February 27, 2016

STATUES  OF  LIMITATIONS 

We are statues of limitations.

We’re this bit tall and this bit wide.

We’ve got this face and this name.

We have our roots and our history.

We have our questions and our mystery.

We end where our skin begins.

We can never say all we want to say.
We can never do all we want to do.

We’re limited. We’re caught in this body.

We only have so much time.
We only have so much energy.

We have a birthday and a death day.

We are statues of limitations.

That is till we close our eyes - and enter

into God - who is no statue - no idol -

but unlimited mystery, grace, laughter,

a God who has tears about our not-knowing,

but that is small potatoes - because we

don’t know God - nor how far out into  

the night the universe goes - if that’s

the way it goes - and why in the world

there are hippopotamuses, owls, murdered

sons and raped women and why some

dead leaves hang onto trees till Spring.

 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

EXPECT  MESS 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 2^nd Friday in Lent is, “Expect Mess.”

Last night I sat down to write this homily. When I read today’s two readings the thought and the theme that hit me was, “Expect Mess.”

If we expect life to work perfectly and to go according to our plan, we’re in for uneasy and antsiness of mind. We’re in for mess. 

If we know - on the other hand - at times things are not going to go according to plan - that things will get messy at times - then in the long run we’re going to be a happier camper.

TAKE TODAY’S FIRST READING - GENESIS 37:3-4, 12-13A, 17B-28A

Jacob - now called “Israel” - loves Joseph best of all his sons. 

How many parents have we heard say, “I have no favorite!”  So too teachers - they claim that they have no favorite student.

In reality we all have our favorites - for various reasons - in various ways - and this can mess things up.

We might not think we have favorites - but those who watch us in action, know. They see us favoring one kid over the other. Then sense we like so and so better than so and so. 

So what else is new?

In this first reading from Genesis Joseph’s brothers want to kill him. They just don’t like him. They don’t like his mouth. They don’t like his dreams. 

Next comes a change in the story. Reuben  speaks up. Instead of killing Joseph directly, he suggests that we throw Joseph in a cistern.  This will give him time. He  plans that he can come back and rescue Joseph.

Next comes the great change in the story. A caravan of Ishmaelites come up the road. They are merchants on their way down  to Egypt. Judah says, “Why kill our brother? Let’s sell him to these traders and tell our father that he was killed by a wild beast.”

Keep reading. We’ll find out how good things will happen out of this complete family mess

TAKE TODAY’S GOSPEL - MATTHEW 21: 33-43, 45-46

In the parable for today the chief priests and the elders are trying to mess up Jesus - so he tells them about the parable of landowner.  Like God the Father, the land owner keeps sending his agents to pick up some produce from his land. The tenants want the land to be theirs - so they kill and maim and mess up everyone and everything - so as to get their way.

The obvious message from Jesus to the Pharisees is that life has its payback. Life has its crosses and difficulties and disasters and it’s going to hit them some day. Expect the cross. Expect mess.

SIN AND SUFFERING

Today’s readings also triggered for me the mess called “sin”.

They also trigger the reality of  “suffering” - which at times is part of the mess of sin.

The Stations of the Cross are not just on Church walls - they are on the walls of our own homes.

Lent is a good time to take a look at how we deal with sin and suffering - how we deal with mess - how we make our stations of the cross.

SAYINGS & STORIES

It’s been my experience that people have sayings and stories to deal with mess.

The other day something went wrong about a Mass at St. Mary’s. I heard a lady respond by saying philosophically, “This too shall pass.” That saying works for many people. I remember reading way back a story about that saying. A great king  of Persia asked his wise men to come up with a saying that will sum up the secret of happiness. He added that it has to make the happy sad and the sad happy. The saying that won was, “This too shall pass” - and it can be inscribed on the inside of a ring - to be looked to at times of turmoil.

Do you have a saying like, “This too shall pass” that helps you deal with the messy moments of life. Or do you have a story that helps you deal with mess? I’m sure you heard the origin of “This too shall pass.”

The other day I added that I follow the July 4^th Principle: “What difference will it make next July 4^th what happened today.” I’ve heard other people say, “What difference will it mean in 20,000 years what happened today.”

A man told me that his old Irish mother used to say, “It could be worse.”

CONCLUSION

We can learn a lot from mess - the messes of life.

Pat Livingston wrote a whole book on this entitled, Bless this Mess.

The great baseball pitcher Christy Mathewson. - said, “You can learn little from victory. you can learn everything from defeat.”

So when mess hits us, pray, Bless this mess.”

When the messes of life hit us,  ask, “What’s the learning here?”

Think of before and afters - and make the afters a beautiful mess.

February 26, 2016

A LIGHT AT NIGHT

Driving down dark roads - on dark nights -

I see here and there - a light in a house off

to the side - or a plane’s flickering lights

high in the sky. I know I’m not alone on the

dark roads of life - but sometimes I find

myself screaming, “Morning…. Come

quickly. Hurry up the dawn. More light!”

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

February 25, 2016

MINDFULNESS

“Mindfulness.” I am hearing that word a lot lately.

Awareness of the wind, the sounds, the scents

in the room and on the train platform  - all round me.

“Mindfulness.” I am eating and this time I taste

the salt and the cold butter and I see the ice cubes

in the water and the words and faces around me.

“Mindfulness.” I pause and hear scripture texts

in my memory. “Be still and know that I am God.”

“Even though the valley is dark, I am with you.”

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

February 24, 2016

WHY NOT?

Some say God is pulling all the strings.

Others say, God is on another planet.

Me? I don’t know - but I like to think God

likes to touch new born babies tiny toes

and watch little kids learning to use a yoyo.

I like to think God pauses to watch

starlings in flight - 25 violins in a orchestra
in total sync - and watermelons on plates

waiting for their moment in a picnic.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

February 23, 2016

CLOSURE

Closure, it’s one of those words that

makes sense when it means, “Let it go!”

Easier said than done. It’s a goal to let 
something go when it's crushing us. At 
times pain or anger or a mistake or things we

have no control over us are controlling us.

Closure!  It’s a good idea because sometimes

it works and people actually let something go.

Closure! It’s good to know that doors have

knobs and locks that unlock and unless we

have dementia,  our whole life is within and lots

of things trigger lots of memories and moments.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

THE  PUBLIC 

AND THE  PRIVATE  ME

Diego Rivera portrait 

of Jacques  Lipchitz (1814)

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 2^nd Tuesday in Lent is, “The Public and the Private Me.”

As we all know, we all have a public and a private self.

As we all know the real me is the me when nobody is looking.

Question: How well do I know the real me?

Answer: When the real me is pausing to look in on the real me and we start to get particulars.

JESUS

Jesus was very aware of this reality.

In today’s gospel Jesus  talks about the Pharisees and their need to make their public self look great. Jesus says, “All their works are performed to be seen.”  They love to be up front. They love titles - being called “Rabbi” or “Master” or “Father”.

Worse they try to load others down with excessive laws and burdens - to make themselves look good and others look bad.

The Gospel of Matthew comes from after Mark - which is dated from 64-69 and before the year 110.

I was taught that the stuff in a gospel is aimed at people around the time it was written - so that tells me not only were there Pharisees in the time of Jesus but also in the early church of Matthew or whatever gospel we’re looking at.

So what else is new? There are always going to be people who are Pharisees - up front and trying to be seen - as well as trying to lord it over other people and make them feel inferior, guilty and sinful. And the biggest offenders can be those up front - like priests.

Tassel wearers, beware when you’re wearing tassels. Instead, keep trying to touch the tassel of Jesus and don’t shake your own.

THE INNER ME

So the call of Lent is to go into the inner room - into the all by myself me - and look in the mirror and see oneself.

And to see ourselves as we really are can be and ought to be quite humbling.  Notice the last sentence in today’s gospel, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

SPILLED SPAGHETTI

If we look in the mirror we can see the spilled spaghetti stains of life.

Sin is a spill - like an oil spill - like a ballpoint pen that leaks - like tomato sauce on a white Irish sweater.

In time can wash our hands and our sweaters - and slowly get the oil and ink stains and tomato sauce stains off.

But when we are within - when we’re talking to ourselves as the private - the me I really am - we know the mistakes and the spills and the mess of our lives.

It’s difficult to wash blood red spaghetti stains of the fabric of our soul and our memory.

Isaiah in today’s first reading tells us, “Come now, let us set things right…. Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow. Though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool.”

It’s been my experience that white wash, that cleansing of sins, sometimes takes a lifetime - a long time.

I think of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book, The Scarlet Letter, and how long  and now shameful it was for Hester Prynne to wear the dress with the Big A in front. A is for adultery.

The private me of every person is wearing inwardly A’s for abortion, or G for some big hurt we caused on another for gossip or E or P or M or S or what have you.

We are our own library and librarian.

My mind took notice of a scene in another of Hawthorne’s stories, The Marble Faun.  There is Miriam and there is Hilda. Hilda is the type who walked around  looking down on others - making “Ttch! Ttch!” - “Naughty, Naughty” - sounds on folks she considered sinners.  In Chapter 23, Miriam says in so many words, “Honey you ought to go out and commit  a really big sin and maybe then you’ll understand the rest of us.”

Here’s how Hawthorne has Miriam challenge Hilda,

"I always said, Hilda, that you were merciless; for I had a perception of it, even while you loved me best. You have no sin, nor any conception of what it is; and therefore you are so terribly severe! As an angel, you are not amiss; but, as a human creature, and a woman among earthly men and women, you need a sin to soften you."

CONCLUSION

We are both public and private persons.

Lent is a good time to  get within ourselves and grow in holiness and humility - and stop worrying about our public perception and public self.