April 23, 2016

SHAKESPEARE! 
TODAY IS THE

400^th ANNIVERSARY
OF HIS DEATH

William Shakespeare - dates - were from April 23, 1564 to April 23, 1616.

“What’s in a name…?”

“I’ll note you in my book of memory.”

“He’s sudden if a thing comes into his head.”

“An honest tale speeds best being plainly told.”

“There is something in the wind.”

“How long a time lies in one little word.”

“Play out the play.”

“All the world’s a stage ….”

“The play’s the thing/ Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king.”

“The web of our life is a mingled yarn, good and ill together.”

“Let me tell the world.”

“There is a history in all men’s lives.”

“We are in God’s hand.”

“Bait the hook well: this fish will bite.”

“Everyone can master a grief but he that has it.”

“Brevity is the soul of wit.”

“I have bought / Golden opinions from all sorts of people.”

“Come, give us a taste of your quality.”

“To be or not to be: that is the question.”

“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”

“Lord, what fools these mortals be.”

“A politician … one that could circumvent God.”

“Words pay no debts.”

“Good counselors lack no clients.”

“Necessity’s sharp pinch.”

“Pray you now, forgive and forget.”

“The wheel is come full circle: I am here.”

“My salad days / When I was green in judgment.”

“Nothing emboldens sin so much as mercy.”

“You pay a great deal too dear for what’s given freely.”

“Let us not burden our remembrances / With a heaviness that’s gone.”

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

Is this a first?  I spotted with today's newspapers - April 23, 2017 - the above picture on page 13 of the Target Ad  18 page Input Insert.  Is this a first?  How about that!  Nice going Target!



A First

April 22, 2016

JUST SAY SOMETHING

Just say something to the person right
there with you: while holding the door, 
on the plane, on the short elevator ride -
even if it's only to the second floor.

"Hi!" "Beautiful day." "How's it going?"

"Welcome home!" "Where have you been?"

Hey! You never know what a word -
just a greeting - or an eye shake and
a head nod - might mean - to the person 
in the car right next to you at the red light. 

Just say something. Eye to eye something.

At the end of a day, at the end of a life - 
all those words might have taken flesh - 
and both of you might have met Jesus 
Christ in each other's life: at a well, 
on a road, at a table, on another's cross -
and both of you experienced Easter Joy.

© Andy Costello Reflections, 2016

April 21, 2016

AMAZING  GRACE

Sun sliding down the sky into the west -
into the water.... The end of another day. Thank You God. Thank You God.

The dark of land - low lying mountains - holding the bay  in her arms. Thank
You God. Thank You God.

The glistening tablecloth of water
covering the top of the in-between. 
Thank You God. Thank You God.

The slow gradual of dark night bringing
peace and grace and sleep to my soul.
Thank You, God.  Thank You, God.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

April 20, 2016

 “OH YEAH!”

“Oh yeah!” What a prayer!

To say that to God like an athlete

pointing to God in thanks after a

great hit or a great catch: “Oh yeah!”

Seeing red roses or red hair or a

red crayon.... Oh the possibilities.

“Oh yeah!” Blue skies, white clouds,

rainbows, family and friends: “Oh yeah”

Babies crying, lovers sighing,

“I love you. I love you.” “Oh yeah!”

“Oh yeah!” What a prayer!

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

April 19, 2016

HOPE

Sometimes students in a classroom

count how many times a certain teacher

says a certain phrase - or word.

We had a history professor who said,

“Do you see?” 249 times in one class.

I heard of a high school religion teacher

who talked about the Emmaus story in the

gospel of Luke so many times that the 

class nicknamed her "Sister Mary Emmaus".

I know that the song, "Hello Dolly" keeps

repeating "Hello Dolly" over and over again.

So I was wondering how many times in

a given day do I say to myself, “I hope….”

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

THREE  SENTENCES 

THAT  GRABBED  ME

INTRODUCTION

The titled of my homily for this 4^th Tuesday after Easter is, “Three Sentences That Grabbed Me.”

Last night I read today’s readings and three sentences grabbed me.

Did any word or sentence or image hit you when you heard today’s readings?

The three sentences I heard are:

First: “… it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.” [Acts 11:26]

Next: “It was winter.” [John 10:22]

Lastly: “The Father and I are one.” [John 10:30

REFLECT ON ANY ONE OF THOSE 3 SENTENCES

For starters - a few questions and comments about the first sentence, “… it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.”

How many Catholics describe themselves as Christians?  Is that a word or a label we use to describe ourselves?

Do we favor being called and being seen as a Catholic more than being a Christian? Which do I prefer: Catholic Christian or Christian Catholic? Or do I say sentences like,  “I’m seeing myself as a Christian - a follower of Christ.- more than being seen as a Catholic?” Or “Wait a minute. It all depends.”

I like C.S. Lewis comment about seeing a Christian as someone who is baptized. It’s a noun.  Do we use the word Christian as a noun or an adjective?  Adjective: that was very Christian of the Pope to take in those refugees.

Second sentence: “It was winter.”

Writers in English are often told to study Hemingway. Write short, clear, brief sentences. Get to the point.  The New Testament is in Greek. Greek can have very long sentences. Whoever got their hands on translating our Mass prayers into English from Latin - seems never to have heard of Hemingway.

So I like this sentence. It was winter. 

It causes pause. That’s another 3 word sentence.

Someone also translated the Greek when Judas betrayed Jesus into, “It was night.”

Hemingway - who killed himself - like Jesus Would have liked that sentence. “It was night.”

Where am I in my spiritual life. Light or night, winter or spring, summer or fall?  Am I cold - indoors? Or am I alive, warm, budding with new life?

What season am I in?

The third sentence is the last sentence  in today’s gospel: “The Father and I are one.”

With faith, with our belief in the divinity of Christ, we Christians hear and can read the New Testament - the gospels - every day and discover more and more about this human historical person called, “Jesus Christ”.

As a result, we can read more and more about God when we read more and more about Christ.

God washes feet. God forgives sin. God lets us eat himself up as bread and drink Him in the wine. God wants to enter into us with food, for  starters. That’s how we learned from our parents that they loved us for starters.

It took the early church the first few hundreds of years to be able to put into words - into theological terms - how the Trinity is. God in three persons. And they just scratched the surface. How will our personality be able to grasp God? I assume that’s the stuff of eternity.

In the meanwhile we’re Christians - hopefully not hibernating in some dark winter night  - but we’re rising each day with the Risen Christ - springing into action - greening the earth - bringing joy and creativity into wherever we are this day. Amen.

CONCLUSION: 

Did I miss any sentence you spotted?