -

The kind of night that tells me -

who I am -

who I am on a hot August night.

(c)  Andy Costello,  Reflections

August 1,  2021

 

Thought for the Day

 

“If you cry “Forward,”  you must make plain in what direction to go.”

 

Anton Chekov

 July  31, 2021

July 31, 2020

 WORLD  SERIES  1988

 
Sometimes the favorite doesn’t win
the World Series. Sometimes the
Dodgers are the underdogs.
 
That’s what happened in 1988 – the
Dodgers winning 4 out of 5 games:
5-4, 6-0 – 2-1 [Athletics], 4-3, 6-2.
 
Kirk Gibson, with 2 banged up legs
comes out of the dugout to hit with
2 outs in the 9^th and hits the winning home run.
 
Dennis Eckersley was having a great
season – but not that night – when he gave up
that 1^st game of the World Series walk off Home Run.

 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020