Saturday, April 8, 2017


HOLY WEEK PRAYER

Lord Jesus,
this week we walk with you into Holy Week:
Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday.

Holy Thursday: we hear Last Supper words
of love and bearing fruit,
as well as hints of denial and betrayal.
With washed feet we receive you:
bread and wine, body and blood.
We walk with you one last time,
this time hearing the call for Garden prayer.
We fall asleep unable to watch
and pray one hour with you.
We run away from you,
as you are being betrayed by a kiss.

Dark Friday: we hide there
the next day in the shadows,
trying to get glimpses of you,
crucified on wood with words
and spit and nails.
You die -- bleeding words of thirst,
forgiveness and letting go.

Empty Saturday: we sulk there in the silence,
filled with doubts -- doubts that any of this
has any meaning,
not yet knowing resurrection. 
We began this week with palm branches
and Hosannas;
we end this week with anxious empty silence. 
Our upper rooms, our minds,
are filled with fear and lack of peace

Sunday: we walk backwards
talking only about yesterday,
not yet knowing the meaning of today! 
Amen! Come Lord Jesus!
You break through our walls;
you walk into our thoughts;
you stand on our shores;
you break bread and words with us again. 
Slowly, the whole story
begins to take on meaning. 
Slowly, we rise from our sleep,
beginning to know that all of this
had to happen this way. 
We begin to see that life
is celebration and Hosannas,
passion and pain, death and resurrection. 
Life is love and bearing fruit;
life is betrayals and denials;
life is death and then
the hope of resurrection. 


Amen! Come Lord Jesus!



©  Markings Prayers, Andy Costello
April 8, 2017


10  DAILY  TASKS 

Listen to one person no one listens to ….
Say, “Can I get you a glass of water?”....
Look deep into  another’s eyes - far back ….
Drop into a holy place - any religion ….
Wave to an old person in a window ….
Hold a door for someone - with a smile ….
Call someone - “How are you doing?” ….
Study a face - wonder about their inner room ….
Pick up 2 pieces of litter ….
Walk around the block ....



© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017


Friday, April 7, 2017


WEAPONS  OF  CHOICE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 5th Friday in Lent  is, “Weapons of Choice.”

That theme - that reality - hit me when I read  the first sentence in today’s first reading and the first sentence in today’s gospel.

The first reading from Jeremiah begins, “I hear the whisperings of many. Terror on every side! Let us denounce him.”

Whisperings. Announcing denouncements against someone can be very strong weapons.  In Jeremiah’s case he says, “All those who were my friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine. ‘Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail, and take vengeance on him.’”

The gospel from John begins, “The Jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus.”

When I was in Israel in January of 2000, I notice the rocks - especially in the more desert like south. Rock, stones, that can break lots of bones.

We have all seen enough TV riots - with people picking up anything they can pick up and throw - rocks and water bottles and soda cans and signs and barriers at the police or whoever.

The title of my homily is, “Weapons of Choice.”

MARRIAGE AND FAMILY

When I meet with couples who are planning on getting married, we go through a Pre-Marriage Survey. It’s a 165 questions.  One question I ask off the paper is, “What is your weapon of choice?”

Couples look at me weird when I ask that - and I have found out it’s a good question.  I have found out that most people are unaware of their weapon of choice.

It could be silence. It could be cursing and yelling back at the other. It could be talking behind the other’s back. It could be passive aggression. It could be sleeping on the couch. It could actually be throwing things.

I don’t know what the statistics are for 100 police phone calls: how many are domestic violence?

Someone recently robbed two things from St. Mary’s church building: the tabernacle key and a Roman Missal - just like the one here on our altar.

“Let’s go to the video tape,” as Warner Wolf the TV sports announcer used to put it.

Ann Marie - in our office - went to our surveillance cameras and sure enough - they have excellent cameras   - there was a guy walking around the church - going into the sacristy - going into the safe - and walking out the church with the sacramentary book or Roman Missal - and seeing someone putting it under his jacket.

He has since been arrested. I don’t know what they have recovered.

Question: if your house - if the places you enter - if your car - was bugged - what would we see? What would we hear?

Next week is Palm Sunday and Good Friday.

Every person has their Palm Sunday Parade - when we’re honored - whether it’s going down the aisle getting married - whether it’s our birthday or anniversary or a good day - when we’re getting good press - then there are our Good, or better, our Bad Fridays, when we are crucified.

I hold that one of the central messages of the cross is this: “Hello, this is what we do to one another.”

Someone hurts us and we get back by whispering, gossip, silence or passive aggression. We sabotage another. We crucify one another.

CONCLUSION: JESUS’ MESSAGE

Jesus has many messages  about all this.

He tells us to go the extra mile. He tells us to turn the other cheek.  He tells us to answer evil with good. He tells us from the cross, “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.”

The world answers aggression with aggression - bombing - what have you.

How do we answer behavior in others that we don’t accept?


Christ tells us what to do - and he shows us how to do it.
April 7, 2017

TANGIBLE - INTANGIBLE

Intangible - God - yet God
created this world, the Invisible
gave us the visible - sunrises - the
taste of tangerines, the tangible.

Intangible - God - yet the Spirit of God
breathed into clay - and we were created - female and male we were created - 
created in the image and likeness of God.

Intangible - God - yet Jesus
told Thomas to put his hand
into Jesus'  side saying, “Believe,
Thomas, believe the unbelievable.”


© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

THE  PAUSE  THAT 
CAN  MAKE  US  A  SAINT 
  

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “The Pause That Can Make Us a Saint.”

TO BE HUMAN

To be human - means we pause.

To be smart - means we take time out - when needed.

It’s wise to say, “Give me some time.”

It’s wise to say, “Wait a minute. Let me think about this.”

It’s wise to say, “Wait a minute.  Wait a moment.  Wait.  Let me think about all this.”

That’s what I did - so as to prepare this homily - this sermon - these comments.

I paused and thought about what might be helpful for today.

A retreat day is a pause.

The junior retreat which is coming up - is a pause.

The Kairos Retreats are a pause.

PAUSE WORKS - OR CAN WORK

Years ago - when a kid was being bad - parents might spank them.

They figured the kid was being dumb - but he or she would /could feel hurt - on their back side - and maybe then they would think before they act.

Someone else said, “Wait a minute. Pause. Think about it.  Wouldn’t it be better if the kid was punished by being asked to sit in the corner - or ‘Go to his or her room’.  Maybe then they would pause and think about what they did to others - or that they lied - or were not being cooperative.”

Someone else said, “That didn’t work for my kids - but a good spanking did work.”  Others said, “That never worked for me nor for my kids - but the silent treatment  often worked.

What works for you?

Pause and think about your life.

PAUSING - TAKING TIME OUTS IS A SKILL

Taking time outs is a skill.

In sports you only have so many time outs - and if you challenge a call - and they look at the video tape - sometimes the coach who screamed - ends up losing a time out.

A pause - a time out  - a thinking about it - can help.

PRIEST IN ERIE PENNYSYLVANIA

A significant moment in life happened one Sunday morning in Erie, Pennsylvania. I was preaching at all the Masses for a weekend - about attending a week long parish mission in that parish.

Evidently the pastor forgot to tell a “helping out” priest for the 9 AM Sunday morning Mass that I was going to be preaching.  He came into the sacristy about 8:40 AM and asked who I was.  I said, “Oh I preaching at the 9 AM Mass about attending the upcoming parish mission.”

His face tightened up and he turned and walked out.

I immediately said to myself, “Uh oh. I guess the pastor didn’t tell him that I was preaching this weekend.”

He came back at 5 to 9 and told me, “Sorry. I didn’t know that you were preaching.”  Then he added, “I have a short fuse, so I learned to walk away when I am about to explode. So I just walked around the block two times.”

After Mass he told me that he had been in Atlanta the night before and didn’t get back till 10 PM - did a little work on a homily  and then got up that morning at 6 AM to finish his homily. If I knew you were preaching I would have gotten a lot more sleep.”

I said, “Ooops. Sorry.”

Well, his homily to me was, “Instead of losing it, walk away from explosive mistakes and catch one’s breath.”

Translation: “Pause!”

SAINTS

Ginny asked me to talk a little bit to you about saints.

So let me talk about the power of pause in the lives of a few saints.

The priests in this parish are Redemptorists.

Our founder, Saint Alphonsus de Liguori was a lawyer.

Once he lost a big law case and he went into the pits.

We were taught that he missed a key thing in his study in a law suit about land. Later on we heard a theory that the other side bribed someone and got the case settled in their favor. This is what killed Alphonsus.

So his life went into pause mode. He went into his room and cried a few days. Depression sunk in.

In that devastation, he decides to become a priest.

He becomes a priest, works his butt off, becomes sick, so to recover his friends suggest he take a vacation down on the Amalfi Coast. He does and while there, someone tells him there are goat herders up in the hills above Amalfi - that no priests seem to care about and what have you.

He checks out the story and discovers folks up in the hills who could use a priest  much more than folks in Naples.

That pause at Amalfi changes his life. In 1732 he forms a group of priests and brothers who are to go to places where there are no priests.

That’s how we got to Annapolis. There were no priests here before 1853. Jesuits would come up at times and say Mass at the Charles Carroll property.

The second saint would be a guy named Saint Clement Hofbauer. He paused and looked at the need for priests in Vienna Austria in the 1780’s - who were not in control of the state. He paused and looked at his life. He went down to Italy and he and a buddy, Thaddeus Hubl,  said they would go to the first church whose bells they heard on a Sunday morning. They went to a Redemptorist Monastery and the rest is history.

They were ordained in 1785 and went back to Vienna - but couldn’t get through the red tape to be priests in Vienna - and under control of Emperor Joseph, so they went to Warsaw and started our community up there.  They grew and grew but were booted out of Poland.

So Clement went back to Vienna and started us up there - and we steadily grew - but with a lot of struggle. Clement died in Vienna on March 15, 1820.

In time the bishop of Cincinnati wrote to Vienna and asked if some of our priests could come and help the Germans there. There was a shortage of priests.

Sure enough in 1832 six Redemptorists came to the United States and the rest is history.

The next saint would be Saint John  Neumann who came to the United States to become a diocesan priest in New York. He was ordained on June 25, 1836 and was sent way up to churches near Buffalo New York.

He worked hard - but he paused. He realized he wanted companionship and community  - so he joined the Redemptorists and was professed on January 16, 1842.

Next would be an almost Saint, a priest name Blessed Peter Donders. He wanted to come to the United States as a missionary - but that didn’t work at first - but someone told him about Surinam in South America. He paused and thought about it - and that’s where he was sent - arriving in Paramaribo on September 16, 1842.

Then someone in Rome said, “Let’s let the Redemptorists do the whole place, so Peter Donders would have to go back to Holland.

He was working hard with people who had leprosy, with Native people  besides Parish work. So he became a Redemptorist in 1867.

PAUSE

All these men had to pause to look at life and people in need.

If you want to be a saint, I’m suggesting in this homily to pause and look around you.

From time to time, pause to look at mom’s face or dad’s face or a teacher’s face and watch how they are doing. Then approach them from time to time and ask them how they are doing. Ask them can you help them with their work.

From time to time pause to look at how other kids in the bus or car or van are doing. Learn faces. Ask folks how they are doing.

From time to time, if you have  great chocolate chip cookies or what have you and dare to share with them.

I think about my dad. He was the quietest person I ever met.

As I look about on my life, that’s a regret that I didn’t talk to my dad enough. But as I look back I realize he said a lot without words.

Every Sunday he took us to the park. He did that to give my mom a break from us four kids.

I noticed that we complained.

But I noticed that my brother did the same with his 7 daughters. He would take them to DC on Sunday morning to give his wife, Joanne, a break. And they complained. And I noticed they have done the same with their kids.

Pause. Giving oneself or others is a wonderful break to give people.

Pause. Stopping to look at one’s life is a smart move.

Pause. Looking around when you pause is a smart move.

CONCLUSION

I have a theory that God is the great pause.


He created this great big world of ours and now he’s pausing to see how and what we’re doing with his gifts. Amen. 

Thursday, April 6, 2017

April 6, 2017

AHEAVENISTS  
AND  AHELLISTS 

There are some who don’t believe in a
heaven or hell - an afterwards - becoming
atheists-  throwing out God - to boot.

There are some who don’t know
they believe in a heaven or hell -
here and now - in their inner circus.

There are some, you can follow them -
and you’ll hear them say, “The hell
with you!” - or “Go to hell - you ____.”

There are some, you can watch them.
They want Paradise - Heaven - Love -
here and now  - in their inner circle.

There are some - who learn, who change -
who convert - moving from hell to heaven -
and some who give up and go to hell.



© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

I made up two new words for this reflection:
ahellists and aheavenists.  We all know the word
atheists.  All three words begin with the
so called, "Privative Alpha".  Alpha is the first
letter in the Greek alphabet.
Alpha-Privative words are words that have
the prefix "a" before a consonant and "an"
before a vowel. Notice the word privative.
The privative-alpha takes away from the
rest of the word. Some examples:
agnostic, without knowing. We are
unable to have knowledge of God.

Abyss - means without a bottom.

Anorexia - without the desire for food.

Amorphous - without a form.


Wednesday, April 5, 2017

April 5, 2017

SPRING ENVY

The dead dry leaves caught in
the bushes on the edge of the
lawn envied the young budding
leaves of Spring in the trees.

Officially,  they said to one another,
“Been there, done that, back then.”
But the creep of envy underneath
their comments could be felt by all.

Going to weddings, seeing couples
holding hands, the rich getting richer,
my team didn’t improve, envy
breezes through the air every Spring.



© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017