Saturday, January 10, 2015

January 10, 2015 
FULLY ALIVE - ALIVE! 



Alive and running,
fast horses, fast birds,
gliding, the ocean sliding
steadily wave after wave,
for millions and millions 
of years towards the shore, 
and on that beach
slow seals, sea lions, like
vacationers at the shore - 
beavers munching,
koala bears yawning, 
alive, relaxing, at home,
with each other, like
old folks lounging  on
the beach - each sort of
saying, "I too am alive.
I'm  unique. I'm not as 
fast as horses galloping
along the edge of the sea 
or birds gliding in the wind.
Yet all of us are singing,
"Alive, alive....  We're alive.
Thank you God for gifting 
us with so much life. Amen.



© Andy Costello, Reflections 2015

Friday, January 9, 2015

January 9, 2015

INCONSISTANT



She prays,
but she doesn’t talk and listen to others.

He goes to communion,
but he refuses communication with his sister.

She has ear buds and iTunes,
but never sings or goes to Church.

He goes to confession,
but he refuses to forgive his father.

She says grace before meals,
but she is not graceful with the gifts around the table.

He’s pro-life – has bumper stickers and he marches -,
but never turns off the TV to be with and listen to his kids.

She’s always texting and talking on her iPhone with other teenagers,
but has been avoiding her parents for years and years and years.

He pauses at the water cooler to eye the new secretary,
but he hasn’t given his wife a look and a compliment in years.


© Andy Costello, Reflections 2015


© Andy Costello Reflections 2015

Thursday, January 8, 2015

January 8, 2015


     

YESTERDAY,  TOMORROW,
BUT NOT TODAY

Too many times I’m not here.
I’m elsewhere. I’m somewhere
else in my distant past or I’m far,
far into my not yet future. Sorry,
I’m not listening. I might even
be looking you right in the eye,
or sending words into your ears, 
but I am on some other day on some
other calendar – singing about
some yesterday or some tomorrow.
Sorry, sorry, sorry, for not being
with you in this present moment.



© Andy Costello, Reflections 2015

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

January 7, 2015




WINDEX

Sometimes we notice when our glasses are dirty -
so too the front windshield in our car  – but we 
don’t notice when our soul is spotty or streaky
and could use some Windex or a good washing.

Then again, maybe we’re lazy and we prefer to stay
in the dark – to avoid the hard work of understanding
and the holiness of clear thinking. Maybe we want
a dark window so we don’t have to see into our soul.



© Andy Costello, 2015 Reflections

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

January 6, 2015

10  LIFETIME  SKILLS 




What are the 10 most basic lifetime skills?

Are they:
·       the ability to smile;
·       the ability to cry;
·       the ability to hear;
·       the ability to point;
·       the ability to crawl;
·       the ability to stand;
·       the ability to walk;
·       the ability to make words;
·       the ability to hug;
·       the ability to laugh?

Which of those skills is the most important?

Are there any skills I'm forgetting?
When does the ability to forgive kick in?
Are anger and tantrums skills?
When does anyone realize, "I just hurt someone"?
How old does someone start to say, “Thank you!”
How old does one mean it when they say, “I love you!”
How old does one know what saying, “Help!” means?
Which comes first: “Help!” “Thanks!” or “Sorry!” 
How old does one have to be to pray?
What about the ability to draw?
About what age does one realize, “I am loved!" 



© Andy Costello, Reflections 2015
A  SECRET  CALLED  EMPTINESS



INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Tuesday after Epiphany  is, “A Secret Called Emptiness.”

To know I have a gauge on the dashboard of my soul – with the letters E and F – Empty or Full –  is to know one of the important secrets about life.

As we keep moving along the road of life –  sometimes we notice our life is running on empty.

What satisfies us? What fills our emptiness? What fills us up?

TODAY’S READINGS

Today’s readings trigger thoughts about emptiness.

In today’s first reading from the First Letter of John we hear that the person who is without love does not know God. They are empty – but they might not know it.

Then First John says that the opposite is also true: the person who loves God in his or her emptiness – knows God – or at least has glimpses of their hunger for God within.

The dying fire is dying for fuel.  The empty stomach is growling for food.

The Gospels teach us that Christianity points us to the cross with the almost naked – the empty nailed down handed Christ – on each  cross.

Each person who comes to church – arrives with an empty hungry heart – for communion with Christ. Each person comes up the aisle – to stop and to be fed with Christ the Bread of life – for Christ who with emptied bellied sounds  - the empty Christ – wanting to be filled with us in return – in communion – filled with love for us.

Today’s gospel from Mark 6 tells us about all this – when he tells us about a vast crowd of 5000 who are like sheep without a shepherd – who are hungry and empty – and Jesus tells his disciples to feed them.

They ask if Jesus wants them to buy 200 days’ wages worth of food to feed this hungry crowd?

Jesus asks them to find out what they already have.  Then with 5 loaves of bread and the 2 fish that they have, Jesus asks his disciples to break up the crowd into rows of 100 and 50 – and then break up the bread and feed these hungry caught fish. They do and all those empty stomachs are filled – and they have 12 wicker baskets of bread and fish left over.

Blessed are those who hunger – for they shall have their full.

Blessed are those who know they are empty – for they shall discover the need to beg in order to be full.

Blessed are those without love, as the first reading puts it – because then they can open up their empty hands – and become full with the bread of life.

EMPTINESS

The Hollywood screen writer, Ben Hecht, once described love as having “a hole in the heart.”

Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician and Christian spiritual writer said, “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every one which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.”

When was the last time I felt empty?

Walk down any street – walk into any store or any mall  - and you can see that everyone of us is a beggar on the corners of life.

Then there all those  teenagers – and so many others -  with their cellphones filling their ears. The increase of cellphone sound signals for me that many people want  communion – holy communion – daily communion with others.

There are all the hungry people with their plastic bags – walking out of a hundred stores with their fill of stuff to fill their empty hearts.

As someone said: the rich feel so empty – because they want the poor to be filled with envy for them; but the poor know they are empty because they want the so much more – and on and on and on – the world turns.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily was, “A Secret Called Emptiness.”


Only the person who knows their emptiness or almost emptiness – pulls into the rest area – to be filled.

Monday, January 5, 2015

January 5, 2015

WEATHER  REPORT 


Temperatures will be in the 90’s all week.
Rainy – heavy at times. Bring your umbrella.
There’s a 75 percent chance of snow tonight.
Bundle up tomorrow. Stay indoors if possible….

Sunny disposition, the winter of our discontent….
Cold, hot, chilly, breezy, frozen, wondering….
Nervous, uptight, at ease, comfortable….
“The sun will come up tomorrow…. Tomorrow….”


© Andy Costello, Reflections 2015