TAILORING JESUS 

TO FIT OUR AGENDA

Quote for Today - December 22, 2012

"In every decade we instruct Christ as to what He was and is, instead of allowing ourselves to be instructed by Him."

Amos N. Wilder [1895-1993], Theology and Modern Literature, [1958}

Book cover of a book about Thornton and Amos Wilder - brothers from a very fascinating family. Check them out on line!

  CHRISTMAS  SCENE 

The cow chewing her cud ….

The sheep eating her hay ….

The donkey resting after

that long journey from Nazareth ….

looking at the baby born of Mary,

not knowing her grand-donkey

will carry this same child

into Jerusalem some 33 years

from now - and into the lives

of billions of people to come.
Oh my God, you’re calling me

to be a donkey - to carry Jesus to

others. Oh come let us adore him.

O come let us adore him:

Christ the Lord. Amen.

© Andy Costello, Reflection 2012

ADVENT  PRAYER 

          Watching and waiting 

                   for you, Lord Jesus,

          watching and waiting

                   for you in prayer.

          Jesus, you are the beginning

                   and the end of my everything. 

          You touch my life from A to Z.

          You are the Alpha and the Omega.

          You are the center around which

                   my life keeps spinning

                   from birth till death:

                   my Bethlehem to my Calvary.

          Watching and waiting

                   for you, Lord Jesus,

          watching and waiting

                   for you in prayer.

          Jesus, you stand there

                   on the shore of my life,

          calling me to drop everything,

                   and follow you.

          You are still the Story Teller,

                   telling me about the Kingdom.

          You are still the Healer,

                   ready to heal me

                   of bad memories and of my mistakes.

          You are still the Lover,

                   standing on the lake shore of my death,

                   ready to feed me,

                   ready to love me,

                   ready to bring me into eternity.

© Andy Costello, Prayers for Markings, December 1991

ON  THIN ICE 

Quote for Today  - December 21, 2012

"What a sea 
Of melting ice I walk on!"

Philip Massinger [1583-1646], The Maid of Honour, [1632], a Tragicomedy in 5 acts.

Comment: At some point in our life, we need to look at the foundations of our life - what we stand for - what our life is built on. We need to name our present platform. We ought to then name our dream platform - whether it's justice for all, listening, family, God, leaving the earth better than we found it or what have you.  We need to ask: "Am I standing on a sea of melting ice?"

O 

NOW  - I GET CHRISTMAS

“Ero Cras!”

“Ero” - Latin future tense

for “I will be”.

“Cras” - Latin word

for “tomorrow”.

“ERO  CRAS”:

it's Latin phrase for

“I will be there tomorrow.”

Wait a minute!

Are you saying

the world is going to end

tomorrow, December 21, 2012?

No - I’m saying that Christ

will come again today, 
tomorrow and again 
and again and then at the End.

“ERO CRAS!”

An acrostic, an acronym -

each letter standing for
the first letter of a Latin word
describing “Christ”.

Way back before they

had TV and techy stuff,

that had time to write

things like “O Come,

O Come, Emmanuel” -

listing 7 titles for Jesus - 
with those 7 letters in Latin 
of “ERO CRAS.”

E -  Emmanuel - Jesus God is with us.

R -  Rex - Jesus is King of the Gentiles.

O - Oriens - Jesus is Orient - the morning light.

C - Clavis Jesus is the Key.

R - Radix - Jesus is the Root of Jesse.

A - Adonai - Jesus is Leader.  

S - Sapientia - Jesus is Wisdom.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2012

THE GOD GROAN

Quote for Today - December 20,  2012

"God is an unutterable sigh, planted in the depths of the soul."

"Gott ist ein unaussprechlichter Seufzer, im Grunde der Seele gelegen."

Johann Paul Friedrich Richter [1763-1825] - German Romantic writer

Painting on top: Johann Paul Friedrich Richter

Check out 2 Corinthians 5: 1-5.  Then check out Romans 8: 26-27.  Johan's father was am organist who became a pastor. Did he hear his dad preach from these texts?

THE LORD BE WITH  YOU 

“The Lord be with you!”

Isn’t that a sweet blessing?

We say it at Mass - but not

on the street - yet I have

heard grandmothers saying,

“God be with you on your

way back to college. Drive

carefully now. Drive carefully!”

And I heard someone singing

in the parking lot on their way

to their car after Mass, “O come.

o come, Emmanuel.” It was one

of those many simple graces

that God gives at times - simply

to show: “The Lord is with us!”

© Andy Costello Reflections, 2012