March 31, 2022

GRACE AND ACCEPTANCE

 
Religious words, religious language, often is a foreign language.
 
We go to church, and we hear words like Pentecost, Paraclete, Paschal, Eschatology, Charism, Grace ….
 
Yes, grace.
 
It’s one of those words that might slip by as a word to make fun of when we make fun or are critical of religious language.
 
What does “grace” mean?
 
It’s abstract – not specific or particular – like the words, “bicycle” or “orange”. Those words are heard, and we picture a bicycle or an orange.
 
When we say, “Haill Mary, full of grace”, what do we picture when we say “grace”?
 
How about “grace” in the words, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound”?
 
Grace?
 
Saying “Hail Mary, full of grace” or “Ave Maria, gratia plena”, sometimes the word “grace” or “gratia” grabs me.  So too when I hear the word “grace” in the song “Amazing grace”, sometimes I’m amazed at God’s love for me.
 
Grace? What does “grace” mean?
 
For me, somewhere along the line, the word “acceptance” began to appear or tag along with the word “grace”. I know “acceptance” brings alone a lot more or less, depending on the moment.  Yet “acceptance” is enough for me.
 
God accepted Mary.  God accepts me. Both of us are full of grace as a result.  Both of us then give birth to Jesus in our world.
 
That’s amazing. Amazing grace.
 
I tell a secret about someone behind their back. For example, I tell another about the time this person got a dumb parking ticket.  Nobody in our crowd knew about it – but now they do. They begin kidding this person about the time they got a ticket.
 
We say, “Uh oh!”
 
We go to that person and ask their forgiveness for what we did to them.  We listen to their anger towards us.  Then they forgive us. We feel more acceptable to them – as well as to ourselves.
 
The Prodigal Son comes home.
 
He is accepted unconditionally – no speeches – just total acceptance from his father.  However, his brother won’t forgive him – or for that matter – won’t forgive his father.
 
This older brother falls from grace – from being graceful.
 
When we are accepted, we walk taller and straighter. We are more graceful. We sing better. We are more relaxed. We have more peace.
 
Amazing grace …. how sweet the sound….

 

 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2022

 

March  31,  2022

 

 Thought for Today

 

 “Do what you can with what you have, where you are.”

 

Teddy Roosevelt

 March 30,  2022

BEING HOOKED
 
 

El pez muere por la boca.

 

The fish dies because he opens his mouth.

 

Sometimes, it’s hard to keep my mouth shut.

 

Sometimes, it’s hard to not bite my tongue, instead of biting the hook.

 

It’s difficult to listen.

 

It’s hard to count to ten or especially a hundred before saying anything.

 

It’s hard to ask the other person to repeat what they just said, because, “I wasn’t really listening.  I was distracted. And I want to hear again just what your said.”

 

It’d hard to go into a store or a mall and not buy anything.

 

It’s hard to go on a diet and everyone around us is munching on pretzels and potato chips.

 

It’s hard to be with conservatives or fundamentalists or liberals and not react to a statement that sends us up the wall.

 

It’s hard to not eat fresh bread.

 

When the fish are jumping, it’s hard to see the “No fishing” sign.

 

Thinking is difficult.

 

Using your head is difficult.

 

Fishing: head first.

 

El pez pudren de cabeza.

 

 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2022

 March  30,  2022 

Thought for Today

“A handful of patience is worth more that a bushel of brains.”

 

Dutch Proverb

 March 29, 2022

THE WAR

 

Watched a movie video this evening with Denis.  It was his day off and he rented it. Never heard of it: “The War.”

 

It was about a guy – Stephen Simmons - coming home from “The War” and then a mental hospital – because of “The War” and how his life impacts the lives of his wife and two kids.

 

The only actor in the movie whom I ever heard of was Kevin Costner. He played his regular part: the caring, the understanding, the struggling person.

 

For me, the key line in the movie, and I also think the whole plot of the movie, was this: Kevin Costner says to his wife in a moment of struggle, “My dad used to say, ‘Nothing you’re going to do in this life is going to make a difference.”

 

That hit me right in my mind. I got up and found a piece of paper – a napkin – and jotted it down.

 

I want to make a difference – but I won’t change the world.  It’s a pretty big place.

 

Is that what his father meant?

 

Yet I hope I am making a difference in the lives of the people I know, love and serve.

 

Then the movie proved that our lives make a difference in the lives of those we meet.

 

In Vietnam, Kevin tried to save the life of a buddy – but he didn’t. He tried carrying him on his shoulders to the safety of a helicopter – but he had to leave him there on the ground and fly away.

 

That became his nightmare – but he also had a dream: to make a difference – and he did.

 

I’ll have to look at that movie again – on some day off.

 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2022

March  29,  2022

 

Thought for Today

 

 

“Life isn’t a science; we make it up as we go along.”

Al Hirschfeld

March 28, 2022

 

 MY  DEMONS

 

 

Found the following scribbled in one of my notebooks, “In Edward Albee’s play, ‘A Delicate Balance’, Mother says we sleep to let the demons out.’”

 

Never saw the play, nor do I know where I found that comment. All I know is that it must have hit me then that I have demons and I realize it also hits me now.

 

Demons ….

 

Never really thought much about demons, Never read much about demons. I do know that the Bible mentions demons.

 

Demons….

 

Well, what about them?

 

Who has done work on demons? Is there a good book on them? Are there lists and types of demons?

 

I don’t know.

 

Next question: do I believe in them?

 

I must think so, because when I read Albee’s words, I found myself asking, “Well, what are my demons?”

 

If according to Albee, sleep is the key, then the stuff of my dream are greed and need, laziness and jealousy, lust and fear.  Those are main energies – capital sin stuff. They are the stuff of my demons – procrastination but mostly fear.

 

They are there when I wake up in jumble of forgotten things I failed to do -  and sometimes – but very rarely does the demon of anger appear.

 

So I don’t feel like the characters in the Gospel of Mark – who seem to have whole boatloads  of demons – demons that shriek out [1:24] and who want a wild ride in pigs down a hill side and into the lake to drown [5:13].

 

According to the Enneagram my sin is pride.

 

Come to think about this -after reading Albee’s comment once again. It fits. Albee is right. I want to be loved and liked and I fear making mistakes in public and being rejected. Who wants that stuff?

 

So I hope this piece is something you can try on as well as me. Amen.

 

 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2022