LIFE  AFTER  DEATH 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 8^th Monday in Ordinary Time  is, “Life After Death.”

At some point in everyone’s life, that becomes life’s question - Life’s # 1 Question.

We think about death - and life after death. It varies how the thoughts arise - perhaps first about others - like one’s parents or grandparents - then about ourselves.

Is this it? Is this all there is? Or is there life beyond this?

Last week, with the news stories about discovery of 7 new planets, in some other solar system, the talk  about the possibility of life in outer space - on other planets has reappeared.

But what about the lives of those who have died ahead of us. Are all the people who ever lived alive in some kind of inner space -  invisible space?  Is there a space, a place, called, "Heaven" or "Hell" or "Purgatory" or what? 

What is life?  What is the soul?  What is the life principle - that makes a corpse different than someone walking down the street?

So my homily is an effort to talk about these questions that we reflect upon from time to time.

Obviously people think and talk inwardly and sometimes outwardly about all this - more at 77 than 57 or 37 - and especially not when we were 17.

EVERY RELIGION - EVERY PHILOSOPHY

Every religion, every philosophy, faces this question about life eternal or what have you.

Every  - well not every - but every.... That’s what’s called a Semitic universal.

Everyone was at the party. Everyone? Well not everyone - but everyone. You know what I mean.

Well everyone thinks about, “Is this all there is?”

I just was at a burial and a service at Hillcrest Cemetery at 11 AM. Cemeteries have all those stones - with names and numbers on them in stone - but underneath is the decaying of a body.

Do cemeteries cause the most reflection - say like - more than the NICU section of a hospital?

TODAY’S FIRST READING

It was a comment in today’s first reading from Sirach that triggered these  thoughts - this topic - these questions.

“Who in the nether world can glorify the Most High in place of the living who offer their praise? Dwell no longer in the error of the ungodly, but offer your praise before death. No more can the dead give praise
than those who have never lived....”

Different commentators say that Sirach is saying that death is it. We know what we can do when alive - but when dead - we are either no more - or we’re in a nebulous nether world. 

Some use the Hebrew word “Sheol” - which becomes “Hades” - when translated into Greek - as the world for the nether world.

But every religion has some word or words to describe the next life - if they don’t say, “That’s it.”

THE REALITY OF DOUBTS

It’s interesting to state that those who believe in a life after death have doubts - and those who say, “That’s it!” have doubts as well.

In reading about Judaism on this topic - I kept on noticing that there is no consistency - no absolute statement - “This is what Jews believe when it comes to an afterlife.”

I can never forget the moment I was standing at my brother’s grave with his buddy - his best friend. We were praying. In fact Marty asked me if he could say the Kaddish Prayer out loud and I said, “Of course.” So he prayed in Hebrew or Aramaic. Afterwards he said to me, “I don’t believe in life after death.”

That killed me!

That triggered the reality of people standing there having two totally different beliefs.

A bunch of years later I’m sitting there in a room with Marty and his wife Gloria - and she is dying of cancer - and they were kidding and saying, “Wait till Pat and you are together looking down on us here and laughing at us.”

Gloria and me a short time before she died.

This stuff is the stuff of story and pathos and connections and people with people. I can still hear the sound of earth from my shovel falling down into Gloria’s grave one Sunday morning - surrounded by well over 100 people at her burial.

Death and cemetery moments trigger these questions as well.

CHRISTIANS

The gift of Christ is resurrection - the heart of Christianity.

St. Paul says if Christ did not rise from the dead, then we’re a bunch of fools - because that’s our central belief. [Cf. 1 Corinthians 15.]

IMPOSSIBLE

How is this possible?

Let’s say it’s impossible - then we trust in Jesus’ words from today’s gospel.

With God all is possible.

CONCLUSION

This is heavy stuff to think about on a Monday early afternoon.

Lent is almost upon us - Ash Wednesday is two days away.

Lent is a time of more serious thinking.

Lent ends with the death of Jesus on Good Friday and the Resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday.

Amen.

MANIFESTING THE MOTIVES 

OF OUR HEART

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Manifest the  Motives of  Our  Heart.”

As I listened to the readings we have for today - this 8^th Sunday in Ordinary Time [Year A] - a comment from today’s second reading from Saint Paul grabbed me: “manifest the motives of our hearts….”

“… manifest the motives of our hearts….”

Here’s that comment in full context:

“Therefore do not make any judgment

before the appointed time,
until the Lord comes,
for he will bring to light

what is hidden in darkness
and will manifest the motives of our hearts,
and then everyone will receive praise from God.” [1 Corinthians 4:5]

MOTIVES

All of us are detectives.

All of us - when we are scratching our head - and trying to figure out the otherness of other people ask, “Motive?”

We cry over and over again, “Why? Why? Why?”

We want to know what’s the why of the what that has happened?

We like mysteries - if they are in a book or on  TV - trying to get to the why and then the who of a crime.

We know our who’s - the who’s who in our lives.

It’s the  why’s about them that we spend so much energy on.

TODAY’S READINGS

In today’s first reading from Isaiah 49: 14-15, we want to know at times why God has forgotten us.

At least that’s what we feel and think. It hits us when there is cancer, a death, an accident, a disaster. It happens and we pray. We scream at God. It seems God has forgotten us.

So Isaiah voices God back to us when we feel that way - when disaster happens, “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.”

So when someone dies, don’t blame God. Look to self. Look to realities. One question would be: “What would Spaceship Earth or Ark Earth look like if nobody ever died?”

In today’s gospel - continuing the Sermon on the Mount - we have lots of food for thought - when it comes to motives.

For example: Why are you worried - anxious - about food and drink and clothing?

For example: Why are you trying to serve two masters? Don’t you know that will pull you apart?  Don’t you know the Russian proverb: Chase two wolves and you’ll catch neither?

LIST OF MOTIVES

I’ve often wondered if there is a good list of motives around.

I’ve heard that the 3 key problems in marriage are money, sex and in-laws.

I’ve heard that the 2 key motives are fear vs. love?

I typed into Google the word, “Motives.”

One article said that psychologists divide motives into 3 categories: biological, social, and personal motives. Then they break down those 3 motives to many subdivisions.

Someone came up with 12 motives for murder:

·       To keep a secret

·       Revenge

·       Frustration/hate

·       Money/Greed

·       Sex/Jealousy

·       Property Dispute

·       Personal Vendetta

·       Political

·       Class Conflict

·       Narcotics

·       Other Felonies

·       Urge to Protect

A Stephen Reiss came up from a study of 6,000 people, 16 basic desires:

1.    Acceptance - the need to be appreciated

2.    Curiosity, the need to gain knowledge

3.    Eating, the need for food

4.    Family, the need to take care of one’s offspring

5.    Honor, the need to be faithful to the customary values of an individual’s ethnic group, family or clan

6.    Idealism, the need for social justice

7.    Independence, the need to be distinct and self-reliant

8.    Order, the need for prepared, established, and conventional environments

9.    Physical activity, the need for work out of the body

10.                    Power, the need for control of will

11.                    Romance, the need for mating or sex

12.                    Saving, the need to accumulate something

13.                    Social contact, the need for relationship with others

14.                    Social status, the need for social significance

15.                    Tranquility, the need to be secure and protected

16.                    Vengeance, the need to strike back against another person

So there are various lists.

I would suggest doing some homework and try to come up with key motives that make sense to you.

Then watch yourself.

Know yourself.

And it you don’t like a motive that drives you, get rid of that car and drive a new car. Work on working on a better life style.

CONCLUSION

I think that's a decent start on the topic of motivations.

Let me close with this short piece from Daniel Ladinsky’s book, Love Poems from God. The following is some thoughts from St. John of the Cross put up in poetic language from Daniel Ladinsky.

  

"DIG HERE," THE ANGEL SAID

She caught me off guard when my soul said to me, "Have we met?"

So surprised I was to hear her speak like that I chuckled.

She began to sing a tale: "There was once a hardworking man who used to worry so much because he could not feed and clothe his children and wife the way he wanted.

There was a beautiful little chapel in the village where the man lived and one day while he was praying, an angel appeared.

The angel said, 'Follow me.' And he did out into an ancient forest. `Now dig here,' the angel said. And the man felt strength in his limbs he had not known since youth and with just his bare hands he dug deep and found a lost treasure, and his relationship with the world changed."

Finding our soul's beauty does that—gives us tremendous freedom from worry.

“Dig here, the angel said - in your soul, in your soul.”

February 26, 2017

THE  TREASURE  RUSH 

Everyone lined up on an imaginary line.

The drums drummed. The trumpets trumpeted.

The cannon went off - and everyone rushed

for the treasures in the field right in front of them.*

They ran with shopping carts, buckets, baskets,

boxes, wheel barrels, suitcases and bags.

They filled them up to the tip of their brims.

Then they sat there in a glow of their treasures.

Some smiled. Some felt filled and full.

And some looked at the others’ treasures with

great greed and need and envy in their hearts.

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017
* Cf.  Matthew 13: 44;  Matthew 6: 21.

February 25, 2017

WALLS

He wanted walls

and the wind stirred

the soil and the dust flew

over the border - laughing.

He wanted walls

and the water became

mist and became rain and the

Pacific laughed becoming the Atlantic.

He wanted walls

and the crowds laughed

and told him his mother and

his wife were from the other side.

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

February 24, 2017

YO-YO

Life is a yo-yo -

up and down,

up and down….
Rock the cradle....

Walk the dog....

Around the world....

Sometimes there are knots,

and sometimes yo-yos are left

on a kid’s bureau, then slide

into the top drawer,
forgotten for a while - 

only to be picked up again
in another season… some 

other time.  Amen.

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

FRIENDSHIP

INTRODUCTION

Today’s first reading from Sirach 6: 5-17 focuses on the theme of  friendship.

In this text, Sirach or Ben Sira,  looks at several aspects or issues when it comes to considering this important topic of friendships.

AQUAINTANCES AND FRIENDS

The first issue is the difference between acquaintances and friends.

Today’s text says, “Let your acquaintances be many, but one in a thousand your confidant.” (Verse 6:6)

The English of this Greek  text from Sirach uses the number  “thousand”.  I would like to know what the Greek text has, but I couldn’t locate one at present. I know they found in Cairo, Egypt, between 1896-1900, a Hebrew text of Sirach from the 12^th century. However, I couldn’t get my hands on a Hebrew Text either. As you know, Sirach is not in most Jewish Bibles. So I don’t know what Hebrew word they use for 1,000.*

But think of that word 1000. How many times have we heard people say, “I have thousands and friends”? I find that significant, because people juggle and toss the word “friend” around an awful lot lately.  I’ve heard various people - when discussing the word “friend” say things like what Sirach says.  I hear him saying: we have lots of acquaintances - but in reality a few friends or confidants.

I like the statement that if we have 5 friends in a lifetime we are lucky.

I don’t tweet or text - or use some of these social media things - other than e-mail - but I know the word “befriend” flows freely. I have heard people say that they have thousands of friends - because they invite all kinds of people into their chat rooms and Facebooks pages, etc. etc. etc.

So that’s the first message I take from Sirach - the difference between acquaintances and friends.

SOMETIMES FRIENDS BECOME ENEMIES

The second issue Sirach tackles is the horrible experience of a friend who becomes an enemy.

I would add that experience tells us loud and clear the difference between an acquaintance and a friend. The degree of hurt tells us the quality of a relationship - whether this other is a friend or an acquaintance.

If it really hurts, then we’re talking more about a friendship - or an assumed friendship more than an acquaintance.

Sirach describes this person as one who talks about a fight we’ve had with them or whatever - to our shame.

Jesus knows this one very well - with his friend Judas who betrays him.

Today’s gospel talks about divorce - the horrible experience when 2 people who hopefully were best friends - had their marriage fell apart - and they often become enemies. Sirach stuff is good stuff to reflect upon when reflecting upon one’s marriage.

THIRD - SUNNY DAY VS. RAINLY DAY FRIENDS

Sirach talks next about shallow friends and friends who are there in tough times - especially when we need them. When things are going great, great; when things are going sour, see you later alligator.

In fact, when things are going bad for us,  this type of friend turns against us or avoids us.

Someone said, “False friendship, like ivy, decays and ruins the walls it embraces; but true friendship gives new life and animation to the object it supports.”

Ben Sira wrote his stuff around 180 B.C.  It’s not in the Jewish Bible, but it’s in ours. As one reads today’s first reading, it sounds like stuff  that could be written in our time. It’s stuff that lasts - and that’s probably why it lasted.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is “Friendship.”

I urge you to jot down 3 to 5 life time friends.

They are home to us - a sturdy shelter to rest under  as Sirach puts it. They are a treasure - to cherish.

FOOTNOTE

·       [As an aside - or a distraction - I want to sneak in mention of a book I read last year: Sacred Treasure -- The Cairo Genizah by Rabbi Mark Glickman. I found out that a Genizah is an attic or big room in a synagogue where they sort of “dump”  old sacred writings or anything Jewish in print. The one in Cairo was a gold mine of old Jewish writings. Between 1896 and 1982 - but most early on - they found 4 texts of Sirach in Hebrew from the 10^th to the 12^th centuries - plus fragments. Scholars say Sirach was written in Hebrew by Ben Sira. Then his grandson - according to the Translator's Foreword - says he translated it for the Jews in Egypt. I'm assuming that translation was into Greek.  I’d also recommend checking out information on Genizahs. There is another book about them. This one is not called, “Sacred Treasure” but  “Sacred Trash”. In the Catholic Church people often bring a shopping bag containing old prayer books of someone who died. The practice is to burn them - which Jews are not supposed to do - hence the Genizah. It’s my experience that Catholics sometimes dump them in a rectory side room and run.]

February 23, 2017

TIME

Time is not a tick, tick, tick,

the moving of a dial through

a circle or the jump of some

digital numbers on a clever

clock every 60 seconds.

No, no, no…. Time is moments,

memories, interactions, specific

significant events - mysteries we

spend so much time on - trying to

figure out - just what a time meant.

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017