Sunday, June 5, 2016

June 4, 2016



HOME:
A SCENE FROM PSALM 23 

It's been raining, raining, raining,
for the longest time now. Then it 
stopped and with the sun and with 
June here finally and forever, 
everything was green, green, green.

Death, death, death, too many deaths
for the longest time now. Then it 
stopped and with God and love we
were here together and forever, and
everything was green, green, green. 

In the cemetery where our family plots
and spots were - everything was green,
green, green, but also in the dark, dark
valley we all had to go through till here
we are  - all together forever in heaven.


© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

Saturday, June 4, 2016


LOVE  IS  A  HOLE 
IN THE HEART

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this feast of the Sacred Heart is, “Love Is A Hole In The Heart.”

That’s a quote from a guy named, “Ben Hecht.

It’s from his 1958 play, Winkelberg.

I don’t know the scene or the setting, but someone says, “Love is a hole in the heart.”

FEAST OF THE SACRED HEART


i haven't done my research on why describing Jesus as THE Sacred Heart had so much impact on so many people.


My guess is that when religion becomes too rational - too heady -  the pendulum swings from the mind to the heart. 


Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque had her visions starting back the 1630's and they were sculpted into Jesus the Sacred Heart. Was rationalism being born at the time and this counter intuitive image showed up.



Sister Faustina Kowalska had her visions in the 1930's. She described what she saw to the artist, Eugeniusz Kazimirowski. He painted what he heard and it became the Divine Mercy image of Jesus.




It's my wondering if the image of the Sacred Heart had dropped out so much that the image of Divine Mercy popped up to take it's place. 

It has Jesus with light coming out of him - but notice the light is coming out of his heart. 

HEART AND BRAINS: PHYSICAL 

Obviously, we know that the heart is a pump - with 4 chambers - and the blood of our whole subway system makes its rounds all day long - 24 / 7.

And a hole in that system would be dangerous - very dangerous.

Obviously, we know that our brain is our center - our capital - our caput - where we have our computer system - our Random Access Memory - our cloud - our thinking system - our supreme court, our congress, our library system, our files, our laws - our president, etc. etc. etc.

And sometimes we have headaches - and we hold our head - and we shake our head and say at times, “Too much! It’s too much for me.”

Then again we have this heart in the center of our chest - for most folks on the left side - and sometimes in stress we put our hand to our heart and go, “Oh boy, oh girl, too much, too much, too much.”

HEART AS IMAGE AND METAPHOR


Love is a hole in the heart.

And that hole longs to be filled.

Or that hole needs to be emptied.

Hate can also be a hole in the heart.

So too jealousy, so too envy, so too anger… etc. etc. etc.

Question: what is our heart filled with? What does it long for? Where does it feel empty? Where are the holes?

GOD: THE HEART SHAPED HOLE IN THE HEART

Blaise Pascal  - author of  - Pensées or Thoughts, gets credit  for triggering the phrase “the God-Shaped Hole in the Heart”.

He wrote,  “What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in us a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This we try in vain to fill with everything around us, seeking in things that are not there the help we cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.” [Pensées VII(425)]

Isn’t that the same as Augustine’s words from his Confessions, “You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless, until they find rest in you.”

Our heart is slow to realize this. Once more Augustine’s message, “Too late I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient and ever new.  Too late I loved you! And behold, you were within me, and I out of myself, and there I searched for you.” [Confessions, 10:27.]

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “Love is a hole in the heart.”

On the Feast of the Sacred Heart it’s a good prayer to enter into our heart and the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ.



Friday, June 3, 2016

June 3, 2016

Norman Rockwell

A THANKSGIVING DINNER

His eyes watched the bread
on their kitchen table. It went
quickly. He didn’t reach for a
slice - but that cold butter would
have been a wonderful treat.

Her eyes watched the meat
and the potatoes, the broccoli
and the gravy. She too didn’t
reach for the food - yet. Like her
husband  the kids came first.

Their eyes watched their parents
hands - daddy’s hands that made
the bread - mommy’s hands that
put together the rest of the meal.
Then they all began to talk. Finally….


© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016
June 2, 2016

DECISIONS


To lock a door shut.
To knock on a door.
To wait at a door.
To open a mind.
To open a door and

to let another in.

To ask for, “Help!”
or to yell back as
we’re walking out
the door for college,
“Thanks! mom and
thanks dad! Thanks!”

To say, “Yes” to this
when it means, “No”
to that - forever as
in marriage - or in
deciding a type of
cancer treatment.

To make an act of
faith that there is
a God who knows,
loves and serves
me and I am called
to live in that image.


© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016
June 1, 2016


RED  VIGIL  LIGHTS

She lit her candle slowly, deliberately -
making sure the wick caught fire. It
burned in the small red glass cup.

He lit his candle slowly, as well,
concentrating on his intention:
a prayer for his wife with cancer.

She lit four candles, one for each
of her kids - each long away from
the church. “Christ bring them home.”

He lit his candle. He did this every day -
- a prayer and a hope for his youngest
daughter - now 17 years disappeared.

She lit her candle - wondering what hopes
and prayers these 7 candles were burning
for - white flames trying to catch God’s eye.



© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016
May 31, 2016

I  DON’T  KNOW! 
MAYBE…. 

The Talmud, as they say,
says, “Teach thy tongue
to say, ‘I do not know!’”

I do not know why this baby
died at 3 months. Maybe ….

I do not know why God
made tree leaves green
and granite grey. Maybe….

I do not know why water
begins to freeze or melt
at 32 degrees and begins 
to boil at 212 degrees Fahrenheit -
but not always. Maybe….

I do not know why cows moo, dogs
bark and cats meow and the whole
woods is a symphony orchestra
some summer nights. Maybe….

I do not know why God bumped
me into you today and why friends
move away tomorrow.  Maybe….

I don’t know why the ocean seems
to stop here and not go any further,
but sometimes it doesn’t.  Maybe….

I don't know why you said that. 
I don't know why I wrote this.
I don't know why you're reading this.
Maybe....




© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016
May 30, 2016


SECOND  CHANCE 

Come on now,
give me a second chance!

Allow me to repeat
what I was trying to say the first time.

I know my first chance
came out wrong and I hurt you.

I often do that
when I’m tired or I’m not thinking.

Your hurt,
your face, your turning away,
tells me better than words
that I made a mistake.

Come on now,
give me a second chance.

Okay, a third
and a fourth, a fifth,
a sixth and a seventh chance as well -
even though at times I don’t give
you a second chance.

Bummer.

I guess this me is me.

I guess this you is you.

I guess Jesus was right.

Life calls for seventy-seven times
forgiveness [1] and second chances
and sometimes second
and third chance marriages.

Oooo!

Did Jesus say that?

Am I allowed to say that?

Come on now,
give me a second chance.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016


[1] Matthew 18: 21-22