February 15, 2015

OFF  TO  THE  SIDE 

I prefer to be - off to the side - 

in the wings - a prompter - 

whispering out forgotten lines - 

in the play on stage.

I prefer to be - off to the side - 

the garbage dump - hidden 

by trees or hills or billboards - 

on the ugly edge of the city. 

I prefer to be off to the side - 

In the church - the confession box - 

along the edge wall of the church - 

it too - also being  - a garbage dump. 

I prefer to be off to the side - 

the person you turn to when 

you sin or hurt yourself or others -

and you feel all alone and an “Uh oh!”

I prefer to be the Lamb of God

who takes away the sins of

the world, the one who brings

mercy and forgiveness for all.

In reality, I prefer to be the Christ -

the one - in the midst of the mess -

hanging on the tree of the cross -

on top of the hill - for all in need.

© Andy Costello, Reflections by the Bay, 2015

February 14, 2015

THE HEART OF THE MATTER

Does everyone spend their life

trying to get to the heart of the matter?

Is it comfort, love, recognition, control, family,

God, Jesus, Peace, an end to itchy desire?

In time, hopefully we discover in time,

it’s not me, myself and my will be done.

What is the heart of the matter? Good question.

Don’t tell me you don’t know by now.

© Andy Costello, 

Reflections by the Bay, 2015

February 13, 2015

TEMPORARY PERSON

“I feel like a temporary person.”

“What? What does that mean?”

“Well, when I walk into a room,
I feel nobody really knows me”

“Oooooh!”

“Then sometimes when I'm standing there
with a somebody,  I see them looking over my shoulder at others – for someone more interesting.”

“Interesting.”

“Then they make some faint get-a-way comment.”

“Wait, a minute, don’t run. Get back to what you’re feeling when you say to yourself, I’m a temporary person.”

“Well, yeah. People bolt away from me all the time.”

“Well, do you feel if any of this is your fault?”

“Of course…. I always think it’s my fault.”

“Bummer. That has to hurt – to think that way

about yourself. By the way do you agree

with yourself when you say it’s your fault?”

“No, of course not. I’m me, but I sense nobody

really knows me – or even cares to know me.”

“Well, I know you a bit.”

“You, no I don’t sense that you know me.”

“Well, you’re telling me you feel like nothing and 
that ticks you off – or you’d like more attention,

so I think I know that about you.”

“No, I’m not saying that. I’m simply saying I feel

like a temporary person – an in-between person –

a someone,  someone uses for the moment 

till someone better comes along.”

“Oh, sorry to hear you say that – about yourself.”

“I’m also sorry to hear that I said that about myself.”

“Well, that's a start....”

“And by the way, that last comment you made was

something  I needed to hear. I sense everyone is on the edge of everyone. We hesitate to enter into other people – because if we let go and become friendly or marry another, we have a chance to grow … to know … other people – and become less alone and less lonely.”

“I like that. I would sense that’s a healthy way of thinking and becoming a person who’s getting to know themselves.”

[PAUSE - ANOTHER LONG PAUSE]

“Thanks. Thanks for trying to listen to who I am." 

"You're welcome."

"Let me add: and if I listened to myself the way you’re listening to me, maybe then I’ll stop calling myself a temporary person.”

© Andy Costello, 

Reflections 

by the Bay, 2015

February 12, 2015

BULLIES

The bullies in the school yard sat on him,

then punched him, so too the other kids

from all the other schools he went to.

He hung in there in every school – as well as

on his way home from every school he went to –

as well as on all the teams he belonged to.

Then it was a boss and then a bunch of guys

at the office? Why is it that some people seem

to get bullied and picked on much of their lives?

Will a day come when he’ll be so angry with all these

bullies within and without – that he too will become a

bully, a dictator or just the opposite, a protector?

© Andy Costello, Reflections on the Bay, 2015

February 11, 2015

THE HEALTH OF A MARRIAGE

Is it that the worse

and not the better,

the poorer

and not the richer,

the sickness

and not the health, that

gets us to communicate

about the sickness

or the death of a marriage?

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2015

February 10, 2015

SNOW  IN  FEBRUARY 

Some nights slide in like falling snow,

so quietly – so silently – covering

the ground all around our house.

Later on while standing there looking out

into a white wonderland from my 11:55

P.M. window – I realize this is much of my life –

layer upon layer of falling moments, falling
memories… whatever color memories are: 
white, black, blue, red, bright yellow happenings. 
Life. The winter of my life. But there is Spring.

Then getting under the covers as I drift off

into the wonderland called sleep … moving
into images and dreams – into the mysteries 
of the long night - into the uncontrollable.

Then the realism of the morning alarm,

waking up and looking out my 6:45 A.M.

window – seeing, reading, looking at

poetry, poetry everywhere, a new day.

Then I have the morning rush - shower,

Cheerios, coffee, push some snow off my car, 

then wince my nose, then the pause while

driving,  wondering about the narrow schedule

called February – called getting to March.

© Andy Costello,

Reflections by the Bay, 2015

MADE  IN  THE  IMAGE 

AND  LIKENESS  OF  GOD 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Fifth Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Made in the Image and Likeness of God.”

That statement has been heard by all of us from time to time during our life.

Am I like God or is God like me?  Or am I totally different from God and is God is totally different from me?

That statement  - “Made in the image and likeness of God” - is in today’s first reading. It’s in the first chapter of the Genesis the first book of the Bible.

UNIVERSITY COURSE

Years ago I almost took a semester’s course at Princeton Theological Seminary on that one statement in the Bible, Genesis 1:26-27.

Once more it goes like this: “Then God said: ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground.’  God created man in his image / in the divine image he created him; / male and female he created them.”

The professor said there were hundreds of takes on that text.

I should have taken that course, but didn’t  because another course grabbed me.

Through the years I have thought about that text – but I don’t know for sure just what the Priestly Author of Chapter One of Genesis means by this text.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GOD AND US

God created the world.  We can create nothing out of nothing.

God is all knowing, all loving, all forgiving.  We are not.

God doesn’t have a body; we do.

God is eternal. We are temporary – but we are hoping for eternal life.

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN GOD AND US

God can be lonely; we can be lonely.

God can communicate; we can communicate.

God can be one with others – as God is in the Trinity. We can be in communion with others – as well as enter into the Trinity through, with, and in Christ.

When God created the world, God was like a Father and a Mother – making Their  children’s room a Paradise. So too parents when they are going to have their first child – they make  their baby’s room and space – a paradise. Nothing can be missing for their new baby.

PARADOXES

God – the All Powerful God can be powerless and accept it. Human beings can be powerless and don’t want to  accept it. For example, Jesus gave up all his powers when he let go to let himself be arrested, beaten, killed on the cross. He said he could have his Father send legions of angels to save him.

We say to God, “Thy will be done.” Many times we don’t mean it. We’re actually saying and praying, “My will be done.” 

God is all forgiving.  We can be that way – but often we’re not.

CONCLUSION

I think a possible prayer could be:

God,

even though I am made

in your image and likeness,

thank You, God,

that I am not You,

because if I were You,

uh oh, O God.