Saturday, September 24, 2016

September 24, 2016

ALONENESS

Aloneness - the sense and sound -
of that word - that statement - contains
about 83 percent negative feelings.

Aloneness - the feeling we all feel
when we’ve done something dumb -
or said the wrong thing in public.

Aloneness - in a far city - alone - and
at the moment our family back home 
is not going right - and we feel, “Uh oh!”

Aloneness - and we sense we’re
a lost coin - dropped by God - and
our faith that God wants us is gone.

Aloneness - and we’re found like a
lost sheep  or a lost child and nobody
really cares that we have returned.  



© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2016

Cf. Luke 15 - whole chapter

Friday, September 23, 2016

September 23, 2016

SQUEEZED

We know the feeling. We’re in an elevator,
subway, doorway - with too many people -
coming and going…. squeezing in and out -
or we’re squeezed into those moments
when a lot of people want us. They want  
our time - our  help - our  money, us.
We feel like a tube of toothpaste. We only
have so much of me in me. It’s at those
times I want to be in a car all by myself -
alone - no traffic, yet life feels like I’m in
the back seat of a car - stuck in traffic  -
somebody else is driving - and I’m trapped
between two other people and they are fat
and I can’t  move. I’m being squeezed.


© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

Thursday, September 22, 2016

September 22, 2016
LEATHER

Once he hit 40,
he only noticed leather -
nothing else - not his
wife - not his kids -
leather - brown leather
shoes - the brown leather
bag the lawyer on the
other side of the table
reached into two times
during the meeting -
the leather steering wheel
cover in his brother-in-law's car -
leather - wanting leather -
without knowing it - wanting
better - wanting more -
don't we all?


 © Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

Wednesday, September 21, 2016




CHOICE

At some point we need to realize
we are what we eat - we are what
we choose - we are what we read - 
we are what we watch -  we are 
what we put on our plate. When 
we're kids, life is a sit down meal - 
but looking back, life is a buffet. 
Get up. Move. Grab a plate. Choose.




© Andy Costello Reflections 2016

September 21, 2016



DIDN’T  LIKE  FISH

She didn’t like fish.
Some people don’t like
where they come from -
even if it was zillions
of years ago.



© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016




Tuesday, September 20, 2016

September 20, 2016


COMBINATIONS


Salt and pepper -
but not sugar and salt.

Him and her,
but not him and her.

Forgiveness and mercy, sometimes,
but sometimes it's too difficult.

Heaven and hell, yes - at times,
but no, not in the long run - never.

Forgive and forget,
yes and no.

Fiddle and violin - no,
but fiddle and dancing - oh yes!

Rose petals and tissues, but
not sandpaper and sarcastic words.

Winter and summer, but you need
to have spring and autumn in between.

First and last, but sometimes
the last shall be first.



© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016
A  FLY  ON  THE  WALL


INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 25th Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “A Fly on the Wall.”

We’ve all heard and probably said at least 10 times in our lives, “Wow would I love to be a fly on the wall in that house.”  Or “at that meeting” or “when those two talk”.

“A fly on the Wall.”

That’s a wisdom saying.

Wisdom sayings are part of every culture.

For example, “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”

Or how many times have we said, “What goes around comes around”?

In a given life time I would think every person picks up 10 wisdom sayings - 10 proverbs - more or less - that they voice or think in triggered situations. They are not information. They are wisdom. They are about life and how they see life working.

I love to ask people in English who’s native language is not English: “Is there a saying in your language that says this?” Then I give a saying in English that goes like this: “The grass is always greener in the other person’s yard.”  And they think for a moment and tell me about apples or apricots being better on the other person’s tree.

TODAY’S FIRST READING

Today’s first reading from is from Proverbs - Chapter 21: 1-6, 10 - 13 .

It gives us 10 Proverbs from Jewish life and culture.  I looked it up last night and notice that readings from the Book of Proverbs show up 6 times in our 3 year reading cycles. These 3 days we use them - but tomorrow maybe not - with the feast of St. Matthew. They give us a smattering of that book in the Bible.

Last night I read today’s first reading  5 times or more to see what they are saying. I also read a few different translations.

As proverbs only one grabbed me - the one about chasing bubbles - and when caught or grabbed bubbles break and disappear. That’s a common image and experience. Haven’t we all loved it when a little kid chased a soap bubble only to see it pop.

For those who complain that Bible readings are sexist, I noticed that whoever put together our lectionary skipped verse 9 from today’s first reading. Was it to avoid “uproar”? The saying is,  “Better to live on the roof than share a house with a nagging wife.” That could raise up a few protestors.  That could challenge some husbands and wives.

BACK TO THE FLY ON THE WALL

For a sermon I thought I’d use the image of that imaginary fly on the wall.

I think that’s what most of these psalms do.

They drag us to stop and see what we cannot see - what’s on that imaginary wall of the other.

They challenge us to be a fly on the wall.

IN A CAR

Imagine a family going to California for their summer vacation. They  rent a car and are driving through a rich neighborhood near Hollywood. House after house they are going “Oooh!” and “Ah” at big mansion after big mansion in Beverly Hills.

A fly gets in their car and someone says, “Who let the fly in the car?

Then someone says, “Wouldn’t it be nice to be a fly on the wall in that house? And that house!  And that house.  And that house?”

CONCLUSION: INSIDE THE HOUSE OF ANOTHER

Well this first reading is getting into the house - onto the wall - under the skin - under the skull - of the king. They get us into God, into those who do right, into someone who is proud, into someone who is lying, into someone who is rich, into someone who is arrogant, into someone who is poor, into someone whose bubble has burst.

It tries to challenge us to think outside our own walls - our own house - and walk in another shoes, settle into someone else’s home and to see more wisely.

The first step to wisdom then is walking inside the walls of God - to enter into the mind of God - into other person’s moccasins - as well as get inside the walls of this book of Proverbs. Amen.