February 16, 2023
SPOTLESS
We would like to arrive in heaven
wearing a spotless garment.
Sorry….
Table cloths get spaghetti stains.
Cars get dents.
Skin gets scars.
Mouths say the wrong things.
We do dumb at times.
What do you expect me to be?
A Pharisee or something like that.
© Reflections,
Andy Costello
February 16, 2023
Quote for Today
"Cultures have long heard wisdom in non-human voices: Apollo, god of music, medicine and knowledge, came to Delphi in the form of a dolphin. But dolphins, which fill the oceans with blipping and chirping, and whales, which mew and caw in ultramarine jazz - a true rhapsody in blue - are hunted to the edge of silence.
Jay Griffiths
GENESIS 8: 21: ”THE DESIRES OF THE HUMAN HEART ARE EVIL FROM THE START….”
The title of my homily is, Genesis 8:21: “The Desires of
the Human Heart Are Evil From The Start….”
It’s a sentence here in the 8th chapter of the
book of Genesis 8:21.
The Jerusalem Bible translates the Hebrew into English this
way, ”Because his heart contrives evil
from his infancy,”
The New Interpreter’s Bible is close to that, “The
inclination of the human heart is evil from youth.”
Each of us ought to look at that message – and be
challenged by it.
The Bible starts off with Creation and then Adam and Eve
and all is good – but soon Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit – they hide
from God – Cain kills Abel and on and on and on – evil, jealousy, lust, wars,
murders, the history of the world.
We can pick up the New York Post or The Daily News – turn
on the evening news and get the Bible in an earlier edition.
We know our heart. We know our growing up years. We know
the story of our sins and our crimes.
The Bible tells our story – chapter and verse.
Genesis 8:21: The Desires of the Human Heart Are Evil From
The Start….”
That’s the message of today’s first reading from Genesis
and now the Gospel message.
How blessed we are to have Christ arriving at our village
and helping us to see we are the Blind Man.
Jesus takes us by the hand –
takes us outside the village – puts his spit on our eyes.
He asks us what we see.
He asks us what we see.
We say everyone looks like walking trees .
He puts his hands on us again and restores our sight.
Once more Jesus asks us,
“Do you see anything.
We do. He heals us. And he sends us on our way - a healed us, a new us.
February 15, 2023
IF
If beds could talk ….
If kitchen tables could talk ….
If cars could talk ….
If church benches could talk ….
If confessionals could talk …..
If skin could talk ….
If human beings would talk,
then – then - what would they say?
What would they reveal?
We know the answer:
The real stories of
the years ….
© Reflections,
Andy Costello
February 15, 2023
"I was standing on the highest mountain of them all, and round about beneath me was the whole hoop of the world. And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit. and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being. And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all children of one mother and father. And I saw that it was holy."
February 14, 2023
To love another is easy at first,
but as you get to know another
–
various “Uh oh’s!”
appear!
This takes time - time - time.
There are the
hesitations and the
wonderings - the choices
– that arrive.
Knock, knock, knock! Sometimes
a bang.
You’ll hear them on your
inner door.
Sit down with me twenty
years
from now and tell me
what happened
after that - whether
you’re still together –
whether you discovered the real big deep love.
© Reflections,
Andy Costello
